Long time no blog

Can't believe it's been since last September since we gave an update. Nothing too drastic has happened: no big vacations, no moves, anything like that. We did manage to get to BC over Christmas, and had a short visit to Ma and Pa Gilgan in Arizona, but other than that it's been mostly the same old same old.

With one notable exception.

We were so thrilled with how our first dog, Hawksley worked out, that we decided just before Christmas that we'd get a brother or sister for him when we got back to Cleveland after Christmas. We started looking on Petfinder for rescue dogs up for adoption, and fell in love with a little Shepherd/Husky mix whose litter had been neglected and then taken by a Humane Society in central Ohio.

So we made the arrangements to meet her, and on January 15th we drove down to Washington Courthouse to pick up a 9-week old little girl that we named Miga, after one of the Vancouver Olympic Mascots.

Miga the mascot is "a mythical sea bear, part orca and part kermode bear living off the coast of Vancouver Island". Miga the dog has markings on her face that make her look like a killer whale (in our minds anyways) and we thought the name paid a nice little tribute the part of the world we still call home.

Here's how Miga looked on the day we brought her home:


Hawksley took to her right away, and she was pretty interested in him too. But her first couple of days she was really tired so we didn't see much of her personality. By Monday, she was having diarrhea and vomiting, and we realized something wasn't right. We took her to the animal hospital in Akron and it turned out she had a pretty bad case of Canine Parvovirus, a virus that attacks the dog's gastrointestinal system, preventing them from eating, drinking and keeping anything down. If untreated most dogs will die from this, and even with treatment, we were told its often just a 50/50 chance.

Luckily, she responded to treatment and we were able to take her back home that friday night. She weighed only 6 lbs, but already had more energy and we got to see her true personality, which was really sweet, cuddly and loving. Not quite 3 months later, she's already up to 25 lbs or so, is best friends with Hawksley, and is a great pup all in all. And as a bonus, now that we have two dogs, they will play with each other and give us a break every now and then, which makes us a more relaxed couple in general.

Here are a few more pictures of the dogs in action.


Hopefully we will have another update soon. Could be an interesting one; Erin is currently in Argentina for a work trip/vacation while I hold down the fort here in Cleveland, and I imagine she'll have some great stories and pictures to share once she gets back.

Hawksley Falls

We just thought we'd share a recent picture of Hawksley. We went up to Hamilton, Ontario this weekend to visit some relatives of Tim's (Erin made best friends with a 3-year old -- more on that later) and on the way back to Cleveland stopped at Niagara Falls. Hawksley seemed pretty interested in them and we got this picture of him checking them out. Hope everyone is doing well, and again, we hope to post more again soon, as we have a couple of summer updates to get around to.

Peru Part III - Machu Picchu

From Cusco we had an approximately 3-hour trip to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Machu Picchu. Due to intense rain storms earlier in the year that had wiped out roads and rail lines to Machu Picchu, the trip was broken up into a 90 or so minute "bus" ride and then a 90 or so minute train ride through the Andes. The "bus" we rode in was actually a 15-seat passenger van that Peru Rail crammed full of people at the Cusco train station. It was comfortable enough, but not as comfortable as a real bus or train would have been.

The train portion of the trip was quite nice. The train had windows on the roof to see the scenery better, and had a slow pace that allowed to you to enjoy the view as you cruise along the Urubamba River valley toward the town.

The town of Aguas Calientes didn't have too much to it itself; it's more of a place to hang out until Machu Pichu opens. There are a couple of main streets, a bunch of touristy restaurants, and some hot springs, but really, the only reason people go there is because Machu Picchu lays on the mountains right above.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes late in the morning, and due to having to get up at 5:00 AM, decided we'd take a nap. It was a little late to go to Machu Picchu and get the full experience for the day, so we decided to ge up first thing the next day and get there nice and early.

And nice and early we did go: After an uneventful day in Aguas Calientes, we went to bed early and set our alarms for 3:30 AM. This would give us enough time to make the 6 km trek from the town up to Machu Picchu in time for sunrise.

The hike took us about 1:45, and we arrived with plenty of time to spare before the gates opened at 6:00 AM. As an added bonus, we were something like 12th and 13th in line, which gave us the privilege of picking a time to hike of the peak of Huayna Picchu, which is restricted to only 400 people per day.

While waiting for the gates to open, we arranged for a tour guide to show us around the site. After getting jerked around for a little bit (apparently we didn't learn our lesson in Cusco: this guy first tried to include us in a tour group of like 50 people, and then wanted an insane amount for a private tour), we ended up having a tour for just the two of us, which turned out to be pretty good.

Just a few minutes into the tour, we looked to the east and the sun was rising over the Andes. It was quite the amazing sight. You're literally on top of the world, standing in ruins that are hundreds of years old, and it was really, really great.



Machu Picchu itself was better than expected. The pictures you see don't do it justice. First of all, it's huge. It's way bigger than you think. Thousands of people lived there at its peak, and it also had a ton of space for farmland, public spaces, and temples. Our tour guide taught us all about this as he showed us around, which made the experience more enjoyable.

After the tour, we were left to our own devices, and we used that time to tour the site some more, and then make the one-hour-up, one-hour-down hike to Huayna Picchu. It was moderately difficult, as it was narrow and steep (think Grouse Grind if you're from Vancouver), only up the side of a mountain. But it again was worth it: the view from the top was again amazing. One thing we enjoyed from up there was seeing the road up the side of the mountain to Machu Picchu, thinking that just a few short hours ago, we were at the bottom of that mountain.


After Huayna Picchu, we toured Machu Picchu some more, and this time took the easy way out and took the bus back down to Aguas Calientes. We had enough time for lunch and a drink before catching the train/bus combo back to Cusco, and then one last night in Cusco before heading back to Cleveland. It was a great trip, and seeing another part of the world was really cool. And having a place like Machu Picchu exceed our expectations was the icing on the cake.

And now, your Hawksley picture of the day...

Peru Part II - Cusco

Okay, back to the blogging...

After Lima, we were off to Cusco for a couple of days before making the trek up to Machu Picchu. Cusco is possibly to most popular tourist city in Peru, and it was easy to see why: Around 3400 m (over 2 miles) above sea level, Cusco is a beautiful place with crystal clear skies and none of the pollution seen in Lima down on the coast.

We had an early morning flight into town, over the Andes, and when we arrived in Cusco, we noticed pretty much right away how the difference in altitude affects your breathing in the thin mountain air. It probably didn't help that the elevator in our hotel (an nice little place right off the main town square) was out and we had to lug our bags up 4 flights of stairs.

After getting settled in, we met up with a tour guide for a tour of the Incan ruins above the city. This started out with a bit of an adventure, as the guide we arranged our tour with sent someone else in his place, and the guy he sent didn't speak any English. After about a half an hour we sorted it out and our original guide arranged for another woman to come and give us a tour. Everything worked out, but it was another lesson on being careful what you buy in foreign countries... you never know what you're going to get.

Anyways, we toured the ruins, including Sacsayhuaman, (pronounced like "sexy woman"), Qénqo, and the temple for Pachamama, "Mother Earth". It was all very impressive; the structures will built with giant stones that fit each other perfectly, with no mortar used to hold the stones together, and they've stood for hundreds of years, through wars, earthquakes and weather, and they're still there. Not only is the durability of the structures impressive, but when you think that they didn't really have any tools other than maybe chisels, it's amazing to think the amount of work required to make them.

We had two nights and one more day in Cusco, and we used that time to eat some nice local food, including grilled alpaca (tastes like chicken) and more ceviche, and see other sights in town like the old cathedral, the main square and the Temple Of The Sun. When the Spanish arrived in the 1500's, they tried to tear down the Temple Of The Sun, but found it was too well made and the stones were too difficult to move, so they just built a catholic church on top of it. During an earthquake in the 1960's, most of the church was destroyed, but the Incan temple remained entirely intact, except for one corner of the structure, which was only damaged when part of the Spanish church collapsed on it.

Our time in Cusco was really nice, and while we were sad to go, we were also excited to be off to Machu Picchu for the next leg of the trip. More on that next....

Here are a couple of pictures for now. We'll post some more soon.