Skull duggery (Spring '09)

Here's another Paris video I put together. Assembled this one much closer to the actual trip, but never got around to posting it. Sue me.

These are photos from the catacombs, beneath the city. Pretty cool (as evidenced by this National Geographic piece), if not, you know, The Louvre. I take the blame for likely mis-translations from the engravings and signs. Babel Fish will only take you so far. Jenn, who knows Kindafrench, tried to help. But these cryptic riddles and puns challenged her as well.

Peru, Day Seven (July 18, 2009)

Ate my daily dose of huevos fritos for breakfast and then met the director's friend Wagner in the lobby at 8am. We hired a taxi and drove to Morro de Calzada. Blew a tire on the way, but the taxi driver was a machine, and he had the tire changed in 10 minutes.

Morro de Calzada is a lush tangle of montane forest with some tropical flora thrown in for good measure -- such as ficus, bromeliads, and giant ferns. The forest was spectacular, and the view from the top 2000 feet up was utterly breathtaking. We learned there is an unusual , deep sand formation due east of the Morro that completely changes the ecology. Unfortunately, from that height you could also see patches of the forest burning in every direction. But overall, it's still a stunning, untouched, unexplored landscape.

The only big, fat downer of the day was that I blew my left knee on the descent. Thankfully El Squid, my beloved brace, was with me, so I was able to make it down by bracing the left leg and putting all my weight on the right. Ow, quit it. Tomorrow is a travel day though, so I should be good as new after a day of rest. And enough Tylenol to kill a horse.

As a thank you, we took Wagner to the Mud Bucket where I ate another fabulous meal of paiche (local fish) with garlic and a side of fried yucca. Spent the rest of the afternoon packing for the trip tomorrow and nursing the leg. Not sure what city we'll end up in -- still trying to to decide where we'll have the best luck finding caves that might be worth excavating. Mmm....caves.

Peru, Day Six (July 17, 2009)

Started the day with breakfast of fried eggs, bread, more fresh fruit, orange juice, and cafe con leche. At 8:00, our driver Borr-Borr arrived to take us to Moyobamba.

The drive, again, was beautiful as we wound our way higher and higher into the mountains. We crossed the rivers Hullaga and Mayo, and we shared tangerines Borr-Borr bought from a young girl when we were stopped at a construction zone. But I was reminded of how worrisome these roads can be when I noticed that Borr-Borr made the sign of the cross every time we crossed a new city limit. Of course, that probably had something to do with the fact that he routinely drove 50 kph over the speed limit.

We're staying at the 3-star Hotel Marcoantonio. I can't believe that, yet again, we're in the middle of nowhere and my room has wi-fi. Peru has changed a lot since my first visit here.

Ate lunch at a restaurant Borr-Borr recommended -- La Olla de Barro (literally: The Mud Bucket). It's the first Peruvian restaurant I've seen that has a vegetarian section on the menu, and they served my favorite, favorite, favorite Peruvian dish - lomo saltado, but with tofu ("lomo saltado con carne de soya!"). Lomo saltado is normally made with beef, so this was a treat, and it tasted like bright, shiny magic.

Went straight from lunch to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC) where we met the director for San Martin. Her staff archaeologists gave us a private tour of their museum; afterwards, the director arranged for a friend of hers who's a botanist to take us hiking tomorrow in search of caves!