After landing in Cuzco, we left the airport and drove by bus to the Sacred Valley. We spent two nights at a lovely hotel in Urubamba and visited the area. Our visit included some Inca sites, a local market, rafting on the Urubamba River, a visit to the famous Seminario pottery workshop and a home-hosted lunch with a local family. Please see photos for details. Then we boarded the train in Ollantaytambo for the two-hour trip up to Aguas Calientes, the small town below Aguas Calientes. From there, we took a local bus up to the site of Machu Pichu, which we visited from 2 to 5 in the afternoon. This enabled us to see the sun set, and there were fewer people than earlier in the day. Marco is recognized here as a very knowledgeable ... read more

I'll be leaving San Francisco tomorrow morning for Lima, with a stopover in Miami. Rather than go on my own, this time I decided to travel with an American organization based in Boston called Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). So far, I've been very impressed with the company's efficiency. They've sent me all sorts of documentation and hints and have also been very helpful on the phone. (So unlike the French and Sri Lankan tour operators I traveled with in February!). We'll be a group of 15 people, which is a good size; and I'll have my own room with no "single supplement." In addition to the Peruvian capital, we'll be visiting Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca. I'll be gone for two weeks, returning to San Francisco on May 14. Hopefully, I'll find ... read more

I'm writing your from the beach resort of Bentota, where we arrived this evening, following a 4-day tour of Sri Lanka's "cultural triangle." Although the state of some roads was pretty bad, we never saw the destruction I feared seeing on the east coast. The weather has turned fine again, which is great for us, but also for all the poor people who must return to their homes and rebuild them. There have been some mishaps on the trip: we were an hour late taking off from Paris CDG because a Palestinian forced "deportee" was making havoc and had to be removed from the plane (I was, at first, sitting across from him and the two policemen guarding him); the "group" on my tour turns out to be just 3 of us--me and a young couple ... read more

I left San Francisco Airport yesterday morning and arrived back in cold Paris this morning. On board, I wrote a short piece for my other blog about a very worthwhile experience I had while I was living in Berkeley. You can read all about it at http://hilarykaiser.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/outreach-at-stagebridge/ Here's a photo of my little granddaughter, Elea, who will be 5 months' old on December 24th. I'll be celebrating Christmas that evening with her and her proud parents in the Paris suburbs. Wishing you Season's Greetings and Good Health and Happiness in the New Year. Hilary... read more

Well, I'm back here after spending the summer at my apartment in Paris (with side trips to Marseilles and the Calanques, county Dorset on the south coast of England, London, and oAmsterdam) . On the way back to California, I stopped off for a week in Boston and NYC. You'll see some photos of my stays in those wonderful cities, as well as of the San Francisco Bay Area and my activities here in Berkeley. My "home" until December 15 is an apartment 5 blocks from the south entrance of the UC campus. Last year when I was here, I was about 9 blocks from the NORTH entrance of the campus, so I am discovering a new neighborhood this year. Lots of students around in off-campus housing and lots of churches on my street (Dana Street). ... read more