How Many Countries?

(I think I counted 50!)

Several days ago my friend Sondy polled Facebook friends on the number of states in the USA they had lived in and been to. (According to the survey she posted, the average number of states is only EIGHT! Okay . . . if true, that number surprises me—a lot smaller than I would have surmised.) At the end of her personal listing of states, she commented that a similar survey of countries lived in and visited ought to be submitted. Certainly such a survey could also provide a rather fascinating glimpse of people’s lives and experiences. The idea has wandered my mind for a couple of days now, and what easier time than during a teacher’s summer to set one up.

Well, . . . I have learned that merely setting up a list of the current countries in the world carries its own collection of issues. Nevertheless, I persevered: I just established myself as the final judge of whether or not a country appearing on any of the three lists I examined on the Internet could keep its position on mine, the one below. All member countries of the UN show up, but I have included a few others that remain in the realm of dispute: (a) disparate views on territory and/or autonomy (b) history and political ideology still precluding the acceptance of said entity as an independent nation. These countries I have marked with an asterisk.

Then, to keep the polling structure of this survey consistent with the one about states in the USA I completed on Facebook, I have used the same instructions: Place an X by any country visited, an O by a country lived in. So, the below list shows not only the countries of the world—according to Evelyn— but also my responses to the survey.

Countries of the World

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia – X
Austria – X
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium – X
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia – X
Cameroon
Canada – X
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China – X
Colombia
Comoros
Congo, Democratic Republic of the (Kinshasa)
Congo, Republic of (Brazzaville)
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Cote D’ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic – X
Denmark – X
Djibouti
Dominica Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt – X
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France – O
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany – O
Ghana
Greece – X
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
*Holy See (Vatican) – X
Honduras
Hungary – X
Iceland
India – X
Indonesia – X
Iran
Iraq
Ireland – X
Israel – X
Italy – X
Jamaica
Japan – O
Jordan – X
Kazakhstan
Kenya – X
Kiribati
Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of (North)
Korea, Republic of(South) – X
*Republic of Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos – X
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein – X
Lithuania
Luxembourg – X
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia – X
Maldives – X
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico – X
Micronesia, Federal States of
Moldova, Republic of
Monaco – X
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco – X
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands – X
New Zealand – X
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
*Palestinian National Authority – X
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru – X
Philippines
Poland – X
Portugal – X
Qatar – X
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore – X
Slovakia – X
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
Spain – X
Sri Lanka – X
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden – X
Switzerland – X
Syria
*Taiwan (Republic of China)
Tajikistan
Tanzania – X
Thailand – O
Tibet
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey – X
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates – X
United Kingdom – X
United States of America – O
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Three Weeks in Peru: an Overview in Photographs

On Peru's airline, LAN, Carolee and I flew from LAX to Lima. Beth flew in to Lima from Miami on American. We met at the hotel Leon de Oro in the Miraflores distsrict of Lima, the designated meeting place for our Intrepid tour group. After a meet and greet--our group of twelve + one tourguide ranged in age from thirteen to seventy, three of us from the USA, two from New Zealand, seven from Australia, and tourguide Claire from England--and then an introductory briefing, our tour officially began Sunday afternoon, June 21, in Miraflores' main square, La Plaza de Armas.


Miraflores (Lima)

From Lima, the next morning we drove to Paracas and took a boat to the Ballestas Islands, "the poor man's Gallapogas."

That afternoon we rode dune buggies and sandboarded on towering sand dunes near the oasis of Huacachina.

From the sand dunes we headed to Nazca for the night.

Then, the next morning we viewed the Nazca Lines--one of the world's most mysterious archaeological sites--by air. (The plane I rode in held a pilot and five passengers.) This one is one of my favorites, the monkey.

And here is the hummingbird:

The following day we continue our drive down Peru's desert coastline to Puerto Inka. Here are Darci and Beth relaxing in hammocks situated above the beach.

A gorgeous beach but one cold ocean (Humboldt Current); plus, June is winter in the southern hemishpere.





The following day we continued the journey to our next destination, Arequipa; as cities go, this one tied with Iquitos as a favorite for me.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina (a nunnery, actually) in Arequip--absolutely stunning use of line, shape, color, and landscaping.




From Arequipa we turned inland toward the Andes.

Here is our first view of Lake Titticaca at the archaeological site of Sillustani just outside of Puno.


One of the floating island villages--built on reeds--in Lake Titticaca.


Taquile Island in Lake Titticaca, an island we visited where knitting is strictly a male domain and women do the spinning.




Next, Cusco:







Machu Picchu








The Sacred Valley: first Ollantaytambo, a living Inca village. Ancient ruins design two surrounding mountainsides.

The Sacred Valley: Pisac--an important farming area for the Incas. These ruins stand above the current village of Pisac down in the river valley.

A weaving village we visited in the high country above the Sacred Valley.

The Intrepid tour ended back in Lima, Sunday, July 5. That evening Carolee and I set out on our own for an Amazon adventure when we flew to Iquitos--an Amazon River town arrived at only by boat or air. The next morning we boarded a boat and then we spent four days at a lodge further down river in the Amazon jungle.

The Amazon is way muddy, astonishingly wide, and achingly beautiful.

For our last two days in Peru we returned in Iquitos.




Here's the market in Belen, a floating village now encompassed by Iquitos: