Last blog abroad.

We are down to the last couple days of our trip... sad, but excited to see our family and friends again.

Since the last blog, we visited Easter Island with the many Moais and Tikal with it´s many great temples hidden in Guatemala´s jungles. 

We were supposed to head home after Tikal, but decided to make ONE last stop.  We are now in Cancun, where tomorrow we will head to the great ruins of Chichen Itza.  It´s one of the new 7 wonders of the world, which will put us at seeing 3 on this trip alone (Christ the Redeemer in Rio and Machu Picchu in Peru).  We also were able to see many great World Heritage Sites. 

I will blog more in depth and with pictures when I get home.  I have a month before our big move to NYC.

Will be home Sunday, March 2.

The Galapagos Islands were awesome.  The islands definitely belong to the animals only the humans help protect them.  We went horseback riding up to a volcano crater... 2nd biggest in the world, mind you.  Then we dropped off our horses and took a long hike inside one of the craters and it was pretty excrutiating.  The hike was hard, but we made it.  Phew.  In the afternoon, we went snorkeling where we were able to swim near sea lions, penguins, and above an array of huge and colorful fish.  While on the Galapagos Islands we were also able to get up close and personal with humongous tortoises and iguanas.  All in all... I give the Galapagos an A!

In Quito (Ecuador), we stayed in a hostel that is located near the historical downtown of Quito.  The buildings are beautiful and so were the various churches and cathedral we visited.  We also visited a tall basilica that is modeled after the Notre Dame in Paris.  We climbed up to the highest tower of the church and I even climbed out to the ledge out of a broken window to take some photos.  Scary, but well worth it.  Quito also gets an A in my book!

P.S.  The spanish here in Ecuador is much faster than it was in Peru!

Tonight we are headed to Easter Island... can´t wait, but we are already depressed knowing our trip is almost coming to an end.  Only a couple more stops after Easter Island.

Iguacu Falls... will post photos of these amazing falls when we get back.  We visited both the Brazillian and Argentinian sides in 2 days.

Finally we venture into spanish speaking territory!  I became pretty comfortable pretty fast in Peru.  They speak spanish... a language I actually know and can use to get by!  I always think that I forget all my spanish, but just as in Mexico City when I need to use it, it all comes rushing back. 

Cusco in Peru
Man, did this city kick our friggin arses.  Being situated high high in the Andes Mountains, the altitude makes it extremely hard to breathe and gives you pounding headaches.  The secret is to chew on coca leaves or drink coca tea.  We were assured this wouldn't show up on any drug tests... lol.  Cusco is definitely a party city and in the day time, it's a site to see as well as at night when all the lights are lit up.  I love this city so much, but cannot be on this high altitude much longer... haha.  Also, coming from Brazil which is very hot, we were surprised to show up in Cusco freezing!  Quito, our next stop, is going to be a shocking change again going back to heat since it is right on the equator.

Machu Picchu
We took a train to Aguas Calientes from Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley last night so that we could take a bus to catch the sunrise up at Machu Picchu.  These ruins are amazing.  It is pocketed in between mountains high above the clouds.  You really feel like you are in some abandon city up in the heavens.  Either that or you feel like you are in a chinese movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... lol.  But in all honesty, it is so unreal and we could not believe we were there.  Seeing Machu Picchu in photos and in person gives you a totally different feeling, somewhat spiritual.  Wish I could show pictures of it now.

The Amazon

The 8 of us braved the wild Brazillian Amazon!  We slept in hammocks aboard a boat.  We went croc hunting in the middle of the night, we trekked through the forest learning about survival techniques and different medicinal plants, we had a bbq on the beach, we went piranha fishing, we went swimming in the Rio Negro, we got to see the Meeting of the Waters, we held sloths, baby monkeys, and baby anacondas in our hands...  We had a wonderful experience.  We didn't shower the whole time and we were attacked by huge mosquitoes, bees, and wasps, but we braved the mightly Brazillian Amazon!

Last night in Rio!

Ola from Rio, everyone!  Tonight is our last night in Rio de Janeiro for Carnaval and I must say that we had a blast here.  Duy can explain it better when he says it is too much fun that it should be illegal.  For 5 days, people literally partied every day and every night.  We have been partying in the rain every night!!  The weather was not willing to spare us, but some how the rain made it even funner.  We met sooooo many people in our hostel and out in the streets.  It is amazing how the magic of music can bring people together even under crazy language barriers.  Sometimes it even sounds as if we are grunting and giggling, but we somehow understand each other.  Of course, amidst all the partying we are also managing to see all the great sites.  Today, we took a city tour and also visited the Christ the Redeemer Statue and Sugar Loaf.  Tomorrow we head out to see some favelas (the slums of Brazil) before we head back to our hostel and head to the airport for the AMAZON!

For a few of us, we aren~t even a quarter of the way through our trip yet, but we are having so much fun and have so many memories shared already... some crazy stories we~ll definitely laugh about for years to come.  It is truly truly an experience we won~t forget.

P.S.  I have never seen so many buff, half-naked, tanned men in speedos walking around in all my life.  Also, the women here have tanned legs from here to all the way over there.  So lucky.  Makes me wish my stumps would grow some.

P.S.S.  You could try to get by with spanish in a portuguese speaking country, but it won~t do you too well unless they speak spanish... lol.

Time for bed... Gots me a loooong day tomorrow. 

Hey everyone!  A few more hours and we're outta here!  We head to South America and we'll be back on Feb 29th.  If I don't blog, try not to miss me too much, but I'll try to add an update or two if I have time.

Happy 5th Birthday to my lil Nate Dogg!

My god son Nathan turned 5 on January 23rd.  Time flies so fast!  I'll have you know he's grown into an extremely handsome boy.  He goes to preschool now and he is pimp at school, lemme tell ya.  The girls just love him there and he plays it cool.  He also likes to draw now.  He drew me a picture of a bunny for Christmas and drew his uncle Dan a picture of a spider.  He's definitely an aquarius sign.  He loves all things that deal with water, swimming, fish, aquariums, mermaids, long walks on the beach, and taking long relaxing baths... homie can stay in there until he turns into one giant prune with little prune fingers and toes.  He's acquired a taste and love for Del Taco and pizza.  So that's the reason why we hit up California Pizza Kitchen for his birthday. 

Be prepared to see how much he's grown. 
My handsome lil man...

Chuckin' the Chucks

Our guide for our trip through the Brazilian Amazon, recommended we wear water shoes or shoes we were willing to throw away after we were done with the tour.  I didn't want to spend money on water shoes and I didn't really want to buy shoes that I was going to throw away either.  I decided that I could wear a pair of shoes that I have stopped wearing. 

Ah yes... the good ol dirty and worn pair of chucks I used to wear in my younger days. 

*sigh* The punk rock, short- pitch-black hair, moshing and crowd surfing days.  These shoes were like pieces of furniture in that phase of my life.  I still love going to concerts and occasionally moshing and crowd surfing.  I just, personally, don't wear my chucks anymore.  I mean, I could wear them with anything, but I'm turning 27 in April and it's time I quit wearing things that make me look 17 because there's no denying... I LOOK really young as it is.  LOL.  It still makes me shudder when I realize I'm 10 years older than anyone 17.  EEKSORS!  Yeah, If you can't tell, I've been having the before-mid-life crisis.

Another thing I decided to retire is... yes... the trusty studded belt.  HAHA.  You can see that above.  This belt, like the good ol' pair of chucks, also went with everything I wore.  It was my everyday companion for a long while.  These two items went together like peanut butter and jelly for me.  So, if the chucks go, the belt goes.  It's not like I have worn either the shoes or belt in a while anyway.  Maybe I can use it as a weapon in case an alligator attacks me in the Amazon.  Just call me... Annezon woman!

I've also just realized from the picture above that I've stopped wearing my black leather wide-band watch and have switched it out for a movado that my mom-in-law gave me at my wedding.  Makes me feel oh so sophisticado... hehe.  The only other thing I wish I could retire, which you don't see in the above picture because I didn't have it at the time, is the spare tire I've seem to acquire around my waist... HAHA.  I wonder what other people are retiring from their wardrobe now a days.

10 Reasons Why I HATE Braces

1)  Food gets stuck in between my braces and take forever to get yanked outta there.  I have a whole box of tooth picks at work for this reason.  Food doesn't taste as great after it's been mushed up in between those brackets, trust me.  Hey, I'm not going to spit it out while sitting at my cube, that's just rude.

2)  When I smile with my teeth showing, 12 years are instantly taken off my age. 
Mouth closed, "Hi, I'm Anne."  Smiling with teeth, "Hi, I'm 14."

3)  When I do try to smile with my mouth closed so my braces won't show, I look like a damn duck. 
It's like, "Hi, I'm Anne the damn duck."

4)  One time I ate some curry and it turned the rubber bands around my braces yellow so every time I smiled, you could see a full mouth of yellow.  I tried to think of a lie and tell people that I chose yellow as the color of the month, like how some people choose red and green for Christmas, but I figured people wouldn't be stupid. 
They'd be like, "Ha, you're a liar!  You just have yellow teeth!" 
Then I'd be like... "Damn it!  They figured me out."

5)  Sometimes the wires cut the inside of my lip and give me the worst sores in my mouth.  I would use anbesol for the sore constantly all day, but since I have to keep my mouth a certain way for the medicine to kick it, I start drooling like an idiot. 

6)  When I first get my braces tightened, I can only eat soup or mushy stuff because they hurt!  I get mad when the family wants to go out and eat steak or baguette sandwiches or spring rolls or... you get the hint, aiite. 
I become a drooling idiot again just watching them eat their nice juicy steaks and I'm eating my baked potato.  LOVE baked potato, by the way, but it's like... "Hi, I'd like to order the steak and potatoes, hold the steak."

7)  I have to try to drink everything with a straw so that my teeth won't stain.  See reason 4 for why I don't want to stain my teeth.

8)  I have to make appointments and go to the orthodontist.  I'm always the only one with work clothes on instead of school gym clothes.  It makes me feel like an adult midget because half of those kids are double my size.  The only way you can tell they're kids is how they are dressed, the zits on their face, and the parent sitting next to them.  Oh, and did I mention because they have braces on?  Hence, reason number 2.

9)  If you have to pay for them yourselves, like I did, braces will subtract about $5,000 from your bank account. 

10)  Repeat reasons 1 through 9.

Heath Ledger... gone.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wasn't done watching him on screen!! Why oh why??!  He's a fantabulous actor and I respected him so much as one... like how he stays in character throughout the whole filming of his movies, even off set.  He was finally going places and had so many places left to go!!  Sad to hear about his death.  My hubby has a shirt with Heath Ledger's face on it, as the Joker.  He makes an awesome killer kick-ass Joker by the way.  Made me want to watch Batman: Dark Knight so badly just to see more of his portrayal of the Joker.  Sad to see you go, but you sure did rock, Heath!

Click here to watch the Dark Knight trailer or die with regret.

RIP