MACHU PICCHU!!!

The pictures tell the story! What an unbelieveable experience!

Here is our first view of the site in the morning

We climbed up Waynapicchu, which is the mountain the the background in the above picture.

From Waynapicche you look back at the whole site....spectacular!

Another city hike

Today we took a bus and the subway to get into the heart of downtown Santiago. We got to see the skyscrapers from the ground-looking up...

Then we went to the top of the Cerro San Cristobal for the view looking down.....

Thankfully there is a funicular to get you to the top. Here we are waiting for the car to get moving

and the view part way up

Here is the statue of the Virgin that can be seen from all over the city

We ended up walking all the way down the mountain following the car road. There were several overlooks to enjoy on hte way down....

Sights around Santiago

The Andes came out on Tuesday. They really seem almost close enough to touch from Santiago.

Some of the local flora..... the lighter pink flowers are a kind of geranium and grow like weeds everywhere. The taller red one is a form of red hot poker plant

Catharine took us to this artisans village, Los Dominicos, for some shopping. Inside the walls are many quaint stalls selling good quality handicrafts.

On Monday we took the bus tour of Santiago.
This is the main river, the Marupucho, that runs through Santiago

We got off the bus in several of the nieghborhoods. This was Bellevista, a prime location for night life and to purchase lapislazuli items (which we did)-

This was one of the stops, Santa Lucia hill in the middle of the city. It is a city park. There is a massive entrance portico, it is all landscaped and has steps leading up to an overlook.

We arrive in Chile and Visit Valparaiso

We arrived in Santiago, Chile after a mere 22 hours of travel. There was a morning nap and then a walk around the neighborhood. First thing we saw was a........Starbucks

Our hosts, Michael and Catharine, live on the 15th floor of an apartment building. Here is the view out our bedroom window. The Andes, which should be visible in this direction, are obscured in the haze on our first day.

On Sunday we drove to the coast and walked around the town of Valparaiso. The city is built on steep hills and the buildings are very colorful

We also drove up the coast a ways. This is the sailboat harbor where M and C moored on their first visit to Chile 6 years ago. We had a fantastic seafood lunch at a beachside restaurant just out of the picture to the right. Sea Urchin and razor clams for appetizers and fish and chips for lunch. One plate filled us both up.

The Cichan visit to Camp Matter- May 2009

Amy, Tim and Mark spent 8 days with Grandpa and Grandma in May. It was SO much fun! Here are some of Marks antics from just the FIRST day of the visit! We did our best to spoil the heck out of him......including letting him remove all these CDs from the cabinet. He made this stack all by himself!

Being all boy- Mark loves cars. Here he is getting to "drive" Grandpa's scout....

Here is Mark hanging out with his grandpa...

Grandma let Mark help her dig up some lilac plants...

and then he helped daddy plant them in another part of the yard....

A favorite game- was playing in the tent and tunnel with grandpa...

And, best of all - it is OK to be NAKED at grandma and grandpa's.

Floor upgrade

It's another labor of love.........or idiotcy. We have converted the flooring in our kitchen through to the guest bedroom from linoleum to larch flooring. Kurt found a local lumber mill that cuts down the tree, mills and finishes 6 inch wide T&G flooring planks.
This first picture was taken May 12, Kurt was two days into laying the new flooring. the orange contraption is the nailing tool- that was a real help- but it was still back breaking work to lay all the boards.

The main room boards were all down by May 20. Then we took a break for a visit from the Cichans. The bedroom floor was then put down and new thresholds were made at 6 doorways. Kurt and I spent 8 hours on Friday June 5th doing the sanding...........

We took a day inbetween to straighten our backs and to do finish sanding and let the dust settle. Then on Sunday June 7th we put down the first coat of sealer. Here is the start..........

We worked our way from the kitchen to the bedroom- Here is Kurt just backing out the bedroom door....

And here are some pictures of the floor. Another coat of the sealer goes on later today and then a topcoat.