Adam Parker's Blog

Peru and Ecuador - Day 4 - From Lima to Cusco to Urumbamba

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:57:56 EST

We woke up early to pack for our flight to Cusco. We caught our buss only to realize that Camille had misplaced her pocketbook back at the hotel. Her passport and Teds were in there. I think everyone on the buss had a minor heart attack at the news. Roberto was checking with the hotel, and before we got to the airport he was notified that the pocketbook was found and was being sent over via taxi.

Since it was not clear if the taxi would arrive in time, Roberto sent us ahead with me as acting tour guide while he waited for the Taxi with Ted and Camille. The worst that would happen would be that they would have to jump on one of the following 11 flights that day and meet up with us a tad bit later. Fortunately, Roberto, Ted and Camille all arrived just a few minutes before we were done boarding the plane and we all were able to fly together.

Our flight took us over the Andes. There wasn't much to see since there were quite a few clouds. I was, however, able to track our flight with the GPS this time. It was interesting to see our route over the mountains and see how we approached Cusco and how close to Machu Picchu we got.

We landed in Cuso and immediately started heading towards Urumbamba in the sacred valley, but not before I got a really sweet new hat. Cusco is at 11,000 feet, twice as high as denver and 11 time as high above sea level as Atlanta. We went as high as 12,400 before descending down into the valley.

Along the way we stoped at the ruins of Pisac. our first taste of pre-Incan terraced Architecture. The Pisac were a group of people living in the area before the Inca came and gave them 5 days to join the empire or die. Their leaders were to be made a part of the ruling class if hey accepted. They did accept, but the Inca immediately dispersed them throughout the empire to avoid rebellion. This was a good introduction to thing we were to see in the days to come.

We also visited an Alpaca and Llama farm where we could see, touch, and learn more about these native animals.

The views of the valley are amazing. There are mountains and clouds everywhere you look and it just goes on and on and takes your breath away.

We arrived at our villa, San Augustine Urumbamba Hotel, a quaint little place with about 10 rooms, a little cree, gardens, flowers and an great staff and a great view. Very peaceful. I think we just about had the entire place to ourselves.

After Picas, however, mom starte to not feel well. She went straight in to lie down while I transferred pictures off of my camera. She continued to feel worse as the evening went on. The altitued, 9432 feet was getting to her. We hand't taken any altitude sickness pills and whe was cold, shaking and vomiting. She couldn't keep anything down. I stayed with her throughout dinner but I didn't see her condition improving. She needed rest, but was too ill to get it. I had Roberto call a doctor out. Within 20 minutes Jeffery was by her side. Mom's oxygen level was 88 instead of the 92-95 that it should have been. Also, her blood pressure was 140/70 instead of her usual 115/70. Jeffery gave her a shot to calm her down. Mom was a trooper and the shot quickly took affect. Jeffery also had mom on oxygen for the night. I think mom was out within 5 minutes of getting on that oxygen. I checked in on her ever 15 minutes or so, but she stayed asleep until we woke up at 5 the next morning. It was far and away the best $50 that we spent. Some of it was mental, but extra oxygen and sleep had her ready to go the next day.
digg this blog

Peru and Ecuador - Day 3 - Lima, Peru

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:55:25 EST

Day 3 was our optional outing. Most of the 15 of us decided to go. Dante was with us once again and told us about Peru's natural resources. Peru is #1 worldwide for tin production, asparagus and paprika. #2 for copper and #4 for lead and tomatoes.

We arrived at the fishing village as our first stop. It was disappointing that it was Monday because there wasn't much activity and not much to see. We only spent 15-20 minutes there and I don't think we got too much out of it.

We then headed to the next stop, a shanty town called Charillos (trickles of water) via the Pan-American highway. We drove past the drivers license testing center and a huge sand dune. On the side and top of the dune was the town. It is policed, but the families are quite poor. There were dirt roads and very basic structures. We had the chance to meet a few families and see how they live before heading towards a "phase 3" district. Phase 3 is where people are starting small businesses and manufacturing operations. They produced furniture, shoes, belts and prefab items.

The goal was to show how the people are able to use determination and education to pick themselves up out of poverty. I think the message was good and it was good to show us "wealthy" tourists what life is like for some of the 9 million residents of Lima.

Afterwards we headed back to Miraflores where we had a few hours to spend at our leaser. Mom and I went to the mall for some food because it was close and convenient. The food was delicious, I had a good prawn ravioli dish.

With our stomachs full we decided why not go parasailing over Lima! We had to wait a little and it cost $50 but that ride was a great way to see the city and one of the very memorable parts of the entire trip. I thought it would be a little more nerve-racking, but it was a peaceful and smooth flight seeing the sea and the cliffs and the city was an excellent experience.

Once Mom and I both had our turns, we head back to rest a little before dinner. We decided to sit and finish up watching Batman: the Dark Knight.

Dinner tonight was optional as well, but it was very much worth it. We had a great buffet dinner accompanied by different Peruvian dances. There were 6 dances total and my favorites were: the candle dance, where dancers attempt to light rags hanging from their partners hips on fire with a candle. The partner tries to dance vigorously enough so that the rag can't be lit. If the rag is lit then the dancer has to try to dance enough to put the flames out again. Then there was the Incan Scissor Dance. The acrobatics and styles were much like break dancing, only hundreds of years older and with scissors in their hands. Forget running with scissors, try doing a headstand or a back flip with them.

The evening was great. I was glad I brought my flash. In fact, it almost reminded me of shooting a wedding reception.

All in all the day was great and the experiences in Lima were ones to remember. Tomorrow we head out to Cusco for our exploration of the Incan Sacred Valley and eventually Machu Picchu.
digg this blog

Peru and Ecuador - Day 2 - Lima, Peru

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:38:10 EST

We woke up nice and early. I was able to get my first real view of Lima and saw a dog living on the roof of the building across from the hotel. Apparently a common practice in Lima since there aren't any yards.

we ate breakfast and went down to meet our guide and our group. Roberto was a pleasant and warm person. The other members of the group were already acquainted from the night before. There was Elle and Dick, Rosemary and Dick, Marybeth and Betty, Harold and Molly, Betty, Colleen and Ted, Pauline and Jerald. All of whom we would get to know well over the next few weeks.

Mom was quick to make sure that everyone knew we were mother and son so that they didn't think she was robbing the cradle.

W boarded our buss made a quick stop at lover's park to see some of the promotional cow statues before meeting Dante, our local Lima Specialist. Another nice guide who enjoyed sharing that he met his wife when she gave him a traffic ticket and he tried to bribe his way out of it.

Our first visit was to an old monastery. the masonry came from Saville, Spain. It had cedar ceilings and was devoted to St. Jude. Currently there are 12 active monks, down from the high of 300 in the old days. The masonry had anti-seismic properties including special 3" mortar that was made with the whites of seabird eggs. Those properties were comforting while we were down in the catacombs. There were hundreds or thousands of bones there. The skulls were stored separately and arranged into two large circles, one inside the other. I guess there were about 400 sculls on display in that one spot.

It was very strange to be walking around under a church with mass going on above. Especially when there are small portals to see up into the cathedral from the catacombs.

We then visited the library which contained 20,000 ancient volumes going back hundreds of years. It was like something from a Harry Potter film.

We then visited the Archeology Museum of Peru where Dante gave us the history of the Inca empire. We saw clothes, pottery, jewelry and maps all about what the Incas had accomplished.

Then we went to the main Square, the Plaza, to see the changing of the guards at the capital building. It was actually somewhat of a disappointment. Being far away as well as it being somewhat confusing didn't help. I thought we could've done without it.

The cathedral on the square was buys. Part of it was that it was Sunday, but they were also inducting the new Bishops into the church.

We then walked around the corner and had lunch. I had potatoes (papas), beef and a fruit ice cream.

After we ate, we drove to an archeological site of an old pyramid that used to be used as a motocross track! Currently you can see the portions of the site remaining. It is about 50 yards long and 50 yards wide and goes 25 feet up. It must be made of millions of 10" x 6" x 3" adobe bricks.

Dinner that night was at a restaurant by the sea. I had sea bass, civiche and a Pisco Sour.

For a first day I have absolutely no complaints, it was a great start to our introduction on the culture and history and people of Peru.
digg this blog

Peru and Ecuador - Day 1 - Traveling to Lima

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:33:48 EST

Ok, after a long wait ( 10+ months) my first trip to South America is underway.

We, my mother and I, woke up at 6 am, got ready and Peggy drove us to Washington Dullas (IAD) for a 10am flight to San Salvador, El Salvador on our way to Lima, Peru.

We decided to get our heart attack for the trip over with early. As we checked in the agent could not find a ticket for us. Needless to say, I was a little worried. As I attempted to look up or information on orbitz, which I couldn't find, the agent was able to track down our ticket. Apparently Oritz, or TACA, filed us under the wrong names. They merged our middle names with our last names. So I was in the system as Williamparker, Adam and my mother was Ilaparker, Kathy. how the agent found the records I don't know, but I know I was very glad she did. A mistake that early would've probably cost us most, if not all, of the trip.

We made it through and took off without a problem. The flight to San Salvador was about 5 hours. Mom had some pasta with spaghetti while I had the chicken and rice. We watch the first of the two DVDs I brought with me, Star Trek, and I think mom liked it. We were greeted with quite warm weather upon our arrival in San Salvador and were happy to only have a 90 minute layover.

Our flight to Lima was equally uneventful. It took another 5hours. I was again unable to get a GPS signal for my Sony tracker. Will have to try again later. Mother and I started to watch Batman, The Dark Night and made it about half way through before our plane touched down around 8:45pm.

We took a taxi to the hotel from the airport. It was a nice black mercedes. We probably could've gotten a cheeper cab, but it was convenient. We fought our way through Lima traffic and made it to our hotel, hotel Jose Antonio, in about 30 minutes. We checked in and received a note left for us by our guide, Roberto. Mom and I settled in, watched a little Batman and then went to bed. We rested for our first full day in South America.
digg this blog

Getting Ready for Peru and Ecuador

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:20:52 EST

Ok, the trip to Peru and Ecuador is almost here. Only 6 more days until we leave.

This trip is going to be great. We will be spending 18 days away. 10 days in Peru, 6 days in the Galapagos and 2 days on the Ecuador mainland. Our highlights will be Macchu Pichu and the Galapagos Islands.

I'm going on this trip with my mother and we are joining an Overseas Adventure Travel group. The group will only be 15 people, so nice and small. Unfortunately I will be an oddity in the group since the average age is supposed to be 50 years.

My main goal for this trip, aside from the amazing experience, is to get some amazing pictures like I did in Italy. I've got about everything ready to go. The camera and computers and hard drives are bought and just what I need. I'll post a link to the gear summary once it is ready.

The entire trip blog can be found at http://www.4tay.com/peru-and-ecuador. Between November 21 and December 8 I will be making posts whenever I am at a location that has internet access.
digg this blog

Georgia Tech Flyover Video in HD

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:13:18 EST

Heard we were going to have a flyover for the Georgia Tech and Wake Forest game.

see the full size flyover video on youtube
digg this blog

3 more YouTube revinue share invites

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:49:45 EST

This morning I received another 3 revenue share invites from YouTube.

In addition to the first invite for my Samsung Blackjack review:
Samsung Blackjack 2 Review (81,989 views)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU7VAJqPXa4

There are now invites for:

Garmin Nuvi 200w - Walkthrough (31,374 views)

Garmin Nuvi 200w - road test (29,891 views)

Samsung Blackjack II GPS(29,748 views)
digg this blog

Back from the grave after a year and a half

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:49:16 EST

Wow, haven't written on this blog in forever. I'll have to post some updates here, especially with the trip to South America coming around the corner.

Actually had a problem where tweets were being pulled in multiple times. I had 70,000+ blog posts in the table, had to go in and play cleanup.
digg this blog

Giant and Scan It! Self Checkout to the extreme.

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 12:42:37 EST

I was shoping for groceries in Virginia over Christmas when a little pamphlet caught my eye entitled "SCAN IT!". With my curiosity peeked, I took a flier to see what the buzz was all about.

SCAN IT! is basically a hand-held electronic device with a bar code scanner and a screen. You use your bonus card to check out a SCAN IT! unit when you enter the store. Then, as you walk around and purchase your groceries, you scan the items before placing them in your cart. When you check out, you scan "End of Order", scan your bonus card and pay. Talk about a time saver!!!

The welcome screen on the ScanIt unit.
Here are some pictures showing the device.

I was able to try the unit out in Boston at a Stop & Shop and it worked great. Two of the largest questions were around single bakery items like doughnuts and around purchasing produce that is by the pound. For produce, there is a scale with a touch screen.

The produce weighing scale and bar code printer.
Select your type of produce, weigh it, then print out a sticker with a bar code that can be scanned into the device. For baked goodies, just scan the bar code for that item right above it. Simple as that.

Bakery single item bar code sticker
More pictures of the whole process:

checkout screen	welcome screen
produce scale	produce barcode
scanned item	savings alert
bakery item	remove item
shopping cart	checkout station
done shopping	scan member card
put unit back
unit checkin station	�

One annoying feature about this tool is that every 5 minutes, or so, there is a loud cha-ching sound as the device shows you a new item being sold at discount. I can see the point for promoting products for impulse buyers, but the frequency and volume are a little much, especially if you are using the scanner for extended shopping trips.

Oh, and I learned the hard way that removing an item from your cart requires you to rescan the bar code. I don't know why you can't simply select and remove the item, but I had to retrace my steps through the store to clear out my fake shopping list. Quite annoying, but not a big deal if you are shopping for real and the items are actually with you.

remove item scan screen

Let's do even more

But since this is tied to your Giant bonus card account, the possibilities are huge. Giant, are you taking notes? Imagine sitting at your computer at home, entering your Giant bonus card number and then entering in your shopping list. Then that list is used when you get to the store and check out a SCAN IT! device and the items are checked off the list when you put them in your cart.

Or what if you could select meals that you would like to eat and the ingredients you need are added to your shopping list for you to buy when you get to the store.

Take it a step further. What if you had a SCAN IT! in your home and when you threw something away that you wanted to buy the next time you were at the store, you scanned it first and it was put on your shopping list. Then you barely have to think when you leave for the store.

But, the coup de gras, what if the stores could tell you where the items were located in the store? Wouldn't be that hard. Divide an aisle into sections, say 3 feet wide, indicated by section bar codes. Whenever the aisle is stocked or reorganized, an employee walks the aisle, scans the section, then all the items in that section are scanned. That information can then be used to quickly and accurately guide you through your shopping as quickly as possible.

Ok, those are my thoughts. SCAN IT! looks to be a nice system and I hope Kroger's or Public's gets a similar system down in Georgia soon to use.

digg this blog

Airport power is convenient at Boston-Logan Airport

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:36:41 EST

Thanks to massport, power supplies embeded in the seats are easy to reach, easy to see and don't present the typical walking hazard that power cables at other airports create. Well done massport!

And, as you can see, to top it off they have added 2 USB power ports to charge your cell phone, MP3 player, etc. Very Very cool. Wonder if you can plug a USB hub into there?
digg this blog