APRIL 16-MAY 8, 2007 TRIP JOURNAL

The following journal is by Phyllis Whittington. We will expand and add photos as time permits.

South America Trip – April/May 2007

April 22 - Hola! We survived the Amazon Jungle experience, and it was just wonderful. It was so quiet, except for the birds and animals you hear most all the time, but restful. We cruised to our first lodge in a medium sized boat with a canvas cover. The first two lodges (Explorama and Explornapo) were more on the primitive side, with open cabins that allowed the air to circulate (high walls for privacy), and outdoor toilets you had to hike to. You were never alone there because of the bugs. One early morning I was hiking up there (no glasses on), turned the last corner and there was a HUGE chocolate colored frog between me and the door. Needless to say, I was a little more awake at that point. I stomped my foot and he hopped off. I think he was a bigger cousin of the one who was living in our room catching mosquitoes. We didn't mind having him, but he seemed to be hyperventilating every time I looked at him. :=)

We visited a native village replica, where the local Indians (Yagua) are trying to keep their heritage alive. They don't live there, but they teach their children and the public at this campsite. It was quite the experience. (Ask me about the Quail Dance sometime.) That same day we visited a local Shaman, which was also very educational. (I’d been having trouble lifting both of my arms at the shoulders before I left. The Shaman did a hands-on treatment using a potion of local plants and Reiki. I’ve not had any trouble since!) There are very few doctors in the region, so the Shamans stay busy. He showed us many of the plants he uses for healing potions. Our wonderful guide, Basilio, said he grew up in a river community (ribereno) much like the ones we saw everywhere, and that the Shamans are counted on regularly. We also visited a clinic a female American doctor started, and a local village school, as well as a library another American woman started - all wonderful.

One of the things we enjoyed the most was going out in small open boats in the dark. Basilio had a powerful flashlight he used to find animals. Unfortunately, like many places in the world, the animals are becoming scarce. But we saw bats, several varieties of birds, butterflies, and a tiny little harmless snake curled up on a branch. The stars appeared bigger and brighter than in the northern hemisphere, so that too was magical.

We did so many things I can hardly remember at the moment, but we came back to Iquitos (Peru) yesterday on the Amazon Queen, which looks like an old riverboat. It's hard to describe the river, but it's very broad and flat. Because the elevation doesn't drop much to the Pacific Ocean from the headwaters, there's vegetation everywhere. It's very strange going through it, and on the smaller boats they have to stop and clear the stuff off the prop of the engine every now and then. We saw pink dolphins, and went piranha fishing. And flowers are everywhere, so you know how much I liked that.

The only drawbacks were the bugs. The mosquitoes loved me this time, and I have bites pretty much everywhere even though I covered myself in Deet. But we're taking anti-malarial pills, so I'm not concerned about getting anything serious.

We've had wonderful food and are traveling in a group of really nice people. Tomorrow we leave for Cusco, through Iquitos, and the Machu Picchu part of the trip. We'll be getting to visit the people of the Andes, so I'm looking forward to that as well. We adore the Peruvians we've met so far, and we were all a little choked up when we left Basilio at the airport.

So all is well. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Love,

>Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 1:36 PM

>Subject: Hello from Cusco, Peru

We landed about an hour ago after being delayed in Lima. They canceled some flight this morning, so everybody was getting bumped back. We were supposed to leave at 9:55, but left at 12:25 instead. We really didn't mind all that much. Some of us played hearts while others shopped, read, or visited. As you can imagine, it's totally different here from Lima and the jungle. This appears to be an older city, and signs of the Incas and Simon Bolivar are everywhere.

I just wanted you all to know we made it safely once again. It seems to be kind of a tricky landing, as we go through a kind of corridor with the Andes on both sides - a bit bumpy coming in. It's heavily populated where we are, but beautiful. We're hiking off to some museum in a few minutes, but I wanted you to know we've successfully accomplished one other adventure. Our hotel looks to have been built at the turn of the century, and not upgraded much, but we do have our own "facilities" in each room, and the floors are clean.

Love to all,

April 24

Hi, everybody. Today's story won't be so long, as we finally have a free afternoon. We sent a ton of laundry out this morning, so we're hoping for the return of clean clothes sometime this evening. (If not, it's going to be dicey for sure.)

Around 7:30 we had breakfast at the hotel, then boarded a bus to visit the local market. We were joined by a local Indian (Quechua) who's a native healer. He went with us to the market, which takes up a full city block. The fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers were something to behold. But the man who carried in the two skinned pigs around his shoulders really got our attention. They also have sort of a food court, and many kinds of chocolate and coffee, as well as very fancy breads. Of course none of it is up to our health standard practices, but was pretty neat to see, and works for the locals. Our guide, Washington, bought some sweet types of bread for us to try. We did, but may pay for it later.

Then we drove for about 30 minutes to the first of several Incan ruins we'll see. This one is called Sacsayhuaman (pronounced very close to sexy woman by our guide), and is absolutely amazing. Like most everything else in the Incan empire, it was pretty much destroyed by the Spaniards. But you can still see the foundations, and many of the stones are very intricately carved to fit into one another. One stone was 23 feet high and weighed several tons. They had to be very smart engineers to make all of this fit together. There was a little hiking, and some of the stairs are very tall, so my short legs got a workout - finally.

After that we took the Healer back to his home and he invited us in for a healing ceremony. It was very sweet. He gave each of us three fresh coca leaves (no, we didn't chew or smoke them) and we held them for several minutes while he started the ceremony. He did some quiet chanting, and began to build a pile of various things on a piece of paper about 2' square, which was also on a very beautiful red, white, and black weaving. (He had started by pouring some wine on the bare earth floor as an offering to Mother Earth.) There was a cracker, some candles, flowers, various candies, sprinkles (Mother Earth likes sweets apparently), and after praying to Mother Earth and the local mountains, he blew three times on his coca leaves and placed them in the bundle. We were then invited to say our individual prayers, blow three times on our leaves, and add them to his bundle.

He then tied up the white paper with white string and wrapped the bundle in the cloth. We were invited to step forward for healing if we wanted too. All thirteen of us did. It was very moving. Each of us was to give our name. He repeated the name, then lightly touched our heads with the bundle three times, and swept away our bad auras front and back. When we were all finished he unwrapped the bundle and burnt it, offering more wine to Mother Earth. It felt like another of those precious gifts we all need to be open to - nice. So now I've been treated by a Shaman and healed by a Healer. I should feel pretty good, right? Well, so-so at the moment, but I'm working on it. I think we've eaten way too much and exercised way too little.

Then we proceeded to a "baby alpaca" factory. We were hoping to see baby alpacas, but we didn't. It was like a very elegant department store for sweaters, hats, scarves, coats, etc. They really had some beautiful things. Joe bought a nice Peruvian man's hat (I'm sure our kids will appreciate this), and I bought a beautiful cardigan sweater with butterflies all over it. I'm thinking it will serve to remind me of a very special time in my life.

So we're resting now, and will go out to dinner yet again at 7:00 pm. I'm going to take a nap!

Love to all,

April 28

Hi, everyone, Joe and I are back in Lima for the last time. We arrived from Cusco this morning around 10:30, after a 4:45 wake-up call, and departing the Cusco hotel at 6:00 am. You all know me well enough to know I probably stayed up until time to depart - well almost. So I'm a little weary around the edges today. We have free time in Lima until 8:00 pm tonight when we go to a dinner/cultural dance show. Joe and our friend Allen Grazer have gone off to visit the "Gold Museum" this afternoon. His significant other, Darlene, and I are taking the time to let down and rest a little. We also all probably need to see somebody else for a few hours. :=)

Lima is a pretty city in the part we've seen, and the same for Cusco. I believe Cusco is older, and they have a main square with wonderful old churches and other buildings around it. The other night when Mexico was playing Peru in the soccer semi-finals, there were thousands of people in the square watching the soccer match on several large televisions. Sadly, Mexico won 3-0, so it was a pretty quiet crowd, but I love the neighborly feel of the city even though there are millions in the area.

I believe I gave you some misinformation when we first landed in Cusco. I said the Andes were on one side, and another mountain range on the other. It turns out it’s all the Andes. They just aren't like our mountains. The Andes were created by two tectonic plates coming together and pushing them up. I know we've all heard about the terrible earthquakes Peru and Ecuador have had over the years, now I understand it all better. I'm hoping we escape the region with no major episodes, and if it happens again my heart will break for the people. As we left Aguacaliente (hot water) on Wednesday, April 25 (which is the little town nearest Machu Picchu) we were lucky to get out before a torrential rainstorm hit. Our guide had a call from the head Peruvian OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) office wanting to know where we were. Apparently there was a rock slide over somewhere we had been, and several tour buses were trapped on the wrong side for several hours. But we were fine, having left around 11:30 in the morning. (Yep, it was another of those very early days so we could catch the 7:00 am bus to go back up to Machu Picchu for the second day.) There seem to be road crews at regular intervals who keep the continual rock falls cleared the best they can all over the area.

It turns out there are at least three huge valleys created in the Cusco area, and we saw them all. Coming back down on Perurail from Aguacaliente we could see gargantuan mountains that were covered in snow. It wasn't what I expected to see near the epicenter of the world. I can't even begin to describe how verdant everything is, all the way to about 16,000 feet. The Cusco area is kind of where the rain forest starts, and the headwaters of the Amazon are above them in that part of the Andes. We received expansive information from our guide, Washington Geronimo. (He swears that's the name his mother gave him, but who knows for sure. We call him Washington, he calls us Wykees. I'm sure this isn't spelled right, but he says it means friends. Again, I wonder, probably more like idiots - we can be a challenge for him every now and then....)

On Tuesday, April 24, we visited the lower ruins of Sacsayhuaman. Washington pronounces it "Sexy Woman," and I've heard others refer to it that way as well. There's no significance to how it looks, but makes it easy to remember. This is a fort area the Spanish overran, captured the Incans, and sent them to the silver and gold mines to strip their own property. It's another one of those Native American sad stories for sure. Since this was our first up-close look at any of the ruins, it took some contemplation for sure. Again, they mined and rolled these huge stones into place, with no mortar. Each stone, no matter how big, fits perfectly into the next one and have withstood all the earthquakes of the past many hundred years. They were smoothed by hand by using smaller rocks. I marvel at the patience and ingenuity it took to build these places. If you were to fly over this one, I believe it's built into the shape of a Puma, with a fairly large lake for one eye - beautiful.

I think I already told you about stopping at the market that first day in Cusco. It was huge, and bustling with all the colorful costumes, flowers, fruits, vegetables, and vendors you could imagine. We also picked up the Healer who was to spend part of the day with us before he did a healing ceremony at his home (or office?). I made a little mistake in telling that story as well, we were given coca leaves - those things that are certainly illegal at home, and in Ecuador, not cocoa leaves. Anyway, we drank a lot of coca tea in Cusco because it's supposed to help with altitude sickness. I wonder, but it tasted good anyway.

So stepping back a bit, to the departure for Machu Picchu on Wednesday, April 25. We left Cusco on a really nice bus (just ours, with a potty onboard) to catch the train from Huarocondo, heading for Aguacaliente and the bus to Machu Picchu. The bus ride was beautiful, as we wound our way through farmlands along the way. We saw men and women with sheep, donkeys, goats, and pigs at various intervals. It was kind of like driving through a flower garden, and it didn't stop all the way to Machu Picchu, it just got better! We stopped at Washington's home village, Maras, and visited another outdoor market he explained was only operating on Wednesdays. He saw family and friends who greeted him warmly, which was also nice to be part of. The only really different thing about this market was livestock were being sold. Pigs squealed as they stuck them in sacks, lambs bleated, cows mooed, and there were chickens with babies, ducks with babies, and guinea pigs in crates. Some of us bought a few trinkets here, for really good prices. It was a gloriously sunny day, but not hot. South America is moving into their winter at what we call the Summer Solstice. (We've had no bad weather to date, and the Galapagos is supposed to be sunny and high 70s for the next 10 days!)

As we moved further into the mountains (surprisingly, Machu Picchu is 3,000 ft lower than Cusco), we began to see evidence of the Incas everywhere. We could see the Inca Trail every now and then, villages built on the tops of lower mountains with terraces everywhere, and we stopped to visit a pristine little village that still uses the aqueduct they built. Of course there are vendors everywhere, like in any third world country, and it becomes annoying after awhile. But you learn to say "No, Gracious" firmly and they leave you alone.

We made it up to Machu Picchu on yet another bus, but one of the local ones that run up the very narrow, switchbacks that lead to the site. I'm not overly good with heights, and when they're accompanied with no visibility of the road you're supposed to be on, there were a few nearly heart stopping moments. But I just kept thinking the bus driver most likely really wanted to go home to his family at the end of the day, so would do the best he could to keep it on the road. There was the added disadvantage of buses coming down as we were going up, usually on curves, and nowhere to pass so somebody has to back up. Yikes!

But there's no describing the way I felt when I finally saw Machu Picchu with my own eyes! You could just feel the little feet scampering over those smooth rocks, and feel the spirits who surely stay there because it's so beautiful. The engineering feats are just more than anyone could ever explain. They've had NO earthquake damage in there because it's been discovered that not only did they hand cut, smooth, and polish the stones to fit, they also made long round rocks to put into the foundations, so that when the earthquakes hit - which they always will - the buildings roll! We saw one example that's been exposed. And there are sundials laid out perfectly in the compass points, and reflecting pools to watch the eclipses so they didn't damage their eyes. And a burial catacomb where bodies were dropped into caves in the fetal position. In front of the cave is carved a condor head into the stone, and the sweeping sides of the cave are the wings. The Incas didn't seem to miss any opportunity to incorporate beauty.

So that was the first day there. It took a bit of hiking with trekking poles for me to get through it, but the next day was harder. We spend the night in Aguacaliente, right beside the Urubamba River (we’d visited this river in the Amazon Jungle also – what a contrast), then took another early morning bus back up to Machu Picchu. Joe and I, and several others had opted for the approximately three-mile hike up to a higher viewpoint. It wasn't a particularly difficult hike if it had been on dirt, but we were on the Inca Trail, and there had been steps cut out of stone the whole way (and I don't know how many hundred miles more). Many of the stones are a high step, and if I hadn't had the trekking poles I doubt I could have done it. But as it was, I kept up and did fine. There was one other woman from Montana along who's about my age, so we both got rave reviews for doing so well. It was worth the climb, as you could see the whole area from there. We were just at the base of the Manchu Picchu Mountain.

The reason Manchu Picchu is so beautiful is the Spanish didn't find it, so therefore didn't destroy it. They were led astray by an Inca guide, who took them the long way around into the jungle and another site. This was the best one, so hurrah for him! Oh, and Bebbie, the tin of chocolate was very helpful for perking me and my friend Ingrid up for the return. We both thank you. :=) We were able to see many varieties of orchids on this hike, and we have lots of beautiful pictures to share when the time is right.

Yesterday, Friday the 27, we left the hotel on yet another bus around 8:00 am and visited another ruin in the other end of the Sacred Valley. We saw the largest Incan cemetery - catacombs that are holes dug into the sides of the hill. Again, bodies were inserted in the fetal position, ready for their rebirth. There was a beautiful fountain nearby that represents the continuing circle of life. An Indian man was playing the flute, which was a nice touch. (Of course he was selling CDs and flutes, but you take your gifts where you can find them. I didn't buy mine that day, I just accepted.)

After stopping at a weaving factory, and a jewelry factory, we finally made it to THE home visit. Here was the menu: Squash/Potato/Peas/Cilantro/hot pepper soup in a broth - good, Rice, desecrated Guinea Pig, a hot, kind of saucy potato mixture to go with the rice, a fried corn cake with sliced green onions - good, and fresh pineapple for dessert - amazing. Now about that Guinea Pig. Let me start by saying we didn't arrive for lunch until about 2:00 pm because some in our group (not me) just LOVE to shop, and Washington couldn't get them back on the bus. (It's that herding cats thing again.) The family was really nice, a mother, married daughter and her 9-month old daughter, 16 year-old son, and 9 year-old-son who arrived later from school. We all spoke enough Spanish and English to get by, and we liked them very much, and they were very gracious even if we were at least an hour and a half late...so rude. To give us the full effect of the main course, "they" were brought out two at a time on platters for show, before they were taken back to the kitchen and hacked to bits (thank God, small bits!). It was shocking to say the least. They were presented on their backs, little claws in the air, with teeth bared in a grimace. I thought one of the women was really going to lose it, and the oldest gentlemen in our group thought it was a joke, HAD to be a joke. Nope, no joke. So once they were hacked up they were returned to the table and Washington personally put some on each of our plates. (Except for the lady who almost lost it, and had a pet Guinea Pig named Henrietta she couldn't get off her mind...) I ate mine the best I could to be polite. It was a little oily, and a little gamey - I don't believe I'll be having it again.

So that was that. We had the home visit behind us, the presents delivered, and we were free. I have to tell you, I haven't been feeling overly well today, but have hopes of a full recovery soon.

I think this is probably more than you ever hoped to hear about this second phase of our trip, but it's kind of therapeutic to drop it on ya.

Love to all. We leave for Quito, Ecuador and the last phase of our adventure tomorrow. I have to say that I'm terribly homesick, I'm longing for my bed, my kids, my cat, my friends, and my flowers, but I'm still happy. Its nap time for now. Maybe I can get in 30 minutes or so before Joe returns from the museum.

Hugs,

P/AP/Mom

May 11 – Friday – From Home

Hello everyone. We arrived PDX safely late Wednesday afternoon, and were met by a happy Jason. Yesterday was a lost day, trying to unpack, get caught up on what's happening at home, and just thinking about the blur of sights, sounds, and tastes of the last month. When I have time to breathe again, I'll reread the journal and maybe figure out where we've really been.

I believe I left you the last time once again in Lima, departing there for the last time to transition into Ecuador, via the capital, Quito. We ended up spending most of the day in the Lima airport - why we'll never know for sure - but this turned out to be typical in Peru. It was ok though, as it gave us an opportunity to really visit with our traveling companions and get to know them better. We were excited to finally leave Lima, and Peru, although we have all those wonderful memories to revisit. We finally arrived Quito around 7:00 pm, which meant we'd missed our free afternoon to explore the city. We had time to freshen up, then went straight to dinner and orientation for the following day. This hotel was to be our Ecuador headquarters, allowing us to repack for the Galapagos Islands and leave bags safely behind.

We had the privilege of sharing time and space with our guide Jaime (pronounced Hi-Me), who is not only a naturalist, but a professional photographer, so he knew all the best places to go to find the wildlife we wanted to see. To start the trip when he met us in Quito, he asked us to write our wish list of things we hoped to see or accomplish in the Galapagos. I believe he met every expectation, and gave us so much more.

Early the next morning we bussed back to the airport and boarded an Aero Galapagos flight to a small airport (Bastra, I think) out in the middle of what looks like brown desert, with cactus everywhere. (Our flight stopped briefly in Guayaquil - the largest city in Ecuador, and we had to exit the airplane for 45 minutes while they cleaned it. We were getting used to these little side adventures by now, so took advantage of the time to play cards with our new friends.) Bastra was a U.S. base of some sort during World War II, but only remnants of the buildings remain. It seems desolate at first, but the transition into another world comes quickly. (Note: I heard on OPB that the base was built to protect the Panama Canal.)

From the airport we took a bus ride to the harbor where we boarded a rubber Zodiac (us in one, our luggage in another) that took us to the Galapagos Queen, a large catamaran boat that accommodates 16 guests and the supporting crew. We were lucky to be placed here, as it is the newest floating facility in the region. We were spoiled rotten for five days and four nights, enjoying warm, but not hot days, and clear starry nights. The boat was spotless and the food was excellent. We felt safe and cared for. I might add, there was a huge Frigate Bird flying over the upper deck, seeing us off to sea - a nice touch for the tourists. (Thank goodness for anti-seasick patches, or this could have been a really long 5 days. I thought I was going to be fine, but got surprised after dinner and had to resort to taking drugs. It was a rocky couple of hours until the drugs kicked in... I think Tracy would agree.)

Each day brought Zodiac rides (and sometime bus rides as well) to the surrounding islands. We'd get up and have an early breakfast buffet, out for morning adventure, back for lunch buffet, out for afternoon adventure, back for dinner buffet. Fortunately, we did a bit more physical activity on this leg of the trip, or we'd both be many pounds heavier than when we left. I'll try to encapsulate what we saw, or this really will be a book. I've never been anywhere like this in my life, nor do I think there is anywhere else like it in the world. This was the consummate gift of the trip.

Our first outing allowed us to walk among Sea lions, red and yellow Sally Lightfoot Crabs, Land Iguanas, Marine Iguanas (they can hold their breath for up to an hour underwater and eat algae off the rocks), and my favorite, seeing the Blue Footed Boobies. The birds and animals here are neither afraid nor aggressive, so it's like walking among your friends. You can't touch the animals, but they can touch you if they want to, and you allow them. There was a tiny little sea lion who took a fancy to a young girl (about 10) walking along the beach. It followed her, talked to her, and rubbed its face against her legs like a cat would - so cute. And a couple of our group lay down on the sand and had a rest with the sea lions - not touching, but close. :=)

That first night became misty later on, and a Swallow-tailed Gull guided the boat, swooping in and out of the mist like a phantom. It felt like we'd slipped clear off the face of the earth - not an unwelcome feeling, just very special.

The second day we took the Zodiac to San Cristibal Island, then boarded yet another bus and drove about forty minutes to visit the Giant Tortoise. It was warmer this day, and we did some hiking through medium sized trees and bushes, which allowed us to see Yellow Warblers, Mockingbirds, and various kinds of Finches. The Giant Tortoise are all we'd hoped they would be - huge, slow, and curious. It's like looking back to the beginning of time. They haven't changed. (They look like they're lumbering along on big tractor tires.)

In the ensuing days we got to interact with the local people, as well as the animals. We had a more pleasant home visit lunch - fish, rice, vegetables, fried plantain, and canned peaches for dessert. (No guinea pigs are eaten in Ecuador - they're proud of that - and canned peaches seem to be a delicacy there. We often saw them on menus as dessert choices.)

One of the best days we had was kind of a hard hike through boulders, but when we reached destination, we saw nesting Blue Footed Boobies. Many of the light blue eggs had hatched already, and there were totally white, fluffy babies, most begging to be fed. There were male Frigate Birds inflating their red neck balloons, flapping their wings, and crying for attention hoping to attract mates, as well as lots of Masked Boobies (recently renamed Nasca Boobies), Galapagos Hawks, Hood Mocking Birds, Sea lions, Marine Iguanas, and a spectacular ocean blowhole that created a geyser much like Old Faithful. However, the highlight of the trek was seeing the entire mating ritual of a pair of Albatross. They bowed, cooed, clacked their beaks together in a noisy kind of kiss, and consummated their love all in about the space of fifteen minutes. It was really sweet, and we were so lucky to see it. We also saw the unmated Boobies doing their mating dance. The male does this little jig, lifting each big foot in sequence, while bobbing his head. Apparently the females find it attractive, as there were plenty of babies in evidence. It was a perfect day, having seen all these creatures AND getting some exercise.

In the following days we saw Sea Turtles, baby and big Sharks (black tipped, white tipped, and the huge Galapagos shark), Golden Stingrays, Penguins, huge Brown Pelicans (some nesting in trees), Flamingos, Blue Herons, Yellow Headed Night Herons, more Swallow-tailed Gulls, Giant Tortoise in a preserve, and Lonesome George - the last of his Giant Tortoise species. He's at the Charles Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz Island, the only island that is inhabited by people. We stayed two nights at the Silverstein Hotel in the village of Porta Ayora, where Jaime makes his home. We shopped and rested, and regrouped for the trip back to Quito, and two more days there. I probably haven't listed all the birds and animals we saw, but if you ever get a chance to go, do it!!! I can't begin to describe how unique it is. Joe went snorkeling several times and swam with the Sea lions that came bombing right up to his face and then would turn and wrap themselves around him in kind of a dance. He saw spotted sting rays and brilliantly colored fish colonies that covered the ocean floor, as well as playful Penguins.

Reluctantly, we went back to Quito to finish our trip. Quito is a beautiful old city built upon the Inca ruins. Whenever they build something new, they find more Inca history, although the Incas pretty much destroyed the city before the Spaniards came. They knew they were coming, so they ruined it first - can't blame them for that. Unlike Cusco in Peru, you don't see the buildings using much of the Inca building blocks, but they have mortared them into some of the newer buildings. The old part of the city is ornate and gorgeous. We saw the Capitol building with the colorful guards at the entrance, the Catholic Gold Church, and the Catholic San Francisco Church, and walked through the city square. Ecuador changes governments frequently, and the people seem to take it all in stride. It did feel a little restrictive, and we had to go through locked gates to be allowed to walk along the promenade of the President's residence, but that doesn't seem out of line. They don't have a very high regard for our administration, but do love the American people - thankfully.

We visited the Equator, or what was purported to be the Equator by the French. They were a few degrees off center, but the Incas were right on. Since the invention of the Global Positioning System, it's been proven that the Incas had positioned 0-0-0 perfectly on top of a close-by mountain, marking it with a circle of flat stones, surrounded by bigger stones. You can barely see it from the formal grounds below, and doesn't look like it would be too difficult to hike there. The weather at the Equator stays about the same temperature year around - in the 60s. Sunrise is at 6:00 am, Sunset is at 6:00 pm. We all wondered what the world might be like if the Spaniards hadn't devastated the Incan civilization.

The adventure culminated with a nice dinner at an upscale restaurant high on a hill overlooking Old Town Quito. The cathedrals, government buildings, and town square all had special lighting, and you could see other lights twinkling in every direction. We were all looking forward to going home, but sad to be leaving each other and moving back into the politics and news of our day-to-day world. I have a great respect for the people and places in Peru and Ecuador, and will always be grateful for their willingness to share their beauty and secrets with us.

But I'm glad to be home, and look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Love,