Photo Update-- the lazy man's blog post

In November and December we have had all sorts of little adventures and expeditions. We visited a waterfall, got soaked at a waterfall, jourenyed into Cusco for a nostalgic dose of consumerism, and did some quality hiking. We visited ruins, slid along wires far above the ground, and of course, celebrated a Peruvian Christmas. To share all the fun, I'm happy to present: The collected scraps and detritus from these last months' photos!

 We hiked about half an hour up from the small town of Calca to this beautiful waterfall. Along the way, we inadvertently harvested some tasty Capuli berries from the tree of an angry farmer. To be fair, I can't comment on his emotional condition when young hooligans AREN'T raiding his produce. He may be a very pleasant person. At the waterfall, we climbed in to get a better look. We also got soaked-- or at least I did. I think that I acted as a human shield for the girls, because I was the only one who was still properly dripping when we reached the highway for a cold car ride back.

 In Cusco for some Christmas shopping, we came across supermarkets with pine-and-snow themed decorations. Besides the oddness of seeing pine and snow after our half year of rain, sun, and leafs, the supermarket itself felt oddly large and impersonal. I can't imagine visiting Costco after I return from a town of street-side stalls.

 Hiking! We had a fantastic little picnic in a field high up in the mountains. The hike up was colorful. The path was ambiguous, we had to forge a river, and there was a bit of bush-whacking. Corny metaphor man is foaming at the mouth, ready to point something out about the nature of our path through Peru. Meanwhile, broad generalization man would like draw your attention to the way that our Peruvian companions treated the situation. As is so often the case, the Peruvians immediately accepted obstacles and started working on ways around them. When we found the river to high to cross, with no visible trail on the other side, they fanned out to search for a narrow point. They piled rocks, tossed backpacks across, leapt, waded, and hopped across. Peruvians always impress me with their direct approach to problems.

Christmas! My family stayed up late on the 24th to open presents at midnight. As you can see in the photos, they had an elaborate nativity scene. Not pictured is the marathon tournament of life that kept the kids distracted until midnight, the midnight toast of champagne and vanilla wafers, or the piles of wrapping paper that sprouted as the kids attacked their presents. It was a fun time.

I met a sheep.

While we were visiting the ruins at Chincherro.

Where we found this incredible Incan stone version of a park bench

And this rock where stone blocks were quarried.

This is the type of view that belongs on desktop backgrounds or ranch dressing bottles. Just stunning. I took this photo from a mountain where we were ZIP-LINING!

We had a fantastic, adrenaline-filled morning. At one point, we got a wee bit stuck on the wire and had to haul ourselves in. So that was fun.  

It has been an incredible 4 months-- I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.