South America - La Paz

 

The team relaxing in the hotel lobby sampling the coffee.

 














Next stop,  La Paz, Bolivia. Snuggled high in the Andes Mountains, this city is located at an elevation of 3,660 meters above sea level, making it the world's highest capital city in the world. Our stop here provided us with only an afternoon and night to explore this very unique place. Originally our itinerary was set to stay a full day here but God knew that our team was going to have difficulties handling the altitude even for the few hours we were there.

La Paz, Bolivia

Walking the streets, going through the markets and then back to our hotel for a great dinner was all we had time for on this stop. The locals were not particularly fond of having their pictures taken unfortunately as all the aspects of this different culture sure was something to see.

Trip to South America

After a small stop in NYC, we were able to stay a day in Lima, Peru. Our visit started with a small nap to get back on track from the overnight flight. 

The adventure of Lima started 1:00 at when our tour guide met us at our hotel. The theme so far of this trip has been to travel and eat, travel and eat so naturally before the official tour was to start we were dropped off at Wa Lor a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Ordering Lunch in a Chinese restaurant with Spanish speaking waiters turned into quite the experience. Fortunately they did have menus with English descriptions, but as all the dishes were still quite foreign to us, the challenge was still very entertaining. 

The first stop was Huaca Pucllana or Pucllana Pre-Columbian Tomb. This temple now in the middle of a residential area was an Administrative and Ceremonial Center of the Lima Culture, a society that was developed at the Peruvian Central Coast between 200 AD and 700 AD.   In Lima, Sunday´s are considered a time to spend with your family or loved ones. The parks were full of people, bands performing and a lot of crazy traffic which gave us a great taste of the Peruvian culture.

Catacombs in Convento De San Francisco

Convento De San Francisco

The highlight of all sites seen on our tour was the visit to Convento De San Francisco. The history and architecture in this temple was so spectacular. For many of us the Biblioteca (Library) which contained 25,000 books dated from the 17th century was just amazing to see. The catacombs below the church with all the bones from those buried there, was for sure an interesting thing to see.   

El Parque del Amor, Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Love Park, Lima, Peru

Our great and very knowledgeable tour guide, Noella, took us to many other very interesting sites and parks which made for an amazing day in Lima, Peru! Our Last stop was theParque del Amor in Miraflores. This park was opened in 1993 on valentines day. The park features a prominent statue, "El Beso", of two lovers in a passionate embrace. The sculpture celebrates the lovers who gather to catch the sunset on the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It is said that the locals compete for the longest kiss under this statue every Valentine Day.

Just for the sake of a post

   This little church in Guysborough, Nova Scotia I photographed in the spring of 2010.
There's just something about small country churches : )

First ever, but definitely not the last cruise.

  Ya so we did our first ever cruise in the Eastern Caribbean in February 2010. What a great great time we had! The weather was perfect and the Independence of the Sea was amazing. The ship, the food, the shows (on ice and stage) and people were all great.

 

After a couple of days on the ship, we had a great day visiting St. Maarten. We took a cab over to the French side of the Island and  toured the neighborhoods and shops there for a while. We grabbed a cab and headed back to the Dutch side on time for lunch and then enjoy a great afternoon on the beach.  

                                                           

Nova Scotia Fences

"...Your fences are not mine, My fences are not yours, why do we have them anyway? ... You've set your boundaries, I've set mine. We've drawn the line. You've kept your guard up, I've kept mine. We think we're safe inside until we find the walls that once surrounded and protected are the walls that now divide." J. Varnadeau

Hints of Fall in Newfoundland

Scenes of Vermont