South America

So, on Wednesday I got back from a 2 week trip in South America, in Peru, Argentina, and Brazil. It was a crazy trip... For those of you who I hadn't talked to before the trip, I went with my parents and 50 other Indians. Why, you ask? Well...

Last October/November, my parents were telling Oliver and I about a trip that they were taking in South America. They have taken a few trips with many of their Indian friends over the past few years and have really loved them. Anyway, Oliver suggested that I tag along with my parents, since he had spent 2 months traveling there in high school, and doesn't have the desire to head back there until he has seen the rest of the world. I brought this up with my parents, (suggested that they may want to pay for me to travel with them) and when they agreed, I signed up!

Hence the trip with 50 Indians... So, it was a unique experience to say the least - mainly because traveling through foreign countries with that many people is always challenging. Trying to cater to the needs of a group of 6 people is hard enough, but add 44 more people, most of who are vegetarians, tour guides with heavy accents, flight cancelations, lots of different interests, different traveling speeds, desires, and you get craziness!!! But it was actually a really fun trip that was very well organized and planned. It also helped that there were 3 other girls on the trip who are all around the same age whom I have known since I was young - we had a lot of fun together!

One of the best parts of the trip for me was my new camera. While my pictures may not be indicative of a new, fancy camera, I certainly had fun taking pictures!

Peru Highlights

Our first day in Lima, we toured the city. My parents and I at General San Martin's square.

This is a cool picture of the stained glass window in the Cathedral of Lima.

We also went to a winery in Lima, but none of my pictures came out well. I was experimenting with inside/dark lighting... It may have also had something to do with all of the Pisco we drank followed by all of the wine...

In Cusco, we went to an Alpaca/Llama farm and fed the animals...Here's mom and an Alpaca.

They look like stuffed animals...

Driving through Sacred Valley, we took a group shot (well, a partial group shot)...

Out drinking in the town of Machu Picchu with the girls... this is a terrible picture, but I obviously let some random stranger use the camera and as I'm having trouble getting pictures in focus, we can't really blame him/her...

After our late night drinking, I got up at 5:15 to go on a nature/bird/orchid walk. This humming-bird picture looked cooler in the camera viewfinder, but it's still pretty cool...

A picture of one of the million types of orchids in Peru...

Machu Picchu in focus, my parents out of focus...apparently I haven't mastered that yet...
Last night in Peru...

Argentina Highlights


We went on a city tour of Buenos Aires. I apparently didn't really take many pictures. Here's one of a really cute cat that I saw on the way to Eva Peron's grave site...

This is a picture of a bunch of the Indians going on a carriage ride at the ranch that we went to...

This guy really liked my mom... I had trouble with the action/dancing shot...

Iguazu Falls is a pretty amazing site. Having already been to Victoria Falls and thinking that was the coolest waterfall ever, I didn't have high expectations, but this blew it out of the water. Unfortunately, the pictures don't do it justice...

Brazil Highlights

The Falls from the Brazilian side...

Now, Rio is a very cool city... a picture with the girls...
Mom and Dad and the view of Copacabana... We went to a Brazilian steakhouse and the waiters invited us back into the kitchen...

I have about 1,400 more pictures... I may pic some good ones and upload them to picasa - I'll post the link when I do that...

New Toy!!!

So, after years of me asking Oliver for a nice camera, he finally gave in. We recently welcomed a new Canon Rebel XSi into our family. So far the verdict is that the camera is complicated. When I did the research, I understood in theory the argument that you should not spend this much on a camera if you're just going to use it in auto mode. The problem with that thought process is that you have to figure out the manual modes, which are pretty time consuming and will have you shooting the same subject about 100 times to try and get 1 good picture. This one below (not ever sure if this is that good) is one of Kat sitting on the bed next to Oliver's computer. I took about 20 of this same pose and they all look different. Anyway, you can look forward to many more pictures of the cats as they seem to be willing to have their pictures taken for now...

I may become a Jersey girl...

That's right people. I went to a Bruce Springsteen concert and I LOVED it! How could I have thought that he was old and boring? I even told Oliver hours before the concert that Bruce just isn't an entertainer. What was I thinking? Obviously I had never been to a show before because that statement is just blasphemous. For those of you who secretly dream of being a rock-star, imagine selling out Giants stadium for 3 days in a row - 65K people screaming as you come on stage - it doesn't get better than that... Needless to say, we loved it.

However, we weren't in Jersey just for Bruce, we first spent the weekend with Kajal, Brett, and cutie-pie Dilan. Oliver and I are seriously thinking about just stealing Dilan for ourselves. I mean, we could pass her off as ours (Indian-German mix) and it's just much easier. Kajal has done a lot of the hard work - pregnancy, birth, getting her to sleep through the night, etc - and Dilan is more fun now than when she was born, so I think it's something worth considering. They are coming to visit in September. We need to start working on our plan now...

Fourth of July with the Germans...

So, for the 4th year in a row, I have either been with Germans or in Germany for the 4th of July. This year was spent in Yellowstone National Park with Oliver and his friends Harry and Lien and their girls Amelie and Elena. Harry, Lien and the girls came over from Germany about 6 weeks ago and have been traveling around the US in an RV. They have another 6-8 weeks to go and Oliver is insanely jealous. We had a great time. Lien is actually from Belgium, so there was lots of German and Flemish (with the occasional French word thrown in to make me feel like a dumb American - of course Harry and Lien also speak perfect English, so that was the language of choice for the weekend).

Yellowstone was really cool - I had no expectations, so the beautiful landscapes and the animals appearing around every corner really made the trip worthwhile. We only had 2.5 days, so we're going to have to head back there soon....

but not next year for the 4th, because my plan is to spend it with Americans doing American things (let me know if you have suggestions - the German is in the process of brainwashing me)...

Visiting the (host) family...

So, this past weekend, Oliver and I headed to Richmond to visit the Buckners. Well, Eliott and Joelle live in Richmond with their 2 children, Oliver and Abby, but mom and dad Buckner, Kathy and Ray, came down to visit from Rochester, so it really was a little family reunion.

The weekend was perfect for me, because it was just lazy and relaxing and these days I'm having trouble keeping up with Oliver's hectic lifestyle. The kids were super cute, I constructed dinosaurs, and I bought 2 purses - it doesn't get much better than that!

We finally have a blog!!!

So, after our "trip of a lifetime" this summer, we've been wanting a place where we could talk about all the things that are going on in our lives to keep our friends from all over updated!
Hence, our blog!