It has been a long time since I have posted and thought I would catch you up to date on what is happening! We are busy digging ourselves out of winter here in Montreal. Spring is just around the corner, I can feel it...temperatures are above 0 degrees Celsius! Sarah moved out a few weeks back and is enjoying her independence. John's business is going great guns and I am busy studying cultural anthropology. We went ice fishing a few weeks back with our friends Joseé and Pierre. We got up at 3:30 in the morning to be at their place by 5:00 am and head up to somewhere near Oka, called Lac des Deux Montagnes. It was freezing cold and the little shack took quite awhile to heat up. It was just about lunch time! The fish they first caught were little perch that were the size of the ones I dissected in Grade 8 Science class! They eat these little guys whereas I would have thrown them back! They did however catch a larger one at the very end of the day when their brother-in-law Denis came to save the day! The whole experience was not one John or I would repeat but it is one you must have when in Quebec!

June 1 - Lima

We got up at 4:30 this morning to catch our first of three flights to get back to Sao Paulo. We were advised to take the early morning one out of Iquitos as the night one is often cancelled due to rain. So we spent the day touring Lima. We rented a taxi for 5 hours for $50. US and he drove us all over including the Plaza de Armas where it was closed off for security reasons as the Presidential Palace is there and there were some sort of dignataries meeting there. We went into St. Francis church and got to walk through the catacombs underneath where over 25,000 people were laid to rest. We got to to go into the church library where they have an original copy of the Gutenberg bible...first one printed by a printing press. The church was beautiful and still had 40 Friars living there. We wandering through the 3 level market place after enjoying a great lunch at Tony Roma´s. So now I have Tony Roma´s in Vancouver, Hawaii and Lima....where next? We headed back to the airport and here I am updating the blog, again pictures will follow very shortly!

May 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 - Iquitos & The Amazon

We arrived at the Iquitos airport about 6:30 pm and were accosted by all the salesmen trying to sell us Amazon Jungle excursions. After much deliberation and working each company against the other we opted for the Loving Lights Lodge. We headed to the Hotel Maranon (3 stars), clean enough but nothing spectacular. The next morning we were picked up by Tyson, our salesman. He took us to buy rubber boots as it is very muddy in the jungle right now. We also stocked up on some beer, peanuts and of course chocolate for our little chocoholic! We arrived at the docks to meet our speedboat which we were to ride up the Amazon in for 3 hours to get to our lodge. They stopped at a small village where you were allowed to use the facilities which consisted of a sort of outhouse frame built over the water....no toilet seats or nothing! I chose to wait :) The children along the river are so adorable...they just seem to love foreigners. We reached our lodge only to find out that the water pump had broken that day and they tried to get another one but no luck so we had no running water for the entire stay of 3 days. However...Carlos, our guide took us out in the canoes where we could "shower" in the canoes over the side and we all washed our hair and bodies this way each day. Someone always had to keep baling the water out of the canoe while we "showered". It was great fun and after you got over the initial shock of the cool water it was very refreshing. Not sure how clean we really got as the Amazon is very muddy. The food was decent, the rooms not so clean but our guide, Carlos was very good. He took us out for a jungle watch where we saw a tarantula - *shiver*, all kinds of ants, a baby anaconda that one of the villagers had in a small wooden cage. We didn´t see much in the way of wild life but the walk was interesting just the same. The next morning he also took us for a long canoe ride along the Amazon where we got to observe all kinds of birds. Later in the day we went out fishing for piranha. We didn´t catch any but did catch 2 sardines and Carlos caught 5 or 6 mud fish. We used a little wooden pole with a 6 foot string on it and a hook with some chicken or fish bate - just like in Little House on the Prairies! We headed back to Iquitos on the 28th and ran out of gas on the Amazon about 15 minutes from Iquitos and had to get towed in by a smaller canoe with a motor. We decided to spend 3 days relaxing in Iquitos. We went to the Yellow Rose of Texas (Lonely Planet) and it was great, we ate breakfast and dinner there most days. We spent the 31st going to the Butterfly farm and a Reptile farm. At the Butterfly farm they had monkeys running free which were VERY tame and sooooo cute. They would crawl all over you and pick through your hair looking for bugs! Then you got to pick through their hair and they kept going back and forth doing this. They were exceptionally clean. The butterflies were beautiful and the owner only spoke Spanish so with Sarah´s translation we got some information but not all. The farm also takes in injured or orphaned animals there and they had a jaguar, tapir and some beautiful parrots! We headed next to the Reptile farm where I held a 15 foot anaconda around my shoulders with the guide and also held a baby cayman alligator along with a turtle and a few birds. Yes, I have pictures but can´t load them here...will in a couple of days. It poured on the Amazon on the way back and we all got completely soaked! We got in our Tuk Tuk (3 wheeled motorcycle with a buggy over the wheels) The driver got water in his carburator so the trip home took at least three times as long as we had to stop about 6 times for him to dry it out!

May 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 - Cuzco, Agua Calientes & Machu Picchu

Wow, here we are in Cuzco and we have opted for a nice hotel called the Royal Inca II. It has this very cool inner courtyard that is full of plants potted and hanging everywhere and has a sunroof. We are just off the main square Plaza de Armas which is full of taxis!! Only 1 in 20 vehicles is a regular car. The traffic is kinda like Montreal where you have to watch for the cars and not the other way around. There are local people everywhere trying to sell you something which does get a little tiring after a while and you learn to not even see them! However we did get sucked in for some chocolate by a little boy who spouted off our current Prime Minister and the capital, I was impressed and bought 3 chocolate bars for 5 Soles ( about $2. CDN) Our first morning we celebrated their national holiday in the square where they had a small parade, the military band played and the military scaled down the wall of the church from the bell tower - all while we sipped our morning coffee and tea from the upper level coffee house. We arranged to go to Machu Picchu on the 22 and 23 staying over night in Agua Calientes for 1 night at a great little hostel called Gringo Bill´s (its in the Lonely Planet) Very cean and very funky design with lots of stonework and mural paintings done by locals. We took the bus up to Machu Picchu and had our guide Sonja give us a 2.5 hour tour which was not nearly enough but we did get to watch the sunset set behind the mountains while sitting in the middle of Machu Picchu...how many of you can say that? :) Machu Picchu is absolutely breathtaking, amazing, wonderful and so very very cool!! So very worth every penny and more! The Inca´s were so ahead of their time with astrological, agriculture and structural design. We headed back to Cuzco the next day on the late train arrving at our hotel later in the evening and we grabbed a great meal at an Italian resturant on the Plaza de Armas....a little pricey but well worth it! We flew out of Cuzco the next morning to Iquitos via Lima.

May 20 - Cuzco

We woke up really early to catch the 8:00 train via Perurail to Cuzco. The ride took about 10 hours. Mid way the train stopped at the highest point which was 4100 metres and we got out to shop for 15 minutes. The little girls in the picture posed for us for a couple of Soles. As you can see in one of the pictures they have snow here too!

May 19, 20 - Puno

We left at Copacabana at 1:30 in the afternoon and after a 3 hour bus ride we arrived at 3:30 due to a time change in Puno, Peru. We immediately took a tour to the "Floating Islands" which are on Lake Titicaca. The inhabitants of these islands fleed from the mainland a very long time ago to avoid war with the Incas. They hid in the reeds in their reed boats and eventually created the islands out of the boats. The boats became soggy in the center and they kept adding reeds to keep it afloat and eventually this expanded into the islands.

May 18, 19 - Copacabana, Bolivia

We left La Paz at 8:30 am and arrived in Copacabana just after lunch. Beautiful resort town on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Amazing energy but Sarah still got sick! Sarah says bad karma in the first hostel we were in and then we switched and miraculously she felt better within half an hour!

May 16, 17, 18 - La Paz

Sorry it has been so long but we have been on the move. We last commented while we were in the airport at Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We finally got our flight out of there at 2:30 in the morning arriving at La Paz, Bolivia at around 4:30 am. We all were immediately feeling the affects of the altitude of 4,100 metres. We went directly to our hotel...yes hotel as we really wanted a good night sleep with all the comforts, and we slept for about 5 hours. John had no trouble with the the altitude, Sarah was good and I needed help!! I got some oxygen brought to the room and it helped for a bit and I kept drinking the coca tea which also helps. The next day we went to the ruins of the Tiwanaku culture which was founded approximately 400 BC. We walked throught the ruins and learned all about the culture. Bolivia(Tiwanaku) and Peru (Machu Picchu) each claim their ancient culture is the original Inca civilization according the the people in each contry. Bolivia is a very inexpensive place - we fed ourselves full blown meals with beer for all three of us for less than $10. US. The Bolivian people are very friendly and helpful in their colourful native clothing.

May 15th Santa Cruz, Bolivia

We took the bus to the Argentinian side instead of paying some tour guide $30. US each to drive us to the entrance....bus was only about $15. US for all of us! The Argentina side of falls are wonderful and are much more spectacular than Niagra Falls. There were monkeys playing in the trees and these little raccoon like animals that were sooooo tame. I haven`t been able to find out what they are called yet...will keep you posted. It was a great way to spend Mother´s Day! We arrived in Santa Cruz to catch our connecting flight to La Paz...supposedly only a couple hours later but turns out the flight was cancelled and the next flight has been delayed also until 2:30 in the morning. So we are wasting time in the airport updating our blog for you all...again with no pictures as there is no USB port available. We Left Iguacu Falls and got a connecting flight in Sao Paulo, Santa Cruz and then eventually La Paz...we hope :) For those of you may have caught the news and saw the riots in Sao Paulo yesterday and today, not to worry we are safe and sound as we only pàssed through the airport. The riots were all over Sao Paulo and Santos and martial law has been implemented through out the state of Sao Paulo which means you just aren`t allowed to leave your house. Until next time, Adios!

May 12, 2006 - Iguassu Falls

Hello everyone! We have reversed our itinerary and we have spent the last 6 days touring southern Brazil. We headed out from Santos to Curitiba where we took the 3 hour train ride to Morrentes. It didn't go to Paranagua but that was good because Morrentes is a sleepy little town that is very clean, colourful and warm! Pictures to follow when we can get to a place to post them! We then took the train back to Curitiba and spent the night with family of Sarah's first host family. They were absolutely hospitable and wonderful to us. We then headed down to Florianopolis by bus which was a very pleasant ride during the day and we got to see the countryside and ocean views galore. We stayed at a great little bed and breakfast which only cost us 105 Reais for all of us per night. (about $50. CDN) The food and beer is cheap. We had a huge plateful of yummy deepfried shrimp and 3 huge beers (600 ml) for only 33 Reais ($17. CDN) They serve beer in big bottles and give you little glasses that you keep filling up. The breakfasts here consist of lots of cafezinja, bread, baked goods and fresh fruit and juices and the ever present portuguese buns with ham and cheese. Lunches are the main meal and they eat dinner at around 9:00 pm which seems to be just as big! We hiked up a mountain and took in the beautiful view of the area around our B & B and all the white sand beaches that are everywhere! We headed out after a couple of days by bus (this time 13.5 hours) to Iguassu Falls arriving just this morning at 6:30 am. We went to check into our next hotel and discovered flat hard beds....not so good after a long bus ride so we went wandering around and found a better hotel with better beds and crashed for 3 hours. Our first plan was to eat and then figure out how to get to Bolivia and the Salt Flats....who knew how difficult this was going to be arranging for flights from one country to another. The airlines only fly from the capital or very large cities with international airports and then to your little destination. There seems to be a lot of backtracking and we have decided to cut out the Salt Flats more for reasons of lack of time. (yes another is in the plans) Everything does seem to take longer to do which is fine but we don't want to be rushed with Machu Picchu and the Amazon. We had some bad news about our puppy Connie. She had not been feeling well for past month or so and we knew her time was short and she passed away on Sunday night. Thank you to Lorenzo for being there for her and taking care of everything! She will be missed very much by us as she is part of our family. Other than that we are all doing well and will try to keep you posted more frequently but travelling has limited us somewhat. Posting pictures seems to be a challenge too due to equipment. Tchau for now!

We arrived in Santos!

We left Montreal and flew to Toronto where we met up with an old friend of John's, Agathe, at the airport for a coffee. We hadn't seen her for 15 years! We then boarded the plane to Sao Paulo. Sarah and Muthuldie (Sarah's host mom) picked us up from the airport. It was great to see Sarah. The airport was kinda like Honolulu airport with all the greenery and open air feeling. We headed back to Sarah's first family (Beatriz and Carlos) for lunch anoyd unpacking. Sarah is speaking portguese very well and is our translator for the day. We went shopping at the mall and bought some things for Sarah for our trip and later that night we went out for dinner and beer. Beer is soooooo cheap. $1.50 CDN for 600ml bottle of beer. We then came home and crashed as we only had about 3 hours sleep on the plain. The next day was Sarah's 19th Birthday. We got up and went with Carlos and Sarah to her favorite beach where we suntanned and played in the waves. They sang Happy Birthday to her in Portuguese and English. The food and drinks are all cheap!! Everything is good and the people are very friendly! I am learning to speak a little portuguese and feel very comfortable here. I have attached a few photos of Agathe, Sarah at the beach and her birthday party.

Connie our dog

I needed to practice posting pictures to our blog so I knew what I was doing for our trip. Connie, our American Cocker Spaniel is the lucky draw winner today. She turned 14 in March and loves to sleep all day. She is almost fully deaf now and can see on good days. She is the sweetest dog! I don't think she is going to be too happy when we go away as we are definately part of her pack!