6 Continents, 5 Months

Thailand

derek-anderson — Tue, 4 Jan 2011 11:27:00 GMT

We arrived in Thailand on November 19 after an extremely long sleepless flight from Amman, Jordan. When we arrived in Phuket it was 7:30 am. We didn't do a lot in comparison to the rest of the places we've been so Thailand felt like more of a vacation then the other places we visited. The most common thing we did in Thailand was relax on the beach. The beaches were incredible there. White sand and water clear as glass. We also took boat rides to other island including Koh Phi Phi and Koh Samui. The reefs in near Phuket were unbelievable. It was the best snorkelling I've ever done. We met more people from tons of places around the world. All the Europeans come to Thailand for holidays. It's like our Mexico or Hawaii. We also went and travelled around Phuket and learned the ways of the Buddhist culture. But in the past three weeks, that is basically what I did in Thailand.

Beaches, Beaches, Beaches

derek-anderson — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:19:00 GMT

Today I woke up at nine and was still a little shaken from the jet leg, but shook it off after a great breakfast, the sun, and the sea air filling my lungs. My mom and brother had already gone a few hours before to their scuba lessons and would be gone until 5 pm. The remainder of us just wanted to chill. So that's what we did. We went down to the beach, rented a few chairs and just chilled in the water. I met a few girls as well haha. Two were sisters from Denmark and the other two were sisters from Sweden. They were nice girls...lol. After getting my bronze on for the whole day we went up and got some dinner. It started to storm so we just made it inside in time. After we eat we waited in the restaurant for two hours before the other third of my family showed up, we had nothing else to do we it didn't phase us. After staying in the outdoor, beachfront restaurant for another hour we headed up to the hotel. My auntie is coming to meet us in Thailand so we drove the the airport an picked her up at midnight, after she got settled into her hotel room we went to sleep.

Beach Day!

derek-anderson — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:44:00 GMT

Because of the lack of sleep from nights previous ,the loss of sleep the night before, and the five our time change from Egypt I slept in until 1 pm. When I woke up my mom and brother were back from dive lessons already so we grabbed a bite to eat. After lunch (my breakfast, a back cheeseburger but lunch for everyone else) we went to the beach. We chilled at the beach until sundown. My dad and I walked up the street to see what was up there and a good place to eat and saw lots of cheap stuff. Everything in Thailand seems to be cheap. We went for dinner to the restaurant just across the street from us. It too was cheep. We got one KG of Giant Prawns for the boys and the girls got whatever, and the drinks added up to about 3000 Bawt, which is a 30 to 1 ratio from the US dollar. It all added up at about $100, that's cheap for our family haha! After supper my mom and brother had to study for their diving course so the rest of us went for desert. We all got sundaes and they were delicious. We walked around the beach after dark and played off all our sugar energy then went to bed because it was already eleven, time flies.

Overnight Flights

derek-anderson — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 20:43:00 GMT

After an hour layover in Bangkok which flew by because we had to get our luggage we got on a new airline and flew to Phuket. It was a quick flight and I fell right asleep on the plane because I got no sleep the night before. It was a short nap though because the flight was only 45 minutes. I woke up because of the energy from the sun and sea as soon as we landed. We got to our hotel and headed straight for the beach. It was AMAZING! The sun wasn't shining so it wasn't too hot, but still thirty degrees. The water was gorgeous. It was the perfect temperature. My sister got sick in the water because of food poising on one of the planes. I sat right beside her on the planes and felt fine from the food until about two hours after she left. I went back to the hotel with the same thing she had. After I felt a little better I closed my eyes on my bed and I guess I fell into a deep sleep. I woke up and it was 8:30 pm. I was sleeping for about four hours.My sister was still asleep. It was Katie's birthday, luckily she wasn't sick but I missed her birthday dinner. SORRY KATIE. But after my second nap I was wide awake again. I went swimming in the pool and had some rice from the restaurant. My brother and I watched a movie and I fell asleep around 2 am.

Last Day in Jordan Well Spent

derek-anderson — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:41:00 GMT

Today was our last day in Jordan because we are flying to Thailand. I was so excited to finally sleep in for the first time in a while but I guess my mind is trained to get up early. My sleep-in went until 8 am and I didn't know what to do but sit in bed. I got bored at about 8:30 and decided to go for breakfast. I guess I wasn't the only early riser because my mom and two sisters were at breakfast as well. After breakfast we waited in the hotel until the cab picked us up. We packed our bags and sealed them tightly for the long flight to Phuket (an island of Thailand).When the taxi picked us up we drove an hour to the airport. We waited at the airport in lines. Lots of waiting in this day I guess. When we finally got on the plane at 4 pm we flew for an hour to Quoter. After an hour layover we got on a new plane and flew overnight to Bankok.

The Dead Sea

derek-anderson — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:11:00 GMT

Today we got up early and started driving at about 7:30 am. We were driving to the Dead Sea and then back to Amman. It was about a one three hour drive to the Dead Sea and well worth it! It was truly an experience everyone should have. It feels like your flying with nothing my a swimsuit on. If I laid flat it was impossible to put your legs under water. Even though we swam out deep enough to a point where we couldn't touch, it was fine. It looked like we were touching but we weren't at all. The water was still up to my chest, even when I was swimming and I would sit there and bob up and down but there was nothing I could do to stop it, it was incredible! After a few hours at the Dead Sea we loaded up and continued onward to Amman. When we got to our hotel in Amman we unloaded and grabbed a bite to eat. It was already passed dinner and the sun was far down so we were all hungry. Our guide led us to an amazing restaurant that had the best bread I've ever had! All the food we got was superb. After we filled our bellies we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Petra, Jordan

derek-anderson — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:04:00 GMT

Today we got up at the crack of six to drive from Amman to Petra. It was a three hour drive through the countryside to get from North to South Jordan, Jordan is small than Alberta. When we got to the city of Petra we visited the ruins of Little Petra. It was just like a miniature version of the famous wonder of the world that is just down the valley. Our guide lead us through a very small door was that was randomly places in the side of a hill and I didn't know what to expect. Through the doorway was was a set of stares and a huge opening filled with water. It was where the Ancient Bedouins stored water. Then we continued through the valley and saw Little Petra. It was really cool seeing the different carvings and caves in the walls of the cliffs. There was predicted to be about 200 people living in Little Petra at it's flourishing time. After Little Petra we checked into our hotel and grabbed lunch. After lunch we went to the real Petra that everyone comes to see. It was already 3:00 and almost sundown by the time we got to the ruin gates and we only had two hours until we had to be back. We were told by a worker there that it was a one and a half hour walk from where we were to the treasury, the wonder of the world that everyone goes to see. We didn't know until we were inside already that a free horseback ride to close to the treasury was included in our ticket. Nobody else knew that I don't think because there was still ten horses in the stable. We used the horseback ride to our advantage because they made up for lost time and we rode them close to the treasury. We managed to get to the treasury and even further. It was incredible! We got some really great pictures and memories form this place. Five o'clock came around really fast and we got picked up by our driver and driven to dinner. It was similar to the Bedouin meal we had in the desert and it was delicious. We drove about forty-five minutes into the valley so we were away from city lights and away from noise. It was really peaceful. We had chicken and vegetables cooked over coals from the fire. After the dinner we drove back to the hotel and called it a night.

Getting Into Jordan

derek-anderson — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:36:00 GMT

Today I woke up at 3 in the morning to get on a flight to get to Jordan. We left at 4 and got on a plane at 6:30. We flew to Cairo and connected to Amman, in Jordan. I slept for the flight to Cairo and the flight to Amman was only about 45 minutes so i didn't fall asleep, just played on my iPod. We got picked up at the airport by our hotel. When we got to the hotel I saw that there is a Microsoft convention here. I thought Bill Gates might be here but he wasn't. I was going to walk in there with my Mac but i opted not to in fear of the "Microsofters" smashing it haha! The hotel is really nice. It has a pool on the fifth floor on we finally got to swim. There is three different restaurants, two bars and two hair salons in here as well, it's really fancy in comparison to what we stayed in, in Egypt. We are going to Petra tomorrow so it's another early morning!

The Sights of Luxor

derek-anderson — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 22:35:00 GMT

Today we are going to see the top attractions of the Luxor area. First we saw The Valley Of The Kings. In the valley is where they discovered King Tut's tomb. The are sixty-three tombs in the valley but we didn't have nearly the amount of time to see them all. We only got the three tombs because we had lots to do. Inside they were tremendous in size. There was paintings and carving from over 3000 years ago and they weren't in bad condition! I learned to recognize some hieroglyphics from the paint shop a few days back so I saw some symbols I knew. The Valley Of The Kings was truly remarkable. After the valley we continued to the queen's temple. It is clearly visible from the city and that's what I saw the night previous. The was lots of stairs leading up to the temple and it wasn't very big when we finally got to the top. It was about the size of a courtyard on the inside. On our way out we got a picture with one of the cops and he let me hold his AK-47. It was awesome! After the temple we grabbed a bite to eat and then went to the Karnak Temple.The temple was right across the road from our hotel. There was graffiti from the British in 1875! It was carved high into some of the pillars from when tourists from like 150 years ago toured to Egypt. Egypt didn't become an independent country until the 1950's because it was under the control of Northern Africa so it was classified as a colony, with a King and Queen (the current King is in exile in Switzerland). This temple was sixty acres. It wasn't when the Egyptians initially build it by the Nile River but it receded so much so it exposed about fifty-five extra acres that is not just cobblestone rocks and buildings. We were at the Karnak Temple until sundown then we went for dinner. We had a nice dinner but we called it in early because we have to be awake at 3 am to catch a flight. No more drives through the desert of Egypt.

Driving to Luxor

derek-anderson — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:34:00 GMT

After waking up to the beautiful sunrise in the desert, we packed up and continued to make our way. We were driving to our next destination, Luxor the ancient city of thieves and the Vally Of The Kings. We were told the drive would we only fovea or six hours but we kept getting stopped by police at check stations so the drive took around nine hours. To get through the check stop without waiting for two hours (we learned that the hard way) we just gave the cops a little basheesh, which is Arabic for the donut fund. All the guards were heavily armed with an AK-47 or a Uzi so we had to stop for our own safety. We drove for the entire day and finally arrived to our hotel after sundown. Across from our hotel was an ancient avenue that had miniature sphinxes every ten feet! That pattern continued for three kilometres. It stretched from the Temple Of Luxor to the Temples of Karnak. The avenue is thirty feet below the other roads or the city so it looked pretty unsafe driving and on your side was a thirty foot cliff for the entire drive. We didn't see much today except for the lights shining on on of the temples on the other side of a foothill from the Valley Of The Kings. We got to our hotel and called it a night.

Across The Mystic Deserts

derek-anderson — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:32:00 GMT

Today we got up early again! We got up at six in preparation for a big day! We had many deserts to see today! When we got up we climbed into the van we had rented for the time we're here and drove about three hours to a remote town south of Cairo. It wasn't much of a town at all though. It was like a remote getaway in an oasis in the desert. It was beautiful there, the places you could rent were made from bamboo. We drove there to transfer to a jeep that would take us offloading into the desert. First we drove through the black desert. All the desert was under water about 1000 years ago and it is coloured black because of an underwater volcano that spread chunks of lava throughout the desert. After we drove through the black desert came crystal mountain. It is a mountain about one hundred feet tall made entirely from melted sand. When sand is melted it turns into glass or crystal. Lightning struck the spot and that's how crystal mountain was formed. We continued from crystal mountain into the white desert. It was as white as snow and reminded me of the Rocky Mountains. The white is formed because the last part of the saltwater was dried up and formed solid rock that was as white like snow. In the white desert was also mushroom rocks. The are formed by water currents taking out the bottom and after it dried up it left a mushroom form, that were magnificent. We spent that night in the white desert under the stars! We had two other people with us so it wasn't just the six of us left in the desert. We had our driver and our guide from the beginning of Egypt, Simo. They set up camp. Our "tent" consisted of a 2 sided fabric wall, it worked to block the wind. Our guides also made a fire and cooked us all a Egyptian dinner that was surprisingly custom to the western side of the world. They cooked it on the fire and we had potatoes and chicken. I was thankful that we didn't have a roof over our heads because we were so far away from the city so we could see tons of stars. I counted over thirty shooting stars that night and saw all the consolations as well. Before the sun went down it was pretty warm but at about five in the morning I woke up, face frozen, because the temperature had dropped to about five degrees. My parents woke me up to see the sunrise and it was beautiful because the ground was flat as far as you could see. The shadows casted by the mushroom rocks added to the effects of the beauty. It was a great night.

The Pyramids

derek-anderson — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Today we went to see the pyramids of Giza. Our mode of transportation; camels and horseback. We woke up bright and early and drove to the stables. It was a windy day so the pyramids seemed even more mystical in the desert sand, barely visible to the naked eye from afar. We rented two camels and three horses to get to the sights. It was so much fun riding camels and when I rode the horses, it made me miss the ones we used to have on the farm. The pyramids were indescribably amazing. We didn't get to go close up to the sphinx but it was very cool from a distance. There was tons of people around the sphinx because there was some sort of concert playing. We didn't go to see what the hype was all about because we were on a tight schedule. Next, we drove to the step pyramids. They are the oldest pyramids Egypt has to offer. Only one of them is in good shape on the outside. We got to go inside of one of the pyramids. It was a very crowded space in the entryway but the deeper we got, the more it opened up. They aren't as open as I thought but it was still ridiculously cool. It was divided into three rooms, perfectly square. Five by five metres, and five metres tall. I really liked the pyramids and after and continued on with our journey. We went to another museum that had old statues of farrows and sphinx's. After that museum, we went to a painting shop. They didn't use paper to paint on but they used a type of bamboo like grass. They cut it up and would use a horizontal/vertical pattern to make a sturdy material to paint on. We bought lots of paintings with our names in hieroglyphics and other neat paintings. Today was quite the adventure.

Greece To Egypt

derek-anderson — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:58:00 GMT

Today we woke up to the blackness of night. We have to catch a flight to Cairo at 8:45 so we got up at five in oder to get to the airport, which was an hour away and then get through international customs, another two hours of waiting in lines. After the one hour bus ride from the station about ten minutes from our hotel, we checked our luggage through to the plane. We got through customs and everything was fine and dandy. After we landed in Cairo and got all our luggage, we were picked up and delivered to our hotel in downtown Cairo. It was a nice hotel and we finally got a room that could support our entire family of six. Since we had an early flight, we had the entire day to explore Cairo. First we went to the Ancient Egyptian Museum. It is rated as one of the best museums in the world, and I'd agree with that. It was an amazing place! We saw all sorts of mummified people, to crocodiles and even mummified rams. I don't even know where the Ancient Egyptians found rams in the desert! There was over 85,000 ancient artifacts in the museum and the architects keep finding more. They have over 30,000 that aren't in the museum so they are building a new, better, bigger museum right beside the pyramids of Giza. The architects predict that they have only found about ten percent of all ancient Egyptian artifacts and people. After the adventure in the museum, it was only six in the afternoon, dinner time. We'd seen earlier that there was a dinner cruise on the NIle RIver that you could take with a party. So the six Anderson's and our tour guide went to the dock where that ship was and had dinner on the Nile. There was roughly one hundred and fifty other people on the boat, but it wasn't considerably crowded. It was a buffet, equipped with a live band and a belly dancing show after dinner. The meal was great and so was the music. When the belly dancer was finished her show, an Egyptian style of dance called Sovffy dancing was brought to the show. It involves the dancer to spin around in circles waring a dress that flares out into an aurora of colours. It was incredible, they span around for at least ten minutes. It made me dizzy just watching it. After about eight nineties of spinning, the dancer was thrown a tray, a glass, and a full bottle of water. WIthout stopping he managed to open the bottle and pour the water into a glass, I was impressed. The belly dancer came back out after and got pictures with everyone. When we were on our way out, she was still dancing. She called on my little sister, Katie, to try dancing with her but she is shy so unfortunately I got the call because I was standing next to her. She dragged me onto the stage to attempt to do the tricks she was teaching me but it was really embarrassing. Everyone on the ship found it rather funny though so I had no choice but to go along with it. My brother got a video of me trying these tricks on stage and it was pretty funny afterwards. After the ship dinner, it was late and we have to be up early for a big day ahead of us tomorrow.

Taxi Wars

derek-anderson — Thu, 9 Dec 2010 05:13:00 GMT

This morning we all woke up late. My mom's alarm that went off was an hour late because her clock was still on Italy time. The alarm went off at 8 instead of 7. We had called a taxi to come pick us up at 8 to drive us to Athens the previous night and he was there waiting for us in the morning. He wasn't concerned that we were late. We left late from the hotel and only got about two kilometres down the road when our taxi was signalled to pull over. We were all confused because we were going the speed limit and all had our seat belts on, but when we pulled over, the police in front of us, two local taxis pulled up behind us. The other taxi company was upset with our taxi because he wasn't local and apparently he was steeling at the business. Our driver was told we had to go to the police station and told us it would only be two minutes at the station. We waited in the van for an hour and a half while my dad and taxi driver were in the police station. We got sick of waiting so we went for coffee. My dad joined us about 20 minutes later. The about 30 minutes we were told to come back to the van because we were about to leave, it was another 10 minutes before we got the show on the road. We were now three hours late getting to Athens, so we couldn't see the Acropolis like we'd planned. It was too dark and past 5 so it was closed. We went into the museum instead so we weren't totally disappointed. The museum was interesting too, it was the usual, old statues, art, and armour. I liked the museum a lot! It was our last night in Greece so we went to another Greek restaurant. This was the first one the actually had Gyros (donairs). I liked them, but I didn't think they were as good as Famous Donair in Sherwood Park. Across the street was a store called Detroit. It said on the window it was Born In Canada so we went in to see what it was. It was a really nice clothing store called Dsquared. Apparently it is huge in Europe, it was made by Canadians so most of the clothes have red maple leafs on everything, even the shoes. It was a really cool store. After looking through the store, we walked back to the hotel and stayed in for the night.

Olypmpia!

derek-anderson — Wed, 8 Dec 2010 04:59:00 GMT

Today we got up and took a tour to Olympia. Olympia is the first play the Olympics were held, 2786 years ago. Every second year, before the Olympics, the first torch lighting is held there. We stood in the very stop the torch get lit every year. It was really cool exploring around the grounds. We went to the museum where we saw statues and old war armour worn by the greeks. The museum was about Greek past, no so much about the first Olympics. After touring around the museum for an hour, we walked around the grounds where the evens were held. It was all ruins except for one column placed my the Germans in 2004, it gave a perspective on how tall the temples were. There was a 100 yard track as an event and we had a race. I came first out of our family :). After an hour of touring around the grounds, we went down to a city on the Mediterranean Sea. We had a really nice, traditional Greek lunch at a restaurant right on the shore. The sun was down by the time we got out of the city so we didn't get a good view of the mountains on the drive back but it was still nice. We relaxed in the hotel room before going for dinner, after dinner we called it a night and went to bed.

Pissa, Greece

derek-anderson — Tue, 7 Dec 2010 13:36:00 GMT

Today we arrived in Greece by boat. We got in at around eleven in the morning and drove two and a half hours to Pissa, an ancient city on Greece. We checked into our hotel and it is fabulous. The pool at the hotel overlooks an 800 foot cliff. The view is indescribable. The room is also really nice. All the taxi's here are Mercedes-Benz, it is extremely cool :) We are in Pissa for two nights, then to Athens!

On A Boat To Greece

derek-anderson — Sun, 5 Dec 2010 22:20:00 GMT

Today was our final day in Italy because we had to get to Greece. We got up at 7 am in order to get to Brindisi. We stayed overnight previously two nights in Pompeii. It was about 5 hours of travelling to get to Brindisi varying from train to bus. We hopped aboard a train at 8 and stayed on it until our next stop. We didn't know where or when the next train left from the train station on our second stop but we had an idea. The information they gave us on the internet was false however so we missed our second train and were forced to wait two hours to catch a bus to the next train station so we wouldn't miss two trains. The bus only had a few people on it so i had my own two seats and slept, just as I had done on the train. We did manage to make the third train and got to Brindisi with time to spare. We bought our tickets and the person working at the ticket booth told us it was a 500m walk to the ferry. We were mislead again, but we needed to make this ferry so we asked a taxi driver how far it was. It turns out that the ferry was really five kilometres way, so lucky we asked or we would've missed the ferry. We hitched a taxi ride over and boarded. The ferry was 13 hours long and boring. Like the last ferry, we got sleeping births. I cannot sleep on boats so I was up until four. I finally fell asleep, but I had a terrible sleep.

Rome to Pompeii

derek-anderson — Sat, 4 Dec 2010 02:12:00 GMT

Yesterday was our only day in Rome because we have to keep trucking if we want to see everything. We headed south to Pompeii. We had to get up early in order to catch the train and get to Pompeii before sundown. First, we went to the main train station in Rome. We met a family there from the States and they had four kids, just like us. They were also coming to Pompeii and on the same train schedule as us. By the time we found our train, it was really full so we split off away from the other family so that we could sit together. The train ride to Naples was two and a half hours long. I couldn't sleep on the train because it was really loud so I got a full look of the countryside of Italy. It really reminded me of Penticton because of all the vineyards (grape farms) and mountain and valleys out to the sea. When we got to Naples, we hurried down to by our tickets. When we got our tickets and got on the train, it was only about twenty minutes to Pompeii. Pompeii is a small city and it is located on the "toe" of Italy, because if you use your imagination, Italy looks like a boot. We got to Pompeii at roughly noon. The family and I were all hungry but we really wanted to just check into our hotel and rest for a bit. We found our hotel after a while of looking and it is very nice. My dad asked the person at the hotel where they would recommend for a place to eat and they drove us to an amazing Italian place. It reminded me of how I wanted to go to a restaurant just like this one. The people at the restaurant and all over Italy are extremely friendly. The restaurants around Italy close around 3:30 but the hotel owner is good friends with the head chef, so they stayed open late for us. It reminded me of a restaurant the Italian Mafia would eat at, you know, the one where the Mafia boss sits in the back room, heavily guarded and enjoying pasta. That's my impression of the restaurant. The food was amazing. I took a break from pizza and decided on pasta. I had lasagna and it was un-real! I love the food in Italy so much. The deserts are amazing as well, and delicious. After we were all well-fed we went back to the hotel. We laid down again, it is really relaxing in Pompeii. After a few hours of relaxing, it was dinner time. My dad and brother wanted to go back to the Pizzeria we had at lunch, but my two sister and I wanted McDonalds :). My mom fell asleep back at the hotel and we decided just to let her sleep. Anyways, the five of us ended up going to McDonalds for dinner. I never thought a Big Mac would taste so good haha! Because of the such narrow streets in Italy, they don't have drive-thru's. Instead, they have walk-thru's. There is a window, just a drive-thru, but you can just walk by and order and you don't even have to go inside, it was really cool I thought. The night come to a close, we watched a movie back at the room and went to sleep.

Rome, Italy

derek-anderson — Fri, 3 Dec 2010 17:28:00 GMT

Today we decided to explore the city of Rome. The Colosseum was the number one thing I wanted to see. So that's what we went to first. It was incredible! I never could imagine that it was 2500 years old! That's older that Jesus haha! Half was torn down by the Catholics or by the earthquakes and the interior was stripped of the marble. It's insane that the entire interior was once covered in white marble. Our tour guide informed us that the movie Gladiator has about 1000 faults of history in it, but I still love that movie. After the Colosseum, we went on another tour to explore the grounds around the Colosseum. I couldn't believe it the first time our guide told us but .... had his house/temple built for him and it was 40 acres, that's huge! It consisted of three stories above ground and two underground. Each story was 19.5 meters high! Inside his living room, he had a small lake and a walkway leading to his temple, inside his living room! We also we to Cesuras Palace and to where they spread Cesuras ashes! It was crazy! I didn't have and coins on me, so when I was approached by a gypsy, she put a hex on me for not giving her money, it was so funny! The pizza here is still amazing as ever!

Getting Over Jetleg

derek-anderson — Thu, 2 Dec 2010 03:20:00 GMT

After the long ride and the six hour time change, everyone in my family was exhausted. We got up bright and early at 2 pm. There was a double-decker bus that brought tourists around Barcelona so we decided to hop on.The Anderson clan took a five hour bus ride throughout the streets on Barcelona. It was really nice there and I want to live there when I grow up. After the five our bus ride, we hopped aboard an extremely nice ferry that had personal cabins with four beds, a casino, four bars, four restaurants, a kids play room, and an arcade. It was definitely the nicest ferry I've ever been on! The ferry ride was 18 hours to get it Italy, another overnighter.

A Day Of Flying

derek-anderson — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 01:09:00 GMT

Today was probably the longest day on the trip so far. We woke up at the crack of 6 and boarded a plane at Peru International Airport at 10 am. On the short plane ride of 3 hours to Colombia I wrote an essay about Peru as an assignment I'll hand into my school. The essay took about an hour and a half and the rest of the time I just watched a movie. When we got to Colombia, we had to catch another flight, to Barcelona six hours later. So the family and I went to the food court that consisted of two caffe's and made the most of our time there. There was also probably around twenty small shops around the terminal so I looked around a bit. It was a very long six hours. When we were supposed to board the plane, we got delayed for an hour in the small room, just past security so nobody could leave. It was a really big plane so in the small room the probably had around 75 chairs, about 300 people were jammed in the tight area for a solid hour. When the people that work for the airline finally let us on the plane, we waited on the tarmac for a good 45 minutes. Good thing I had my iPod. The flight from Colombia to Barcelona was 9 hours long. We finally got up in the air at midnight when we were supposed to leave at 10. I only slept an hour on the flight but I wasn't even tired. Nothing interesting happened on the plane, all I did was watch movies and play on my iPod, that's nine hours of my life i'll never get back lol :)

Last Day In Peru!

derek-anderson — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:22:00 GMT

Today is our last day in Peru. We took a taxi back to Mira Flores. We had KFC for lunch and then went to the beach. We went to a restaurant on the beach just to chill and have drinks. We stayed there for about an hour before we decided to go back to our hotel. We first went to the grocery store to get food for dinner and snacks for the long plane ride tomorrow. After we finished our grocery shopping we went back up to the hotel an ate the fruit. It was really bizarre. We had mini bananas, they were about 2 inches long. We also had a fruit called granadilla. They look like something from the movie Avatar! The looked like peaches on the outside, but when you pressed on them with your thumb, they opened to what looked like angel food cake. After wading through the spongey goodness, there was what looked like slimy pomegranates. It looked like fish eggs but tastes amazing! I don't know how to describe the mouthful of goodness. After the adventurous fruits, we called it a night. Flight to Colombia tomorrow for the day, then we fly out to Spain!

Miraflores

derek-anderson — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 23:08:00 GMT

Today we decided to not do any big activities seeing as how we are all tired and it's our second last day in Peru. We decided just to shop around at Miraflores mall. The family and I went to TGI Friday's for lunch in the mall to have a meal that was similar to home. It was great to have a bacon cheeseburger again :). After lunch, my dad and brother stayed to watch the Bj Penn fight and the rest of us (mom, Jc, Katie and I) went looking around the mall. We went in and out of stores, but I didn't buy anything except some flip flops. I got really bored, really fast because shopping with three girls wasn't fair because they didn't want to look at guys things, and I didn't want to shop for girls things. I went to check on dad and Travis and came at the right time, Penn KO'd his opponent, so it was a good day because he's my favourite fighter. It was a good day of shopping in Miraflores.

Penguins in Peru?

derek-anderson — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 23:43:00 GMT

Today we got up nice and early at 5:30 (3:30am, Alberta) to catch a tour boat that was touring some islands about a 45 minute boat ride West of Pica. We heard the islands were inhabited by sea lions so we wanted to see some for ourselves. When we got the islands, there was probably 250,000 birds flying around and sitting on the rocks! It smelt very strongly of guano (bird crap, used for fertilizer). While we were looking, our tour guide pointed out penguins! I never thought I'd ever see penguins in the wild until today. I thought they only lived on the South Pole. There was also lots of sea lions so nobody was disappointed. After all that commotion, we drove for about half an hour to the sand dunes. We jumped in a nine seating dune buggy, even though there is six in my family, there was the driver provided by the buggy place and then our driver, Rosa and our awesome tour guide that we also had on the first day, Fabrizio. I wasn't sure how high or how many dunes there was going to be but when we got up past the first dune, there was sand for as far as you could see. It was so cool and so much fun. We got to a high dune and our driver let us out and gave us boards that looked like snowboards but were smaller and didn't have bindings, just velcro. I was the only one the successfully made it down in a snowboard style, everyone else didn't make it or just didn't try. It was all going good until my mom was going and she fell and her head was bleeding. Fabrizio, being the doctor he is, thought the clinic wanted to much money so he just went in a bought the stitch things needed and stitched her up himself. He has studied four years in dentistry so I was confident. So today, for the most part, we escaped without injury, saw a few penguins right by the equator and had a great day!

Lima Again

derek-anderson — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:38:00 GMT

Today was cloudy out so my family decided today wasn't a good day for the beach so we went to see Harry Potter 7 instead. It was an extremely good film. There was only about ten people in the theatre so we all got really good seats. The movie was in english with Spanish subtitles so that is why there was no locals and so many seats available in the movie. I couldn't speak Spanish very well and the lady at the concession was tired of listening me trying to ask her for a refill on my Inca Kola and she didn't speak english so she gave me a free refill instead of paying S/ 7. We finally got a taste of home by finding a Tony Romas and having some familiar food in the belly felt good.