A whole new world! The Peruvian Andes

It's been WAY too long. We both used to travel a lot. We loved to travel, especially the rougher, more adventurous kind of travel that brings you unpackaged experience. We even moved to Japan for 3 years, right after our wedding - just to shake things up. But we've been raising our three kids, and somehow it became 10, 15, then almost 20 …

Today we meet our guide, Teddy. He is fantastic, a gem of this trip. He is fun, sweet, and knowledgeable. He is also one of the friendliest people we've ever met - he shakes hands and jokes with everyone, from the little old ladies hobbling down the street (Okay Mamita, let's race!) to the crustiest cabdrivers. He puts us to shame; we've …

Today was whitewater rafting on the Urubamba river. Our guide was great - another friendly local - but the rafting was pretty tame stuff; about 2 hours, with only two class 2 rapids. We both wished it was more exciting. Even so it was fun enough. We met a teen group, and rafting with the Andes above us was something. Also, we saw a new kind …

Okay, we didn't love the mountain biking. To tell the truth, it wasn't really mountain biking, being 90% on paved roads, and it wasn't a workout at all, being entirely downhill. The brochure showed bikers on a bucolic off-road path. This was biking down a paved, winding road, often cliffside, shared by cars and trucks and buses. We went …

It's my birthday today! I turned 48, and I did it hiking in Peru. Oh yeah.