Celebrating 20 Years

On the 22nd, Jeff and I hit a major milestone in our marriage: our 20th anniversary. This momentous occasion called for a grand celebration, so we took ourselves to an all-inclusive resort in Costa Rica for a week while my amazing mom stayed with the kids and got them to all their various activities. Costa Rica was a new country for us (country 43 to be exact), and we loved it! We spent most of our time relaxing at the resort and indulging in the wonderful food and beverages, walking on the beach, watching the local wildlife, participating in included activities, and visiting the spa. On our actual anniversary, we spent the day away from the resort, hiking in the rainforest at the Rincón de la Vieja National Park, which was amazing. I am including picture collages of the highlights of each day.

Jeff and I are proud of our marriage and the life we've built together. I'm so incredibly thankful that he chose me all those years ago and that we still have forever to look forward to! 

Day One:
A pic from the plane as we approached the coast;
A welcome drink;
All the desserts;
A walk on the beach;
The first of many iguana sightings;
Sunset on Playa Conchal

Day Two:
Iguana entertainment at breakfast;
A special towel animal;
An anniversary cake delivered to our room;
The most amazing sunset of the week;
Thatch-roofed restaurant;
Celebrating a few days early

Day Three:
A sunrise walk on the beach (after ordering off the After-Midnight room service menu at 4:30);
We found a little love on the rocky end of the beach;
Restaurant floral arrangement;
Two-toned squirrel busy in the tree outside our room;
Another awesome sunset;
Our first coati spotting

Day Four:
Our first time to see a calabash tree;
Pedicures at the spa (Jeff's first, and my first at a resort);
A howler monkey making his way across the resort grounds;
Spectacular views of the golf course;
Cocktail making class;
A poisonous yellow-bellied sea snake

Day Five:
One of the huge strangler fig trees in Rincón de la Vieja National Park;
20 years of adventure;
One of many Blue Morpho butterflies;
La Cangreja waterfall was our reward for hiking through the rainforest;
Turtle towel friend;
Sushi dinner at Bamboo

Day Six:
Sushi making class;
The chocolate bomb dessert at Catalinas;
Incredible night sky;
My happy place

Day Seven:
Our last walk on the beach;
A beautiful send-off;
The rainbow was an added bonus;
Wrapping up the trip with a spa package that included a massage, reflexology treatment, and manicure;
Palm tree in paradise;
The big daddy of all iguanas. Man, he was huge!);
Costa Rican coffee class;
Crème brûlée and a "French Kiss" last hoorah

Back in Texas

We flew all night and were terribly spoiled in the First Class cabin. We finally made it back to DFW around 5:30 this morning. Even at that early hour, Summer took us into her sweltering embrace, and it was quite a shock since yesterday Winter had us firmly in his grasp. Since some of our people stayed up all night watching movies on the plane instead of sleeping, they were completely wiped out when we got back to the house and crashed immediately. Those who remained awake were in a flurry of activity, checking the mail, cooking, buying groceries, unpacking, and taking care of the neglected business of the last two months.

So spoiled in First Class

Five minutes prior: "I'm not sleepy. I just want to play."

Our first order of business was to shower and store up some water to use throughout the day because we had a notice attached to our front door stating that the city would have our water off from 9:00 until 4:00 today. Ironically, our list of things we were especially looking forward to contained both "hot water" and "flushing toilets" since our last place in Santiago was a little inconsistent on both of those points.

Later in the morning, Jeff took Ruth to the DMV to try to set up an appointment to do her driving test so she can officially become a licensed driver. The first available appointment was a month from now, which was obviously disappointing. But, when they got home, Ruth searched around for other appointments at other offices throughout the state of Texas and finally found one for Monday...in Wichita Falls.

In the afternoon, when everyone was rested up, we celebrated Max's half-birthday by seeing Incredibles 2 in the theater, picking up donuts and ice cream, and watching a couple of other movies at home. 

Viña del Mar and Valparaíso

We hopped up early this morning so we could join a tour to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso. The drive takes about an hour and a half and takes you through the coastal mountains, which are much lower in elevation than the Andes--an hour and a half in the other direction--and where much of the country's produce is grown. We saw vineyards, olive groves, citrus farms, and several other kinds orchards and farms. And then, at some point, we saw nothing more because the fog is very thick in that valley and doesn't lift until temperatures climb a little higher. We made four stops in Viña del Mar: Quinta Vergara, which is a park honoring the city's founding family; the city's famous flower clock; a tiny beach; and a restaurant by the sea where we had lunch.

A vineyard in the Chilean Coastal Range

A church in Viña del Mar

Stadium in Quinta Vergara

The famous flower clock

Acapulco Beach

Lunch at Nogaro

Climbing + spinning + ocean=
Perfection for two little boys

After lunch, we made the short drive to Valparaíso. The driver took us to the top of one of the city's famous hills, Cerro Allegra, and our tour guide walked us down the steep streets and stairs of the colorful city, which allowed us to take in as many of the colors and as much of the street art as we could. It is a very unique city and a sight to behold. We had actually planned to stay in Valparaíso for a few days, but we changed our plans at the last minute. We loved visiting, but we decided we were happy with our choice to make it a day trip.

Colorful Stairway

Houses in every color

Mural and stairs

Happy house

Street Art

Street of faces

Box Jumpers

Tree Climber

Ascensor El Peral

Beautiful Valparaíso

Getting where we're going

Travel life is always full of surprises--some of them exciting and amazing, some them simply curious, and some of them not all that pleasant. On our way to El Colorado ski resort in Chile, I think we experienced all of them.

Since Uber doesn't exist in Argentina, and since all taxis in Mendoza are the exact same small size, we knew we needed to get two cabs to take us to the airport. What we didn't know was if we would find one available taxi, much less two. But to our delight, there were exactly two taxis waiting at the taxi stand near our house.

When we got to the airport and it was finally our turn in the check-in line, we found out there was some sort of computer glitch or problem that was preventing the airline from printing boarding passes and luggage tags. So, instead, the agent had to hand write each of our boarding passes and luggage tags, which was no fast process. It did serve as a good reminder to our kids of why we always plan to arrive at the airport so early, which they sometimes feel annoyed by.

Our long delay at check-in meant we didn't have to wait very long before they called for passengers of our flight to line up for boarding. But then we stood there for a good 30 minutes, long after our stated departure time, without any updates. Finally, we started boarding, though no other announcements were ever made. Whatever problem they were having also prevented them from scanning boarding passes (most of which had actually been printed), so they had to account for all of us on a manual roster. But eventually, we were all loaded up and made the one-hour flight, arriving at the exact time we left because of a time change.

Our first order of business was to load up on groceries to take out to the ski resort since we had heard there was only one little store on the mountain offering few choices at high prices. We called the largest Uber available, which stated it could comfortably seat six. But that apparently meant six smallish people without so much as a handbag. By the time we got our bags loaded, we were down to just five seats. We went ahead and crammed in for the short trip to the store, but then we had to figure out our next move for taking the hour-and-half drive up the mountain with our our newly purchased groceries added to our regular bags. Ultimately, we decided to just ride in two vehicles up the mountain.

When the first car arrived, the driver refused to take us up the mountain because he wasn't familiar with the road and didn't want to drive on it at night. So, we called a third car. But when the second vehicle arrived, it was a large minivan that could easily hold all of us, our groceries, and our bags. We cancelled the third car and headed up the mountain together.

Thirty minutes into our trip, the road was closed to ascending traffic and wouldn't reopen for a couple of hours. We had to head back to Santiago, and I was so thankful we had all ended up in the same vehicle because it would have been very difficult to coordinate so many moving parts in Spanish.

We weren't sure if we would be able to find another driver to take us up the mountain so late at night, and we thought we might have to stay in Santiago for the night and try again in the morning. But our sweet driver, who was himself a father of four (which is why he had the extra-large van), agreed to drop us off at a coffee shop and wait for us until time to go back up the mountain. He would only allow us to buy him a snack in compensation. He was such a lifesaver--just the right person at just the right time!

It was a wacky day with some crazy twists and turns, but we did finally make it to El Colorado, where Jeff and the kids will ski all week and I will entertain myself in whatever ways I can, which will likely include reading, writing, and warm beverages, since I was not cleared by my knee surgeon to ski on this trip. It is a beautiful place, and we are so glad to be here!

Flying in to Santiago

Leaving Santiago on our first trip up the mountain

Another Fun Week in Mendoza

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post! As usual, there has been plenty going on, but the days have been getting away from me to record all of it. I started my proofreading course, which has been interesting and informative and a little humbling. Weston and Max have been engrossed in their books. Ruth has been writing a story of her own. Clay has been very busy drawing, playing, and practicing his Spanish. And Jeff moved up to the next level of Spanish classes.

We've also gotten together with friends a few times, visited a chocolate factory, eaten some fabulous and cheap food, taken a couple of lovely hikes, played at parks, and watched a couple of World Cup games. It's been a wonderful week!

La Cabaña Chocolate Factory 

Good eats and drinks--at home and out

Date night at Don Aldo

Cutie Clay
(At his favorite playground, playing the "drums" at the house,
at the chocolate factory,  and doing pull-ups at the park)

A walk in the park

Out and about in Mendoza
(Weston with a huge calzone, a beautiful abandoned building,
Clay at the art store, the amphitheater at one of the plazas,
swing picnic table, walking by one of the acequias that makes
Mendoza so lush, a church, one of many sidewalk cafes)

Cerro de la Gloria hike

World Cup Watching

Various combinations of us have gone out at different times this week.

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

Cusco and Machu Picchu

Not all travel is easy or goes according to plan. We left Iquitos early on Monday morning. We flew to Lima and were to connect to Cusco, where we were to be met by a driver and driven to a town a couple of hours away to catch a train to Aguas Calientes, where we would stay for the night. But when we got to Lima, we found we had randomly been bumped from our flight, which meant we wouldn't be able to make our other connections during the day. Jeff worked with the airline, trying to figure out our options, while I ran upstairs to the train ticket office to try to reschedule our train trip.

Eventually, we made it as far as Cusco, where by happy accident we had an apartment waiting for us, since we had booked it for the wrong night. We were worn out from a day of travel and stresses but walked over to one of the main plazas to buy our tickets for Machu Picchu, only to find that ticket office closed. Inquiries at a travel agency revealed there was another ticket office not far away that was likely still open. So, Jeff ran over there while the rest of us hung out in the plaza. Finally, with tickets in hand, Jeff returned, and we all breathed a sigh of relief as our last kink of the day worked out. Then we popped into a chocolate shop for some samples before eating dinner next door at Chicha. It was a nice restaurant with delicious food, and we got to try some popular local fare, including alpaca and guinea pig.

The streets of Cusco reminded us of Europe

A building in the plaza flying the Cusco flag

Double "Giddy-up Horsey"

The Choco Museo

Cuy (guinea pig) and blue corn crepes

Alpaca carpaccio

Alpaca curry

This morning, we caught a very early train at a station outside of Cusco and had a lovely ride up to Aguas Calientes, where we caught a bus that took us up to Machu Picchu. It was so surreal to be in a place that I have typically thought of only as a National Geographic photo. It was amazing and worth all the trouble, and we had a wonderful day making happy memories!

Train ride to Aguas Calientes
(Top left--There was no power in the train station when we arrived,
but there were several propane heaters set up throughout the station.)

Killing the Bucket List!

Machu Picchu