The Adventures of Dave, Lindsay, Cora and Edie

The Machu Picchu ruins exceeded our expectations in every way. It is truly unbelieveable to imagine the Inca people creating a city with the basic tools they had. We were lucky to get some cloud breaks throughout the morning and Dave decided to climb the famous Waynapicchu Mountain that towers over the ruins. When people say "in the middle of nowhere," they might as well be talking about Machu Picchu, which sits in the middle of the Northern Andes on a mountaintop. Incredible! We then headed down to the town of Aguas Caliente for a quick dip in the hot springs with our new friends before taking the train back to Cusco. And to end the adventure, we tried our first alpaca steaks at a small, locals restaurant. Delicious.

On Saturday, we woke up early in the pouring rain to make our way up to the trailhead for our 4 day journey along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas and also one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World." You can reach the ruins via train but we decided to take the longer route along the 42 km trail so we could see it all. Our small group was made up of 2 Americans, an Irish guy and a Swiss girl, along with our Peruvian guide, Lobo. Having only two days to adjust to the high altitude of the Andes, we were a little concerned that the altitude would really hit us once we started hiking but after taking it slow the first day we did alright. The journey took us past multiple ruins and tall, lush mountains. We expected a lot of rain and were pleasantly surprised to have a mix of weather along the way. However, our rain ponchos were an absolute necessity. The tour company provided all the meals and had porters to carry our tents, food and other luxury items fo...

Well...the last 72 hours has been a little insane but we finally arrived in Cusco, Peru. This is where we will base most of our Peru travels out of the next month and after hearing great things from friends who have been here, it has exceeded all our expectations. Now getting here was another story but that was completely my fault. We arrived in Lima around 1am on Wednesday and took a cab to our hotel, which was a funky old mansion in the Central Lima. We slept in, but still had a few hours to explore the beautiful Plaza de Armas before heading back to the airport for our late afternoon flight to Cusco. However, when we arrived at the desk to check in they gave us a very strange look and informed us that we were actually booked on a 5am flight that morning which, of course, we had missed. Fabulous! Since we were rebooked on a 5am flight this morning (which required a 3am check-in) we decided to spend the evening at the Lima airport. Why spend the money to store our bags and get a cab b...

After a few insane days in Oregon unpacking, repacking and attempting to get organized, we are leaving tomorrow morning for Lima, Peru. We didn't get a chance to contact everyone while we were home but we are on email regularly so please send us updates from time to time. It's so nice to hear from friends and family!

We just returned from a 3-day trip to Halong Bay, Vietnam and it was incredible. We spent our first night on a "junk" boat in the middle of the Bay and last night on Cat Ba Island. We explored caves, did some trekking and biking through a national park, kayaked, ate tasty seafood of all kinds (good thing we're not picky eaters) and enjoyed the endless views of fishing villages and thousands of islands. It's no surprise that this area is also a UNESCO world heritage site. An added bonus was the wonderful people we met from all over the world. Tonight is our last night in Hanoi, Vietnam and then we are flying to Bangkok for a night before we make the long journey home. As excited as we are to touch base at home, we would love a few more weeks (at least) to explore Asia. I suppose we will just have to come back someday...

From Saigon, we did a 1-day tour down through the Mekong Delta, the area where the Mekong River, which starts in China, finally meets the sea. Although there were a few cheesy elements to the tour such as visiting a bee farm and fruit farm, we did get to take in some beautiful scenery and get a taste of what life is like for people who live along the river.

The ferry from the Thai island of Koh Tao wasn't too bad! We were a little nervous, but the high speed catamaran was a real treat after our first ferry experience. So after an overnight bus up to Bangkok, we caught a quick flight to (Saigon) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. HCMC is the busy southern hub for Vietnam, perched on the shores of the Mekong River Delta. As are most SE Asian cities, HCMC is cranking with people, most of whom are cranking their scooters around town. But the scooter mobs are much more intense here... Coming from the NW US, we've all seen the iconic photos of mighty salmon swimming crammed like sardines up some shallow Alaskan river. The fish crawl on, over and under eachother with little regard or mind for the fish around them. This is Saigon traffic. Even though we were warned, it couldn't have prepared us for the sight of rush hour. The scooters pull up to traffic lights by the twelve pack. A taxi honks and nudges into the mix, offering literally inches...

Well...we are officially scuba dive certified after 4 days of studying our trusty PADI book and making 5 dives around the island. The last two days were the best with 2 dives each day for 30-50 minutes each. We saw sharks, barracuda, trigger fish, jelly fish, sea snakes and lots of other cool fish. Visibility wasn't fabulous but it was still incredible. Our isolated little resort made for the perfect place to relax after long days in the water. You would not believe the road getting to/from this place...we attempted to rent a scooter but quickly found that it was impossible with two people. So we walked. However, we were happy to avoid the broken arms, stitches, burns and other wounds that our fellow travelers got while riding around on scooters. It's dangerous business. Today, we have to get back on a ferry (wish us luck) for the main land and then take an overnight train to Bangkok. I'm sure it will be another adventure in Thailand travel! Then off to Vietnam for a week b...

Question: What is the best way to find out if the Sunblock you bought does what it claims to do? Answer: Put it all over yourself and hang out on the beach all day. If you burn to a crisp, you know the SPF 16 sunblock made in Thailand is likely just expensive lotion. (Even if you do re-apply throughout the day. Wouldn't want to be burned while we try to Scuba dive, now would we?) So, having learned our lesson about Thai sunblock, we head into our second day of Scuba certification with an added distraction: sun burns. Despite that whole ordeal, we are enjoying our time on this little island and looking forward to our next scuba lesson. We're trying not to complain here... Sidenote: It looks like the memory card in our camera picked up a virus somewhere along the way. Perhaps Bangkok... surpise, surprise. So it may be a while before we have photos on the blog. We'll do our best as we know that is the best part for any male readers out there.

We arrived on the island of Koh Tao yesterday and we may just make this our permanent home. It is a beautiful, yet small, island but that isn't why we're going to stay here. We're going to stay here because the 1 hour ferry from to get here from Koh Phangan yesterday was literally the worst hour either of us has ever experienced. As we set out with a few hundred other passengers, we had no idea what was in store. As the waves started to get bigger shortly into our trip, we knew it would be a bumpy road. But...it was worse than expected. EVERYONE, and I do mean everyone, got sick on the boat and we were thankful to be in the back so at least we got a little fresh air when our noses weren't buried in the plastic bags provided by the calm Thai crew. At one point, I also got thrown across the boat from a big wave and somehow managed to bruise my entire left side and puncture my foot. Let's just say that we have never in our lives been so happy to be on solid gro...

Happy New Year! We have now begun our island portion of the trip in Southern Thailand. After a long journey which included a night bus from Bangkok and being dropped off at a pier at 5am with hundreds of other travelers, we jumped on a ferry to Koh Phangan. A good friend of ours had recommended a mellow resort on a remote little beach on the island. We settled into our simple little bungalow with cold water, limited electricity but a fabulous hammock out front and only steps from the beach. Because of New Years, the place was full of travelers from all over. Many of the people had been there for anywhere from 3 months to a year. It's just that kind of place. We spent a lot of time in our hammock and enjoying the tasty thai food in our little beachfront restaurant. We decided to skip the big New Years beach party down south and celebrate on our little beach with a bonfire, thai dancing, fireworks and some new friends from Canada. It was perfect. Unfortunately, it's bee...