Saturday, March 31st, 2012 Machu Picchu, Peru There are a lot of ways to get to Machu Picchu. For the more adventurous and physically apt, there's a 2 or 4 day hike along the historic Inka Trail. And for those pressed for time or just out of shape, there's a train/bus option. Of all the options of getting to Machu Picchu, we chose the old people way (train). Not because we ARE old, but because we didn't have time for the hike. A visit to Machu Picchu in this manner for those starting Cusco is a day long process. Much of the arrangements can be made in the city and even on the internet. But buyer beware! It can be a trying experience. We planned ahead by buying our train tickets and park passes online. PeruRail ... read more

Sunday, March 25th, 2012 La Paz, Bolivia For our last day in La Paz - at least until our return flight - we checked out of our hotel and finished up some last minute sight-seeing before the Salt Flats. We browsed the markets, discovering both the Witch´s Market and Black Market. The Witch´s Market contained your usual ¨run of the mill¨handcrafts found in most other markets, but also had dried llama fetuses (just in case you were looking for some, go here). The Black Market - which pretty much looked like a Home Depot expoded- is the market containing goods smuggled from Chile. While we didn´t see any, our book noted that the occasional Bolivian law enforcement officer could be found shopping here as well. We opted on purchasing some super cheap, kitcsh, sunglasses and baby ... read more

March 22nd, 2012 Welcome everyone to our Peru and Bolivia travel blog! We'd like to take this opportunity to tell you where we'll be going, what we'll be doing, and how this blog works. This first post is to inform you that you are a participant in our blog, the only emails you'll get from us are ones regarding our trips. The Plan We'll be leaving for Bolivia early on Thursday (March 22nd) and arriving in La Paz at about six in the morning the following day. La Paz is the highest captial in the world standing at 11,913 feet (2 1/4 miles). We'll spend our first couple days here to acclimate to the altitude before heading south to the Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats). Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world, is ... read more

Friday, September 12th, 2008 To begin with, Curtis' ankle is doing much better. Most of the swelling has receded and the bruising is virtually non-existent. We began this leg of our trip at the Hualamphong Train station where we opted to go north after learning the south trains were not running due to a three week long worker's strike in support of the PAD. We chose a sleeper train (highly recommended) and head up over the evening. Sally, still sick from whatever she ate slept immediately while Curtis finished reading "Me Talk Pretty Oneday" by David Sedaris. Good recommendation Deidre! In the morning, the attendant brought us breakfast and gave us coffee. The coffee, unfortunately, is what is typically found in the region: instant Nescafe. Add lots of sugar and dehydrated creamer and you almost have ... read more

Saturday, September 6th , 2008 Greetings from beautiful Thailand! Our adventure started on Thursday morning with twenty-six hours of travel, but once here, it was all worth it. There is much advice given to travelers heading to Thailand and we must admit, it is good advice. We took a metered taxi to our hotel, fourty-five minutes later we reached our destination paying a total of 500 baht for our ride (including tolls and tip). Not a bad deal for about $17 dollars! We arrived late on Friday, around midnight and were very happy to finally get some sleep in a horizontal position (sleeping upright on a plane is NOT sleep). Today we got an early start, beginning our day with a run to the train/bus station. We were trying to figure out the train schedule for ... read more