rinjani volcano trek - lombok

once we got into bali - at 6am - we hailed a taxi with a fair amount of trouble and went to padang bai to catch a fast boat to lombok port (teluk nara) where our tour guide was waiting for us to drive us to senaru.  the boat trip was rather bumpy but beautiful. lombok turned out to be an incredible island. it's relatively untouched by tourism and so much more beautiful overall. it was a great way to see more of local life.  we embarked on a 4 day/3 night trek of the second highest volcano in indonesia (rinjani). it was one of the hardest and steepest treks i've been on but also one of the most beautiful. i saw my first shooting star on this trip which was exciting. our guide and porters were incredible. they carried so much weight and ran up and down the mountains in just flip flops, barely breaking a sweat.  this trek was one of my favorite parts of our trip. see more photos in this album

our south american travels

I visited Jose in Peru for over two months this summer (their winter) and it was really fantastic!  We spent a week in Cusco when I first got there and went to Machu Picchu for Winter Solstice and then saw the Inti Raymi festival on the 24th of June. Then we took off for our 5 week, 5 country trip around South America. We started in Bolivia (copacabana and la paz) and then flew to Santiago, Chile.  We then traveled by bus down to Villarrica, a beautiful town on a lake overlooking a volcano. We then went on to Pucon, an adventure sport town just 30 minutes away. Puerto Varas was next, part of the lake district in Chile. We visited Lago Todos Los Santos there, one of the most famous lakes in the area. Then a 6 hour bus ride through the Andes, over a very tall mountain pass to get to Bariloche, Argentina.  Bariloche is part of Patagonia and the lake district in Argentina. It is also a popular ski resort for rich folk in South America.  Beautiful place and offers many side day trips to other suburbs (we saw Colonia Suiza).  We took a 23 hour bus ride, ugh, to Buenos Aires, an enormous and beautiful city. A little day trip to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay was very charming.  Then we took another 20 hour bus ride up to Iguazu Falls at the junction of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.  The falls were really spectacular and I hope to go back again someday to see them by the full moon. We spent 3 days there and then took a taxi on a barge over to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, a knock off shoppers heaven. The next day we took a bus to Asuncion, Paraguay which was a lovely city with beautiful handicrafts and interesting, bloody history. Then we flew to Lima, and then Cusco on August 1st.  I was able to stay 3 more weeks in Cusco.   We learned how to cook some Peruvian dishes, visited local ruin sites, and got officially engaged!  We spent a lot of the rest of my time there wedding planning :)  Rachel and Jen, my good friends in SD came to visit Cusco and we spent several days traipsing around Cusco, the Sacred Valley, the ruins above Cusco, and even went on a 4 day Lares trek (just the four of us) to Machu Picchu!  It was such a blast to have them there with us in Peru.  Then sadly I had to leave to return to the states to start work again.  So, nose to the grindstone until Christmas when I'll go back a fourth time to see him. Click on our Trip Album to see our pics (via picassa) from our summer travels 2009. You can also access the same photos by going to the photo page and viewing the embedded slideshow there :)

how we met

My dream was to travel. As soon as I had a job and some money I started doing just that and my first destination, and my first real vacation in ten years, was Peru. I had always wanted to see Machu Picchu and Peru in general so I got a few friends together and we planned our trip for early August 2008. Our first destination was Lima to Cusco and then the next day off on the 4 days Lares Trek to Machu Picchu. We went for our briefing the night before and someone said “oh and Jose will be your guide.” I turned around and there he was and I was smitten. I felt safe and comfortable with him leading our group and he took good care of us, and of me. When I was really cold he gave me his pants, and when I was sick in Aguas Calientes he checked on me and then he invited me out (with the group) for the night the trek was over (7th). Anyway I ended up meeting him at the bar and then we went dancing and long story short we hit it off and decided to date long distance. My plan was to come back to see him the following summer but he asked me to visit earlier...so i returned to see him for the 2008 holidays. Click on my When We Met Album to see our pics (via picassa) from when we first met. You can also access the same photos by going to the photo page and viewing the embedded slideshow there :)