Southern Peru: Arequipa - Nazca - Huacachina - Paracas - Lima

It's official--white water rafting > trekking for most of our crew! After knocking out a few hours of school last Sunday we headed 20 minutes outside of the city for an amazing paddle down the Chili River (which was chilly!) with Kanuwa Rafting. Easily one of the kids' favorite experiences in South America so far. The river valley was just gorgeous and the rafting was Class II-IV so it was had just enough challenge to make it exciting, but at the same time wasn't terrifying. The kids even jumped off a rock into the river for a little extra fun! This is an activity that each of us has done before all over the world (in Malaysia, Washington state, West Virginia, Maine...) and each time we go it's like we remember all over again that we love it. Keeping this in mind for our travel options next year...

We had so much fun on the Chili River! It's beautiful!

We did manage to get a good chunk of school and laundry (and eating) done while in Arequipa, so that was good, but after a week it was time to move on! Next stop--24 hours in Nazca! There was a ton of construction along the route (a theme that would be repeated several times this week) so we arrived there about three hours later than scheduled. I wasn't too crushed...we only had one activity planned so we rested up for our flight over the Nazca lines! We boarded our little six-passenger plane for a 30-minute flight around Nazca to view the images that have been there for over 500 years. Both the themes and the scale of these drawings is amazing. We saw the astronaut, spider, compass, triangles, monkey, hummingbird, condor, heron, hands, tree, lizard, and cat (and probably a few others I am forgetting) before flying over the aqueducts which are still used today by local farmers. The flight wasn't easy on the stomach (I had to close my eyes quite a few times and Katreina was in rough shape...didn't help that her first set of headphones had vomit on them!), but I'm glad we did it!

Worth the stomach-turning flight to see these spectacular images!

With the construction issues holding up the "big bus," Peru Hop offered a shuttle from Nazca to our next stop, the oasis of Huacachina. Our shuttle stopped at the viewing tower for the Nazca lines and a roadside fruit stand before losing its transmission somewhere on a detour backroad in the mountains. We all piled out while our driver used some bits of trash from the side of the road to fashion a usable wire to someone fix the transmission! About an hour later the bus filled with smoke and fumes from (maybe?) some other issue, but we all opened the windows and it went away so we crossed our fingers and willed the shuttle along the last hour and a half of highway. We arrived after dark and decided to pass on the hotel pool, but had a great meal with our travel mate, Nic, at her hostel before crashing. 

Our day in Huacachina was pretty nice! We had a wonderful breakfast on the roof of our hotel with amazing views of the dunes before heading off with the Peru Hop gang to Nietto, a pisco vineyard, for a little info on how they make pisco liquors and wines before a very generous tasting (which included some drinking games) of pisco, pisco wines, and pisco creams. And yes, our kids did sample a little. We had a surprisingly good lunch at the vineyard and met lots of interesting fellow travelers. We spent a little time just walking around the little oasis, surprised to learn it had been a tourist destination since the 1920's. You can rent little boats to paddle in the lake, walk the dunes, or just relax by the many pools. But finally, it was time for our next adventure--dune buggy rides and sand boarding! It was AWESOME! The buggy ride part was like being on a roller coaster that fishtailed a bunch and boarding down the dunes was a totally fun, new experience. And watching the sun go down over the dunes was beautiful. Totally recommend hitting this touristy are just for that experience. We barely dusted the sand off before boarding another bus for just a few hours to our next stop...

The oasis was definitely touristy, but peaceful. Didn't expect to be calling out "shot, shot, shot!" with my kids, but when in Peru at a Pisco vineyard...

The videos of the buggy ride are way better than the stills! (On IG)

We all managed to safely board down four slopes. The last one was super steep!

Paracas! We only spent one night here but had a fun-filled day in this little seaside town. First up was a boat ride (yay!) out to Las Islas Ballestas, a.k.a. "The Poor Man's Galapagos." On our way we passed "The Candelabra," another pre-Incan line drawing with many theories as to when/who/why it was made. The islands themselves were clearly active bird rookeries and right away we saw Humboldt penguins! There was also a ton of Peruvian boobies, Inca terns, and gulls, and it was easy to see how these islands were important to the local guano trade. We also saw a few seals, including a baby! We had a nice cruise back to town where we dropped the kids with some complete strangers for paragliding! They both wanted to try it so we took advantage of a break in the day to let them go and fly over a beach. They liked it! After a quick lunch we rejoined the Peru Hop gang for a tour around the Paracas Nature Reserve, which took us to stunning seascapes and through Martian-esque terrain. Then we headed out for drinks and dinner at a seaside restaurant with Nic (she really is an awesome travel companion!), watching the sunset and swapping stories about life until we had to board our final bus.

Las Islas Ballestas were stunning!

The kids got to try something the adults have never done.

And of course, Katreina found a kitten in town before we went on the tour of the reserve.

Our Peru Hop journey ended just before midnight in Lima. Overall, it was a pretty good experience. The busses (other than that one shuttle!) were cozy and the company includes some nice bonus tours and makes it pretty simple for even inexperienced travelers to make the trip. Our time in Lima was short (and I wasn't feeling awesome)--we walked around town a little but that was it. It seemed very "city."

A wee bit of Lima...and our cozy bus (which is great since we were on it forever).

Saturday night we boarded a super cozy bus with lie-flat seats for a trip that was scheduled for 20 hours--it took 25.5. Why? Traffic around Lima, extensive construction projects, hour-long stops for food, life. My four hours of "fluff" before our next bus was gone so we cancelled our next bus, informed our AirBnB that we would be a day late, got a room in Tacna for the night, cancelled and rebooked our rental car, got bus tickets for the next night, and enjoyed a great dinner and comfy beds at a nice, clean, $38/night hostel. We have "lost" a day in the Atacama desert and incurred some more expenses, but it's not all that bad. Tonight's bus is only supposed to take seven hours and we don't have the fancy bed seats, but I think it's going to be ok. I think...

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Time to see more of Peru! Puno y Arequipa...

The first stop on our bus adventure was Puno, a town on the coast of Lake Titicaca. As the highest navigable lake in the world at 3812m above sea level, we boaters just had to visit! We opted for a 2-day/1-night tour that first took us from Puno to the nearby Uros floating islands. These 120 islands were created from 2m chunks of land topped with 1m of dried reeds which are then tied together and anchored to nearby shallows. The residents refresh the reeds routinely and also use the reeds to craft boats (and now crafts for tourists). While the islands helped save the people from conquistadors 500 years ago, younger generations are heading to the mainland and cities and it's not likely that the community will last for too many more generations.

The Uros island of Waliki

Next we transited a man-made channel out to the "big" part of Lake Titicaca. The lake really is large and while you can see the distant mountains of Bolivia, the water seems to extend nearly to the horizon sometimes. Our next stop was Amantani Island where we would stay with a local family for the night. We stayed with Rosalia and Bautista (the community President!) and their two kids and while Quechua is their main language, they knew some Spanish. The island is agriculturally rich and we talked with the family about farming, fishing, family, food, houses, and local and global politics. The family eats mostly vegetarian (though some neighbors have sheep and chickens, and sometimes they fish) and Rosalia only goes to the mainland one or two times a year. After lunch we hiked up to the top of Pachatata (Father Earth) for sunset, had dinner with the family, and headed to a touristy-yet-fun fiesta in the town hall wearing traditional dress. 

Chatting with the family was the highlight, but the views and getting to try the traditional dress was awesome, too! The skirts were warm!

After a quick breakfast and goodbyes to the family we were off via boat to the island of Taquile. Here we hiked a trail with amazing views of the lake to arrive at the town square for a dancing demonstration and a lunch where we learned all about the island's farming history, use of natural materials for crafts and daily life, and about the social structure of the community. The island reminded me of some of the small islands in Greece! After that, we enjoyed the boat ride back to Puno. Love a good day on the water. Oh, and right near the pier Frank got to hold a black-chested buzzard-eagle! Our bird guy was happy! And after having a lazy afternoon walking around Puno and enjoying a long dinner, we ran into an old classmate of ours from Cusco. Always great to see Alex!

The island of Taquile.

A little bit of fun in Puno (especially for Frank!).

We boarded another overnight bus from Puno to get to Arequipa, "The White City." The goal for this stop was to do a little sightseeing, but also to get caught up on school. We arrived at the hotel at 0500 and while we couldn't check in for a few hours, they had a lovely garden we could sit in and plenty of hot tea. We had a great breakfast, got into the room, showered, and slept! Later in the afternoon, the adults went to an on-site cooking class where we learned how to make traditional Peruvian ceviche and chorrillana, a fried fish dish. It was so delicious! After a quick dinner for the kids we had to turn in as we needed to be up at 0300 the next day for...

A "hot" date night! (P.S. Don't cut rocoto peppers and then touch your eyes even if you have washed your hands about 10 times with soap. Just trust me on this one.)

...a trek to Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world! With a bird nerd and geology geeks in the family, we thought this trek with a night at an "oasis" on the canyon floor sounded great. While I was mentally prepared for the 1100m descent to the canyon floor, I was not prepared for the insane amount of up and down we did in intense sun and heat to get there! It was a long, hot day and I swear we ended up descending and ascending the entire canyon twice by the end of the trek, but it was nice to take a sunset swim in the pool at the oasis at the end of day one. We also had a lot of fun introducing our Austrian hiking buddies to the game, Farkle! The next day we were up early to hike up, up, up out of the canyon. Amazingly we managed to do it in less than 3 hours. While we did see condors at a roadside stop on the first day, we never did see them while we were in the canyon so that was a little crushing! But the views were great and there were some really interesting basalt formations. On the way back to Arequipa we stopped to relax in some hot springs, saw the areas volcanoes, and saw wild vicuña, but I'm not sure I'd do this one again. Maybe I'm just a little worn out!

A hot day of steep up and down ended in a rustic lodge with a pool at the base of the canyon.

We made it! Had another great group for a trek. We really enjoyed the post-trek relaxing.

We are at an AirBnB in Arequipa now and are only two blocks from the main plaza on a local side street known as "the music street" as it is lined by instrument shops--we love hearing all of the music! We are cleaning all of our stuff from the dusty trek, walking around the city, and eating all the yummy food! After school one day we visited the Museo Santuarios Andinos to see learn more about Incan traditions including child sacrifices and to see the mummy "Juanita," a well-preserved mummy of a girl of only 12-14 years old who was sacrificed atop a nearby mountain. You can't take photos there, but trust me when I say that the level of preservation achieved in cold, arid climates of the mummy and her belongings (and those of others found on the mountain) is amazing. We also hit up La Capitana, a popular picantería, to try some famous Arequipeño dishes (sadly they were out of rocoto relleno for the day)--so much good food!

Picantería goodness and getting some queso helado on the street (trust me, it's not cheese!).

Few more days here before we move on. Where do you think we will stop next?

~Jo, Nomadic Momma

Cusco: Week 8--Last Call!

We closed out our time in Cusco with a week full of celebrations--Halloween, All Saints' Day, and Day of the Dead--and final visits to favorite places we've found over the past two months. 

Monday we got back to volunteering and school, and we enjoyed a walk through the crowded Plaza de Armas to see Halloween costumes and browse a book market. Dinner was Trent's pick--Burgers and Beer (he's not wrong--it's good!).

Halloween on the Plaza de Armas

Tuesday was a holiday and the volunteering program was closed, but we did join the Amauta Spanish School students for a tour through Plaza de San Francisco, Mercado de San Pedro, and el Cemeterio de Huancaro with Professor Hans to learn about the Peruvian traditions of All Saints' Day and Day of the Dead in Peru. The markets were full of vendors selling lechon (pork), pan wawa, and flowers and offerings for graves. We enjoyed the markets so much during our morning visit that we went back in the afternoon to try some food. On the way we ran into the Caminos del Inca Road Rally as it ended in the Plaza de Armas--it was pretty cool! Later we hit Nick's Food Co (Katreina's pick) for Indian and Mexican food (trust me, it works) before heading back to the plaza to gawk at cars a little more. Then it was time for one last trivia night at Cerveceria del Valle Sagrado! We managed to tie for 2nd place this time and stayed for part of Alex Leran's set before heading home.

Learning all things about All Saints Day and Day of the Dead in Peru.

A fun night out! Korma Sutra vs. Tacomania at Nick's and rally cars in the Plaza.

Wednesday was a bit of an odd day...we did school, ran some errands, and headed to volunteering. But only two kids showed up! We ended up getting done early and hit the markets again for some street snacks. Cookies, salchicha on a stick, quail eggs, popcorn, and pineapple were all a hit! We walked and relaxed for a while before heading out to dinner and finding many places were closed. We ended up at Mullu for some Thai food (and a little Peruvian)--no complaints!

Street food throughout the week.

Thursday we finally visited Qorikancha, an amazing 15th century Inca temple that was once covered in gold, but was destroyed by the Spanish and replaced by a Catholic church. It was so easy to see the brilliance of Incan architecture and the cruelty of conquerors. There are so many similarities between the Incans and the Native Americans and the fates their cultures suffered at the hands of the colonizers. We admittedly passed quickly through the Spanish portions and lingered in the Inca portions. It was a VERY busy day at the aftercare program and afterwards we had to unwind with dinner and drinks at Jama.

Qorikancha. Cusco means "navel" in Quechua and is the center of the Incan empire.

Friday was a "routine" morning with the kiddos wrapping up school and the adults off to run some errands in the morning. We headed out to Wanchaq to a sports store to get a new soccer ball for the program we work at and afterwards took Katreina to an art cafe in San Blas (because who doesn't love art AND coffee?). We had our final lunch with our host mum (Lomo Saltado, of course!) and our final, emotional day (at least for me) at the Colibri Program. We helped with homework, went to the park for some great outdoor fun, then I headed to Amauta to pick up our huge load of donations to the program with an agree Uber driver, and all the volunteers and some kiddos helped to carry the load from the car to the program (you literally cannot drive to the door--you have to go down and up steps). Then there was a really nice farewell celebration for us, complete with kind words, songs, and dancing. And yep, I cried (no surprise to anyone that knew me in the military). We got so many hugs from the kids, the coordinators, and even the moms as they came to get their kids. But I felt like we were the ones that should be thanking all of them. We learned so much from this experience, and I don't just mean Spanish! We learned about Peruvian culture, the working class of Cusco, the government/social programs in Peru, how kids are kids no matter what country you're in, that cursive is alive and well in Peru, and that positivity, at any age, is contagious. 

One last day of work and fun!

As part of the program we gave a financial donation to the program which bought food and school supplies. It was so much, but the kiddos all helped carry it up the steps before sending us off!

Saturday we simply walked around, got some farewell gifts for our host mum, ate all the street food, packed, and had one final meal at Nero de la 375. And then, it was time to go! We took a taxi to the Peru Hop terminal and at 2100 boarded our first overnight bus of the trip. Destination--Puno. 

Goodbye, Blanca and Cusco!

This first bus was pretty nice and cozy! We have opted to use Peru Hop busses for our slow trip from Cusco to Lima for the next two weeks.

Jo, Nomadic Momma

It is time to vote! But how?

As we are just about a week away from Election Day in the United States, I figured it was worth talking about how we do that as full-time travelers. In short, we opt to vote by mail.

We are residents of Florida and request to vote by mail. Our county even offers an online tracker to show when your ballot was mailed, when they receive it back, and when it has been counted. We have used St. Brennan's Isle mail forwarding service since 2019. They offer different levels of service, but we opt to have the front of our mail scanned. From there, we can choose to have the contents scanned, have the item mailed, or shred the item. This honestly makes voting (and filing taxes) from anywhere fairly easy. 

As soon as we saw our ballots in our inbox, we requested a shipment to Peru (also helps to be "stable" in a location during the month of October to make this easier). We had time so we used USPS Priority International mail to send our ballots (SBI lets you choose your shipping method). This cost us $38.85 and took about two and a half weeks to arrive.

We retrieved our mail on October 25th, completed our votes, and sent them out via DHL Express on October 26th for $52.75 (DHL was having a 30% off sale so we scored there!). Our ballots were delivered to the county office in Florida on November 1st, with a whole week to spare. Now we will track to see when the county logs them as "received" and "counted."

Is it worth our monthly mail forwarding service fees and an additional $91.60 to vote? Absolutely. It's a right that many fought for and though we are away from our home country for long stretches at a time, it's still very important to us to vote in our local elections. We really hope that other full-time travelers make it a priority, too.

UPDATE: As of November 3rd, our votes have been counted! Love that we can track this info so easily through our county.

~Jo, Nomadic Momma 

Cusco: Week 7--City fun and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

After last week's challenging Salkantay Trek we were super impressed that the kids jumped right into school to stay "on track" as we only had five days before we set off on the Inca Trail. We all nursed our wounds, dealt with a cold that struck the entire family, and had a little fun in the city! We visited the Cusco Planetarium Monday night and got to see Saturn, Jupiter, and a few star clusters of the Milky Way in the telescopes, plus we learned about Southern Hemisphere constellations, the Inca's use of astronomy in daily life, and the dark constellations of the Milky Way that were used by the Incas. It was a really cool night! We also hit trivia night at the Sacred Valley Taproom for another solid 3rd place finish! 

The real fun began Thursday morning at 0500 as we loaded into a van with another couple and our guide, JD, and headed for KM82 outside of Ollantaytambo--the start of the classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. After meeting up with our team of 11(!!) porters and the chef, we headed to check in. The Inca Trail is tightly controlled with a limited amount of people per day and can only be done with a guide, so everyone checks in at a ranger station with passports and heads through a visitor center to begin. And then, we were off!

¡Vamos!

Day 1: Cusco - KM82 - Llaqtapata - Wayllabamba Campsite. 12km hiked; 250m ascended.

An "easy" day! We were on the Inca Trail by 0830 and had a pretty easy first few hours of hiking. It was just an easy trail along the river and past many homes where ladies were selling drinks and snacks. About three hours in we passed by the impressive site of Llaqtapata before stopping for lunch. It was such a lazy day that we all napped on the grass for a bit after lunch before starting out for another little bit of hiking. We were at our campsite for the night by 1530 and had a lazy afternoon and evening getting to know our traveling companions, an awesome couple from northern Cali who serve the public as a nurse and a firefighter (and they were on their honeymoon!). We all got along really well from the start and we once again felt fortunate that we had such a great group to trek with.

Llaqtapata archaeological site and a nice, relaxing hike to our peaceful campsite.

Day 2: Wayllabamba - Pass Warmiwañuscca (Dead Woman's Pass, 4200m) - Pacaymayo Campsite. 9km hiked; 1200m ascended; 600m descended. One child questioning her love of family. Knees firmly reminding the old lady that she is, in fact, old.

After a 0500 wakeup we set out on the "challenging" day of the trek as we ascended to Dead Woman's Pass. Very early on I decided that hiking with someone who is intimately familiar with the fireman carry may be a good thing. We took it slow and took a lot of breaks. The weather was clear and sunny as we wove our way around the mountain and through some wooded areas. The altitude wasn't an issue, but the steep climb was definitely a challenge and Katreina was not a fan. But we made it! I'd also like to mention here that the Inca Trail, unlike the Salkantay, has A LOT of stairs on it. Short stairs, tall stairs, uneven stairs, narrow stairs, wide stairs, slippery stairs, stairs, stairs, STAIRS! My hell began about two minutes after the summit as we began our descent down an unending stretch of stairs. We somehow managed to make the journey down to the campsite in less than an hour and a half. We enjoyed an amazing lunch at our campsite with spectacular views, then I consumed a fistful of ibuprofen, took a cold shower, and we once again napped (or at least relaxed on our sleeping mats with a great view of the valley). Trent especially loved the napping action on this trek. The night sky was amazing at this camp and we talked, snacked, and ate with our group for a few hours before turning in.

Thankful for good weather and gorgeous views as we ascended to the highest point on the trek. It was a pretty difficult climb, but...

...we made it to Pass Warmiwañuscca (Dead Woman's Pass)! After a little break at the summit we began the steep descent to our campsite.

I loved this campsite. The views of the valley were just amazing.  While we were there, we got to chat with our team of porters (the youngest was 18!).

Day 3: Pacamayo - Runkuraqay - 2nd Pass (3900m) - Sayacmarca - Puyupatamarca - Intipata - Wiñaywayna. 15km hiked; 360m ascended; 1310m descended. Knees? What knees? 

Hands down, this was the best day of hiking of any of our treks in Peru so far (at least for Frank and I). Why? Well, it wasn't because it was easy or short, that's for sure. But the combo of great weather, amazing Inca sites, stunning scenery, mystical jungles, and great companions made it an epic day! We hiked from just after sunrise to just before sunset and despite the insane pain in my knees I couldn't complain. It was just that good. Today was the day to learn about the different shapes and purposes of the Inca sites, how they were constructed, and how they all were discovered. Sayacmarca stuck out as an amazing site, as did Wiñaywayna. The Inca's understanding of construction, farming, and the seasons, as well as their spiritual beliefs and obvious ability to do really physically hard work are on full display in all of their sites. It's just awe-inspiring. I won't even attempt to convey all that we learned from our guide, JD, here, but I think we all learned a lot and have a better understanding of the people of Peru and their heritage after this trip. Today was also a fun day as the chef made Fiona and Elijah a cake to celebrate their honeymoon (which is incredible considering he had two propane burners and maybe two hours to work with) and after dinner we celebrated our team of porters and the chef with a "tipping" ceremony. They all worked so hard so that this trek was comfortable and relaxing for us and really appreciated them! But then it was a short night of sleep...

We hiked up to Runkuraqay, then through the clouds to Sayacmarca where we learned about the Inca's ritual sacrifices that were carried out on the surrounding mountain peaks.

We continued through dense jungles to our lunch (and llama) stop before continuing to climb to Puyupatamarca. 

Trent tried out the porter's pack before we began our descent to our campsite. Along the way we stopped at the impressive farming terraces of Intipata.

Our campsite was adjacent to the Wiñaywayna site and we made a quick visit before sunset. The people who farmed Intipata lived here and used the area as an agricultural laboratory. Wiñaywayna means "Forever Young."

Day 4: Wiñaywayna - Intipunku - Machu Picchu - Aguas Calientes - Ollantaytambo - Cusco. 5km hiked; 250+m descended. Popping ibuprofen like candy.

After a 0330 wakeup and a quick breakfast, our porters were off to catch a train and we were seated at the checkpoint to begin the final two-hour hike to Machu Picchu. After checking in at the control station, we hiked to Intipunku, or the Sun Gate. We kept up a brisk pace as weather at Intipunku is really variable--the more time you have there, the better chance you have of seeing Machu Picchu from this magical viewpoint. Only a few parts (including a "Gringo Killer" that we actually enjoyed clambering up) were challenging and we made it up there in just over 45 minutes. We stayed there for about an hour and a half, having a snack and catching glimpses of the site here and there as the clouds came and went...it really does add to the mystery of the site! Then we decided to head on down the path to Machu Picchu! With this path we were able to get the "classic" view of the site that we didn't get on our last visit. It was very cool and really brought the trek to an end. The kids crushed it again! After taking photos from the viewpoint, we descended to the lower part of the city for a tour with JD. We covered some of the same areas as we did on our last visit, but this time had better questions to ask. It was super crowded, but we still got to enjoy it and this time we got to visit the Condor Temple which was really awesome. We closed out the day with a bus ride down the mountain, celebratory drinks with our group in Aguas Calientes, a very scenic train ride to Ollantaytambo, and a van ride back to our home in Cusco. 

Up and down many steps to arrive at the Sun Gate!

It wasn't very sunny at Intipunku (the Sun Gate), but we managed to catch glimpses of Machu Picchu as the clouds swirled through (but not easy to photograph!).

We did it! And we got a very different view of Machu Picchu from our previous visit. The site is seriously impressive.

We focused more on the details of the architecture on this visit, and got to visit the  Condor Temple, which features natural stones that look like the sacred condor.

Final thoughts: Which was better, the Salkantay or the Inca Trail? Well, that's really hard to say. They were just different. I liked the remoteness of the first 2.5 days of the Salkantay, but really loved the Inca site/jungle combo of the second half of the Inca Trail. Both boasted a ton of amazing scenery and flora, and both were challenging, and once again we had fabulous travel companions. We were treated to two different experiences at Machu Picchu as well--one was a cloudy, uncrowded, early morning while the other was an epic walk in under mid-morning blazing sun with large crowds. I'd take bits and pieces of each experience to make my true favorite, so just like when picking a favorite child, I just can't! 

I would definitely recommend our tour provider, Inca Trail Machu, and our fabulous guide, JD. Communication was great through the booking process, our inbrief was personal and convenient (at our home), our accommodations along the trail were cozy, the food was amazing (and very plentiful!), the small group was just wonderful (and looked less chaotic than the 15-pax groups we saw on the trail), and all of the transportation went really smoothly. It was another amazing, unforgettable experience for our family! 

~Jo, Nomadic Momma and (still) Denier of Major Knee Issues