Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Terrible Weekend

Ok, so Molly and I had a really horrible weekend that I think we should blog about. 

It all started out on Friday the 16th of January. We were going to stay at home at eat some leftovers... but we opened up the fridge and discovered that we didn't have any leftovers. THE HORROR BEGINS! We had heard about a restaurant that has this thing like "rat fest" or "crab fest" or something like that. We decided that our day was already in a downward spiral... lets give it a shot. We got in with our friends Lindsey and Josh and had to sit at the bar to wait for a table... and drank martinis. When a table opened up, a whole 10 minutes later we discovered that it was "bug fest"... these giant sea bugs called "crabs". We gave it a shot. It was terrible... this whole crab with long spikey legs and butter, crab bisque, crab cakes... yuck.

The next day we found that it was kind of sunny. Us Pacific Northwesterners don't care much for the sun... we decided to try to escape to the coast. It is January here... so we were expecting 35 degree weather. DAMN IT if it wasn't 70 degrees and sunny on the coast. We had to walk on the beach, sweating our balls off. Then we ate a twinkie glazed in banana icing (gross), ate some terrible seafood (crabcakes, oyster po' boy... nasty) and drank a really cold bottle of wine while listening to the waves crash on the beach. Lastly we splashed around in the tide pools near Haystack Rock. Bleech!

Sunday morning, because we were so tired of the sun and heat, we decided to drive east to the mountains to escape the horrible weather. When we arrived at our destination, Mt. Hood Ski Bowl, we found that the weather was also sunny.... and COLD!  The slopes were practically pure ice, making the skiing awful! Slid around for hours and hours and hours... when the sun finally went down, they turned on the lights and then continued skiing for another hour... GOD, terrible.

Monday, back to work... But then Monday evening we discovered that we bought tickets to a Blazers game (the Portland Trailblazers). We ate at an irish pub downtown... you all know how much I hate irish food and beer... and then we hopped the "MAX" to the game. It was terrible.. Portland won, scored 100pts, scoring US a free coupon for a gordita at Taco Bell.

Well, I know the pictures will bring you to our personal HELL we experienced.

Try to enjoy.


Monday, January 12, 2009

Peru Itinerary, per request:

All this for $685 per person, doesn't include airfare.

CUSCO ADVENTURE BUDGET (7 DAYS AND 6 NIGHTS)
*********************************************************

DAY 1: MARCH 22ND CUSCO
Reception at the airport of Cusco and transfer to the hotel.
In the afternoon: Cusco City Tour from 2 pm to 6:30
pm. This tour includes the Qoricancha (Temple of the Sun) and the Cathedral.
The tour drives along the Circunvalacion Road up to famous fortress of
Sacsahuaman, then to Q'enqo, Puca Pucara and Tambomachay with Spanish and
English speaking professional guide. Includes Tourist ticket valid for the
entrance to many museums and ruins as well. Overnight.

DAY 2: MARCH 23RD RAFTING
Breakfast. At 09:00 hrs. we leave for Urubamba river on the Sacred Valley of
the Incas (North of Cusco), where our guide will give a introductory chat on
safety and equipment for our trip running the Urubamba. After lunch we
return back to Cusco, arriving at around 17:00 hrs. Overnight . (B,L)

INCLUDED:
*Private Round Trip Transportation.
*Professional English/Spanish speaking rafting guide.
*Lunch (Meal, salad, sodas, tea, coffee, desert, fruits) *Complete Rafting
Equipment (helmet, life jacket, rain coat, paddle, wetsuit, boat).

OPTIONAL:
Video and Photos Service.

WE RECOMMEND TO BRING:
*Bathing suit
*Towel
*Sandals or running shoes
*Short pants (to use over the wet suit)
*Hat, sun block
*Photo camera.

DAY 3: MARCH 24TH INCA TRAIL 4DAYS 3NIGHTS
PISKAKUCHO (KM. 82) - WAYLLABAMBA
A spectacular early morning drive through the Sacred Valley of the Incas
takes us to our trailhead at Km. 82 of the Machu Picchu railroad. After
getting acquainted with our trail crew we set out, crossing a footbridge to
hike a gentle two hours down the Urubamba canyon, and then visit imposing
sculpted Inca farming terraces and the settlement of Llaqtapata on the banks
of the Cusichaca side river. We then climb a short way up the Cusichaca
valley to Wayllabamba, the last inhabited village on the trail, where we
camp.

DAY 4: MARCH 25TH WAYLLABAMBA - PAKASMAYU
We climb the steep-sided Llullucha valley past a rushing stream and through
enchanted native polylepis woodland. Crossing the rim of a small plateau, we
abruptly find ourselves in the puna, the treeless grasslands of the high
Andes. The trail traverses an open slope opposite mighty mountain crags as
we ascend to the first and highest pass, Warmiwañusca (4,200m/13,776ft).
Here we encounter spectacular views of the trail ahead to the second pass,
and look back to the sweeping snowpeaks and valleys of the Huayanay massif.
The trail to the floor of the forested Pakasmayu valley, where we make camp.

DAY 5: MARCH 26TH PAKASMAYU - WIÑAY WAYNA
We pick up an Inca stairway and ascend again past the small Inca site of
Runkuracay. As we reach the second pass, the landscape opens onto
spectacular new views to the snowpeaks of the Pumasillo range. We descend to
the ruins of Sayacmarca (Inaccessible Town), an intricate labyrinth of
houses, plazas and water channels, perched precariously on a rocky spur
overlooking the Aobamba valley. The Inca trail, now a massive buttressed
structure of granite paving stones, continues along the steep upper fringes
of the cloud forest through a colorful riot of orchids, bromeliads, mosses
and ferns. At the third pass pinnacles topped with Inca viewing platforms
overlook the archaeological complex of Phuyupatamarca (Cloud-level Town).
Pausing to explore the wondrous maze of Inca stone towers, fountains and
stairways that spillins down the mountainside here, we begin a long descent
through ever-changing layers of cloud forest. An Inca stairway partly cut
from living granite leads us finally to our camp by the ruins of Wiñay Wayna
(Forever Young), the largest and most exquisite of the Inca Trail sites.

DAY 6: MARCH 27TH WIÑAY WAYNA - MACHU PICCHU - CUSCO
An early morning hike takes us across a steep mountainside through lush,
humid cloud-forest of giant ferns and broad-leaf vegetation. Suddenly we
cross the stone threshold of Intipunku (Sun Gate) and encounter an
unforgettable sweep of natural beauty and human artistry -a backdrop of
twisting gorge and forested peaks framing the magical city of Machu Picchu.
We complete the final leg down the royal flagstone walkway, past outlying
shrines and buildings and into the heart of Machu Picchu, where we spend the
rest of the morning with a guided tour of the highlights and some individual
exploring among Machu Picchu's multitude of hidden nooks and corners. In the
early afternoon a bus takes us to the small town of Aguas Calientes, where
we board our return train to Cusco Overnight at the hotell.

DAY 7: MARCH 28TH Transfer out
Breakfast, transfer to the airport and end of our services. (B)

Well, not so bummer, I guess

Alright, so we figured out our training problem (see previous post). So our gym is closing down, but there is another in that franchise that is closer to Molly's school, but further away from our house. All in all its not too much further driving, but we'll need to take to cars to take advantage of that. We'll see how it goes.

As far as the training goes, our trainer talked with the owner of the other franchise, and he said that if our trainer attempts to bring over his customers to his gym, that he can train there for free. In addition, since our trainer still runs his gym until the end of the month and they all have the computer system, he is going to lower our monthly rate as low as he can before he transfers us over to the other gym. Nice.

Lastly, our trainer said that he would lower his rate for us, because we are so consistent with him. Awesome.

We did train at the other place he trains at in downtown Portland this last Saturday (that's 4 trained workouts in 8 days for me, and 7 total workouts in 8 days). It was pretty nice place, and I feel like we'll probably try to train there with him a couple of times a month, to help us prepare for Peru.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Bummer!

Molly and I have been working out with a personal trainer now since April of 2008. We have been getting some decent results... no real weight loss, but none really gained, and lots of muscle gained. One of our resolutions was to work even harder, to try to lose some weight, and to get in some good shape for the upcoming hikes that will, doubtlessly, be harder than last year's hikes.

We found out last night that our gym is closing at the end of January, and our trainer will only be training downtown Portland. It is really a bummer. I don't know that we'll be able to continue training with him. We'll have to see. What's possibly worse is that I don't know which gym we'll join now. There are a few close ones, but I believe that they make you pay for a year in advance. Bummer!

Anyway, just wanted to put that up while I'm thinking about it.

Have some good hikes coming up. At the end of March is a 4 day hike in Peru. Then some, potentially, diffuclt ones this summer. At the end of July we have Mt. Temple which a long, full-day scramble. Then in September, for my birthday, we'll be hiking the South Sister (of the 3 sisters near bend), which is a good ten hour hike.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Holidays!

Well, as some of you may know, we were snowed in for the Holidays. We did try to make the best of it, and all-in-all we had a great time of it.

On X-Mas day, we spent a good portion of the day using Skype hooked up via our laptop computer and widescreen television to do a live video call with Molly's brother Brian in South Carolina, where we were actually supposed to be on X-mas. It was pretty neat. They could see us and we could see them. We used our Rock Band microphone to talk, and they did the same... and we could (for the most part) see and hear everyone quite well. They opened our stockings for us and showed us what we got. We were online with them for about 3 hours, and then they had to eat their X-mas dinner.

Not long after that we went over to Josh and Lindsey's house where they had prepared a wonderful dinner of lamb and other fix-ins. It was very, very tasty.

The next few days we hung around with L & J and their family on and off, and in the mean-time we ran errands, cleaned the house, worked out, etc.

For New Years, we went to a pretty nice Peruvian (sp?) restaurant for din-din, and went to a "private Karoke" room afterward. All-in-all it was too expensive for what it was, but we had a really nice time.

Yesterday we were supposed to go skiing, but we actually ended up going "tubing" which is basically an innertube on the snow-covered hills. Its in the same park as skiing, but we decided before we got there that skiing wasn't right. Well, come to find out it would have been a perfect day for skiing, but who knew?

So, now I'm back at work, and ready to get into the long-stretch before the next break.

No pictures this time!