Gary S.

alexandriaguy

Gary S.

I retired from years of teaching English as a Foreign Language. Meeting students from all over the world built my interest in seeing the world and learning about the culture, history, and geography of the countries my students left behind.



South America » Peru » Lima » Lima » Miraflores December 16th 2012

I'm preparing to leave Lima in the same charming hotel where I stayed when I arrived in Lima. Packing shopping and my other items is a full day job.... read more

South America » Peru » Lima » Lima » Miraflores December 10th 2012

Lima has many decorations for the holidays. One of the nicest areas is the up-market Larcomar Shopping Center overlooking the Pacific Ocean.... read more

South America » Peru » Lima » Lima » Barranco December 8th 2012

Today I’m taking a City Tour of Lima. We leave from Larcomar Shopping Center. We have a tour of Barranco. Barranco is a romantic and artistic center of Lima where artists, designers, and musicians gather, and it is a center of night life. It used to be a seaside resort in the 19th and 20thcenturies. Then we went to the Centro and went to St. Martin Square and the Plaza de Armes. We toured the Monastery of San Francisco and the catacombs located below the church where there are hundreds of thousands bones of the dead. The church and monastery are dated from 1673 and were completed in 1774. As we toured, the music from the Feast of the Immaculate Conception service in the Church above drifted down into the area where the skulls and other ... read more
Artist in Barranco
The Bridge of Sighs
The Ruins of a Church in Barranco

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito December 5th 2012

Today I took a flash drive with all the photos Vicente Uyana and I took together to Teresa and Jaime at the restaurant they own near the Mercado Santa Clara in Quito.... read more
In the Restaurant

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito » Historical Center December 5th 2012

On my last night in Quito, I walked around in the Historic District where the Festival of Quito celebrates the founding of Quito by Spanish settlers in 1534. The Centro Historic District is a UNESCO site with beautifully restored buildings. In the Festival there are music, dance, speeches, art exhibits, and performances. It is a great time to visit Quito.... read more
Street Performer

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito December 2nd 2012

The Uyana family picked me up at the hotel in the Center of old Quito. We went to visit the Basilica in the Center of Quito. Then we went to the area in the north of Quito where the family lives. It is the place where Vicente was born and grew up and married Rosario and lived all his life except for the years he lived in Arlington. When Vicente was young the area had small farms, but now it it an extended suburban part of Quito. We had lunch are then we drove around the community where they lived. This is where the Church of the Brethren had a church, a school, a community center, and a cooperative to help farmers market their farm products.... read more
Lunch in the Uyana Home
Another Lunch Photo
The School

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito December 1st 2012

Daniela was a student of mine at T. C. Williams High School in 2005. She was a dedicated student and easy to remember so when she contacted me on Facebook we because ‘friends’. She offered to show me areas near Quito that I couldn’t very well see on my own. Daniela and her mother picked me up from my hotel in their Chevrolet and we headed to the Teleferico cable chair lift which took us to the top of Pichincha volcano to look out over Quito which lies below it. Then we had a traditional Ecuadorean lunch and then went to a market for artisans of traditional products. Finally we went to Mitad del Mundo which is where the Equator crosses near Quito.... read more
The Teleferico Cable Car
Overlooking Quito
At the Market for Artisans in Quito

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito November 29th 2012

I couldn’t sleep late even though I went to bed at 2:30 AM, so I got up for breakfast. Jenny is a powerhouse of a women and she wanted to take Gretchen and me to a shopping mall to get our phone situation worked out. We also went to the supermarket near the B & B, and it started pouring rain so I got to use my umbrella for the first time on this trip.... read more
Relaxing After Buying a Phone SIM Card

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito November 29th 2012

The trip to Quito got off to a bad start because on the night before I was coming back from the Art Museum of Lima and I was tired. Almost back to my hotel on Diez Canseco in Lima my foot caught in an large open crack in the sidewalk and I went down and my right knee took most of the blow. So leaving for the trip to Quito the knee was giving me pain. I had plenty of time in the airport in Lima and relaxed before the trip. I went on Avianca Airlines and it was a good flight, but the trouble started when the nice young lady told me that the flight to Quito left from Gate 28 and I had to run because the flight was ready to leave. When I ... read more

South America » Peru » Lima » Lima » Lima November 27th 2012

Today I was able to go back to San Borja in Lima and see the staff and volunteers who are still there. I love to volunteer with CCS because: 1) Home Base in like home. 2) The staff are wonderful--all of them. 3) It is a wonderful way to learn the people, the culture, the history of a country. 4) You support people in the vollunteer sites who may not get a lot of positive feedback from their work. 5) The people volunteers work with a fantastic. 6) The fee to volunteer is tax deductible. 7) Many more positive things.... read more
The Volunteers Still in Lima
Kique and Aida




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