Rockies win! Three in a row!

Rockies win three in a row! At first glance, I thought the umpires were feeling sorry for them. Nah...the players make too much. In fact, they make so much money this year, when the coach calls the bullpen he gets an answering service! Anyway, it's great to have a good outing on the mound (even though we gave up 14 hits) and swing big bats too. The problem is, I look at the standings and we're only 11.5 games behind the Dodgers! How do you make that up?

Rockies lose so much they party when it rains

This time last year, the Rockies were starting to falter after a great start and then the season was really over. This year they never really got the engine started.  Now, I've been a good and faithful fan through thick and thin, but enough is enough!

The team is in real trouble. Let's start with the bats. Yesterday afternoon, the pitching machine threw a no-hitter!  But it's the pitching that really worries me. Esmil Rogers is working on a new pitch. When he has it down pat, it'll reach the plate! And Jaime Moyer (bless his heart) is nearly 50 years old! For crying out loud! Now, the team has been in the cellar so long, it's damp.  And we call this "good management?"  C'mon Monfort's, what do you do when the steaks go bad?  Sell them to the public anyway?

Estes Park and horses

We drove up to Estes Park yesterday and stayed at this small one room cabin at the Elkhorn Lodge. This is the time of year they have the art show in town, so we toured all the exhibits and had a pretty good time until we ate the ice cream cones! Then we had a really good time. We met three other couples here (Wendell had a birthday), and we all went out for Italian.

Below is a photo of the lodge. Notice the beautiful blue sky! We stayed up late last night talking and carrying on inside the lodge by the big roaring fire. They brought out those extra large marsh mellows for us and we roasted them over the fire.

Today we went on a horseback ride up near the border of Rocky Mountain National Park. Pictured below is Long's Peak. I took this photo from the back of my horse, so it's a wonder it turned out at all.

We stopped on a high ridge to get more photos and I got this one decent shot of Nancy (green windbreaker) on her horse.  Then, all of a sudden... it seemed like we were having a race back to the stables. My horse would have won the race, but she kept looking back for her plow!

Jokes about horses and racing just seem to come naturally to me. I can never remember other kinds of jokes. It just goes to show you, a pessimist is an optimist on the way home from the track!

Nancy and I hiked up at Meyers Ranch yesterday with our friends from Church. We opted to take the Old Ski Run Trail which is a loop and runs by some pretty rocks looking out over Conifer.

It was very hazy on the hike due to a fire in Southern New Mexico! It even smelled like a campfire it was so thick. As you can see from the photo below, they views weren't as nice as expected. Today it's cleared up a little.

Jim took our picture sitting on these rocks at the top of the hill. We hung out here for a while and enjoyed the views and a granola bar.

Stimulus money - is it working?

I was reflecting on the U.S. economy the other day and wondering if all that stimulus money spent by the government had created any jobs or actually stimulated the economy. It reminded me of a real world situation in my own life, which may enlighten your understanding.

I bought a nice looking Italian suit last week. The tailor made money on it. The guy who sold him the fabric made money. The guy who raised the silkworms made money. Isn't it great - so many people make a living from a suit I haven't paid for!

My neigborhood

I have nice neighbors. I often go over to my neighbor's house and borrow a leg of lamb, a ten-pound sack of lawn seed, five pounds of flour, $200 - things like that. My neighbor comes over to me and borrows a stamp, en egg, a bar of soap - things like that. He's a great neighbor. He knows a lot about friendliness. He doesn't know a thing about borrowing, but he does know friendliness!

The developer who put up houses in our neighborhood was a genius. He bulldozed all the trees, then named the streets after them!

No snow anymore (this is an old photo), but last week it rained twice. Once for three days and once for four!

Cusco

Before our trip to Peru, I was concerned that Cusco would be a bad place, with thieves and pickpockets, and old and dirty. While much of the city was poor and run down, and filled with a million people, the city center itself turned out to be a great place to spend a few days.

Daryl, Ed, Scott, and Steve were great friends to share the scenery, museums, and tours in the mountains together. I enjoyed Cusco more each day I was there.

The city is at 11,200 feet in elevation and was the historic capital of the Inca Empire. There was plenty of history to learn and places to see. The people were friendly and happy.

Taquile Island and Lake Titicaca

When we were on Taquile Island on Lake Titicaca, I saw this scene of a "father daughter" talk. I couldn't hear or even understand what was being said, but it was obvious that he had her respect and she was pretty interested in what he had to say. Everywhere you go, even in different cultures you see similarities, order, and love being spoken. Some things are truly universal.

Taquile Island is on Lake Titicaca which is the world's highest navigable lake at 4,050 meters above sea level. Let's see, that's about 13,284 feet in elevation! Wait a minute, I hiked up here from that lake down there!!??  No wonder I'm out of breath. We stayed in Puno for two nights in order to visit the lake and its islands. On this island we enjoyed a very nice lunch provided by a local family.

Health food, Peru style

During our stay in Cusco, Peru we visited the outdoor market. One of the first things I saw was this bucket of frogs, all alive. I would imagine that fresh frogs legs are probably really appreciated. I've eaten them before and they were pretty tasty, once you forget about cute eyes, Kermit, and all.

A few tables later and we encountered these delicacies. You know, in the U.S. the waiters in most restaurants wear gloves. What's in the food they're afraid to come into contact with?  Not one person in Peru wore gloves. No fear, if you ask me. I couldn't wait to get back home and eat all that health food. You know, the kind that gives you natural gas!

Bargaining for a deal in Peru

I bought one of those woven bracelets from this lady. Some of the guys on the trip thought I paid too much for it, but I kept looking at her little child and thought, "I didn't give her enough."  I only gave her a couple Soles or something and it probably took her all day to make it.

According to my friends, you never pay what they're asking for something. And I understand that thinking when you're in big market and they're selling stuff they didn't even make. It was clear to me this lady made everything she was selling. I think my friends just wanted her hat!

Machu Picchu water featurese

I think I was most fascinated by the water features of Machu Picchu. On this one you can see where a groove has been carved to channel the water into a small basin below. Then, the water must leave that basin and go to another. You can then see the channel leaving the basin and flowing out someplace else. It's obvious that everything was well planned out long before they started construction.

The water arrives here where it falls to another basin. Notice the rocks are not as nicely hewn and well fitted as the one above. Well, it turns out the royalty get the nice one above and the soldiers and farmers get the leftovers.

Beautiful site

The views from Machu Picchu were fantastic. It's no wonder they picked this site.

During our visit it rained for about an hour during lunch time. We were safely tucked away at a restaurant below the site.

After the rain we returned to the site and found it shrouded in clouds with diffused light here and there coming through the openings in the clouds. It made for some fantastic scenes.

Sayacmarca, The Temple of the Sun

Sayacmarca or the Temple of the Sun was originally built by Colla the enemy of the Inca. The site had one major weakness, there was no area set aside for farming for food. There was a farm nearby for food production which supported the 200 or so people at this site, but it was a half mile or so away.

Just below this site the Inca trail crosses the Aobamba River at about 3600 meters in elevation. The trail then began to gently rise to several tunnels built by the Inca which were carved right through fissures in the rock.

Another flower on a tough trail

I stopped many times on the Inca trail to take photos, mostly of flowers and mountains. This flower was on a plant that looked like a yucca but I don't think it was. I thought it was very unique.

Behind it, Craig is carefully negotiating some of the thousands of steps we used to go up and down. The one's going down were the hardest for me and my knees!  I'd rather go up any day.

My father's new book

My father's new book on Ephesians is now available on Amazon. The title is Ephesians Life and Love in Christ. He has been working on it with Earl Radmacher for many years and finally, they're done.

If you get a chance, try and order it. I think you'll enjoy the insights into this wonderful book.

Machu Picchu is a dazzling place. Everywhere you look there is something unique to see in this architectural wonder. Most pictures are taken from the top looking down. I thought it might be interesting to do the reverse. This is what Pachacuti would have seen looking out his window, three thousand feet above the Urubamba Valley.

When we arrived in Lima, Ed, Daryl and I decided to go on a city tour of Lima, which is right on the coast. One tour guide said it had a population of 9 million, another said 30 million. According to the internet it's only 7.6 million! Pretty big if you ask me.

On our tour we went to the main square and saw the Presidential palace and City hall. These policewomen were standing guard. One of them looked at me suspiciously in a way that said, "why are you taking a picture of me?"  Hey! "I'm taking pictures of everything."

These school children were on a field trip. They were laughing and having a great time. I was impressed. In fact, our porters on the trail were a very happy bunch laughing in their tent every night, telling jokes, and clearly enjoying their work. Peruvians seemed to be a very happy people.

Water features at Machu Picchu

These water features at Ollantaytumbo we pretty remarkable. They not only drank from these fountains, but bathed in them as well. At Machu Picchu they start high up on the site and then there is one after the other (a dozen or more) going down the mountain. The same water goes from fountain to fountain all the way down. The royalty get the highest one, then the priests, then soldiers, then the farmers and peasants at the bottom.

Here is a larger one at Ollantaytumbo. Only on this one the large slab of rock on top had a little trench carved in it for about 30 feet so it would channel the water into this pool.

That little lake

Eric is the master photographer. I tried to stay close to him and see what he was seeing. he just seemed to have an eye for light and color. Then I saw this little lake with the reflection of the clouds and mountains in it. I went ahead up the trail, and there was Eric, right behind me. I was astounded at how hard he worked for a good shot. Not only did he carry a big tri-pod, but he had a large camera, extra lenses, etc.

Unfortunately, the lake photo was disappointing.

Peddling in Peru

Frequently, our tour bus would stop at a scenic location and the locals would be peddling their Alpaca blankets and sweaters. This little girl was in charge of the family Llama. It was pretty clear that if you wanted a photo of her with it, you had to pay. This common scene played out all over Peru.

No lunch for me today

Okay, so I missed lunch with Y'all. I know you were eating at the Inca House and I know it was 39 Soles per plate but, better to be safe than sorry.

Instead, I decided to check out how they repair an El Pollo (three wheeled cab). Let's see now, who got sick and who didn't on this trip?  "What about lunch?" You ask. I ate a power bar and a bag of beef jerkey.

Guinea pigs, birds, and temples

I was at a cookout with some friends yesterday and realized that Sue has a pet Guinea pig. Of course I had to mention that it's considered a delicacy in Peru and that I had tried one. You would have thought I was a murderer. I actually like little creatures and this nice lady let me hold her prized Guinea pig and pose for a photo (it cost me one Sole for the photo, about 38 cents).

During one of our tours, we stopped at a roadside zoo and met this condor. I have to tell you I didn't want anywhere near that beak! As you can see Daryl kept his distance. There were three of them and we watched them being fed.

On our third day of the hike we stopped on this terrace from an old ruin and looked down on our campsite, still some distance away. If someone had suggested it, I would have just camped here. It was flat, there was water nearby, and I was tired. The trouble is, the porters had all our stuff.

The temple of the sun at Machu Picchu was a remarkable place. They carved the stone to fit around a large piece of granite and ended up with a really nice, geometrically designed temple. Underneath it was a mausoleum for royalty.

We just carried day packs

Our porters and cooks during our Inca Trail hike were great. All we had to do was carry our day packs with the things we might need during the day, along with some water and they carried everything else. They carried our tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, the food, the kitchen including a large propane bottle (the kind in your backyard grill!), and they carried two extra large tents; one for the kitchen and one for the dinning tables!  Yes, dining tables and chairs!

We kept a pretty good pace up the trail, but they would pass us everyday with loads like this, stop for lunch and set up a kitchen and lunch tent, and then fix us a hot lunch including soup, tea, and everything we might need. Then they would pass us again to get to the final camp and set up for dinner.

Below is one of our lunch stops at about 12,000 feet in elevation. The blue tent in the background along with that blue propane tank were all carried up, including this tent, table and chairs. As you can see Jeremy is ready for food.

Mountains on the Inca Trail

From our camp on the second night the views of the mountains were fantastic. The camp was not so good because it was small and pretty muddy. But who cares when you're seeing this?

The mountains seen from the Inca trail were outstanding. The porters were saying that these were all over 20,000 feet. Given that we were hiking between 11,000 and 13,000 feet most of the time, it seemed believable.



The relief between these mountains and the trail we were hiking was enormous. When there weren't clouds below, the drop offs between the trail and the mountains was thousands of feet.  In the photo below, I'm not sure you really want to see how far down it is.

This mountain I only saw for a few minutes. The clouds had cleared and I immediately took my pack off and snapped this shot.  Before I could put my camera back in the pack, it was obscured by clouds once again.

This was a photo I took early in the morning. The sun was hitting it just right.

Uros Islands

While we were in Peru we decided to go to Lake Titikaka and visit the Uros Indians. They live on islands made of reeds which float on the water (50 feet deep here). There are some 70 islands out on the lake at an elevation of 12,600 feet. Over 2,000 people live on these islands. We visited the island of Tawantinsuyo pictured below.

As we arrived, they asked us to sit in a semi-circle so they could explain how they live. Below you can see the rolled up mats we sat on while a translator explained what they were saying. They are the Quechua people and speak Quechua. The reason they live on these islands was to escape their enemies, mainly the Spanish who arrived in 1640.  They have been here ever since.

Below is a demonstration they gave about how they build an island which lasts about 20 years. Then they build a new island. Everything is made from reeds which they can even eat.

During the visit I met the President of the island (pictured below) and visited his hut with his wife. They showed me how they live a simple life and enjoy the fish, and the fowl, and trade for meat and vegetables with people on the mainland. I bought a few things the President had made and he seemed very proud of his island with 35 inhabitants and 6 families.

Machu Picchu

After our first view of Machu Picchu from the sun gate, we walked down about half a mile to this point in order to get some nice photos from above. And, by the way, our group of nine was the first to arrive at the sun gate. In order to do this we had to get up at 2:30a. The porters had pancakes ready for us at 3:00a and we waited at the park entrance until 5:30a when it opened. There were eventually 500 people lined up behind us. At 5:30a we walked 2 miles, mostly by headlamp before we arrived.

We arrived at the sun gate around 6:30a and were the first ones in the park, so we hurried down to get photos before all the tourists could get up to the site. As you can see, some of them still made it in early enough to get into my picture. They had come in from the buses below.

The views were magnificent in the early morning. The site is perched on a ridge with about a thousand foot drop off on either side. But the incredible terraces go all the way down to the river below. They grew corn and other crops on these terraces.

In the middle of Machu Picchu is this little mountain. On top is a rock they carved. They built the walls and a window on top to align with the sun during the summer solstice on June 21.



There were lots of tourists later in the day during our visit. Here they are on this little mountain. However, after a one hour rain storm, most of them left and the photography was much better.

We waited in the restaurant out of the park during the rainstorm and watched them all leave by bus load after bus load. We were so excited. More on this later...