Bus Trip through the Andes

We boarded a bus in Santiago, Chile this morning and spent the next seven hours making our way to Mendoza, Argentina. The scenery going through the Andes was amazing, the bus was very comfortable, and the border stop was fairly quick and easy. We have not traveled much by bus, but we definitely consider it a viable option for future travel after this wonderful experience. We did have a little snag when we got to the bus station in Mendoza because we were unable to withdraw cash from the ATM and the taxis didn't take credit cards. But, ultimately we worked everything out with the help of our landlord and finally arrived at our home for the month, which is a huge and wonderful place, in a very nice neighborhood, in the heart of Mendoza. We have been having so much fun fast traveling the last couple of weeks, and we are still sort of amazed by all we have seen and done, but we are ready to slow down and settle in for a while. Jeff will be taking a Spanish class while we are here, and the rest of us have various projects and activities to work on.

Beautiful Chile

Beginning to wind through the Andes

Snowy mountains

So much color and texture

Potrerillos Lake

A long, winding road

The vineyards in Mendoza are massive and beautiful.
We may or may not drink some wine while we're here!

Our lovely courtyard at our home for the month

The Outskirts of Cusco

The AirBnB where we stayed last night was listed as "entire place," but the hostesses were actually staying in a room in the house, which was a little awkward but not terrible as they were very nice young ladies who stayed out of our business. Also awkward was the fact that the water went out completely after only two of us had had cold showers. The water, though still cold, was back on this morning, but the awkwardness continued when the next guests showed up while we were still on the premises. They were eager to shower and move into the rooms and just lingered while they waited for us to vacate. This was a very new AirBnB listing, and we feel sure they are still just working out the kinks. We just considered it a quirky travel experience and basically got a good chuckle out of it.

After breakfast, a driver picked us up for some sightseeing on the outskirts of Cusco. First we stopped at a wonderful little textile market. There were llamas and alpacas to feed, and we got to see a demonstration of how wool becomes textiles. It was fascinating, and we really loved it! Ruth and Weston even found some items to purchase in the market stalls, and I can tell you they got some really good deals.

Textile Market

When we left the market, we headed to a salt farm in the mountains. They harvest the salt that is formed from the natural minerals found in the mountain waters, and it is quite an impressive facility. The water is diverted to hundreds of different pools and several kinds of salt are formed and collected at the site.

Salt Farm

Later, we went over to a site called Moray, which is an agricultural area built in concentric circles at different elevations. Our driver suggested that we visit the restaurant at the top of the hill as he imagined it would be cheaper for us to purchase something there for lunch and then view the area from their perch on the hill than to purchase tickets to the actual site. He was very wrong about that as the set lunch menu, served in eight courses, was around $125 per person. The idea was that it was supposed to be an experience, but it was not worth the price tag to us, so we just ordered drinks, which was still about the same as buying tickets to the site, and moved on. It was a bizarre place but somewhat interesting, and there was a nice view of Moray.

Clockwise from top left: The restaurant, The coffee experience,
Hot chocolate, The chocolate experience, The distillery,
Distilled spirits containing local flora, Mata Cuy from distilled
sugar cane, Herbs hung up to dry

Moray

From there, we headed back to Cusco to catch a flight to Lima and then a connecting flight to Santiago, thus ending our time in Peru.

Santiago airport in the middle of the night

Family Fun

We were blessed to finish out 2017 and begin 2018 surrounded by family. We got to spend a few days with my side of the family before Christmas and then headed down to South Padre Island on Christmas Day to spend a week with Jeff's side of the family. We had so much fun and made so many wonderful memories!

Crazy Cousins

So thankful to have these two beautiful ladies in my life!

Shooting lessons and target practice with an expert

Cousins and best friends

South Padre House

We played lots of Trivial Pursuit

These crazies thought it was warm enough to get in the water!

So much beach fun!

This little lady loved the beach and
wanted to be out with the big kids!

It really doesn't get any better than this!

Max and Slade really bonded!

Celebrating Mimi and Grandpa's anniversary at Dirty Al's

The breakfast chefs at our house were amazing!

Victoria and Clay were so proud of their pancakes,
which they made with their very own pancake makers.

It was necessary to sit in the hot tub after a cold day at the beach.

A cold beach picnic

Uncle Alan was a good sport and let the kids bury him in the sand.

New Year's Eve on the beach commemorated in shells

New Year's Head Gear

Playing Mexican Train while waiting on midnight

Ready for the countdown

New Year's Day breakfast at Yummies Bistro

The Polar Bear Club

The Buckhorn Museum in San Antonio

Grandpa bought everyone a round of root beer at the Buckhorn,
since it claims to be the place that pioneered the idea during Prohibition.

Greetings from Alaska

We are in port in Juneau today, and we have Internet access, so I thought I'd check in. We boarded our Holland America cruise on the 25th, and have been having a wonderful time on board as well as at the two ports of call. It hasn't been nearly as cold as we were expecting, and for the most part, the seas have been pretty calm. The kids have been loving the kids' camps and have spent almost all their time there, hanging out with other kiddos. This has given Jeff and me a ton of time to attend some of the on board activities, take naps, and read lots of books. The library is a favorite spot for our whole crew, and of course, everyone loves the buffets and the dining room. We have had one gala night already, where we got to dress up in our formal wear, which was one of the things the kids were looking forward to the most about this cruise. We have seen bald eagles and whales and spectacular scenery and sunsets. We are having a blast and are glad we have a few more days to enjoy all the ship has to offer.

Everyone loves the library

Tennis on the sport court

Enjoying some couple time

This sunset lasted for over two hours and was amazing!

Gala Night

Towel animals are my favorite

A fun day in Ketchikan

The totems of Ketchikan were a huge hit

Juneau

A "beary" nice seat

Afternoon tea in the ship's dining room

Vancouver

Yesterday morning, we hopped up bright and early so we could make our way across the Canadian border and meet up with the guy we hired to drive our van to Alaska for us while we cruise up there. Since our Airbnb place wasn't going to be ready until around 3:00, we needed an entertaining place to spend the day where having all our belongings with us wouldn't be a problem. We settled on Stanley Park. It was a beautiful day, and the park offered playgrounds, grassy areas, basketball courts, gymnastic rings, a hollowed out tree hideout, beach access, a lovely walking path, restrooms, and picnic tables. It was pretty much a perfect place for us, and we ended up staying until about 7:00 (which was slightly longer than we intended because, frustratingly, Vancouver doesn't have Uber, which we didn't know ahead of time, so we had to track down a cab company that could carry all of us and all our stuff, plus took credit cards. And, when we did finally find one, we had to wait 40 minutes for them to show up. We've gotten so spoiled using Uber that this seemed like a hardship. In truth, everyone was happy hanging out at the park, so it wasn't really too much of an issue.) We did finally make it to our lovely little Airbnb, which reminded us of several places we stayed in Europe. We dropped off our stuff and then walked down to a very authentic Italian restaurant, further reminding us of good times in Europe.

Today has been more about taking care of business, as we needed to pick up a few necessities and get our laundry done before embarking on our Alaskan cruise tomorrow. We did have a wonderful breakfast at Knight and Day and then grabbed some sushi for dinner.

The homeless Watts arrive at Stanley Park

I found the beach for the first time on our trip,
and even though it was colder than a proper
beach trip should be, I soaked it up!

This kid and his amazing strength!

Searching for treasures

Clay spent hours hiding out in this tree

Best hideout ever!

One of two awesome playgrounds

I was bundled almost head to toe, and I never once thought about sunscreen. But the day left me with a lovely
 souvenir on the only exposed parts of my body.
You can't imagine how attractive it is.

Mountain view from our Airbnb