Machu Picchu, day 5. Leaving.

So basically breakfast and then we went on a hike by some train tracks. Scenery was gorgeous and stunning as usual.  Blue ink represents today (2017).  As I'm going through these pictures, I realize how much narration I have missed on during my journaling then.  Also, this was a few years ago and it's a great way to jog my memory.









These first set of pictures are the hike up to the garden that I talk about here.  As I look at these pictures, I'm wowed by it all.

We had quite a hike through the streets and then walking by these buildings that line the street only to be sandwiched on the other side by a beautiful stream.  Ya.  It's neat.
Somehow, you know that you're traveling and experiencing something new.  This is definitely not the USA.  And that's not a bad thing!

Back to the pictures.  It's not just the railway tracks.  It's the pretty bridge also.

As I'm looking at these pictures, I remember the train going by and I remember trying to capture that picture.

Why I didn't write about it earlier, I don't know.  Off topic, I just want to state that it's hard to share pictures on blogger.  I'm doing my best.  I'm working with size and formats.  Please be patient with me.

I guess white space is OK because I have more pictures and a picture speaks a thousand words, so there goes my thousand words!



I had to share some pictures with myself in them or you might claim that I wasn't really there and that I stole these pictures for a blog.  Why would I do that?  I guess some strange people do, so I had to put myself in some of these.
Although, now that I think about it, I fear that a lot of the pictures I have taken recently on my recent trips, have been without me.  Well, you just have to trust me that these are my pictures and my trip, whether I'm in them or not.












I don't know why but I like to take pictures of signs either with directions or just a memory of where we were.  So I guess we were following directions to The Gardens of Mandor Waterfall!

Walked through a garden with a lot of neat orchids etc. and got to see this waterfall. Was a small one but looked nice nevertheless.

Yes.  That note in black prink was the original post.
As you can see, these are picture of the hike in the gardens with the exotic flowers.  I'm not a botanist to tell you what flowers we saw and didn't, but I'm hoping these pictures will help.  Of course, you can see the hiking path in some of these.

Is it a pineapple?  I have to say yes.  I'm trying to think if I would get pictures of pineapples if I were to travel now.  I don't know.  But it's nice to know that pineapples grow down there.

This wasn't the waterfall.  It was on the way to the waterfall.  As I had mentioned before.  It wasn't a big waterfall, but it was a peaceful hike in the woods, or gardens.  It was something to do on the morning after having seen Machu Picchu.

The hike continued.

My hair is super red on this picture on the right.  Well, I shrunk it for good reason.
OH.  I have to mention about the picture on the left.  I remember bending down and drinking that water.  I don't think our tour guide was too thrilled with that.  He said that birds and animals poop in it.  Sure!  But I was told that the waters in the streams are naturally filtered through the process of water flow and the algae.  The water was tasty!  Random memory...
As I was going through these pictures, I realize that I wore my hat on almost all of them, so I thought I would share one without my hat or sunglasses.  Of the topic, but I lost the sunglasses I wore on a completely different hike near my home.  Every time I see a picture with my sunglasses in them, I am reminded of that.

There it is.  The water fall we hiked to.  It was still worth it to me.  There's just something

peaceful about a waterfall, no matter how small.  I didn't get in the water.  I don't think we carried our towels and stuff.  Just went for a stroll to discover this.

I must say that the walk back was interesting.

As I look at the pictures and this post, I cannot believe the beetle didn't make it on the post about the walk back.  Well, I have the picture, so I must share it.  I just think that beetle was so cool.  No.  I did not eat it.  On a dare, I might have!












I know I haven't mentioned dogs yet, but I'd be amiss if I didn't as there were dogs everywhere. With my intense phobia, I've still managed to walk and ignore the dogs but today before the waterfall hike as were were going to pay for our tickets, the woman's (owner) dog kept coming towards me. I came so close that I did jump and get out of the way. Boris got mad. He said, *Never do that!* I tried to plead with him that the dog was to close, but Boris said doing that will make a dog attack me. And Boris assured me that he was right there with me. OK. So that happened. On our way back as we walked by the railway, I noticed these 2 women tourists and a dog was walking by them. Since we were walking faster, we almost caught up to them and the dog.


 They stopped at the local fruit vendor and that's where we stopped too. I got my first taste of Passion Fruit. LOVED it. Little slimy but sweet with consistency. Couldn't eat the seeds so we swallowed it, of course. I being a fruit junkie bought 2 more passion fruits and carried them in my hand. As we walked away, the dog decided to walk near us and of course, decided to walk more near me. And of course, I was freaking out and finally Boris said, *Put those fruits in your pockets. He thinks you are going to feed him.*

I did as I was told, but dog continued to walk by us. Salman and Boris decided to walk between me and the dog and tried to keep the dog away from me. I continued to walk faster. I wasn't walking with Boris or Salman, but I figured they'd meet up with me eventually and they did. When they did catch up with me, there was no dog. I think I asked Boris what happened to the dog and he came up with the preposterous story that he and Salman threw the dog into the nearby river or something like that. I think other than the dog part of the day, everything else was great.

Then back to the hotel, back on train.
As I was going through my pictures, I found this video from the return journey on the train.

 On the train was interesting. They had this man wear a tiger mask and dance with a stick and they had a fashion show where the steward/ess changed and walked down the train aisle to display clothing that can be purchased. Then back to Ollantaytambo to pick up luggage, in car to Cusco.

I do remember stopping at the pottery factory but I don't remember taking these videos.  I think they are neat.  For those of you who have done pottery, you may appreciate it more.  It didn't work out completely when she showed us, but hey, you learn that even someone with a lot of experience has trouble at times.
Here are the videos and pictures from the pottery factory. The rest of this blog post is as is.  I don't even know why I'm making commentary but I think it's better than just throwing a whole bunch of pictures at you.

Stopped at pottery factory and saw how they make those neat pots, cups, etc.

 And then back to Cusco. Boris took us for some roast chicken. It's Peruvian as it's roasted in a wooden oven. Something about the flavor. I loved it anyways and Boris and Salman commented *What does she not like?*

Back to hotel. We met Luke sitting at the reception that evening and he was in Peru for 2 months. He'd already been there for a month. He showed us pictures of where he went. He showed us the caterpillar/butterfly rock. And then the entrance to a temple I cannot remember the name. He said he slept outside the gate and those nights his dreams were very strange. I asked him why strange. He said one night he dreamed he sued Yahoo! And other dreams, he had conversations with his dead friends/relatives. We went up to our room shortly after but Salman went out again to exchange money. Apparently Luke joined him. Salman said his 1 minute analysis of Luke was that Luke was getting over a long term relationship and this was his way of getting away. Well, I thought it was strange someone had the time/finances to be able to take 2 months off just to travel irrespective of one's personal situation.

I started packing, rearranging to see what else to buy if I could buy anything. I've spent $200 already!

Thank you for reading.  I know I haven't posted about Machu Picchu for a while.  It's on my draft.  I basically have finished Day 5 now.  I think I have 3 more days of my Machu Picchu trip. Will try to get it all done.  I am trying to be more regular with this blog.  Also, I want to do vlogs as I've mentioned before.  So, we'll see how all this goes.

I know this one is long because of all the pictures and the videos, but do you like it?

Take care,
TTR

Statistical outlier

As you'll notice, I have been posting a bit more these days.  I'm trying to be consistent.  Despite it all, I get a few reads.  If I hit 20 reads, I get excited.  I know, it's not much, but for me, it's a lot.  I'm not famous and to expect readership in the 1000s is a dream.  And then last night happened.

I got on blogger to check my usual readership to see if I have 1 or 2 people reading my posts and the graph that shows me that, looked all wonky.  It was very different from a few hours past.  The normal ebbs and flows of 2 views, 1 view, 0 view, 3 views, 10 views etc. were gone.  There was one spike and one alone.  I wondered why the graph had changed.  It took me a bit to realize that my views for the day was over 1.6K.  The scale on the graph had changed from the 10s to the 1000s.  It all spiked at 8pm yesterday and that was it.  So, I did a bit of digging around.  1.6K views from Israel at 8pm last night.  Doesn't show on my posts.  None of my posts have a higher number of readers.  It's still the 10s to 20s.  I still don't know what happened.

Am I freaked out?  You better believe it.  For now, I'm letting it go.  I have no idea what bot crawler from Israel happened on my page and why, but what am I supposed to do?  I'm just going to sit back and wait for my readership to get back to its normal 10s to 20s and hope for a realistic growth to the 50s and 60s at some point.  Hey, a girl can hope!

Best to you all,
TTR

Flying in the past

Mom is leaving to India and her handbaggage weight restriction is 15 pounds.  Her empty hand baggage weighs 5 pounds.  So, technically, a person is only allowed 10 pounds of carry-on.  As my mom goes through all the options of carry ons, she was going with one that is 2 pounds without wheels.  I told her that was insane for an international flight as she'll have to lug her baggage around and it would be an inconvenience.  She needs wheels.  Part of me is angry with the airline restrictions.  I get it.  We don't want a 50lb carry on.  But with the 50 lb restriction in checked in luggage - moved down from 70 lbs of the past allowance, why are they restricting the carry on also.  Airplanes are technologically advanced to handle more weight and it begs the question of business over customer comfort and convenience.
I don't recall weighing the checked baggage.  There was one time in London when we were going to Umra and an obnoxious woman was giving us a hard time.  She swore they would weight our carry-ons once we were inside and then it would be trouble there.  She lied.  We knew they wouldn't and they didn't.  All because we left the area of transit and went out to look for my brother who had either missed his plane or worse yet, was still stuck in the US.  I guess technology today is good with wifi and text messaging, but those days we had to retrace steps to find someone.  The point is that we felt very inconvenienced by the airlines.  While they should have tried to help us, they were just giving us a hard time.  Also, they were exercising a power, just because they had it.  It's like spiderman, spinning webs and hurting people, because he could.  With great power comes great responsibility.  Maybe she hadn't heard of that.
I still remember that woman who wouldn't let us get back in until our weight restrictions were taken care of.  I don't remember what we did.  I think I had to take my winter coat out of my hand baggage and wear it.  And I stuffed the pockets with as much as possible.  When the weight was sufficient for her, she let us through only for me to put my coat and everything back in my carry-on when we were out of her sight.  Funny thing how the really mean people in your life are burned in your brain.  I know it's not a good thing but I can still feel the hate I felt for her.  I figure it was a control thing.  She had the control and she could use it any way she could and she chose to be inconsiderate.  The good thing is I learned.  You cannot use your power to be rude to people just because you can.  But some people, I feel in the airline industry, behave like the prison guards of Zimbardo's prison experiment.  I'm getting off track here, but other than that random bad experience, flying in the past was pretty much enjoyable.
911 put the kibosh on all of that.  Weight allowances decreased over time.  Checked baggages started getting charged while carryons were restricted.  Feels like an intentional squeeze by the airline industry.  They did say gas prices were going up?  Sure.  That was a few years back.  Gas prices have long since come down and airline prices haven't done so correspondingly.  If gas didn't spike the prices, what did?  Greed?
Watching my mom be super careful about her packing weight makes me upset.  It's not like she had a super large carry-on but it really doesn't take much to make a carry on out of airline range.  I have seen campers bring on these huge back-packs on flights.  Nothing said about that.  Today, I wonder if they can do that.  Mom was told that they do weight the carry-ons.  Everything is strict.  I wonder if she should just get weight credit for being under 200lbs.  Whatever.
Air travel has changed.  I keep thinking that it may one day get better, but I doubt it.  I still long for the times pre-911 when families could wait at the gate until one boarded the plane.  And liquid restriction?  What's that?  Here's to warm memories as we step into our uncertain world.  If something as simple as flying can be so complicated, what about things that are truly complex?
Best to you all,
TTR

The Car Color Statement

I've wanted to write about this for a while now.  I don't know when I first started noticing car colors, but when the bright blue one hit the markets about 10 years ago, it was noticeable.  For starters, it was very different from the usual colors available and it was bright.  In a sense, it maybe brought out a personality.  Recently, I considered purchasing a new car.  I've long since changed my mind, but when I think of a car purchase, color is very important to me.  I know you are thinking that the make and performance of a car is far more important.  Sure it is.  So is color.  To me at least.  As much as I view a car as a vehicle to get from point A to point B, there are times I view it as an extension of myself.  A car should somehow feel like home.  A point of comfort.  I don't know why, but that's how I feel about it.  As you all know, I have Buddy.  He's more than a car to me.  He's a friend with a personality.  He's someone I talk to and laugh with and share my stories.  He doesn't mock me and he's a great listener.  Yes, a car can be like a relationship.  Or maybe if you are not as crazy as me, it's "just" a car.
Hey, since this is my blog post, these are my musings.  If I tell you color is important, it is!  Anyway, when I was considering the purchase of a new car, I had pretty much decided that I wanted bright blue.  Buddy was supposed to be that color, but when I walked through the lot, several years ago, a car of Buddy's color was sparkling in the sun.  It looked bright copper.  I had never seen that color before and I immediately changed my mind from the bright blue to the copper.  Now, there were only 2 interior choices for a car of my exterior:  black and umber (the orangish).  I picked umber and long story to finding Buddy and bringing him to St. Louis all the way from Minneapolis, but he's the only one in the Midwest with that color combination.  I will say one more thing about Buddy before I talk about car colors again.  This weekend I was in Chicago and at a light.  A couple was crossing the street in front of Buddy.  The woman pointed at him.  The man looked at Buddy too.  I could tell they were looking at his color.  I thought to myself.  Yep.  Buddy is unique indeed.
Back to a few months ago when I was looking at different makes and models.  I remember the Audi.  It turns out that the bright blue will have to be a special order.  Maybe I'm not being totally accurate.  To get bright blue with a particular interior would be a special order.  But in general, there was one or two bright blues for sale.  Those had a common black interior.  Going back to exteriors, with the common colors, there were several to pick from with different interiors.  Apparently, bright blue is not such a common color so manufacturers don't make a lot of those colors and they charge more for it.  My question is, why?  Is it really so out there or so off the wall?  I personally would also love a bright orange or a bright green.  I think it has to do with what colors sell the most.  I say, why not offer it all?  After all, I sought after a unique car.  Wouldn't others?
The other day, I was looking at the colors of all the cars passing by.  There were no greens.  None.  All I saw was white, various shades of metallic grey (Silver), named differently.  There's gold.  Maybe a light blue, although manufacturers seem to be going away from it.  Of course, black and red.  But really, that's it.  Red is interesting because I consider it a color, not one of the neutrals.  It stands out to be taken notice.  Red is dashing.  If red works, why can't the other colors do the same?
I remember a long time ago when I was in Dubai.  I saw a flashy metallic Barbie pink Mercedes.  The Arab boys I guess used it to pick up girls.  Being flashy.  I guess, men don't have peacock feathers to attract the female sex, so they use their cars?  I did not find that color appealing in the least bit but I'm not asking for something so wild either.  I believe the manufacturers should get out of their commercial mass production mentality and take a risk with new colors though.  Maybe they'll be known for their colors, like the bug.  These days it's all about what sells fast and that is good marketing, but how do you know the other colors won't, if you don't give it a chance.
The mercedes doesn't offer any fun colors.  It only offers neutrals from white to black with the silvers mixed in.  I don't even think there was a red in the E class.  Really?  You are a mercedes and you can't offer great colors?  What kind of statement is it making?  Having bright colors means it's not "mercedes" quality?  Maybe some sporty Mercs offer red, but majority of them do not.  Some of you are going to bring up the Porsche and I don't have anything to say about it, other than having unique color combinations, are not usual showroom cars.  They are special orders and one has to pay and arm and a leg to get that look.
My car Buddy is unique.  I told you that he's the only one in the midwest with the exterior of dark copper and Umber leather (looks orangish) interior.  I know when I purchased him, I left out of town the next day while my dealership was acquiring him.  Apparently, he was sitting outside and the dealer had to fend off interest in him because he was already sold to me.  If there was interest in Buddy, then why not manufacture more of him?  I'm not totally complaining.  I have a unique car, but are my color choices truly that different?  I would like to think so and boost up my ego, but it's not true.  I think the average person would like more color choices.  They are just not given that option.
Since starting this post (more than a week ago) I have seen 2 bright lemon green cars.  Small ones.  I can't remember the make, but I remember the color.  It took me by surprise.  Was someone actually reading my mind?  Maybe there is hope.  Maybe in the future, we'll see more of the fancy colors without having to tag on a fancy price.  One can hope.
I was talking about my blog to someone and they told me that I should add pictures of the colors of the cars I'm mentioning.  I should, but then it'll take me a while to find all the colors and besides, how am I going to be fortunate enough to run into the lemon green car again?  So, please use your imaginations.
Talk to you all later,
TTR

Moth Pitch

A friend of mine introduced me to the Moth Radio hour, a podcast.  I was immediately hooked.  There was no going back.  For a first time podcast listener, these true stories were heart warming and funny and creative and charming.  I was opened to a world of humanity in quite a new way.  In every Moth podcast they ask, "Do you have a story to tell?  Pitch us your story on the moth.org or..."  Well, every time I heard that, I would think, I have a story.  I can do this.
I decided one night I would check out the website.  I had a 15 minute story, but they wanted a pitch in 2 mins.  How do I shrink a full story into 2 mins as a pitch?  They had rules.  Do not leave us in a cliffhanger.  It should be the whole story.  I realized that pitching a 2 min version of a longer story was not so easy.  I shut the computer and moved on.
This past weekend I was in Chicago.  On my drive there, I caught up on the Moth podcast and kept hearing their invitation for a pitch.  "We listen to all pitches".  Do you?  I thought to myself.  I can do this.  I can do this.  I can do this.  No.  I must do this.  When the "can" became a "must" I was filled with a purpose.  I must.  I decided that I would made a lateral move on this blog and make is a bit of a VLOG!  Mostly, I want to do stories or pitches or both.  Sure, I may come up with something different, but for now, I'm starting with the first story that I shrunk into a Moth Pitch.  In case you are wondering, if I have pitched this story or not.  Well,  I have.  I called it in.  Last night, I Facebook messaged The Moth.  I asked how one knows if they have received the story or not.  Today I got a response.  They have received mine.  Where will this go?  Maybe no where.  But for now, here's my first Moth Pitch.  Enjoy.

Best to you all,
TTR

Learning by example

I have always been a spoiled child.  Pretty much got what I wanted by kicking and screaming.  It's all fine and dandy, until one becomes an adult and realizes that you can't kick and scream to make friends.  Also, having lived a sheltered life, for the most part, I realize that I haven't been fully socialized.  I am awkward with people - talking to them and being on their same level and trying to understand them.  How is it done?  For the longest time I struggled with it, but then I started watching people and learning from their example.  Mostly, I observed my cousins and how they are or are not with their friends.  I would analyze their friendships and try to get a feel for the "good" ones.  It would be my perception.   Do I want that kind of friendship?  If it was a friendship I liked and admired, I would observe closely and see.  Also, if they had friendships that I did not particularly care for, I would observe what I did not like or what I felt was not good to do in a friendship.  No, I'm still not good with friends.  Even today, I fumble.  Even today, I try too hard and realize that it's the one thing you are not supposed to do.  I am still learning.  I'm learning because I didn't have the opportunity to learn these lessons in my young age.  Or I lacked the maturity.  Severely, lacked the maturity.
Friendships are fine and dandy but it's the same with basic socializations.  I'm still trying.  I've figured out that through my life, I have learned best by example.  Watching and emanating.  It's like reading books about successful people.  What did they do?  What were their traits that made them get to their pinnacle?  Some of it is basic but sometimes the basics are important.
The other thing about traits and observation of people and socializing is watching people you don't like.  Or watching behaviors you don't like and then looking at yourself in the mirror and asking the hard question:  Am I really like that?  God forbid!  If the answer is yes, then one is able to make a change and make a decision that it's not a good idea to behave like this.
I watch my husband and when someone asks him a question, he goes off on a tangent for a million years that the person asking the question forgets the question or even forgets that they asked him a question.  I think about the oil painting vs the photograph analogy that was given to me once.  Someone explained to me that I gave people a 12MP picture of the event when people just wanted a sketch or a blurry oil painting.  Not everyone wants all the details.  "Some people just want the painting!" is what a friend of mine had explained to me.  I have always known that I'm long winded and don't answer a question directly.  I have to go into detail and even for an yes or no question, I would need to set up the reasoning behind my answer.  Aaaah.  I understand other's frustrations now.  Working on changing that.  It's not easy.  Examples and watching others is how I have learned.
I have also learned to tone it down (a bit) while playing games.  It's interesting.
I have a very aggressive game playing family.  You win or you are nothing!  Being nothing is worse than being a loser.  There's also the etiquette of winning.  You have to rub it in people's faces.  You are stupid!  That's the dumbest thing I have ever seen!  I have come to understand that it's all great if you are dishing it.  Isn't there a hidden rule that if you are dishing it, you have to be able to take it.  Through playing games and in general, I know people love to do the one-sided dish it, but they absolutely cannot take it.  I see that and I have made mental notes to be on both the giving and receiving end of it.  Also, I have observed the anger thrown at unsuspecting people and feelings getting hurt.  When I look in the mirror, I have decided that enough was enough.  I wasn't going to be one of those.
Last time I played a game with my brother and nieces, I smiled and played fair.  I wasn't overly aggressive and I just played.  While my nieces tried to be overly aggressive or unfair, I smiled and just played the game without trying to be mean or hurtful just to be so!  I don't know, but maybe it was Karma.  I won!
I'm surprised that I still learn by watching.  I look at people I admire and realize that I could be that.  I could be a better person.  My cousin once taught me a valuable lesson.  I was on a trip with her and I can't recall but I got into one of my fits and was very upset.  It got to the point that I was not budging. I didn't know how we would get past it.  And then, like magic, she let me have my way.  To her, the relationship was more important than being right or wrong and thinking back, I can't recall the situation and I honestly can't recall if I was in the right or not, but I learned a valuable lesson.  About myself and about her.  About myself - I learned that I was just a difficult person to be with and I didn't need to be that way.  About her - I learned that she valued people and relationships and was the better person after all.
Maybe someday, I'll be a better person than I am now.  Maybe.  There's hope.  But I'm looking at all of you and when you exceed my expectations and behave in a way that represents a special kind of humanity, I'm watching.  And hopefully, I'll learn yet again.
Thank you all for reading this,
Later,
TTR

Again! And Again! And Again!

I recently talked to a nephew about being persistent and consistent.  Easier said than done.  What does one do when their ADD kicks in?  They go from writing half a blog to something else and then something else and then they come back to write another quarter of a totally different blog and at the end of it all, a month goes by with drafts and nothing to show for.  How does one stay consistent with an energy level that has them bouncing off the walls?  Containment, I tell myself.  Focus!  What a challenge?  I never thought my ADD and energy level would be one of my biggest challenges in my life, but it is.
It all started with trying to diversify professionally.  What does that mean?  To make it as a speaker and a writer; to do something creative.  That's a professional goal of mine.  My nephew was trying to convince me that I did not need to worry about readership.  He seemed to think that it will all eventually fall into place if I just kept consistent and plugged along.  Consistently posting about my travels.  Having videos or vlogging on a constant pace.  Obviously, to keep up with blogging on this site, regularly.
I like that he said it only takes one.  One?  One what?  Blog?  Video?  In reality, I do agree with him, but I also believe it's a matter of luck and right place, right time.  There's also the minor detail of talent.  No-one has a crystal ball to look into and tell when that "one" event is going to propel your alternative career, but there's a looming reality at the back of my mind.  It may never happen.  Worse yet, what if I'm not good enough?
Can I let my own judgement and self talk pull me down?  If I do, then what will I be left with?  No blog or vlog to show for and can I live with myself if I did not make the effort?  Philosophy is not my strong suit and neither is consistency.  I can try until I deviate and hopefully come back to it again and maybe one day I'll find my way home to this great adventure.  This phenomenal and mysterious alternative that my mid-life crisis is craving.
Happy thoughts,
TTR