Tag Archives: hike

Cordillera Blanca…Lakes, Glaciers, High Altitude Hikes.

August 19, 2018 – August 24, 2018

The Cordillera Blanca (White Mountain Range) of Peru, according to our guide book, is,

“the world’s highest tropical mountain range and encompasses some of South America’s highest mountains”

As we drove, snow and ice capped peaks began to appear behind the nearer mountains that lined the valleys. The steep valley slopes were terraced and green evidencing centuries of farming knowledge. We drove through rural town centres, filled with fruit and produce markets, traditionally dressed indigenous locals, and backpacking tourists readying themselves for long treks in the Andes of Peru.

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Monteverde

April 20 – 21, 2018

We drove through the hills of Costa Rica towards Monteverde. The area has a high population of Quakers.  Apparently a group of Quakers had been jailed in the US for refusing to fight in the Korean war.  When they were freed, they started looking for a new place to live. They considered Canada, among a number of other countries, and finally decided on Costa Rica, partly due to the fact that Costa Rica had abolished it’s own army in 1948. The Quakers began cultivating the land and started dairy farms, but also wisely put aside a section of land for conservation. That land, today, is the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve.

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