And We're Off… Scotland: David, Ellen and Yertle the caravan

We  had arranged through vacationrentals.com for an apartment in Edinburgh while living in Arequipa and we arrived, dragging two suitcases, two backpacks and two pieces of carry-on luggage in Edinburgh, all the while cursing the amount of stuff we had!  We loved our apartment which was right on the Royal Mile and next to a candy shop with friendly owners and a big bowl of help-yourself candy!  Even though the weather was rainy and the food was terrible, we loved the combination of old and new, city and country.  And the public transportation was great.  Here is a view from our apartment which should give you an idea of how quaint this city really is.  David loved it because they spoke English…sort of. And I loved the Scottish sense of humor…. and Arthur's seat, right in the middle of the city.

      

and the lovely Edinburgh Castle and the obligatory phone booths.

I couldn't resist this take on the U.S. Dollar Store!

We decided early on, that living in an apartment was too restrictive, and hauling two backpacks and two suitcases was too hard, So, we decided to change plans.  We a bought left hand drive car in England and a little caravan which we named Yertle (the turtle) and started our tour of the UK and Europe while waiting for our Peace Corps assignment.  After we picked up Yertle, attached him to the car and learned a little about driving a left hand drive car in a right hand drive country we were off to the Scottish Highlands.  My job was to flap my hand to the right and shriek "Stay on the right" every time we came to a round-about (very often) or turned a corner.  David did just fine and so far, after 3 months on the road we have only received 3 tickets, 2 for parking, 1 for driving!

So, off to the Highlands…what a wonderful place:  very much like Alaskan geography!  I really got a kick out of the "no snow" part of this dog sledding ad.  What are they thinking?

The scenery was just incredible and every day we went out hiking and touring around the many castles and churches. The weather was cold and not very sunny

 but great for photos!  

Our favorite islands were Harris and Lewis which were full of sheep, lots of wind and the famous Harris Tweed, which I don't particularly like but love the idea that it can only be made on Harris by cottage weavers!

 The island

is full of sheep because the farmers get a stipend for each sheep owned.  Apparently they don't do a whole lot with the sheep, but keep them for the stipend.  They mark ownership with paint splotches and apparently this guy got carried away.  We named his sheep the Sherbert Sheep. There were also the lovely Hairy Cows of the Highlands and these wicked

black goats!

 We stayed in a

crazy campground on Harris in a lovely setting but difficult to find and even more difficult to get to, around hairpin turns and down a steep driveway!  We crashed on the way out and broke the lens cap on Yertle! But lovely views

But it was the scenery that was just enchanting.

 

One of the great days was a visit to the Calanish Stones…same idea as Stonehenge, but absolutely deserted…and we were able to walk amongst the stones!  Great day.

 

We decided to leave because one night Yertle was almost blown away by fierce winds, so we packed up and took the ferry the next day (after camping overnight in the ferry parking lot) and headed for Glascow and then to Liverpool.

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We are back

Hello again,


Our previous webmaster has deserted us so we are no longer able to post on www.weiserweissman.com. So now we are here after a long absence.  Our first journey after leaving Peru was to Chile to San Pedro de Atacama where we had visited a number of years ago.  We had a wonderful time seeing canyons, floating in salt lakes and watching the sun rise over steaming, bubbling hot springs.  However, we had a quite unfortunate incident:  our backpack with our camera and computer was stolen, so we lost all of our photos from that segment of the trip as well as the wonderful trip into the jungle of Peru that we took before we left.

However, we were lucky enough to visit Iguazu Falls, Argentina after the theft and took photos with our cell phone. This is considered one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world and after visiting, we had no doubt!  The falls are reached through a series of paths and bridges and boardwalks interconnected through a wildlife reserve full of birds, monkeys, kotamundi and capybara.



 The kotamundi have been habituated and are as pesky as squirrels.  They congregate around the tables and chairs set up at the refreshment stands.  This one is diving into MY basket!  One couple put their tray of food down in preparation to sit, and before they could put their tushes into the chairs, the pesky, nasty creatures had attacked their tray and thrown their food all over the place.  YUCK!

The falls, 10 times as long as Niagra, are a series of interconnected falls that seem to go on forever, culminating in a thundering cataclysm complete with mist and a roar so loud that we could not hear each other.

After Iguazu we went to Buenas Aires, Argentina, the land of big hunks of meat, very late nights and big city life.  We stayed in a wonderful apartment that we found on AirB&B.  The first thing we did was to go to a polo match.  Very upper crust!

  

This statue is arranged so that when the sun is shining it opens and when it is dark it closes! We were lucky enough to arrange to meet with David's Aunt Selma's cousin by marriage while we were in Buenas Aires.  This is a photo of her and her granddaughter.  A very elegant lady!

The highlight of the stay was a visit to the cemetery!

This cemetery rivaled any in New Orleans or any other above ground burial place we have ever been to!  

And Evita Peron is buried here!

Believe it or not, this bench is cast in concrete 

and here is a group of tango musicians!

After B.A. we flew for Scotland.  We have applied for the Peace Corps and our plan was to travel until our assignment comes through.  We planned to stay one month in many countries, renting apartments along the way.  Our first stop was Scotland.

But after 2 weeks in an apartment in Edinburgh we decided that this was too restrictive so we bought a used caravan (12.5 by 6.5 feet) and car and are traveling around Europe.  Plus, the experience of hauling 2 backpacks, two suitcases and two pieces of carry-on luggage was JUST HORRENDEOUS!!!!  NOTE TO SELF:  1 OF EVERYTHING IS QUITE ENOUGH!!!!  15 different scarf selections is just ridiculous!!!!

So far we have been to the UK, Spain Portugal, France and are going to Greece next week.  Will post blogs and photos of individual countries later.

July 9 we leave for our Peace Corps assignment in the PHILIPINES.  Yippee!  Skippee!