Video Blog: Living Heart Interview

While we were still on the road we envisioned returning home and keeping this blog alive -- writing about whatever the next chapter is in our lives, but it's been really difficult to WANT to sit down and post blogs. Don't get me wrong, life is good, it just doesn't feel particularly blog-worthy.

This video we shot while we were in Peru, however, is something we're very proud of and hope will help Sonia Newhouse and her Living Heart NGO in some small way.

We spent some time with Sonia and her, then, project coordinator, Chrissie Ellison, learning about the Living Heart organization and the help they're providing struggling communities in the high Andes of Peru.

Of all the  sights we saw this past year, all the places we visited and people we met, the time we spent with Sonia stands out. She's caring, strong, savvy. She makes things happen. She's exceptional.

The Garden Of...

The real reason we went to Chicuito was something Bob and I didn't tell the kids until we were on our way. It was to see the unusual garden there - the phallic garden. The little town is famous for its' concentration of phallic statues, which have been turning up all over the area for several years. A guy goes to build himself a house - another statue gets dug up.

Apparently at some point in Chicuito's past there was a pretty big infertility problem, and the answer was obvious: carve statues to the gods of fertility in the shape of giant penises. Of course!

Even the church got involved. If you look up on the top you can see a phallic shape, where usually a cross might go. At first I was startled by this, but hey - a missinary's gotta do what a missionary's gotta do, right?!

Somebody recently got a bright idea, and now all the statues are in a little walled garden, where you pay admission to walk among them, and then go visit the tourist stalls, where the ladies are selling beer openers in the shape of the Chicuito Phalus. Ella loved it.  No - not really.

Video Blog: A Wedding Day in Chucuito, Peru

Chucuito is a little town on Lake Titicaca, just South of Puno. It's a 15 minute tuc-tuc ride, and a world away. We went to hole up for a few days, hoping to shake the tourist machine that is Puno out of our bones.

Our first morning there I wasn't feeling so well, and when we took a walk to the center of town to buy me a coke, we ran into a wedding party. Literally. The entire town had just come streaming out of the church, and were dancing around the

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Photo Gallery Update... Finally

We're not up to date yet, but we have posted more photos of the UK and added France. More of the year to come -- soon. Really. No, I'm serious.

If you're unmotivated and don't want to go all the way up there to the 'Photos' button, you can just click this link to go to the UK and Scotland photos. Or, here to go see France.

Photo Blog: Amazon - Part 2

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