Congratulations! Wow! What an accomplishment! You two ought to be very proud of yourselves for what you did. There aren't many people our age who would even attempt it, much less be able to finish it. It sounds as if they fed you very well along the way! What an adventure! You'll be reliving this one for years to come.
Hello from Pensacola Hey guys,
You two are amazing! Quite a hike.
I really enjoyed getting to know you in El Salvador. Wish I was with you in Peru. It looks beautiful!
Have fun and safe travels,
Ruth
Response from the Amazon Hey Juju, wait til I post the rest of the Inca Trail diaries! Just to let you know, I am responding on my computer, sitting at a little hostal, in a little town in the Amazon, Manu Reserve.
Be glad you're doing this when you're young! Hi Guys,
If you weren't in great shape before this hike, you sure are now! What a great way to see a country.
I can't believe you ate the whole thing! Hi Manoli,
Wow! I can't believe you ate the guinea pig. You are very brave! And, John, you aren't. LOL. I wouldn't be able to eat it either, John.
Guinea Pig Your mother said it tasted very good (like fried turkey wing), but I still wasn't about to try it! We are back from the Inca Trail and in our 2nd hostal, Hosteleria de Anita, waiting our guide to the Amazon to come for our briefing. I'll try to post all 4 days of the trail before I go to bed tonight, but we have to repack for the Amazon trip and woke up this morning at 3:30am!
Enjoying Your Trip Hi J.C., This is great fun following along on your trip. I love the pictures--the fountains are gorgeous--and your narrative brings everything to life. I'm curious about the Mercado San Pedro. I thought "mercado" means market. If that is a market, why are all those people sitting at benches? Have fun on your grand trek! Jo
Papa, We See You! Hey Papa....I was reading this entry and looking at all the pictures and Justin came along side of me to look on. He saw the picture of you, Papa, at the bottom and shouted "papa, papa". We went back a few entries to look through all the pictures together and had fun pointing out "Mema" and "Papa". He misses you guys so much and wishes he could be there on vacation with you:) Love you all....safe trip on the trail!!!
Details Ed, didn't you know I take Focus Factor? lol Just kidding. I don't remember every detail, but I use my photos and any flyers or handouts we get, to spell the names of places.
Staying Up Late I think the late hours are mostly in Lima, since so far Puno has been pretty dead by midnight. Cusco might be different. As far as Europe, I think the more touristy places keep late hours too. Don´t wait too long for those trips... we are getting older!
Santa Ana Inigo, thanks for the tips. We've passed the building Teatro every day. Unfortunately our schedule is pretty tight and we will only have some time on Friday to see anything and our hosts Mr. Moody has it already arranged. Maybe someone else here in country or planning a visit will be able to follow your suggestions. Inigo represents what we have all felt since arrving here, that the people of El Salvador are so very friendly and helpful. Read tonight's blog for a good example.
Hi Hi sir, ny name is Iñigo, Im salvadorean and I've been following your stories trough this blog since the first entry. I really apreciate your contribution to the poor in this country that, as you can clearly see are the most. I live in the capital city, but i was born in Santa Ana, the city you are staying. As I can see you are in hotel tolteca which is a little far from downtown. I would like to recommend you to visit the historical center of Santa Ana which is one of the best in Central America. There you can see three awesome buildings: Teatro de Santa Ana, the most beautiful of this country whic was built about a century ago financed by the money that came from coffee; Catedral de Santa Ana which is the most beautiful church of El Salvador because of its gothical style and the third one is La Alcaldía (City Hall) which is a beautiful one too. Three of them are surrounding the central square. Once there you can ask your local partner to drink a coffe and traditional "pan dulce" (desserts) in "Ban Ban" a sort of local "dunkin donuts" or so. There are two "Ban Ban" nearby the central square, just 50 meters I think. If you go, dont forget to ask for "Borrachos" a tipical dessert of Santa Ana with a hot cup of coffee. The trip will take only 1 hour or so. Dont miss it!!!!! Bye!!!
Houses We have 31 people in our group from Hillcrest Baptist Church, but we also had about 20 or so college student volunteers with Un Techo Para Mi Pais, A Roof For My Country, and another 20 or so locals that we hired to help. The houses are what we Americans would consider crude, being all wood with solid wood windows and doors and tin or aluminum roofs. To poor Salvadorians that are living in ´Hillbilly´ houses made from scraps of wood and tin and cardboard and a dirt floor that floods frequently, they are almost luxurious. We originally were supposed to take 4 days to complete them, but with all the help and hard work, we finished in just over 2 days, having our dedication today with the major of Santa Ana, an army colonel and other local dignitaries.
10 houses So many houses in so few day! I'm impressed! How many people are there in your group? What kind of experience do they have to be able to put houses together so quickly?
El Salvador Weather Well, its pretty regular, cool in the evening, quite hot and humid during the day, especially when you´re doing a lot of manual labor From Blog: El Salvador Refugee Camp Day 2
We're keeping up with the blog! Hey Dad, I've read your first 3 blogs and am anxiously awaiting more. Glad you guys got there safe. Hope you guys get all your work done and have fun doing it! Love you all; take care.
Mystic Hi,
Enjoyed your entries about your Mystic trip. You were sorry not to see more historic sights. Sounds like you missed the historic Mystic Seaport, a museum about life from the 1850s in Mystic, complete with the only wooden whaling ship left, and other boats and exhibits about life at sea and near the sea. If you have ever been to Sturbridge Village, Mystic Seaport is kind of like that, but on the water. Worth a day visit.
The Place You Stood on as a boy has fallen into the river A long time ago, when Leon and I were at Niagra Falls, we discovered that the place you, Jim, and I had stood on to watch the Falls had cracked away and fallen into the river below. So don't get too close!
JuJu
Happily, and luckily, married to a cute, younger spanish-born lady, now an American citizen. Computer Programmer by day and carpenter wannabe by night.
... full info
Jo
non-member comment
Congratulations!
Wow! What an accomplishment! You two ought to be very proud of yourselves for what you did. There aren't many people our age who would even attempt it, much less be able to finish it. It sounds as if they fed you very well along the way! What an adventure! You'll be reliving this one for years to come.