Things we liked, Things we Lost, Things we blew up!

So, if you a re planning on doing some travel, here are some things I learned about what to pack:

Things we liked:

• The MEC luggage with separate compartments built in was great for the kids. Kept them organized for the entire trip. AAAAMMMAZING. 
• The IKEA carry on luggage. Super useful. Stood up to our travels over the trip. The small detachable backpack was exactly the right size...will carry essentials, but won't let you over pack your daypack. 
• The disposible shower caps which we used as shoe covers for all of our shoes. Great idea which I stole from the Internet. 
• The clothespin earphone holders. Indespensibe. 
• Flashlights. So handy so many times. 
• Sketchers and proper hiking boots kept our feet happy for the entire trip!
• Having 2  paper copies of all of our reservations.  I had to use the back up copies once. Life saver. 
• Having all the internal Peru travel organized ahead of time (hotels, domestic flights, bus rides, trains)
• The 10-100 camera lens which I splurged on. It was great to not have to change camera lenses. The 10-100 did 95% of the job 100% well. A few times it would have been nice to have a longer zoom, but that was pretty much only in the rainforest. One camera lense with lots of range, good decision.
• the converter box for plug ins AND the surge protection. Both were excellent. Great to have 2.
• SD/lightening pin adapter for the iPad, made this blog possible. 
• Speaking of blogging, the app BlogPad Pro is GREAT. The only way (that I could find) to get photos from an iPad to a blog. 

Things we lost:

• Mateo's camera. no idea where it is. 
• the camera lens cover. Bought a made-do replacement one in Ica, but will need to replace. 
• 2 pairs of swim trunks, left in Puerto Maldonado
• 1 pair of sunglasses

Things we blew up

• The converter box. My fault. Mateo insisted I pack the broken box home wiht us so we can recycle it properly becasue otherwise it will be around forever. So it is coming home with us to Canada. 
• Flat iron. My fault. 
• 4 (?) iPad charger cords. I packed a ton of these, and we only have 2 left. I was goign to buy a third one in Lima, but the cost here was 200 sol (76$CDN). So, that will wait until we get home. 

Overall, not a bad loss list.

We are now back home safe in Canada. There are a few more blog posts left in us...a few videos to upload and embed AND some major spell checking that needs to be done...but we might take a day or two off before we get to the "greatest hits" posts.

So nice to be home!