When we arrived at our hotel in Cusco, the hotel people ushered us into the lounge and gave us coca tea.  They showed us s a basket of coca leaves and a couple of containers of hot water, and we were told to help ourselves whenever we wanted.

Coca… Read full post »

Bill O'Reilly, 'interviewing' Lou Dobbs on (where else) Fox on Tuesday -

O'Reilly: Barack Obama, is he the devil?

Dobbs: He's not the devil, but he is certainly the man who is not making it easy to understand why he is making the public policy choices that he is. There… Read full post »

In their haste to outlaw gay marriage, Texas legislators accidentally outlawed all marriage in their state.  This according to a story in the Miami Herald.  

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 20… Read full post »

That's how Joan Walsh (whom I normally agree with) says Newsweek made Sarah Palin look by running that Runners photo on their cover and the blurb, "How do you solve a problem like Sarah", and that doing so is sexist.

IMO, Sarah IS cute, flighty, a flibbertyjibbit, a will o' the… Read full post »

Tonight's one-handed paste & copy (touch-typing to resume sometime next week...)

from Kos

Only in very serious minds can these conceptions of the US government co-exist:

1. The US government is so hopelessly inefficient and
   
   

… Read full post »

My one-handed contribution for the evening (lifted, one-handedly, from tonight's Washington Monthly) (why does the Washington Monthly appear daily) (or, alternatively, why does a daily site call itself Washington Monthly?)

The Onion reflects on the big media story of the… Read full post »

Due to carpal surgery, no words tonight - just pictures.

  Read full post »

Okay, enough dithering about (tho I have a couple more dithers to come), the main attractions in Peru are Machu Picchu and Nazca.

The Nazca lines are on a remote desert plain, mysterious, hard to get to...

Machu Picchu is on a remote mountain, mysterious, hard to get to...… Read full post »

First, of course, a Peruvian hairless.  Much bigger (average dog size) than the Mexican hairless.  This guy was at Pachacamac, an ancient adobe pyramid near Lima.  Note his coat, to protect him from the sun.

There are a LOT of dogs in Peru.  My take is that all farms… Read full post »

So  we're strolling down one of the side-streets of Cusco, shops on one side, ancient stone walls on the other, when we spot this wondrous sight - a guy, big by local standards, with big features (by local standards), dressed up like an old Incan prince or warrior or something.  He's… Read full post »

We just have a rainbow flag and wear lots of bright colors.  

Okay.

The tour guide pointed out the flag of Cusco, Peru, and then said that, no, it's not the gay flag...the gay flag has one less color and is the other way around.

If the guide had just… Read full post »

From Huffington Post -

Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network posted a blog by Kimberly Daniels recently that warns Christians to forgo celebrating Halloween because of its evilness. Daniels specifically calls out candy as a source of soul-molestation:

"During this period dem… Read full post »

My travelling companion's Lima friend gave her a book on the city of Cusco called Bizarro (full title - Cusco : muestrame el obligo bizaro. In English, and very litterarly translated would be: show me the bizarre bellybutton of Cusco. Assume bellybuttom means "centre of"), listing a number of od… Read full post »

On my last night in Peru I finally tried the guinea pig.

I asked our hostesses to take us to a place where they served a GP dish that didn't look like GP.  Like, most restaurants serve up a whole GP on a plate, all crispy, its tiny limbs akimbo, its… Read full post »

"How are you going to manage? - you won't be able to find a toilet."  That was the warning of my travelling companion's friend.  The friend was Peruvian, now living in Canada.  So she should know!

But, not to worry - there's all kinds of toilets in Peru.  In restaurants, or… Read full post »

Here's photographic evidence that I made it to Peru!

The photo, of course, cost me a couple of soles (Peruvian $).  The people don't hang around tourist stops in their trad clothes for the hell of it.

Looking at the photo tho, I'm just about as colorful as the Peruvian… Read full post »

I always get uptight before leaving.  Feel the need to have the entire house, porch, garden and beyond to all be in perfect order.  It's never happened, but one of these days...

Meantime, put plants in the bathtub.   Top up the litter boxes and the catfood.  Make sure there's a… Read full post »

Yesterday I posted about the suffragettes and how we need to remember them.  And not take our freedoms for granted - particularly women, who are making progress in the western world.

Here's another reminder, from ThinkProgress. 

National Review’s Derbyshire Says Women’s Suf… Read full post »

When we told the local grocer that our Pagan festival was moving to another campground, far far away, he nearly cried.  A far cry (sorry) from his attitude when we first came - then he was one of the people most up in arms. 

The festival had originally started… Read full post »

Some non-monkey Chicago pictures. 

Arriving - view from the plane. 

The Chicago River downtown. 

Downtown - House of Blues. 

"Temple" in Greektown.

American Gothic as a sculpture. 

Millennium Park. 

"Cloud Gat… Read full post »

Mysteries solved:- 

What is Eleusis called today (so you know what to ask for when in Greece)?Answer - Elefsina.

How do you get there?  Answer - Catch a bus at the nameless square in Athens (as described in an earlier post) and get off at the end of the line, then… Read full post »

A friend of ours poses a lil stuffed monkey in various places, which has had an unfortunate influence on my travelling companion and me.  I happened upon a stuffed gibbon (or spider monkey?) at a thrift store and we went nutz with it.

The Chicago River - nice… Read full post »