Trusty single-engine plane for our fly-over of the Nasca lines.

Here is our trusty single-engine plane for our fly-over of the Nasca lines.
Chadd and Chuck rode with their new friends, Richard and Colin.

40 feet above a couple of the geoglyphs on the Nasca/Nazca plain

This is a video of us at the top of a Mirador which is an observation tower, 40 feet above a couple of the geoglyphs on the Nasca/Nazca plain.  We were quite surprised to see that we could get an appreciation for the shape and structure from such a relatively short vantage point.  This is especially true in light of our plane ride during which these geoglyphs were easy to spot (those in-flight videos will be coming once we have better WiFi!)

Go Pro!

Here we are, testing out our Go Pros before the flight over the Nasca lines and geoglyphs.  Well, actually, we are just making fun of each other and how we look with these video camera strapped to the front of our heads...watch out for the bad language!

Arriving in Peru

Tomorrow we travel by bus to Nazca.  It will be about a 5-7 hour drive.  We will take pics and video on the way and upload anything of interest.  In the interim, here are some pics from today's adventures...

Today we ate lunch at this outdoor mall called Minka.
This place was, in a word, AMAZING! It has over 2000
stores.  They had everything from motorcycles and cars
to raw meats/poultry/chicken.  This photo captures a happy
Chadd eating at Pardo Chicken.  This was, far and away,
the best meal we've had so far.  I asked for avocado in place
of "lettuce and tomato" and this is what I received! I think
it's probably the equivalent of 3 whole avocados and it cost
all of $2.50.

We managed to find a salon to give Chadd a haircut.
Chadd was resolved that "if they F it up, you can
just shave it off".  Chadd was so pleased that he tried
to convince the stylist to move to California.  

Well, sorry that this pic is crooked (I'll address later).
After Chadd's haircut at the Minka, we asked if they knew
of a place to get a back massage (making sure to emphasize
that we want legitimate massages...).  Well, we then
encountered the first of many kiosks that offered "anti-stress"
massages.  Here, we paid the equivalent of $8 US for a 30 min
massage...gotta love it!

Here's Chadd, "assuming the position" for his massage.  Yes,
as you may have surmised, we definitely draw a lot of attention.
Not only are we veritable "giants" here (average dudes look
about 5'8" or so and I haven't seen anyone near 6'3"), but we
are the only ones with beaming smiles taking pics all over the place. 

This is "ingresos", the massage kiosk we went to. 

The "salon" where Chadd got "the best haircut EVER"-lol

I thought this was cool.  Inside of the Minka, they sell seeds
and grains for everything from Maca to Coca...
What a country!

Harina de Coca...

Here is a closer pic of the raw materials you can
get to make whatever your heart desires...

Another look at the bails of raw materials

I had to take this pic because I don't know that I've ever seen
grapes so vibrant in color.  What we learned here is that all produce
here is organic, not because people demand it, but because fertilizers,
pesticides and the like cost money and the farmers can't afford them.
As such, everything here tastes fantastic and looks the way nature
intended.  However, unlike in the States where the "ORGANIC" label
necessarily hikes the price, we were amazed at how inexpensive
everything was...

Ok, had to buy some strawberries and Chadd and I are eating
em now.  This sign tells you that for $1.50 soles (about .60 cents!)
you get 1 kilo or about 1/2 lb of fresh strawberries...unreal!

There were produce stands like these all throughout the Minka.

Here is a closer look.  They have fruits I've never seen (yeah yeah,
those who know me know that's not saying much as I'm not exactly
a fruit connoisseur).  Also, most such stands offered 2-4 different
kinds of avocados alone...

WOW! look at all those bananas!! Seriously, this pic
doesn't even begin to capture how many bananas there were...

This is the start of the "meat/poultry/fish/gawd knows what"
section...

Distant pics of some chickens that have all seen better days.
Nevertheless, soon they will either end up in a Peruvian home or,
perhaps, one of the multitude of KFCs they have here! Seriously,
it's unreal--they have more Chinese Restaurants and KFCs than Irvine
has Starbucks (was gonna say "than Irvine has Camrys but that isn't even
 close to true!)

These are local "taxis".  Chadd tried to convince them to take
us to our hotel.  However, just because we (well Chadd) were willing
to battle crazy drivers (like nothing I've seen outside of Tijuana!) in buses
and semis, these guys riding stretched single-cylinder motorcycles sure weren't!

...and this is what happens when you make a wrong turn in Lima.
The Minka is in a nice region, or at least appears so from
the side we entered.  Then, we decided to exit on a different side
and this is what we encountered. 

...another look of the "wrong turn" region...

...and another

Ok, come on now, this is awesome! This cop may or may not
have a gun but deezam, he's got a light-saber!!!!

We're here!

Good thing we got here a few days early to acclimate and check out the town.  Videos of significance (READ: ancient structures) will begin tomorrow with our trip to Nazca.  In the interim, we'll clown around and post about our experiences in and around Lima...

Our hotel...

Okay, we have to figure out the power thing because the bozo at Samy's Camera in Santa Ana didn't send us away with the right equipment. Funny, as he seemed so cocky, I mean confident, in telling us we were wrong! Alysha was right!!!! AGAIN!!!!

We are loading up the Go pro cams and hitting the town! This place is kind of crazy! The beds in our room are a joke, I actually think they're box springs ONLY! OUCH!!!

Also, as we are learning, things in Peru are a little backwards the hot water is BLUE and the cold water knob is RED (took a minute to realize we had hot water). Also, it sucks when you get out of the shower and your wet feet make muddy foot prints as the floor is so dirty! AWESOME!


Chucks bed had two pillows, mine had one but at least my solo pillow was clean, Chucks had dirty creases on it, awesome! He appears to have possibly caught pink eye or something! YUCK! J/K but he did wake up with one super red, itchy eye! Just saying.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUEEN OF ALL THINGS (Alysha McKeen, my lovely wife)!

More to come shortly!

Of course, Red=cold and Blue=Hot!

Here's Chadd, admiring our AMAZING view.  This hotel's walls are
so thin that while someone takes a shower, it literally
(yes, not figuratively) sounds like a waterfall.  That and
it sounded like we were sleeping in a loading dock
all night.  Oh, and here, soap and shampoo are "extras"
that you need to buy from the front-desk.  Ahhhh man,
gotta love it!

Here are some nice red spots that came free of charge with my pillow!  

Meet Chuck and Chadd