Nate and Shelly’s Travel Blog

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are now in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We arrived last night around 11pm to over 90º heat and sweltering humidity which continues today.

Despite the heat, today is a great day because we were joined by our good friend Nikki who also made it safely to Buenos Aires. Tonight we´ll be celebrating Nikki´s birthday the Argentine way…with Tango.

Ciao for now.

We just made it back from Machu Picchu and are EXHAUSTED! But, it was worth it to see one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. It is absolutely incredible. We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather while we were up there and timed our departure perfectly, as it is the rainy season here and started downpouring about 30 minutes later. We have lots of great pictures that we will share with everyone when we get back.

We need to go catch the train back to Cusco for now. But, we wanted everyone to know how much we enjoyed Machu Picchu and to get a glimpse at the type of vantage point we had of the Andes.

We leave Peru tomorrow morning for Argentina, but Peru will stay in our hearts forever.

We arrived this morning to a wet and dreary Aguas Calientes, a small town nestled in the Andes Mountains and the staging point for trips to Machu Picchu. Given the poor weather we decided to stay in town and wait until our guide shows us the ruins tomorrow morning. We spent most of the afternoon getting unpacked, eating lunch, and shopping at the local stands.

The room I reserved a few months back is perfect. We have full balcony overlooking the nearby river and the view of the surounding mountains is amazing.

Since we have not seen Machu Picchu, there is not too much to write about other than we made it safely and are very exited about tomorrow morning.

Our second day in Cusco was much different than the first. We “kicked it up” a notch and went local. Our morning was spent touring the local artist market and mailing boxes at the post office. We were then picked up by our hotel manager, Rafael, and we offered to take him out to lunch as long as he took us to a “local” establishment. A side of pig, two 40 oz. beers, three shots of Ouzo tasting liquer, and a bottle of wine later, we were ready to hit the town.

We convinced Rafael to take us to the local food market so that we could get the authentic flavor. We ventured out of the main tourist areas and into the part of town where the locals lived and ate. The market was sprawling with every type of food you could imagine. There was a chocolate section, potato section, flower section, and of course (my favorite) the meat section. Shelly and three little pigs were gracious enough to pose for a photo.

With the local theme in mind, we decided to eat dinner at a restaurant known for regional food. Being in Cusco I had to try the food the city was known for… guinea pig! It does not taste like chicken, rather like game (duck, pheasant, etc.). Overall, the meal was great and I can now say I ate a family pet.

Tomorrow we are catching the 6:50 train to Machu Picchu and hopefully we will get a clear day to see the ruins.

It´s 11,000 ft and my mind is a little ¨fuzzy¨ so please excuse the writing style or any potential spelling errors. We arrived in Cusco, Peru after a short flight from Lima. This place is very beautiful but very touristy compared to Lima. Everyone is trying to sell things ranging from ¨massages¨ to anything made from alpaca (looks like a llama, feels like wool).

Our hotel is nice and located in a quiet residential district, which is a nice change of pace from the bustling downtown. After taking a quick cat nap to adjust to the altitude, which was mandated by our hotel staff, we were dropped off in town to explore the sights. The main square or ¨Plaza Mayor¨ is surrounded by 400 year old buildings and makes for some great photo opportunities. Speaking of photos, we´ve received numerous requests to post our pics. Here is a picture of Shelly in a group of local Cusco women who are holding a baby lamb with a bonnet on it´s head named Carmelita.

You´ll be happy to know there are no SBUX in Cusco but we have enjoyed the local Matè tea, which is good for curing Sorojchi (i.e. altitude sickness).

So far everything is o.k. and we´re doing well with no incidents to report. We´re spending one more day in Cusco before taking a train to Machu Picchu.

We arrived safely at our 1st destination (Lima, Peru) and have been very pleasantly surprised so far. Our hotel is quaint, the staff is friendly and the accomodations are huge! We are staying in a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom suite at the La Paz Apart Hotel for $85/night including taxes, fees, and breakfast. We would highly recommend this to any other travelers. After checking out our hotel, we set out on foot to explore the Miraflores neighborhood nearby. It is a really great place to be—-clean, cosmopolitan, and right on the ocean. We had lunch at Pardo’s inside Larcomar, an amazing shopping center built into the side of the ocean-facing cliffs on the Pacific. If you are ever in Lima, Larcomar is the place to be. Lunch at Pardo’s was outstanding—possibly some of the best chicken we’ve ever had. One of the best things about being down here are the great deals. Lunch for 2 including beers was about $15 including tax & tip. Not bad. But, alas….not all of the South American charm has been left untouched: we’ve already had our first Starbucks.

Stay tuned for more updates from Peru. Cuzco is next on the horizon.

Hi everyone,
It’s Shelly. We are 1 flight into our around the world adventure (Seattle to JFK). So far, so good. We’re currently in the International VIP Lounge enjoying some complimentary vino. We each made very democratic decisions about our final American meal before hitting the international skies: Sbarro’s pizza for Nate & McDonald’s for Shelly 🙂

We just got the great news that our friend Nikki (of ‘Clash of the Choirs’ fame) may be making a last-minute ticket purchase to Buenos Aires to celebrate her birthday with us south-of-the-border style….WAY SOUTH! We are keeping our fingers crossed that she’ll make it work and get there to meet us next week.

Happy New Year to everyone and best wishes for a great 2008!

This is Shelly (doing my very first blog post). I hijacked Nate’s blog password to give you an update on a late-breaking development. After Nate’s visit to the City of Love last weekend, Paris has now been added to our trip itinerary. Unfortunately, that means that Spain was kicked off except for a short layover in the Madrid airport after our 12+ hour trip from Buenos Aires before hopping over to Paris. Those crepes better be really good to make up for the tapas and vino I had envisioned in Spain…not to mention the fact that I will not be excited to get on another airplane after that long haul. Stay tuned to see how it goes. For those that care about these things, we have up to 16 flight segments through the OneWorld Explorer around the world ticket, so the flight to Paris now puts us at exactly 16. PS–I just figured out how to upload a picture. Here’s one from Nate’s trip.

O.k., so I’ve been very bad about updating our RTW blog. Our last post was in May and I thought it was time to get some fresh material on the blog. Especially since Shelly sent out Christmas cards last week with our blog address included!

Anyway, I’m in Bonn, Germany for business and it’s 4:30 a.m. and I can’t sleep. A 9-hour time change will do that, so I figured there’s no time like the present to update the blog. Since our last post, our RTW ’08 trip planning has been in full swing. I can safely say Shelly and I are fully inoculated (not fun), Malaria meds are in-hand for Africa and parts of Asia, and we have two different types of antibiotics for stomach issues. We also received our Visas in advance for Tanzania, India, and China so all that’s left is to catch our flight January 1st.

Our latest and final challenge is packing. We’re carrying two small backpacks because it’s a Kurtz family policy to never check bags or trust your luggage to airport baggage handlers. The size limitations are going to be tough to overcome, but we’re pretty close to nailing down the final packing list. The night before we leave I’ll post what made the final cut and the items that stayed behind to watch the house.

It’s hard to believe we’re only 3.5 weeks away from the trip we’ve been planning for so long. It seems like yesterday (in reality about a year ago) that Shelly and I were pouring over world maps, researching countries, charting airline flight schedules, and piecing this whole trip together. Since we finished planning last month, we’ve been on autopilot. Our focus has been on our jobs and to make sure everything’s wrapped up before we leave. I’m sure around Christmas it will finally sink in that we’re leaving for 3.5 months!

After 6 months and 60+ itinerary variations, our 2008 around the world schedule is finally set! We booked our primary flights using a OneWorld Explorer fare and the off-network/regional flights will be booked during the trip. In total, we’ll be visiting 12 countries over 98 days and are set to depart January 1st, 2008. Our flight leaves Seattle at 9:15 AM as Shelly and I toast champagne to bring in the new year and the adventures ahead.

No checked luggage allowed on this trip… we’re taking two small carry-on backpacks so we’re light and mobile. As our packing list and additional details finalize, we’ll provide routine updates for those interested in a similar trip. For now, though, below is the schedule and any notable key activities:

January 1 – 8 Peru (Machu Picchu)
January 9 – 19 Argentina (we heard Buenos Aires is cheap!)
January 20 – 30 France and Italy (get some western culture before “roughing it”)
January 31 – February 7 Egypt (5 day Nile Cruise plus the pyramids)
February 8 – 17 Tanzania/Kenya (7 day tented Serengeti Safari)
February 18 – March 3 India (Taj Mahal, Jaipur, Mysore, and Mumbai)
March 4 -19 Thailand (The beach, Chiang Mai, $10 suits, and $6 massages)
March 20 – 22 Cambodia (Angkor Wat)
March 23 – 31 China (Hong Kong and Beijing to check out the pre-Olympic sites)
April 1 – 7 Japan (Cherry Blossom Festival)