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.