A few thoughts prior to leaving

Our house appears to be a total mess. I’m not sure who decided we needed to do a full spring clean before we left. It’ll be great once done and maybe our house sitters will have a bit of storage space? It is amazing how much junk we have accumulated in a few short years. And it is not even because we have a child, more we are just good at keeping things! It will be nice to get rid of it and come back to a bit of a clearer house.

Last night a lovely friend took S for a sleep over. We get so much more done while he is away. He was excited and came back hyped up but very happy. On January 1 wwe started his lessons. He was a bit nervous which I was surprised about, I was too to be honest. We have been able to identify some significant areas we will need to work on but even with some direction I still feel rather nervous about it all.

E and I made a cake last night to use up some of the copious packets of chocolate we seem to have accumulated. It looks and tastes delicious. I love to bake and will miss it while we have no kitchen.

Trust me the pictures will get better!

Comments

Inca Trail day 4

This was the day we would arrive at Macchu Picchu so we awoke with a keen sense of anticipation. To celebrate the last day on the trail, somehow the chef had whipped up an enormous cake which was served after breakfast. After a discussion with Marco about the likely weather over the next two days we agreed that it would be best to tour Macchu Picchu as soon as we arrived in mid afternoon rather than wait until tomorrow. Marco assured us that this would mean less crowds and better weather (he was right). We could see the backside of the mountain above Macchu Picchu in front of us as we started out. Unlike the last two days, today was mainly downhill. We would have to descend about 1,000 meters and judging by the first part of the morning walk, most of this would be on steep and slippery rocky steps. After alternating descents and traversing along steep hillsides through cloud forest and bamboo groves we reached the ruins of Intipata. Intipata was a very...

Dining in Denpasar

A key part of any holiday experience is food. During the first week of our stay in Bali we had two nice and very contrasting dining experiences. Merah Putih is billed as the best Indonesian restaurant in Denpasar. It was just a few blocks from our Seminyak villa so we prebooked well ahead of time for a visit. The restaurant venue is very impressive - from the inside it looks a bit like a giant greenhouse, including the plants. The food was spectacular. While every dish was good, the Bak Pao Sapi (Beef steamed buns) and Semur Sapi (slow roasted beef cheek) were incredible. Then for Christmas Eve lunch we had booked at Starfish Bloo at W Bali, one of the swankiest Sunday Brunch venues on the island. Sunday brunch buffets are a signature Bali experience with many of the big international hotels putting on all you can eat extravaganzas once a week. Needless to say the meal was jaw dropping. We had a great table close to the beach where we enjoyed un...

Santa Cruz

Unlike our first island hop, Isabela to Santa Cruz was done by boat (see the addendum below for my thoughts about inter island boat travel). At least the early morning trip was a smooth one. Luckily we had managed to book an apartment in Puerto Ayora which meant we could do some of our own catering for a change. By the time we arrived we were slowing down some, we felt we'd seen much of the wildlife the islands offered and frankly, we were exhausted. So we didn't venture too far from Puerto Ayora. One nice place near town we did visit (Eric went twice) was Tortuga bay which was exactly what you would expect a tropical beach to look like. In fact it had two beaches, one a surf beach and one a quiet cove where you could snorkel with barely a ripple. There wasn't much wildlife here except a few Iguanas (and one turtle) but the warm water was great for a swim nevertheless. As with San Cristobal we took a taxi trip to the highlands, crawling in Lava tub...

EE & S Adventures

Search This Blog