A visit from family in Cusco

My mom and uncle came down for a week of family time and some excursions to the remains of the Incan empire.  We had a lot of fun and nobody threw up.  Great success.

Ollantaytambo

getting adventurous with chicken on a stick

there we are in all our glory (formatting fail)

there's llamas at machu picchu

there are quite a few switchbacks on the road to the ruins

late day sun on the ruins of the sacred city of the inca

waffle with the works

sibling time on the train

mom's all tuckered out

my mom is awesome

brother and sister

a visit to the ruins of pisaq

thankfully mom didn't fall off the trail

no shortage of awe inspiring earthworks here

corn.on.the.cob.

say hello to my new travel companion

shell and skeleton of some wacky prehistoric critter found buried in cusco

a young woman works on weaving while tending her animals.  paso abra cuyuni

we definitely stayed in the nicest hotel of my whole trip.

mom at the ruins of Sachsaywaman (pronounced sexy woman, approximately)

naturally, we had to go to the Russian circus.  it was rad.

Sucre, Bolivia to Cusco, Peru

After the lonesome southwestern desert wanderings, I made my way up to Sucre, then Cochabamba and La Paz on more established routes.  Lots of time with friends and family.

the Sucre market has a great Jell-O selection, complete with hand-whipped cream

the cobbled highways stretch on for hundreds of kilometers. 

good kiwis around here

dinosaur footprints at Toro Toro National Park

i love trash can.

we had to escape from the T-Rex in the main plaza

rummaging for scrap supplies with carl

willy's

me and Susi at Toro Toro

i spent a few weeks building some sheet metal tools for an NGO that makes efficient woodstoves in Cochabam

Freddy loves his new brake!

safety glasses are a good idea when strapping down a grinder

Suzi's all torn up for a shock repair and carb rebuild

hi tech stove fab at Biosol in Cochabamba

a look at the new sheet metal brake carl and i built for them

and then it was snowing?

simple sheet metal hole punch i made with a die block and an old motor valve

so i NEEDED some traditional parade attire...

i've been thinking of blinging out the moto in similar fashion

watching the school of mines students in the parade.  they had a cool rhythm going with the hammers and chisels

ahhhh, backpacker hostels...

La Paz sprawl

valle de la luna

great place to get water out of the carb

lake titicaca

ole burnt a valve so i finally caught his speedy 70cc butt just outside cusco

dynamite?  50 cents a stick in Bolivia.  So naturally we are gonna set off 8 sticks.  in traditional festive attire...

boys and explosions....

cusco at night

Susi goes for a spin in her new duds

ok, EVERYONE needs traditonal attire and we are going clubbing

Vinnie was a huge hit with the ladies

Seeing this NEVER stops being funny.   photo: Ole

loaded up, as usual

Estrellita. the motorbiker and cyclist´s choice...

just what I need, a Chinese motorcycle that runs on emotions!  How many smiles per hour?

i wonder if the aggressive FU-250 would sell in the US?

oh yeah, Vinnie was into the dynamite as well

Ole is thinking about an upgrade...