Year Two in Pictures

We had a fantastic second year in Paraguay. It included learning more about the city we live in, exploring some really enjoyable parts of the Paraguayan country side, and quite a bit of travel in Bolivia and Peru.  

Having lunch in a scenic spot on Isla del Sol, Bolivia.

The white city - Sucre, Bolivia

Laguna Blanca, Paraguay

Sacred Valley, Peru. The red bag hung above the roof signifies a place to buy chicha beer.

Mountain road outside of Uyuni, Bolivia.

Sunrise - American School of Asunción

Sunset - Paraguay River, Asunción

Incan staircase ascending Waynapicchu, Peru

La Paz, Bolivia.

Kristi was excited to find a park in Lima completely full of cats. 

Young man on his way to the Transchaco Rally - near Pozo Colorado, Paraguay

Local people at Tiwanaku, Bolivia rehearse a performance for at upcoming visit from Evo Morales.

Headed to the river near Arroyos y Esteros, Paraguay.

Lake Titicaca

The bus to Altos, Paraguay

Grandpa takes a nap on his grandson at Machu Picchu.

Overloaded pick-up in San Lorenzo, Paraguay.

Kristi on the Solar de Uyuni.

Kristi at the Sacsayhuaman ruins, Peru.

Kristi checking out the prize winning cows at the Expo, Asunción.

Sol de Mañana geothermal field, Bolivia

Costanera, Asunción

Grassland - Parque San Rafael, Paraguay

Our friend Ali swimming with piranhas.

Cuckoo

Goats

Capitán Herbert Nicanor Torales III.

Surubí catfish on the way to market

Peccary

Tapir

Parrot

Floating plants - Paraguay River, Asunción

Pink Lapacho - near Emboscada, Paraguay

Enjoying a rain storm from the shelter of our balcony.

Jacarinda flowers decorate the mausoleums in Belén, Paraguay. 

Street food - Cusco, Peru

Attempting to make chipá in our tatakuá

Locro - Atyrá, Paraguay

Fruit market - Sucre, Bolivia

Backyard asado at a friend's place in the campo.

Peruvian woman selling veggies in Cusco.

Asado at the expo, Asunción.

Picadas at the livestock auction, Asunción.

Fly Fishing in Oregon and Washington

While I am really excited to be back in South America, returning to the Pacific Northwest for six week allowed me to pursue my favorite pastime, fly fishing, on a number of occasions and in some familiar locations. July and early August provided a great opportunity to visit some trout rivers, pursue some warm water fishes, some summer steel head, and cast a fly into Puget Sound.

Columbia River Small Mouth

Upper Williamson River, Oregon

Dad hooked up to a Puget Sound Salmon

Beach deer and a Deschutes River Raccoon.

Pink Salmon

Four Mile Lake, Oregon

A pink salmon fly and the Dechutes River near Maupin, Oregon

Green Lake rock bass

Central Oregon landscape

Davis Lake large mouth bass, Oregon

Puget Sound resident coho

The best part of fly fishing is often the unexpected natural events you witness while out on the water for extended periods of time.  In this case it was a greedy tufted puffin gorging itself on a school of candlefish.

Pink salmon, this one was invited home for dinner.

Central Oregon landscape

Washington and Oregon 2015

We have recently returned from a great visit with our family and friends in Washington and Oregon after two years in Paraguay without a visit. We traveled to some beautiful places and topped it off with tons of amazing food and beer. It was wonderful to see so many people and spend some time in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.



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Yakima Valley hops and a trip down the Yakima River. 

 

Backyard garden salad and a recently steamed crab in Port Townsend. 

We had an awesome day on river tubes while visiting our friend's yurt.

Some backyard camping and marshmallows.

Josh's cows

Hardcore tubers, Kristi and Adrianne

Peru

We have some more photos to share from our travels through Peru in January. We arrived in Cusco from Bolivia. We traveled to and from Machu Pichu, then went to Lima, Iquitos, and finally Trujillo to study Spanish for two weeks. Unfortunately we had a bag stolen from a bus station towards the end of our break. Because we are lazy, all of our pictures were not backed-up properly.  Consequently, we lost most of our images from Lima as well as numerous pre-Columbian ruins, gorgeous Peruvian beaches, and the Peruvian amazon. 

In the hills directly above Cusco lie a series of partially reconstructed ruins.  They are called Saksaywaman, but most tourists refer to them simply as sexy woman.

 Cusco is an interesting destination in itself.  The city was the center of the Inca empire in the 13th century and has been continuously inhabited ever since. Despite being incredibly touristy, we enjoyed spending a couple days in the old part of the city.

We especially enjoyed the municipal market which sold  great looking produce, meat, hot meals, textiles, and hallucinogenic plants for shamanistic rituals.  This friendly lady made really good juices. 

Pork vendor

Purple corn, the main ingredient in a refreshing drink called chicha morada.  Coca leaves in the green bag to the right are commonly chewed for a high altitude energy boost.

Inside Quirkancha, the most sacred temple in the Incan empire.  It was converted into a Catholic Convent during conquest by the Spanish.

Kristi poses shamelessly with some people selling baby llama photos.

Really tasty bowl of soup from a Cusco street vendor.

The Sacred Valley en route to Machu Pichu.

 Kristi taking in the ancient terraces and an old road at two pre-Colombian sites in the Sacred Valley.

Stopping for a snack at a small town in the Sacred Valley: choclo and chicha, a traditional beer made of corn.

On the train to Aguas Calientes

Machu Pichu

We ate a ridiculous amount of ceviche once we arrived on the coast.  We made a few trips to specialty cevicherias which feature a variety of amazing ceviches. We also ate a typical ceviche on an almost daily basis consisting of nothing more than white fish, lime juice, onions, and chili.