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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Sketches, Memories and OLD Peru Photos

A normal morning on the porch except we are both a little stressed about getting ready for our summer trip.  We should have the routine down pat, but with age we are more forgetful and easily sidetracked.  Really lacking the focus.  What is important now is less important in 15 minutes or when we think of something else.  The old story of walking into a room and forgetting why you are there.  Ah well, we will make it.  Gene is on his trike.  It is good for his mind to exercise and think about other things.

I just procrastinate and finally get things done.  Also with the idea that I work better under pressure, which is so far from the truth.  It seems that all the pressure just forces you to finish whether it is right or wrong.  That is the main reason I put the paintings away that I haven't finished.  They would be just done, not what I had envisioned.

I did do a couple of sketches with the pen and added a bit of colored pencil.  I thought it made the sketches more readable about the items, but now I'm not so sure.  These are for Scavenger Hunt 364 in the large sketchbook, freehand.

Number 11, rainbow colored - the old beach towel Gene uses for exercise ( the rainbow colors are very faded), one of his hand weights and the yellow electric fly swatter.
Number 12, closed - my iPad

My friend, Bag Blog, Lou, went to Peru on a fabulous trip with husband, daughter and a couple of friends.  They took a hiking trip to Machu Picchu, even zip lining and had a great time.  They really enjoyed the trip but Lou's and her daughter's cameras were stolen.  How rotten is that?  Lou can Google photos and she will have a few photos from her friends and others on the tour, but it is not the same as having her personal shots of family and photos to paint from.  Bummer.

I have been enjoying reading her posts.  They bring back so many memories.  I have been hungry for the food and feeling homesick.  The memories are good as we lived in Bolivia almost ten years, in Lima for three and Chile for two.  We have a few photos (lost most in the big Bastrop fire in 2011) that we had sent to our kids or family.  I wanted to post a few for Lou, even though they are pretty grainy and old.  We went to Machu Picchu several times and stayed in the hotel right by the ruins.  They would shut the generators off about 9 p.m. and it was so quiet and peaceful.  Then the hotel guests had the ruins to themselves in the mornings.  A very special place.

Gene and Larry on the top of Huaina Picchu.  I could not hike up there!  Gene and Larry did get to hike in to Machu Picchu on a different trip.

This is Joanna and her friend Kathy on the lower part of the same trail.

Machu Picchu with Huayna Picchu, the taller peak.

We saw these same llamas on several separate trips there.  Always fun to see.

Gene, me, Larry and Jennie, probably at Saksaywaman Ruins.  A few years ago, eh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saksaywaman

7 comments:

Joan Tavolott said...

How sad that your friend lost all her photos when her camera was stolen. There are always things you take photos of that are just so much fun later to go back and look at. Your photos are great!!! This is like a big TBT...but it is Wednesday. lol

I keep a packing list and never pack too far in advance, otherwise I change my mind and pull out too many things and put in too many things.

Bag Blog said...

I love these photos! There is a bit more vegetation (trees and local plants) growing at Machu Picchu now - in order to show how things might have looked back in the day. There are also lots more rules and regulations to hopefully help preserve the place. Our guide told us that he had once spent the night (camped out) at Machu Picchu when he was young. It would have been cool to see the stars from the top of the mountain. I need to get busy and post my pics from Lima.

Thanks for sharing your photos. I will forward them to Toby and Jesse. It was interesting to see Gene with hair, too.

Jo Castillo said...

Hi Joan, you made me smile with the TBT! So true. Thanks for checking in.

Jo Castillo said...

Bag Blog, it was so neat up there with the electricity all off at night and just look out at the stars. Amazing.

So many things were destroyed both by the Spaniards and then later by later generations. There is so much pottery, many buildings and ruins all up and down the coast that because there is no rain have stayed intact. Peruvians told us that when they were kids they would find the pots and sit them on the walls or rocks and throw rocks at them. No one knew it was history and centuries old.

It has not been that many years since they have been protecting artifacts and locations.

We enjoyed our years in South America.

hmuxo said...

What beautiful photos. Jo ! Definitely on my list to visit.....thanks for sharing!

Joanna said...

Nice memories. I should dig out my photos.

Jo Castillo said...

hmuxo, Machu Picchu is definitely a great place to visit.

Joanna, I guess you should look at your photos. Bag Blogs trip brought it all to mind. :)


About Me

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Bastrop, Texas, United States
I Grew up in a small town , Magdalena, New Mexico. I enjoy art and the pleasure other people get from my work. I always donate some of my sales and art to charities, especially for children. That started in Bolivia with Para los Niños. "I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns." -- Winston Churchill

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