Back on the road again

Back when we were still in South America, we talked about going to
China next. Since a number of my young cousins are of marriageable
age, we thought we would pick a wedding to make our next trip.

A couple of weeks ago when we were given a wedding date of 12/18, John
declared, "our easy days are over." For a second, I took him to mean
that we needed to be go back to work :( This summer we have been
indulging in reading, bicycling, gorging on home cooked food, and being

hermits in general, while there is much reading, studying Spanish,

and more blog writing leftover from our South America travels. I
shrink from the prospects of piling on more. Bagging countries may
have been some kind of objective before. It is no longer a concern,
though we do love covering new territories. So, we decided to only go
to China and Taiwan, putting off the staggering research and

sweltering heat of Mainland and Maritime Southeast Asia for another time.

We are flying to San Fransisco 11/29, then to Shanghai 12/5. After
the wedding, we will fly to Taiwan 12/24 and be back in Shanghai 1/21 for Chinese
New Year. After Chinese New Year, we will fly to Kunming. We plan to
travel around in western Yunnan and then into Sichuan. We will fly
back from Shanghai to San Fransisco 4/12. After that, our plans are
still open.

Typical Day

A friend asked me the other day "So, what's a typical day like when you are traveling?" I had to think about it for a few seconds. Actually, there are three types of typical days for us.

First, travel days. On the last trip of 230+ days we had about 100 travel days. A typical travel day means getting up early, but not too early, eating breakfast, packing, checking out of the hotel, walking if at all possible to the bus station, getting on the bus and riding 4 to 6 hours to our next destination. We like to travel during the day; somewhat for safety, but mostly to enjoy the scenery. On arriving in the new town (sometimes in a new country) we check out onward connections at the bus station, find the local tourist office, search for the perfect hotel (Wi-Fi, private bath, and hot showers required), then locate places to to get food: vegetarian restaurants, traditional markets, and supermarkets.

Second, day trips. The point is to get out of of the town  preferably by walking, taking a local bus or train, or some mix of each. The day trips we like the best are either all day hikes that start from the hotel, or short bus rides to a nearby small, walkable town with a lively local market - arriving on market day is the best.

Third, urban wandering in which we set out from the hotel with a walking tour and/or map in hand and precede to see all the local sites with a break at noon for the set lunch menu in a vegetarian restaurant. On the best day we also eat street food, see an unexpected awesome Art Deco building or two, encounter some real religion, visit the best museum in town for free, and ride public transportation.

It's a rare day that we just cool our heels in our hotel but it did happen on election day in Ecuador.

Dinner party May 21st

Back in Argentina we realized what we really needed is to do some drinking and eating with friends and family when we get back home. So,we are planning a dinner party on Saturday May 21 at our home in Raleigh. I will try out some new foods and drinks we learned from this trip.  I want to get started on menu planning. If we do not already know you are coming, please let us know. All future communications on this will be moved to email.

We are looking forward to lots of catching up!

At the airport pickup in Roanoke, Virgina.


The Dinner Table - May 21, 2011

Accidental South Florida

Because the accursed Spirit Airlines canceled our original flight, we find ourselves with extra days to kill in dull-ville Fort Lauderdale instead of atmospheric Peru. We had resigned ourselves to dedicate this time to rest and reentry. However, as we are not used to low gear, a day was planned for South Beach, Miami for a revisit to the art deco buildings.

Getting from Fort Lauderdale to South Beach on public transportation turned out to be an interesting research project that intrigued both of us. We eventually settled on taking the express bus e95 (just a 10 minute walk from our hotel) to downtown Miami and then transferring to one of several regular beach bound buses.

South Beach was a success, since John took 500+ photos in a 6-hour span, which in my estimation, was not only a trip record, but a personal record for him. That was not a surprise. What really impressed us was the e95 bus! We first became enamored with Bus Rapid Transit in Bogota, Columbia. Since then we came across it in several cities. But in South Florida?! We chose the BRT over the train because of the frequency, speed, and cost. The bus went 26 miles on I95 in the express lane without a single stop, came every 15 minutes, and cost $2.35. Both ways the bus was about 90-95% full, of mostly commuters. In Fort Lauderdale, people mostly drove to the bus stop; in Miami they walked and transferred to other public transportation.

This trip has opened up new ideas for public transportation for us. There seem to be so much physical, social, and cultural barriers to public transportation in this country. The e95 has given me much hope.

E95 Bus at the Broward BLVD stop.


Couple of Miami Beach Art Deco buildings. More to come!

Savoring Lima Centro

Downtown Lima is supposed to be an unsavory place. When we came through in December, we based ourselves in the fashionable Miraflores district, but found Centro to be more of our liking, so we are staying in Centro this time, which turned out to be an excellent idea.

Downtown Lima is humming with activities and people. Being at the end of our travels, we are taking it easy, popping into churches whenever their doors are open, a bit of shopping here and there, sampling the numerous vegetarian restaurants. Friday night there was a free outdoor concert by the National Youth Symphony orchestra. Saturday the city sponsors a series of events at one of the parks; the Literature Museum shows a free art-house movie. All week there was a book fair in front of the Government Palace.

Peru has exceeded our expectations. For a developing country, Peru feels very sophisticated. In spite of the high tourist volume, we found the people very genial. They are polite, helpful, and hardworking, more so than their neighbors. Not to mention that every bus ride is amazingly scenic. We are already plotting the route for our next visit to Peru.

Symphony Rehearsal in front of the Cathedral on Plaza de Armas.


Lunch at Marvalous affinity Vegetarin Restaurant - Carabaya 715 - Lima, Peru


The old downtown train station is now a Library and Museum. This is the indoor reading room.


Concert - Parque de La Muralla.


Iglesia de San Francisco - Lima Centro.


A book fair in front of the Government Palace in Lima.