Sharry Miller

Peru - Pisaq, Ollantaytambo

Travel hopefully: "To travel hopefully," wrote Robert Louis Stevenson, "is better than to arrive." October 7, 2013 Another day of being tourists in order to continue acclimating to the altitude. I was beginning to get impatient to get started with the Salkantay Trail trek, but curiosity and fascination with the area kept me satisfied for another day. It didn't hurt that every site we visited required climbing up, up, up so I felt like I... Read more →

Peru - Saqsaywaman, Qorikancha

Travel relaxed: Make up your mind to have a good time and let go.... October 6, 2013 New friends! What a wonderful thing. And they all speak English! With our Adventures in Good Company guide, we were now a group of 13 ready to take on Peru. I was thrilled to have compatriots, and to have a local guide to make sure I understood everything I was seeing. Adventures in Good Company (AGC) had contracted... Read more →

Peru - Cusco

Travel courteously: Consideration for your fellow travelers and your hosts will smooth the way through the most difficult days. October 4 - 6, 2013 Cusco, or Qosqo as it's called in Quechua, a city of nearly 400,000 people in southeastern Peru. The Inca called it "the navel of the world," and it was the center of their empire. Now it is a cultural center in Peru, and the usual starting point for trips to Machu... Read more →

Peru - Uros, Taquile

Travel expectantly: Every place you visit is like a surprise package to be opened. Untie the strings with an expectation of high adventure. October 2, 2013 To my great delight, I met a couple from Oregon, Jerry and Debbie, at my hotel. They spoke English! And ironically, they'd lived in Juneau for 30 years before retiring south. These wonderful people were kind enough to let me tag along with them for a day on Lake... Read more →

Peru - Puno, Sillustani

Travel fearlessly: Banish worry and timidity; the world and its people belong to you just as you belong to the world.* October 1, 2013 I pressed my back hard against the cement wall and raised my camera to my eye, hoping desperately that no one would take offense at my photographing the crowd. Hundreds of men and women streamed past me on the narrow cobblestone street, blue and orange and gold hard hats bobbing as... Read more →

Peru - Puno

She woke up and realized she had forgotten the definition of the word "impossible." She decided it must not have been that important.* September 30, 2013 It seems to be my destiny to arrive in a strange (to me) place and hire a taxi driver who assures me he can take me to my hotel and who then proceeds to abundantly prove, even though I don't speak his language, that he has no idea where... Read more →

Packing for Peru

It's been almost a year and a half since I wrote a post I called Packing for Bhutan. Not surprisingly, my thoughts then were very similar to my thoughts now as I pack to leave for Peru later this week, and for much the same reason. I need to be prepared to spend time at high altitude in another major mountain range. In Bhutan, we never exceeded about 10,000 feet in the Himalayas. This year,... Read more →

Happy Right Here

The words repeated like a mantra in my head: Ollantaytambo, Huayna Picchu, Salcantay, Machu Picchu. I said them silently, carefully forming the words in my head, seeing them written in the space behind my eyes, correcting my unspoken pronunciation. I imagined the thrill of seeing these places in person. I lost myself in an imagined future in Peru. I was pedaling hard, enjoying the headwind for the challenge it presented, the opportunity to improve my... Read more →

Peru!

Excitement is setting in! On Friday, I sent off the final tour payment and made my flight arrangements. I'll be leaving for Peru on September 28! Initially, I'll be flying into Juliaca and taking a short bus hop to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America. I'll spend three days there exploring the town and taking a tour on the lake. I'm under orders to bring back something that... Read more →

Alaska Bike Tour 2013 Ends

Just two short weeks ago I optimistically sent a brief blog post from my phone announcing the start of this summer's bike tour. Here's the rest of the story. Our first camp in Fairbanks at the Chena River State Recreation Site. The Dream Sharry and Mandy’s grand summer adventure was to be a self-supported bicycle ride from Fairbanks to Wasilla along the Parks Highway, beginning with a ride on the Alaska Railroad from Wasilla to... Read more →