Final Day at the Atlantis and Heading Home

Today was a very cloudy and windy day at the Atlantis. It was not particularly warm either. We had to spend the majority of our morning, sliding and swimming and then jumping in the hot tub. Wyatt did the plunge shark tank slide numerous times, but Graham and Owen stuck with the Kid Pool and the smaller slides. I tried the lazy river and could only make it half way around. Any part of the body exposed to the windy air was SO very chilly.

Chris and Kala decided to head to the straw market and have a little visit to Senor Frogs. I'm not sure WHAT they did, but they came back with pretty cool animal balloon hats for their heads that they wore home. THAT is a good straw market and the sign of a very good time.

We had to head in early today as the boys all started complaining about the chill in the air. We toured around the various aquatic sanctuaries and saw Hammerhead sharks and sawfish. Very neat.

Dinner this evening was Asian and was excellent. Chop Stix was by far our most favorite and delicious meal.We are all on our way home tomorrow and are not looking forward to the 30s temps that I saw on Weather.com. Not a very 'warm' welcome for us Bahama travellers! Currently the Franklin Gibsons are awaiting our flight in Fort Lauderdale. The Birmingham Gibsons are awaiting their flight in Freeport.

Sliding, Riding, and Soaking in Some Fun

We have filled our days at the Atlantis with tubing the not-so-lazy river where a wave machine creates tidal waves that wash your intertube down the river, riding down tube slides and body slides that take you through the shark tank, and swimming in the ocean. Not too shabby. I was worried about finding food the first day, because this crazy hotel is SO big and we did not have a map to find food. But since then, we have eaten exceptionally well. We have had nice breakfasts, lunch by the pool, and Italian and Caribbean fare for dinner. Asian is on the menu for tomorrow evening.

Although our room is as far away as possible from the water events, it is very excluded and quiet and we have had completely uninterrupted sleep. I had to wake both rooms of kids (college and elementary) up at 10am this morning. The sun is very exhausting apparently.

We have found the Bahamian workers (including lifeguards) to walk around with quite a swagger and generally have an attitude. They are relatively polite and helpful if approached. However, the lifeguards tend to pay more attention to each other and their own ladies, than to actually saving anyone from drowning.

This evening Chris, Kala, Wyatt, Graham, and Owen dressed up in white shirts and tan pants for the typical beach picture. I waited a little late, and the pics are a little dark, but some of them are still very sweet. People stared at us after we entered the building as we were all dressed in matching costumes. We were with a movie star (Don was mistaken for Colombian actor Victor Cabrera), so we enjoyed the attention.

Hotlantis here we come! Atlantis Hotel, Nassau

We arrived at the Atlantis hotel to beautiful blue, sunny skies and 90 degree temps. Much better than the cloudy, rainy, and chilly Tennessee weather that we left behind. We acquired a limousine ride from the airport to the hotel, so we arrived in style.

We have found the Atlantis to be quite large and overwhelming and without a map, it is practically impossible to navigate. No one offered us a map though. So I personally thought I was going to starve to death in a land of plenty because we did not know how to get to the nearest restaurant although we could smell it. The pools all close at 5:30p, so we just enjoyed the beach this afternoon and did not break our necks trying to get slide/pool-time. Our dinner at Marketplace was excellent, but extremely pricey. If we had not purchased the Casual Meal Plan, I might have had an attack.



Although I booked the Coral Towers, we are actually staying in two connecting 'villas' next to the turtle sanctuary and lazy river, between the Coral and Beach Towers. I find this transaction a bit confusing, but overall it has worked out ok.

We are thoroughly enjoying having our niece and nephew, Kala and Chris, from Alabama. It is sad for them that we go to bed at 9pm.

Last Day in the Jungle

Last night we had a late night largely because all the guides at the lodge were celebrating Peruivan Independence Day. Loud latino music and the sounds of a college kegger do not make for a restful night’s sleep. So much for the sounds of the jungle!

This morning we got up at 5:30 am and headed to the Canopy Tower. Walking throught the jungle is not easy task. First of all you wear golashes, large rubber boots that come to just below the knees. This serves two purposes: keeping the mud off and protecting you from things that bite on the jungle floor.

The Canopy tower is a scaffoled structure 45 minutes from the lodge. Upon arrival we see it standing 125 feet (42 meters or 21 daddys) in the air. Upon reaching the summit the entire structure sways about 6 to 12 inches. We are to wait here for one hour so we can see Macaws, Parrots and Monkeys. We lasted about 60 seconds. The view was breathtaking, meaning I could not breath even a little bit and could not focus on the words that our guide was saying.

One thing about our lodge. There are no doors. Meaning there is no door to your room and no door to your bathroom. And the rooms aren’t really angled for privacy. Which means there is a lot of nudity at the lodge. Maybe it’s an ecolodge thing. But if your hiking with a group and come to a swimming hole and there is no place to change into your bathing suit… No problem! Just let it all hang out. No one is walking around naked on purpose, but no one is really hiding their privates either.

After lunch we trekked to the clay lick, about a 45 minute hike. The boys are really getting the hang of walking through the jungle. At the clay like we saw giant pigs called Peccarano’s and a black turkey. We caught up with a British tour group who was falling in the mud quite a bit and saying things like (read in thick British accent) “Gerald, did you see that giant turkey?”

Refugio Amazonas - Spiders and Bugs and Snakes...Oh My!

Leaving Cuzco, after a 30 minute flight, 1 hour bus ride and 3 hour boat ride, we have arrived at Refugio Amazonas, an ecolodge in a remote area in the Amazon rainforest in eastern Peru. Our lodge is located along the banks of the Tambopata River which constitues one of the many headwaters to the Amazon River.

A little about our accomodations: Our room has 3 walls with the 4th being open to the forest. There is no air conditioner. There is no hot water. We have electricity from 12pm to 1pm and 5:30pm - 9:30pm, only in the reception area. There is no diet Coke! Our beds are covered with mosquito nets at night. As harsh as that sounds, it’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The lodge is an huge A-frame timber structure with a large dining hall, bar, and sitting area with off-shoot walkways to the guest rooms. The lighting at night is by kerosene lanterns and candles. Its like walking into a Ralph Lauren/Banana Republic catalog.

Walking from the boat ramp to our room last night we passed poisonous caterpillars, numerous spiders (some as big as my hand), and multiple frogs, the largest found in our bathroom!
Every time our guide, Karina, says “Stop! Don’t move”, it makes my heart beat fast. Most of the things she points out aren’t dangerous; but today she said that right after the boys passed within 12 inches of a feathered viper, the second most poisonous snake in the Amazon. It was on our pathway and didn’t even flinch as we walked by…it was not scared of us even a little bit.

White water rafting the Urubama River

Today the Gibson family headed off to raft the Urubamba river, which is the river flowing between the Andes mountains in the Sacred Valley. This river drains the glaciers from the Andes. However, we were assured by several people, including our river rafting guide, that it would not be too cold and the boys would be safe. One of these was correct. After a 1.5 hour drive to the drop-in point, we were all told to strip to our undies or a bathing suit and put on a wet suit, rain jacket, and helmet. At this point, the weather took a nasty turn. The wind began blowing, the clouds moved in, the rain began pelting and the temperature dropped. The air temp had to be around 40 or 50F and the water temp about the same. In the wind and rain, this is a setup for misery.



Stuck in the middle of nowhere, Don and I put our three little boys in this raft and began the frigid journey down the river in Class 2 and 3 rapids. Our guide, Edwardo, was excellent and told us exactly when to paddle like a drill sergeant, so that we never turned over. The waves pounded us and drenched us and within the first 30 minutes, Graham was crying from the cold. Owen joined him later on. Wyatt was very brave and only cried in joy when we finally saw the base camp 2 hours later. There were 10 or so rafts in our group and all made it successfully. We then got to enjoy a smoky sauna heated by a wood stove and a good hot lunch.



Needless to say, this was not our most pleasant adventure, in fact I've never been so cold and miserable in my life. Back at the hotel hot showers and a Daddy run to McDonald's impoves spirits. But everyone survived and now we have a good story...but it may take a while to get over it.

This concluded our stay in Cuzco, tomorrow a long trek by taxi, plane and boat to the Amazon Rain Forest. Probably no further Internet access until Lima on Thursday.

Moras Salt Mines and the Quechua villagers

Friday our tour guide, Sheila, and our driver, Andreas, came to pick us up for a full day of adventure. Andreas has driven us almost the entire time we have been here in Peru and doesn't speak a lick of English. But he smiles a lot. We head out of the Sacred Valley to the Moras Salt Mines where the ancent Incas built a huge grid of rectangular plots in the ground to collect salt from a mountain stream; we taste it...Really salty (70-80% they say). These muddy salt pools are still in use today and supply the salt for the valley. The locals step on the salt to drain the water out and then put it in piles for the donkeys to take to the top of the valley. Primitive but effective. Interestingly this salt is not iodinized and the locals have problems with thyroid goiters. Hmmm.

Next we head to our highest elevation of the trip (12000 feet) to a small village called Urusbamba outside of Chincera. The weather has turned very cold today and the temperature must be in the 30s. The temps are quoted in Celsius here and all measurements are in the metric system, so I never really know what is going on. We have multiple layers of clothes on and when the wind blows it's piercing.

In this remote village, the Inca descendents who still speak Quechua are waiting on us to give us (and I mean just us as there is not another tourist for miles) a weaving demonstration. They take us into the fields to find leaves and plants and make the boys each chew some flowers which are medicinal and sweet. It mostly tastes like grass. The ladies have prepared a demonstration where they take wool straight from the sheep, wash it with root soap, dye it with various dyes collected from plants, and then stretch it into yarn, and weave it. I am exhausted watching them. They are constantly moving, working all the time. Don and I attempt to thin the wool, but are completely pathetic. This was a unique experience that only our family got to enjoy. Very neat.

Next we head to Cusco for the night. Cusco is at 11000 feet, but we are now acclimatized and should not get altitude sickness. We take our clothes to the laundry...as we are on our last pairs of undies. We head out to see a distinctly Peruvian show called Kusikay which is really spectacular. Lots of acrobatics and humor, with all the actors wearing masks. The boys laugh out loud and think this is great. Our guide, Luis, accompanies us to and from the show. He does put us in a taxi on the way there that I seriously thought was going to get us killed.

Macchu Picchu - Those Crazy Incas

Macchu Picchu is unreal in real life. The beauty of this Inca palace set in the middle of the Andes mountains really can't be described in less than 4 pages. The Incas were very resourceful and practical people and they really loved living in the Andes mountains. In fact, the higher the better. Their settlements are truly on top of mountains, with an extensive system of stone footpaths connecting their cities. I just can’t help but think that if they spent a little less time building temples to Inti the Sun God and a little more time perfecting weaponry, a written language, and the wheel, they might not have lost their entire empire to the Spanish in a day. But I’ve never built a system of elaborate aqueducts channeling a mountain river, carved stones with such precision that there is no need for cement to seal them, or constructed a building that would withstand earthquakes for 700 years. So I guess I’ll give them their due credit.

Wyatt, Graham, and Owen loved it here. It is a little boys paradise. Lots of stones to jump on and terraces to climb. They only got busted 3 times by the whistle-blowing guards. We spent 2 days here and tried to hike one of the Inca trails to the top of one of the mountains. But it was drizzling rain and just too far...those crazy Incas.

More Peru Drink facts:

Diet Coke is not readily available: Coca-cola zero is mass marketed.

Dr. Pepper does not exist here and is what Graham misses most about the U.S.

Inka Cola tastes like a mix of Mountain Dew and Robitussin but these people dig it.

Cuscuenos is the local beer: a little bit lighter than a regular Budweiser.

Today was very much a "tourist day" but every bit worth it.

From now on when people sneeze I'm going to say "Hiram Bingham" instead of "Bless you". The departed Hiram is the Yale archeologist who discovered Macchu Picchu (which sounds a lot like Achoo when you sneeze). The kids get a laugh out of it and I figure it's a can't miss way to help them get chicks.

One cool thing I must add. The transport back to Sol y Luna from MP was by train. PeruRail. My expections of railways are very low. Eurail in the mother-land is bare bones but reliable. TGV in France will get you there quick once you get moving. I don't even want to guess about Amtrack. But PeruRail came with a dinner tray and... get this... a clown down the aisle for the kids followed by a bass pounding fashion show where the steward and stewardess were the models sporting the latest in Alpaca-wear! INcredible!

Cusco and the Sacred Valley

We arrived in Cusco yesterday after a very bumpy flight through the Andes mountains. In fact, the people on the plane applauded when we landed. I found this unsettling. Our guide wisked us away to Pachupapa restaurant in Cusco where Don had a fish with a head and the boys had pizza that they did not like. Then off to the Sacred Valley with our private driver, stopping along the way at a llama/alpaca "museum"farm for some hand's on feeding and petting. The Sacred Valley consists of multiple small towns, all exceptionally poor, and with Peruvian women dressed in the knee-length skirt, tall socks, and flat tan hat that are seen in all pictures of Peru. We are staying at the Hotel Sol y Luna which is a beautiful sanctuary, complete with gated entrance, in the middle of complete poverty. Unfortunately, there is a transportation strike in Peru today and we are not allowed to leave our hotel. So all activities for today have been cancelled. The kids keep attempting to watch TV, but it is all in Spanish. We are going to horseback ride this afternoon, if it is safe.

It's actually strike season in Peru. Disgruntled workers strike during these few months every year. This year the goverment decided to increase fines for traffic violations (speeding, running red lights, etc). They did this to cut down on the number of traffic accidents and pedestrian fatalites which are very high. Well, the cabbies and bus drivers didn't like this one bit. The new fines are so high that it could exceed a month's wages. As far as the strike goes, there is very little violence. Strikers will forcefully stop tour buses and make it's occupants get off, stranding them wherever they are. Scab cabbies run the risk of having their tires punctured. But no one really wants to hurt anybody.

So here we are stuck at Sol y Luna in the Sacred Valley of Peru. There are worse things that could happen.

Arrived in Lima; headed to Cusco

Welcome to Peru! We flew all night and arrived in Lima yesterday morning at 4:30 am. We went directly to our hotel to sleep. Lima is a very cloudy, humid place and we did not see the sun all day yesterday. We are staying in a nice area of Lima called Miraflores which is next to the ocean, at the Hotel Antigua Miraflores. It appears to have lots of old world Peruivan charm or at least what we think old world Peruivan charm would look like. There is no air conditioning at all (hot or cold). The windows are open and there is a cupula in the roof. We hear the sounds of the city.

Most everyone has some functioning English. Don can speak some very basic Spanish which mostly confuses the situation. We ate lunch at Chilis and dinner at McDonalds so we are really enjoying the culture! We have learned that stuff is cheap if one pays with the Sol (Peru currency) and expensive if you use American dollars. Hmmmm. Wyatt and Mom decided to paraglide, but the wind wimped out and we couldn't go today. Maybe later.

Highlights of the trip thus far:

We felt like we were already in a foreign country when we landed in Miami.

LAN is an excellent airline.

Hotel Antigua Miraflores is very nice.

Peruvians are big on public displays of affection.

Kids highpoint was when we saw some colorful crabs and an older Peruvian lady vomit on the pier by the sea. We are off to Cusco Monday morning and will hopefully see the sun.

Packing for Peru

Today I am packing for our family's adventure vacation to the country of Peru. We will be on a journey there for 2 weeks, visiting Macchu Picchu, Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, and the Amazon rainforest. We are vaccinated for Yellow Fever and packed in 5 backpacks (2 large, 3 small) and are ready to be on our way. We have booked a family vacation through Kuoda Tours with private tour guides and many activities, including rafting the Urubamba River.