April 14-19, 2019 After Peru, we went to Quito, Ecuador where we spent 5 days. Quito is the capital of Ecuador and it has a reputation of a good retirement spot for various expats (the whole Ecuador, not just Quito). It uses US dollar as its national currency. We all claim that we didn’t enjoy … More Quito, Ecuador
Quito, Ecuador Not all travel days are good days. We spent the last two days doing almost nothing, not enjoying Quito, Ecuador much. Our Airbnb looked great on first sight but we encountered more problems than any sort of comfort. We were probably tired too. We can’t find good food, any decent stores, we were … More Not All Travel Days Are Good Days
April 11 – 14, 2019 We spent 3 nights in Cusco where we did some school work, lounged around a lot and ate some good food. We spent considerable amount of time in the town square where people watching was our main activity. Nina chased some pigeons, Maksim learned to do a good cartwheel and … More Cusco, Peru
Another early morning flight – it’s 6am and we are saying goodbye to charming Cusco, Peru and many Inka walls to soon be in Quito, Ecuador for a week long celebration of Semana Santa (Holy Week before Easter). On a side note, my muscular husband couldn’t pass through our gates this morning (notice original Inka … More Leaving Cusco, Peru, heading to Quito, Ecuador
April 9-11, 2019 The most expensive part of our trip to Machu Picchu was local transportation. In most countries so far, most of our budget went on accommodations and then food, with transportation being in the 3rd place. However, in Peru, we spent more than 36% of our budget on local transportation: 1 – round … More Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu, Peru
April 6 – 9, 2019 Originally, when planning this Refresh trip, we were going to stay in Buenos Aires for a couple of months with 1 or 2 side trips during that time. Pedja was unsure about moving too much with 3 kids, and he insisted we experience one place in South America in a … More Ollantaytambo, Peru
Barcelona, Spain Maki got a letter from his favorite cousin Mason today and was super motivated to write him back. He sat down and wrote a whole page, the whole “hamburger essay”, all by himself. There was a top bun (intro), lots of meat and fixings (juicy content) and a bottom bun (conclusion).It’s messy, there … More Boys Writing Letters
This is probably the earliest we’ll be at an airport. Leaving Uruguay and heading to Peru this morning. We had to be up at 3am to get in the Uber 30 min later for a 5am flight.This was all spiced up with an extremely obsessive 15 year old whose life depended on which foot goes … More Leaving Montevideo, Uruguay, heading to Cusco, Peru
April 1 – April 6, 2019 We were in Montevideo, Uruguay for only 6 days. Our time there was colored by our feelings of sadness for leaving Buenos Aires. However, we loved the neighborhood we stayed in Montevideo. We stayed in Pocitos, a block away from a beautiful and impressively clean beach. We spent some … More Montevideo, Uruguay
Montevideo, Uruguay April 5, 2019 I find myself overwhelmed with all the different aspects of our travel experience that are hard to put in words. Logistcs are ok, we are well organized and have been transitioning smoothly. What’s hard for me is processing all that we are experiencing.I do not have enough mental bandwidth to … More Not Much Time for Reflections
Refresh Journey 