"YOU SAID SEIS!"  exclaimed Linda Frender as the man from the bus company woke us up at 5:30 a.m. and told us that we had to get off the bus.  We had just endured a long night bus ride that arrived in Puno, Peru at 3:00 a.m.  We were told that we could stay on the bus until 6:00 a.m. to rest and avoid going out into the night at such an early hour.  Linda tried to fight for our extra half of an hour of sleep.  However, she did not win this fight. 

 
Linda and Mike enjoy the Inca ruins on Amantani Island.

Linda and Mike Frender met on December 30, 1995 and were just married in the Spring of this year.  We guess that they could not decide on a location for their honeymoon, so they decided to just travel the whole world.  They have been traveling now for almost five months as we write this segment about them.  They know all of the tricks and can play all of the games with everyone from the corrupt boarder guards to the relentless beggars on the street.  When asked what was their favorite thing about traveling, they responded together:   the New Adventures that they experience everyday.  They have also enjoy learning about the various cultures, and meeting the people (especially the children) of all of the countries that they have traveled thus far.  Linda stops and talks to every child that she passes on the streets.  Their faces light up as the Gringa asks them about school and family.  

Here is a general itinerary of the countries that this energetic couple have visited:

Mexico  Guatemala  Belize  Honduras  Nicaragua   Costa Rica   Panama   Ecuador  Peru  Bolivia.

They still plan on traveling to Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia.  They will be completing their journey in September or October of 2000, so basically they still have a year to go.

Mike's favorite destination on their trip has been Bocas del Torro, Panama.  He was very hip to the Caribbean culture and the islands.  He enjoyed spending time on the isolated beaches and swimming and snorkeling in the Caribbean sea.   He told us about the time that he and Linda were snorkeling and saw a Nurse Shark.  They were startled at first.  In fact so much so that Linda immediately covered her hand because she had blood on it from an earlier cut on a coral reef.  

Linda's favorite destination has been Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.  They referred to this spot as a power vortex.  Linda really enjoyed their beautiful hike and the volcano.  Linda's second favorite experience was the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.  

We met Mike and Linda just before leaving for our four day hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.  When we learned that they too had taken a year or so off of work to see the world, we were eager to hear more.  Luckily, we were in the same group on the trail, so we got to hang out and talk for four days.   I guess that was not enough because we ended up spending the next ten days with them, first in Cusco and then traveling on to Southern Peru and Bolivia.  We had a great time with them as we traveled through the waters of Lake Titicaca and stayed in the adobe homes of the natives of Amantani Island.  We laughed with them in Copacabana, Peru when we finally returned from our eight and one half hour hike.  We dined with them in La Paz, Peru and enjoyed every minute of our most expensive meal of the trip (less than $10 U.S. dollars).  They did most of the work as we traveled together.  They found the hostels and the restaurants.  They looked for the cultural attractions and activities, such as museums, hikes, movies and theaters.  We really learned a lot from them.  We are very glad that we had the opportunity to travel with the Frenders.  We know that they will be "Frends" for life. 

Mike hangs on to the boat as it makes its way through the rough waters of lake Titicaca.

Rich, Mike and Linda take a lunch break on the Inca Trail.

Kelly, Mike and Linda not letting on that they are pretty tired on that second day of climbing up the Inca Trail.

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