A 9 year old perspective.

11/28/14 – We are still in Cusco.  We met Drew and his family 6 days ago.  We did not go to Spanish school while they were here but we did go to some ancient sites.  The first one we went to was Machu Picchu.  No one really knows for sure what the city of Machu Picchu was made for.  We took a train that took three hours to get to the town of Machu Picchu then we had to take a bus to the top.  Our guide took us to the very top then walked us down to the actual city.  We took a lot of pictures.  Machu Picchu was cool because the rocks were placed so tightly together and it could survive earthquakes.  The highest point was aligned with the four mountains that the Inca believed were gods.  On Thanksgiving, we went on a tour of The Sacred Valley.  The Sacred valley got its name because that is where they grew corn and that was considered a sacred food.  The first place we went to was a town named Pisac.  There was an old city on the mountain just like Machu Picchu. Then we went to Urabumba for lunch.  Next, we went to the salt mines.  They still gather salt in the same places that they did 500 years ago.  There is a spring that comes out of the mountain.  It is the only spring that when the water evaporates, there is lots of salt.  Each family in the community gets 5 salt ponds.  They either sell the salt or feed it to their animals.  We also saw some old ruins that we got to run around in.  We had pizza for Thanksgiving dinner.  Thanksgiving is not a Peruvian holiday.  Drew and his family left today.  I can’t wait to see everybody in January!

11/18/14 – Santiago is surrounded by mountains. We took a few walks around the city but we mostly did homework. When we left Santiago we had to get up at 4:30 in the morning and flew to Lima, Peru. Part of Lima is on a cliff that is very big and it looks like it could fall into the ocean at any time. We saw a lot of paragliders going back and forth over the cliff a lot. We went to a mall on a cliff that was slightly underground. We also went to a park with lots of flowers and cats, and a local market. Now we are in Cusco, Peru. Cusco is close to Machu Picchu where we are going next week. Cusco is sort of an old city and the whole city is a UNESCO world heritage site. We are all taking classes at a Spanish language school while we are here. We are over 11,000 feet above sea level in Cusco.

11/9/14 – There is not much to talk about in Tahiti because we mostly stayed in the hotel.  It rained a lot.  We had halloween in Tahiti but instead of going from house to house, we searched for the candy in our hotel room.  When we left Tahiti, we went to Easter Island and there is a lot more to talk about in Easter Island.  Easter Island got its’ name when European explorers arrived on Easter Day.  The other name for Easter Island is Rapa Nui.  We had a very good and comfortable flight to Easter Island.  We got flower necklaces when we landed at the airport.  Our apartment was in the main town.  When we walked around Hanga Roa (which is the main and only town on Easter Island), there were a lot of dogs.  One day we even saw wild horses galloping down the sidewalk.  We saw a lot of moai.  There were two different types of moai.  The one we saw the most of was a carved stone that looks like a person with his hands on his belly and no legs.  The other is a carved stone that looks like a person but you could only see one third of it.  We hiked up two of the three volcanoes that made up the island.  Now, instead of lava, there is water at the top.  Frances and I played at a beach.  Our landlord said it is the best beach in the world.  There were some moai close to the water.  We ate a lot of empanadas in Easter Island.  We took the same airline to Santiago and we are in Santiago, Chile right now.  We just went to the biggest mall in South America.

10/30/14 – We have left Queenstown now, but I will tell you about what we did in Queenstown.  We took a lot of walks around Queenstown and especially at the harbor.  My dad and I did the Shotover Jet.  The Shotover Jet is a jet boat that goes at 80-85 kilometers per hour.  It shoots water out of the back.  It does 360 degree turns and goes very close to the canyon walls. My dad and I liked it so much we did it again.  My mom and Frances went to the ice rink instead of the Shotover Jet.  We hiked to the top of a  mountain called Queenstown Hill.  It was very windy at the top.  We went on a boat called the TSS Earnslaw that went across Lake Wakatipu.  The boat had a coal powered steam engine and I walked in part of the engine room.  On the other side of the lake, we had a barbeque lunch and toured a farm.  We saw sheep shearing and dogs herding sheep.  We went gold panning at a town called Arrowtown. We also saw where the early gold miners lived and took a walk along the river.  My dad and I did something called Dark Ride.  Before we left Queenstown, we fed the ducks and a lot of birds.  We are going to Tahiti yesterday – we cross the International Date Line today!

10/23/14 – When we left Lake Taupo, we went to Wellington.  There was a strait called the Cook Strait that we crossed over on a car ferry.  When we got off of the car ferry, we were in Picton.  Picton wasn’t really a town but it also wasn’t a city.  There isn’t much to talk about in Picton.  Next we went to Westport.  We went to a seal colony and a lighthouse.  Then we drove down the west coast to Fox Glacier.  We stopped and walked around Pancake Rocks and a blowhole.  Then we went to Fox Glacier.  There, we hiked to two glaciers, Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier.  The glaciers were the first places that we have seen snow on our trip so far.  The water, instead of blue, was like a gray color from the glacier.  There were a lot of rocks close to the glaciers and the glaciers carved a lot of valleys.   When we left Fox Glacier, we went to Lake Hawea.  We went to a nearby town at Lake Wanaka and got some Mexican food there.  When we left Lake Hawea we took the shortest car ride yet through a mountain valley to Queenstown which is where we are right now.

10/16/14 – We are now in New Zealand. We were in Australia last. In Australia we snorkeled, did a nature walk twice, went to the beach twice, fed the fish twice, and took a glass bottom boat ride. We did that all on Green Island. Green Island is the only Island on the Great Barrier Reef with a rainforest on top. When we left Australia we went to New Zealand. My mom and dad are driving for the first time on the trip. So far we have seen two caves and one cave has glowworms and we have also gone to a geothermal park.

10/6/14 – We arrived in Bali 5 days ago. The taxi ride took a long time because there was a procession. The hotel we stayed in was called Rouge Villas and the rooms are spread out. The first thing we did was walk around Ubud. The next day we went to a elephant safari place. The first thing we did there we fed an elephant and then we fed another one while I waited to ride an elephant. After I rode an elephant I saw an elephant talent show. Then I had lunch and left. The next day we walked around Ubud and then went to another hotel and that is the one we are staying in right now. The first thing we did was go to the mall across the street. Today I did surf lessons. The last ride I did was the best one.

9/30/14 – Two days ago we went to Disneyland in Hong Kong. My favorite ride was the third one I did and it is called Runaway Minecarts. It is a roller coaster in a fake mine with a lot of bears. My second favorite ride is called Space Mountain. It looks like it is in space and it goes fast. I did a whole bunch of other rides. When we left Disneyland I got popcorn and Frances got cotton candy. When we left Hong Kong we took a plane to Bangkok for the last time. Tomorrow we take a plane to Bali.

9/27/14 – When we were in Beijing we went to two places. The first place we went to was The Great Wall of China that surrounded Beijing. The other place we went to was the Forbidden City. It took 1,000,000 workers 14 years to build the Forbidden City. Right now we are in Hong Kong. We took a train to the boat pier and then took a boat to a place close to a mall. The boat crossed Victoria Harbor. Then we took the boat back and got on the train.

9/22/14 – I liked Luang Prabang even though it was hot. Now we are back in Bangkok. We are in the airport hotel that we usually stay in. We are going to China tomorrow. I will have more to talk about soon.

9/17/14 – For my birthday I got to do mini-golf and I got to pick the restaurant we ate at and that is a Mexican restaurant.We could not ride a elephant in Cambodia but I hope we can ride one in Laos. Right now we are in Luang Prabang, Laos. So far we have not had time to ride a elephant. Luang Prabang is famous for its temples and monasteries and I saw a lot of monks. So far we have gone to one temple and a night market. Luang Prabang is next to the Mekong River which is a famous river in Asia.

9/9/14 – We are still in Cambodia.  It is still hot.  We went to about 5 more temples.  Some had trees growing out of them.  I saw where my dad asked my mom to marry him.  We played mini golf.  I may play mini golf again on my birthday.  Our tuktuk driver kept score for us.  A tuktuk is a carriage pulled by a motorcycle, but the sides are open.  We also went to a butterfly center even though I did not want to go there.  We are going to relax for the rest of our stay in Cambodia.  After that, we will go back to Bangkok for a few days, then to Luang Prabang in Laos.

9/4/14 – While we were in Bangkok we went on 2 river cruises and we got to eat on one. The next day we went to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho (Wat means temple). At Wat Pho there is a big Buddha statue that is 160 feet long. When we left Bangkok we took a plane to Cambodia. Today we went to Angkor Wat which is supposedly the largest religious monument in the world and was built nearly 1000 years ago.It was a Hindu temple but now it is a Buddhist temple. I miss everyone and I hope you are having a good school year.

     

8/27/14 – I can’t believe it’s so long since I wrote anything here. I hope everyone has a good first day of school. While we were in Kathmandu we went to a monkey temple at the top of a mountain and the monkeys were just walking around. Kathmandu was not my favorite place but not my least favorite place either. When we left Kathmandu we went to an airport hotel in Bangkok for 3 days and then went by plane to Phuket. It’s an island in the south part of Thailand. We stayed in 2 hotels and they were both right by the beach. We were there for 14 days. They had a kids club at the second hotel and I got to play Mario Kart finally. I saw a baby elephant at the second hotel too. When we left Phuket we went back to Bangkok and that is where we are right now. So far we have gone to one temple and the world’s 6th biggest mall. There is crazy traffic here.

8/3/14 – When we left Dubrovnik, we went to Turkey by plane.  Turkey didn’t have that many old sites to visit.  We wandered around the city.  I did not like the breakfasts that much.  We went to the Blue Mosque and had to take our shoes off.  We went to an underground water storage called the Basilica Cistern.  It isn’t used now.  The hotel roof had a terrace and if you were up there when the call to prayer happened it sounded cool.  After Istanbul, we went to Dubai.  I had been waiting to go to Dubai for a long time.  The plane ride took us to Abu Dhabi, but we took a bus to Dubai.  Then we took a taxi to our hotel.  That hotel was one of my favorite hotels of the trip.  It was next to Wild Wadi Waterpark.  That breakfast was one of my favorite breakfasts because it had a huge amount of choices.  The bathroom had a speaker in it for the t.v.  I went to the highest building in the world – the Burg Khalifa.  My dad and I went to the top and it just had glass walls and part of it had no roof.  My favorite ride at Wild Wadi Waterpark was tantrum alley.  It was a 2-4 person water ride.  We went to our next hotel by taxi.  The breakfast also had a huge amount of choices.  The waterpark there was called Aquaventure, and I liked that one a teeny bit more.  My favorite ride there was zoomerango and that was a 2-6 person ride.  There was a big aquarium at the hotel and Aquaventure.  Now we are in Kathmandu.  Kathmandu is not that modern at all.  The roads are dirty.  We took a taxi to Boudha Stupa.  You can only walk clockwise around the stupa.  It felt hotter than Dubai.

7/16/14 – I am in Croatia right now.  The first thing we did was go to our hotel.  Our hotel had an indoor and 2 outdoor pools.  We watched people go scuba diving, but I was not allowed to.  Frances and I had fun diving for coins in the pool.  One of the pools had a swim up bar.  That was my favorite hotel so far.  Next we went to our apartment in the old city.  The first thing we did was walk around the old city.  Then we walked around the city walls.  There were a lot of old forts.  My favorite forts are still in Malaga and Castle San Angelo in Rome.  I rode a boat to an island called Lokrum that had a no so great fort.  The city of Dubrovnik looks like an eagle.  I saw it better after a cable car ride to the top of the mountain.  Tomorrow we are flying to Turkey after a short stop in Zagreb.

7/9/14 – I was the only one that wanted to go to Athens and I think everyone liked my decision. The first place we went to was the Museum of the Acropolis and it was right across the street from our apartment. There was some glass floors that you could stand on so you could see the ruins that were under the museum. In the museum it showed the Acropolis at different times and on the second and third floor it showed reconstructions and the real thing from the Acropolis. The second place we went to was the actual Acropolis. We went to the Temple of Zeus but just looked at it from the outside and went inside a couple of days later. We went to the Agora two times. The Agora is where they had shops and a whole bunch of things. We had a lot of gelato. We went to the Olympic stadium and we saw lots of torches that were used in the Olympics.

We took a plane to Venice. We were in a nice apartment that was close to a pizza place. We took a lot of walks and three of them were to a park. We had some gelato in Venice like we usually do. We took a boat ride (it was my idea) and we sat in the back. It is the most unique city in the world. When we left Venice we took a plane that was propelled by propellers and that was the first plane we took that was not propelled by jets. We took the plane to Dubrovnik.

6/25/14 – The first place we visited in Rome was Castle San Angelo. It has been more than three things and it was the place the pope escaped to when Rome was falling down. Next we toured the littlest country in the world. The Vatican can be walked across in less than a day. I saw lots of paintings and tapestries in the Vatican. I had to be quiet for some of the tour.  We used radios to hear the tour guide speak. I thought the sistine chapel was a really cool place. We saw the Pantheon next and had gelato before we went inside. Gelato is like ice cream but better. The oculus at the top lets in the only light besides the doors. We saw the Roman Forum next which was where people talked and bought stuff and prayed but now it’s all broken down.  We went to the Colosseum last and it was probably my favorite place. Most things in Rome are 2 thousand years old. Now we’re in Athens with even older buildings.

6/15/14 – We arrived in Marrkech 3 days ago by bus and had one stop.It was a 3 hour ride and I thought it was long.We got comfy and then went to a big market. We looked a bit and than ate and left and it was a 106 degrees.The next day someone put a snake around my neck.The foundation is a thousand years old and I saw it and it was a mosque and it was big.I have seen so many animals.I miss everone back home.

6/11/14 – I am in Morocco now! Paris was fun. I went to a lot of famous landmarks but the Eiffel tower was my favorite. We went to the very top. We walked all over Paris and I went on a two hour river cruise on the Seine that was really relaxing and I had a big good lunch on the boat. We rented an apartment that was right next to a bakery, a market and five minutes from the Eiffel Tower.

Morocco is big! We are staying in a Riad which is like a house that they turned into a mini hotel. We are in a town called Essaouira that is by the ocean. It has really old walls around the city with cannons pointing out to sea. It is nicknamed “Wind City”. I rode a camel today. I liked everything about it except the position I had to sit in.

6/4/2014 – When I went to Monserrat, the monastery was really big and there was a huge courtyard. There was miles of train tracks to get there. I wanted to take the cable car to the top, but my parents wouldn’t let me.  We took the train instead.  It took an hour and a half to get there on 2 trains. The next day we went to the official FC Barcelona soccer store, or as they say here – football. When we left Barcelona, we had to go on a six hour train ride to France. I played games on the ipad, finished reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and checked out the French countryside. We are renting an apartment near the Eiffel Tower.

6/2/2014 – We are in Barcelona, and my parents are making me walk a lot.  I have seen a bunch of bakeries, and some old buildings, and a lot of Starbucks.  Yesterday, we took the   metro to Sagrada Familia which is a really old church that’s been under construction for 100 years and still not finished.  Mcdonalds has 4 floors and 2 are underground.  We have eaten a lot of weird food, but ate at Subway yesterday.  Today we are taking the metro and a train to Montserrat.  I miss all of my friends and teachers at JRDS.

5/24/14 – I am enjoying my first few days on my big trip. I saw a whale yesterday.  I miss my friends. I really like a slide that takes me over the side of the boat and the floor goes away to start the ride!

My best friend Drew is meeting me in Machu Picchu in November.