Admirals Lounge, Santiago, Chile

Hi All!

Since Peru, we have spent the past week in Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina. We have enjoyed every last bit of it and can't even believe it's time to come home. We have had such an amazing time. There will be pictures to post when we get back as we haven't had a chance to upload our last week's adventures.

Currently, we are enjoying our first class status with drinks in the Admirals lounge. What a great way to end the trip!

Hope you are all doing well! We look forward to seeing our Seattle family and friends soon and look forward to a trip to SF in the near future! We miss you all!!

XOXO
Ashley & Jon

Cuzco, Peru and Machu Picchu

March 9th (Cuzco, Peru)
Llamas and a cute native girl on the streets of Cuzco

first day of 4 day trek on the Inca Trail

camp on night 1 - lucky for us a local Andean was selling beer nearby

our highest pass on day 2 - Dead Woman's Pass at 13,829 ft.!

our guide, Freddy, passing out shots of rum at the summit of our 2nd pass of the day

Machu Picchu!! (in clouds and rain)

March 10th-13th (the Inca Trail)

We set out on our 4 day/3 night trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We lucked out with the weather with only evening rain until our last day....rain and clouds at Machu Picchu! It was a great trek and still an amazing sight to see even in the rain.

March 14th (Cuzco, Peru to Santiago, Chile)

Today we head back down south to Santiago for our last 9 days!! We are spending some time in the coastal town of Valparaiso and then heading to Mendoza, Argentina to spend our last few days of vacation in wine country!!

Amazonían Ecuador!

squirrel monkey

Jon aiming a blowgun

tamarind monkey

jungle hike!

swimming with caiman and piranhas

March 3rd-6th (Amazonía Ecuador)

After the Galápagos we spent 3 nights and 4 days in the jungle! We stayed at a great ecolodge, Napo Wildlife Center, that is 100% owned by the native community. We did a lot of canoeing, hiking, and wildlife spotting! We saw 6 different monkey species, swam in a dark lake with caiman, piranhas, and 9 ft. fish, and saw lots of HUGE insects!!! Cockroaches galore!!

Quito and the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

February 19th (Quito, Ecuador)
We arrived in Quito from Puerto Montt and explored the city for a few days. This is at a nice café overlooking the city.

Galápagos sea lion and sally light-footed crabs

marine iguana

marine iguanas

marine iguana

sea turtle blue footed boobie!

flightless cormorant

Galápagos penguins

Bartolome Island

great frigate bird (male looking for a mate)

land tortoise

land tortoise

cutest little sea lion pup!

more beauty

lazy sea lions basking in the sun in paradise

February 22nd - March 1st (Galápagos Islands)

The most amazing place on earth! (that we've seen!!) We spent 7 nights on a boat in paradise traveling from island to island looking at all these crazy creatures! We got to swim and snorkel everyday too and saw tons of crazy marine life including a white tip shark and a huge manta ray!! Definitely the trip of a lifetime!!

March 2nd (Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador)

Here we stand at the middle of the earth! (actually this isn't the real equator. 12 years ago they discovered they were 240 meters off, but not bad for 18th century measurements)

Tomorrow we leave for 4 days in the Ecuadorian Amazon! Can't wait for some jungle action!

The Lake District (Bariloche, Argentina)

February 12th (San Martin de los Andes, Argentina)

We stayed in this pretty little town which is a hot holiday spot for the wealthy Argentines. It was quite prestine and all lawns were manicured to perfection. We hiked to this lookout of Lago Lacár and took a lovely boat ride on the lake to a beach after our hike.

February 14th (El Bolsón, Argentina)

Still in the Lake District, we did a 40 km bike ride to a good viewpoint of this lake and then down the valley to the lake. The bikes could use a good tune up...it was a long ride. We had sore buns afterwards but treated ourselves to a Valentine's Day dinner at a great steak house.

February 15th (El Bolsón, Argentina)

This is Claudio, the owner of our hostel in El Bolsón. He cooked up a traditional Argentine asado (bbq) for all of us staying with him. It was in true Argentine fashion with beef, lamb and sausage on the grill, plus bread and lots of wine! Truly delicious!