Vansterdam

Meanwhile in Vancouver...it is so commonplace that signs are put up with zip ties.

... you don't! A running list of flubs. 20200521 - Roxanne after dancing to Macklemore 'Downtown' and a rough day at work found out that it is "worthwhile" not "worthwild". Kyle said, "Worthwild would be a great company name." 20200114 - Roxanne while doing yet another crossword puzzle, learned that the furry class rodent you had in elementary school is “hamster” not the previously thought of “hampster” Kyle too was shocked. Jaime thought we were the dumbest smart people he’d ever met. 20181128 - Roxanne while doing a crossword puzzle learned that and off week in football is a "bye" week not a "buy" week. 20181115 - Kyle thought Tony Hawk was in the Free Fallin' music video, he wasn't. 20181111 - Roxanne has no idea how tides work in special circumstances. Also, has no idea why the Bay of Fundy is special. 20181110 - Kyle thought that the natural bridge in the Shenandoah Valley was one of the natural w...

At nearly 12,000 feet, Cusco can literally be BREATHTAKING! And so can the size of the stones at Sacsayhuaman (said like Sexy Woman)!!! What is even cooler is that these stones have been sculpted to fit one another so well that they have survived all the earthquakes for over hundreds of years. It is thought that they were sanded with meteorites and now are so magnetic that compasses spin endlessly. Unlike Lima, Cusco is no desert. Check out these gardens, which used to house the llamas in Incan times. The last stop on the tour was the markets. All I can say is that  cherimoya is my new favorite fruit!

We had a great time in Peru, but by far the best parts of the trip were the parts after Lima with our tour guide Carlos. If you need a little refresher on the history of Machu Picchu, 'cause I did, you may want to start here . Otherwise, here's our perspective... The train ride to Agua Calientes (where you must go to catch the bus up to Machu Picchu) was magical. It has a "360 degree view" which means there are windows in the ceiling of the train car. But really, the views were breath taking. Upon arriving to Machu Picchu, the views are nonstop. After an obligatory class picture, we were off on the Inca Bridge hike/path. While there isn't much of a 'bridge', the hike up there was a bit harrowing. The path at times was only about 3 feet wide, which was a vast improvement from the Incan paths (which were originally about a foot wide). After the wonderful hikes, we had a drink at the best bar in the world....

Between Cusco and Machu Picchu we stayed at a beautiful resort in the city of Urubamba in the Sacred Valley. We dined on Guinea Pig, a delicacy. Visited Pisaq, an Incan site. And while there are no photos of it. We saw the most beautiful night sky. The southern hemisphere stars and Milky Way are foreign and yet strangely familiar. We would later learn that the Incan's  instead of forming stories around star constellations, they formed stories around the negative space in the Milky Way.

As part of Kyle's EMBA program, his team (True Grit) worked with Aldeas and had the privilege to visit one of the schools/villages. The moms of the villages were the ones who built the school in the style of "Mike Greeson" according to Kyle. There is no denying, the kids loved the instruments (donated in part by their team). Of course all that hard work requires a good rest!