Look Back: Nazca Lines

/ klcompren / Leave a comment

Peru contains a number of interesting places to visit:  Machu Picchu, the Andes, Amazon Rainforest, Lake Titicaca, Atacama Desert.  It’s forgivable that perhaps the Nazca Lines do not get as much attention as some of the others.

Hummingbird/Colibri

But, where else can you find hundreds of drawings scratched into the floor of a large flat plain, many of which stretch over 3/4 of a mile and were created approximately 2,000 years ago?  We took a sightseeing flight on a six seater in order to get the best view.

https://coopsecondact.com/2013/06/09/nazca-peru/#more-1603

Our visit to Nazca was in 2013 just prior to moving on to Cusco and Machu Picchu.

Look Back: Sequoia National Park

/ klcompren / Leave a comment

The United State has some spectacular national parks.  We have been fortunate to visit many of them:  Grand Canyon NP, Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP, Canyonlands NP, Arches NP, Yosemite NP, Glacier NP and many others.

So, why am I making special mention of Sequoia National Park?  This park is well down the list in terms of the number of annual visitors among national parks.  Perhaps it is overshadowed by Yosemite NP which is a little further north along the Sierras and is in the top 5 most visited parks.

https://coopsecondact.com/2017/09/22/sequoia-national-park/

Kevin at the base of The President
Kevin at the base of The President

Certainly, all of those other national parks have beautiful scenery and marvelous natural wonders and deserve every bit of the attention they get from the thousands of people that visit them every year.  The reason I wanted to highlight Sequoia NP is that when you stand next to one of these trees you will be changed forever.  They are so magnificent and impossibly massive, you just have to consider your place in the world and how simply wonderful it is that these giants exist.

Look Back: Iguazú Falls

/ klcompren / 1 Comment

In August 2013, we ended our 4 month trip to South America in Buenos Aires.  We rented an apartment there for two weeks and during that time we took a bus trip to Puerto Iguazú in order to see Iguazú Falls.  This is really a collection of approximately 275 discreet waterfalls that straddle the border between Argentina and Brazil.  Iguazú Falls are considered to be among the most beautiful and largest in the world.  They stretch out over an area 1.7 miles long so it’s difficult to take it all in but you can experience the beauty of these falls from many vantage points.

https://coopsecondact.com/2013/08/10/cataratas-del-iguaz/

IMG_7271 Stitch

While in Puerto Iguazú, you can easily check out Tres Fronteras which provides a view of three  countries at the confluence of two great rivers.

https://coopsecondact.com/2013/08/11/tres-fronteras/

Look Back: Lake Titicaca

/ klcompren / Leave a comment

We got married on April 13, 2013, and then 3 days later headed to South America for a 4 month honeymoon.  This trip began in Ecuador then on to Peru, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.  One of the most fascinating stops we made was in Puno, Peru, on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

Islas Uros

The surface of this lake sits at 12,600 feet above sea level.  We took a boat tour of a portion of the lake that allowed us to get a close up look at two remarkable indigenous cultures that live here.  One group on Isla Taquile and the other on floating islands made from reeds harvested from the lake.  Also, at the end of the article is a mention of a steamboat that operated on the lake in the mid-1800’s.

https://coopsecondact.com/2013/06/28/lake-titicaca-puno-peru/

I would also mention that while in Puno we suffered through some gastrointestinal sickness, one of the only such times we encountered this type of sickness while traveling.  We had to postpose our boat tour for a couple of days until we were sufficiently recovered.