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Published: January 27th 2008
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If you're going to San Francisco...
...or leaving, or going to...whatever. We've been waiting to use that title!!! YES!
We´re on the road again after a brief 'hiatus' in California (hence the title!). Getting to CA was bordering on the insane. After a 5 hr flight from Bangkok, a LONG 8 hr layover in Seoul with only KFC or kimchi to eat, another 10 hr flight to LA, then a bus across the city to the bus station, THEN a very cold 6 hr Greyhound ride to San Francisco we were pretty much awake for about 48 hrs and walking zombies when Shelly picked us up. It was great to see a familiar face after 4 months of traveling and to have her rescue us from the crazies on the bus. We don´t know if it was the fact that we were in CA or that we were taking the Greyhound or both, but we were getting a little nervous around our fellow travelers! Only in America will you find people having some sort of religious revival in the corner of the station, several people walking around talking to themselves and twitching, and angry travelers cussing out the ticket agent--even when they are outside where the ticket agent can´t even hear
them!
We had a great time visiting our friends and family in chilly San Francisco, spending most of our time with Shelly. Most of you would probably think 50 F would be great weather right about now, but we have been used to an average of 85 F for the last 8 months (with a brief reprieve in Scotland), so we though it was quite cold! Shelly is new to SF and her apartment (she moved in the previous day!) is in Berzerkley, I mean Berkeley. It had all the comforts we were looking for: a hot shower (with a bathtub!), a sit-down toilet that could flush down the TP, no mosquitos, and she even bought us a blow-up mattress! We don´t have very high standards for living anymore--so this really felt like the Hilton for us! We spent our time touring together to see Chinatown, Fisherman´s Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, the Golden Gate Bridge, Telegraph Hill, a great day at the Sonoma wineries, and the all important IKEA. A cabinet was bought, L put it together, Shelly´s bathroom now looks more cozy. We also spent a comfortable and relaxing day with Aunt DeAnn, Uncle Jim and cousins Delaney, Jordan
and Luke getting great home cooked food and playing games. Then we had a raucous night at a fab downtown restaurant with friend Jen and her boyfriend Mo. Our last few days in SF were spent gearing up for our last leg by doing laundry, mailing a package home, and getting more pages put in B's passport (it was filled!). We left for Sud America on the 18th with our backpacks half filled (more room for the Chilean and Argentinian wine!) and arrived in Lima on the 19th.
While in Lima, we just tried to get acclimated to another country and yet another time zone. It has really been hitting us hard lately and catching up to us a bit. We took lazy days walking the city seeing a few sights, having a big lunch everyday with siestas afterwards. There isn´t much else to do when the whole city shuts down for two hours (or more) in the afternoon...so when in Rome...or Lima. We enjoyed the national speciality ceviche, discoverd churros (way better than the Taco Bell variety), and local cervezas. We also enjoyed a free daily sex show in the restaurant of our hotel. They are trying to
Hilly San Francisco
Brigid and Shelly getting silly on a hilly. breed their pet turtles (tortoises for the UK folks)! The 'stud' was old and lame and was having such a hard time with it that the second day the staff had tied him to the female! Now THERE is an idea for Brendan and Jane´s upcoming wedding!
B has been desperately trying to remember HS Spanish, which just about gets us by for food, buying bus tickets and getting rooms. Definitely can´t have an extensive conversation though. L has thankfully been learning a lot of Spanish in our first week also. For the first few days he would only respond with, "¿Donde esta la biblioteca?" for everything! So annoying when you are trying to get something accomplished in another language! It works pretty well together actually. With L´s French, he can understand what the locals are saying (they speak so fast!), then when B doesn´t catch something, he translates in English and B responds to them in Spanish. Pretty funny!
The best thing we, or rather Brigid, did in Lima was go paragliding off the coastline cliff by the city center. It was a fantastic 15 minute ride over the ocean and edge of the city. Lachlan thought
I would need to have some 'safety instruction' or maybe even learn about the parachute, etc. But no, a mere three seconds after the exchange of money, I was clipped in to the pilot and in the air. The parachute was lifted up by the coastal wind, we bounced on the ground a few times and then we were off just in time for the cliff to disappear below us. It all happened so fast and I was mid-air by the time I thought, "What do I do when we land?".
After three days in Lima, we took an overnight bus off to Huancayo, in the central highlands of the Andean Mountains. We climbed from almost sea level to about 3000 meters. It looks like we´ll be at about 3000-5000 meters for at least the next 10 days. Hopefully, we´ll get used to it because we´re pretty breathless and the headaches are killing B!
Definitely stay tuned for the next blog--it´s going to be a good one! We don´t want to give it away though.
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Gary
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Great pics! its great to see Shelly as well, that must have been real cool to meet up w/ her!