Cusco, Peru

So we have safely made it to 3326m to the city of cusco, with no even question for an onward ticket which we were told was such a big deal! All my hard work of forging up one not even necessary! We are staying at a lovely little bed and breakfast in the San blas area which is a very cute area in walking distance to most things. Its been great getting winded walking up the hill because of the altitude:) There seems to be lots of places to visit in cusco alone but there is tons of tourists here so no lack of someone asking you to buy something.We are here today and tomorrow then saturday we take the Peru rail train to aguas calientes where we will stay over night so we can get the first bus at 5:30am to machu  picchu! Looking forward to machu picchu can't wait to get some amazing pictures!
Pics: view from our room, streets we hike up

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

More Galapagos pictures!

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Well we are back on land after our adventure in the Galapagos islands! I do have to say snorkeling with sea lions was definitely a highlight. We had a good group of 15 people ranging from 21 to 71, from Calgary, Toronto, England, Scotland and Switzerland. The first night on the boat was quite rough but after that you got pretty used to it I guess you got your sea legs as they would say. We did lots of snorkeling and were able to see sharks, rays, sea turtles, sea lions and water iguanas which were very unique we had never seen anything like that. We saw the blue footed boobies and lots of mating sea turtles which was very funny to watch. You have to feel for the females who get mounted in the water by one turtle that stays on her for an hour and there are three waiting in the side lines for there turn we got some really funny videos. On the last night we went to an island covered in sea lions and you could get up super close that you could have touched them. There were tons of babies that were so cute and would chase u it was such an amazing experience we had never been so close to them before. All in all it was pretty awesome, the crew on the boat was good and even the food was good and I did not have high hopes for that:) We have one more day here in Quito and Wednesday we fly to Cusco Peru to see machu pichu! Hope everyone is well too bad about those stamps maybe next year!

Quito, Ecuador

Well it's official we have been gone 2 and a half months and we are finished travelling Central America and have arrived in South America. Yesterday we flew from Panama City to Quito in Ecuador, we were a little leerie about the airline we were flying with since no one seemed to have heard of it but it was real and got us here safe and sound! We are taking it easy today since we both are not feeling 100% which I'm pretty sure is from the altitude. Tomorrow night we meet up with our g adventures group that we will be doing the cruise with for 6 days. It's hard to believe that the things we were looking forward to the most on this trip were the Galapagos islands, Machu Pichu and Brazil and we have not even done them yet! But we have done some amazing things and been to some really awesome places already. I don't plan on having computer access on our boat though I have been surprised before so I look forward to posting when we finish next week! Adios Amigos! That's all for now:)

Panama City, Panama

Well Tuesday we went to Albrook mall it was huge, they had a cheaper end with stores I didn't really know and the other end was more expensive which actually just means it's what we pay at home. I think we will be in shock when we come home and have to pay more then 2 dollars for a beer at a pub and more then $5.99 for a dress. We went and saw Skyfall the new James bond movie it was really good if you can believe it, it cost under 10 dollars for our 2 tickets and popcorn! A senior can only just see a movie for that in Calgary. Today we went to the Amador causeway which is a really nice boardwalk that goes into a little island u can walk and look through stores and there is also a bunch of restaurants. It had a great view of the city. You definitely have to get up early and do things in the morning because in the afternoon we have had some pretty crazy rain storms. We are going to enjoy our last few days here before we are officially done Central America and we are moving on to South America monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend! xo
Pics: view from our balcony at night, casco Viejo our neighborhood and the ocean causeway.

Panama City, Panama

So we have made it to the big city enjoyed our time in the mountains. Yesterday we took a 7hr bus ride from Boquete to Panama City. It wasn't too bad though because we got on one of the fancy double decker buses that have reclining seats so we could just sleep. It is definitly weird being on the top though cause the bus definitely had moments u felt it was going to tip over! We have joined with another girl from Austria that we met in Boquete which has been great here in the city she is a good negotiator and speaks more Spanish then we do:) Today we went to the famous Panama canal we lucked out going early we were able to see a couple big ships go through. They had a museum at the miraflor locks that start the canal from the Pacific ocean. It was really nice and had any information you ever wanted to know about the canal. After we took another taxi to Alcon hill which is a lookout with great views of the different areas of the city. We are staying in an older part of the city called Casco Viejo it has been declared a world heritage site so they are doing lots of restoration work. It's a pretty hard city to navigate due to the lack of street signs it's on a grid system so we just have to make sure we don't venture to far one way or the other into the ghetto:) we have been told if u do the locals will even tell you to turn around, so never a dull moment:) tomorrow we are going to go to the biggest mall in Central America we may even catch the new James bond Glenn is having a bit of movie popcorn withdrawal:) that's all for now hope everyone is staying warm!

Boquete, Panama

Well we have moved inland from the beach we are now in Boquete which is in the mountains of Panama. It is said to be the 4th best place in the world to retire so needless to say there are quite a few older retirees around. We came here by public bus which is always an adventure:) The buses here require 2 workers, 1 to cram in as many people as possible and the driver who takes on the task of going 120km an hour around corners while talking on his phone, texting, counting money oh and don't let me forget reading the paper! we definitely kept our eyes on the road hoping our luggage did not fall off the roof:) We are staying at a really great hostel which has  been really nice lots of great people good kitchen and clean what more can u ask for. Yesterday we went to some natural hot springs which we were going to do on our own but we decided to go with a tour instead and we are glad for that cause I'm not too confident that we would have found them. We were warned to watch our stuff because there is a pet monkey there they call chica who steals your stuff. She stole a girls bra and tried to put it on, drank someone's beer and took a box of wine it was pretty hilarious! today we are going to wander town and go for massages. Hope everyone is well! that's all or now!
Pics: hot spring, crazy monkey