. . . LAND ROVER OVERLAND EXPEDITION

Guidebooks have been known to exaggerate, but the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu are among the most awe-inspiring sights in South America. Clinging to a vertiginous hillside surrounded by severe drops and towering green mountains and bathed in a near-constant stream of sunshine, it is surpassed by few other settings. Hundreds of fine stone constructions had to contend only with natural depredations - the invading Spanish never knew Machu Picchu existed, and they failed to learn of the site because even the last Incas had forgotten it! Similar ruins were discovered on the Inca trail, carefully constructed, inhabited, abandoned, and subsequently forgotten. Machu Picchu seems to have been the administrative center of this network of complexes, an entire region never preserved in Inca memory, despite the existence of royal oral historians whose duty was to remember it. Some believe the site's population was decimated by disease, others speculate about sieges by the Antis jungle tribe, or the death of the Inca Pachacuti who may have used it as an exclusive vacation estate. Whatever the explanation, the mystery only adds to the mystique that draws a thousand visitors a day...

#1 - Jungle running in Peru
     

   
#2 - Hiking & Mountains

#3 - Images of Rio
     
 

Three Months in London
15 January - 31 March, 2001 

School is winding down in Philadelphia and for the final semester I had the chance to do a three month exchange to London Business School. A bit of shopping and luck landed me in a posh apartment right in downtown London, beside Covent Garden market. So I find myself in the middle of this great town, walking around with my head craned up staring at the big monuments and rubbing my hands together at the prospect of sampling all the restaurants in the area - over 50 in a two block radius from my apartment! 

Not only do I have the chance to live in London, but class is only in session three days a week. Every week is a super long weekend. After a few weeks of this I'm completely spoiled. Thank goodness real work doesn't start till 2002. And of course, planning for the Around-the-World trip has kicked up a notch - taking up a good chunk of time. 

Journal 1:
Where in the World is McCauly Caulkin

Journal 2:
So this is Civilization