Back South Again with More Projects

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A lot of driving. I have forgotten how much driving is involved when on the farm. Everything is far. But I also had to drive up and back twice to Syracuse to pickup/drop off Angie at the airport and a business meeting for Wisdomino in Albany. Yeah it was a lot of driving for me. All and all it was about 4000 miles in three weeks. Early in the morning I decided to check out some auctions (dangerous). I ended up being high bidder on a 2015 New Holland Boomer 33 ( "hours unknown, does not run, may have problems, no key, no battery" ) from the State of Tennessee. I figured I could swing by Nashville and pick it up on the way to Georgia. And indeed I did. It was only a couple of hours extra, maybe 4. But, it was more efficient than going to Georgia and then back and forth to Nashville. Nashville is about 4 hours from Duluth. So I was looking at a 4 hour savings. After I go through it and getting if working I will tow it up to the farm in NY. I wasn't prepared for a trac...
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We are back from vacation. We took an extended time (for us) in Peru and Bolivia (10 days). It was very thrilling, interesting, intense, reinvigorating and exhausting. All at the same time. After flying to and from Lima, Peru we had 4 air segments (not including time in a 172), 4 bus trips, 2 train rides, 6 different hotels and numerous Uber and taxi rides. We spent time in the following Peru cities: Lima (Miraflores & Center), Nazca, Cuzco, Machu Picchu. Also we spent time in Bolivia in La Paz and Tiwanaku.

We hired a Cessna 172 to take us over the Nazca lines, rode the Teleferico (cable cars) in La Paz and spent a lot of time at big-name pre-Inkan archaeological sites in Peru and Bolivia. Of note, we visited Tiwanaku, Puma Punku as well as Saksaywaman and Machu Picchu.

The high altitude was a concern in the Andes. We took Diamox as a precaution, but there is a lot of mystery around what causes altitude sickness (besides altitude). So Diamox is no real assurance of protection. Even packing becomes difficult at over 13k feet. The La Paz airport is one of the highest in the world. After they start the engines on the plane you can subtlety feel the air pressure building while we are still on the runway. The "in effect" hyperbaric airplane ride provides a couple hours of relief after you land at another high altitude. As a pilot, I cannot legally fly at these altitudes for longer that 30 minutes without using oxygen. My Cessna will not fly at these altitudes.

Nazca


The breakfast bar at a hotel.


From our Restaurant table in La Paz.


Supply chain management for bus freight and baggage. We found ours after a prolonged personal search in the belly of the bus well after dark.


Front row in the upper deck of the coolest bus in the world. Although we had a three axle bus, not the coolest 4 axle machine.



El Alto, La Paz.


Bus Station in Nazca, Peru.


Cusco, Peru


Hotel terrace in Cusco (San Blas)


Machu Picchu


Saksaywaman


Alpaca in Peru.


The big stone at Saksaywaman.


The Ponce Stella at Tiwanaku.


Our plane in Nazca.


Nazca "Star".


Cats in Parque Kennedy in Lima.


Puma Punku

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Back South Again with More Projects

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