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Showing posts from July, 2007

Country #65: Carlsberg and a Danish

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On a recent 4 day break from "work", we did as the Europeans do and hopped on a cheap-o airline, Transavia, for a long weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark. I really enjoyed it and will write all about it soon , but in the meantime, here are some photos... UPDATE 09/06/07: OK, maybe "soon" actually meant six weeks later, but better late than...nah, can't do it. But I did want to blog about how really great Copenhagen was. Initially I chose Denmark for a variety of reasons. It was easy and cheap to get to from Amsterdam. I had heard good things about it from fellow travellers. And most importantly, it would be country #65 on my list. But, I never expected to like it as much

The final chapter aka For the love of Pepe

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For our last stop on the gringo trail, we opted to head towards Peru's Amazonian region. As much as I enjoyed visiting all those Inca ruins, I figured it would be a nice change of pace to relax in the jungle and get to see some wildlife. So we flew into Puerto Maldonado, where we were met by our guide, Jose Antonio, who would remain with us for the next five days. He led us a couple of hours down the Tambopata River to the Inotawa Lodge, which would be our home base. Once we arrived he gave us a tour of this lovingly created eco-lodge, its facilities and its residents. That is when I fell in love. Near the dining room/ bar area lived the lodge's most charismatic ambassador, an ultra-affectionate red howler monkey named Pepe. Pepe's mother had been killed by poachers when he was still very young and through a series of events, he came to live at Inotawa. The owners have tried twice to release him far from the lodge, b

How cool is this?

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My brother, Roland, downloaded this picture from my last post, worked some magic on it and voila, it looks like a brand new photo. I love it!!

And finally...Machu Pichu

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As promised, here are some pictures from the legendary Machu Pichu. I should note that I did quite a bit of editing when deciding which pictures to upload. Taking loads of pictures while traveling is nothing new for me (I once had a Japanese guide inform me that I "was worse than Japanese" when it came to picture-taking), but in this instance, I managed to end up with over 20 copies of the same picture. Well not exactly the same picture, but really darn close. The reason for this was that I followed the recommendation of every guidebook, blog and fellow traveller by arriving at Machu Pichu before sunrise. Everything I had read rhapsodized about the incredible beauty, the serenity, the magical experience that is watching the sun come over the mountain and engulf this mystical place. People rave about how at that moment, you can imagine the Inca priests wandering through the temple, offering up prayers and sacrifices to Waricocha. Who would not get u

Yet another interruption

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I feel I must apologize for interrupting the Peruvian soap opera just as I was about to get to the good part (not the part about my love affair with Pepe, but the part about my visit to Machu Pichu, one of the new seven wonders of the world ). Since my last post, I have packed up and moved to Amsterdam, my home for the next two months. I am still getting settled in and am busy trying to increase my phlegm production, so as to pronounce a word, any word, correctly in this befuddling language. I promise that when I get a bit more time, I will finish up the Peru serial with some Machu Pichu pics (and maybe even some of Pepe).