Two no shows, and one sick Triceratops...Could´ve been worse

Imagine being the first one to put up a retaining wall...One bad step and it will be your last. This place is nestled between towering granite mountains.  Amazing 

A tiny window between the fog, clouds, and rain. Behind is Wayna Picchu mountain

Ever seen a rainbow below you? 

They needed some help moving this boulder at Saqsaywaman, I´m so strong.  Only 20% of the site still remains and there are rocks weighing up to 200 ton.  Try moving that by hand!! (in Cuzco)

Well, what a week!  Machu Piccu was amazing and frusturating all in the same.  I finally make it to Aguas Calientes and am in love with the land surrounding it.  This town was created for tourist going to Machu Picchu, which gives it little historical value.  It is the closest ¨town¨ and if you stay here you can avoid the train full of day-trippers to Machu in the morning. Super toursity but it has lush green mountains towering around all sides of this tiny little town with an unbelivably strong and giant river tossing its way through.  This little town has nothing to offer in terms of traditional people but the enviornment that it is tucked away in is amazing!
The day I arrived was hot and sunny.  Rained that night but it was a warmish rain... rainforest rain, go figure.  The next day, bright and early, I got on the bus and made it to Machu by 7.  Cold, raining, foggy.  Went through and tried to go as fast as I could to get pics without people and later I would appreciate the overwhelming history of the place.  I got to Wayna Picchu and stood in line.  I was under the notion that the first 400 people were permitted to climb this amazing mountain with caves and historic sites.  They said no, the ticket you need as at the enterence.  Ok, maybe I still had a shot.  Went all the way back to the enterence and they said go back to Aguas Calientes to get the ticket.  Fine. It looked like a stupid mountain anyway.  Next, I tried Machu Picchu Mountain.  That sounded like it was included.  No.  Go back to Aguas Calientes.  I may have started to enjoy that there was soo much fog at this point cause people wouldn´t be able to see from the beautiful mountain tops anyways!  Bitter? Maybe.  It was still amazing though.  Parts of the history, the people, what it meant to be apart of that society and what it took to build it.  Not to mention the site wasn´t recorded as an acutal site for over 300 years.  Totally tucked away in the overgrown forest.  No Spanard was ever permittd to enter so when the Inca died out, so did the knowledge of M.P. Beautiful.
Nasty blisters formed so I decided to get an earlier train back rather than do more hiking the next day.  Turns out my ticket wasn´t valid.  I raised a stink and they got me a new one.  Awesome.  Coming home we hit nasty traffic.  Not too sure what the hold up was but it involved a tourist bus and blah blah.  We got out at the right time.  Took an hour to go less than a mile.  People after us were going to be stuck for HOURS. Eww.  The second hold up was an actual accident.  Bus hit a train.  Derailed it. Causualities. Drove by it and it kinda gave us all an appreciation for life.  Then, about a half hour later, trying to make up for lost time the taxi driver hit and killed a dog.  Weird trip. But, safe and sound :)
Just got to Arequipa this morning and not sure if I will make it to midnight.  I know, I´m such a party animal! I want to hike another mountain before going into the second deepest canyon of the world. I don´t think I can make it to the volcano around here, El Misti.  It is way higher than the last (5822 m vs 4760m) and as much as I want to prove I can do it, I´m not going to get crazy here :)  We will see.  Hope you are all doing well and had an amazing Christmas! Happy New Years friends and family!!

Feliz Navidad!!

La Catedral, took 100 years to build..few min from where I am staying :)

Ahhh, Huanchaco

Between Huanchaco and Trujillo, Chan Chan is the largest Pre-Colombian city in the Americas.  Built aroung 1300AD.  It is only partially preserved due to money and you can see crumbling adobe walls for miles that are apart of that same empire on either side of the highway.  The city´s 28 sq km

So, after a very hard decision not to spend the rest of life in Huanchaco, I up and left.  I didn´t even go any further North in fear that I would end up back at the beautiful beaches, home atmosphere, and musical surfers and finish out my days.  It will always be there but I can´t stop so early!  After a 33 hour bus ride with an extra 7 hours in between, I am here in Cusco.  Parents, Todd and Craig will all be very proud of me. I splurged.  I have such a cool room for xmas! I even get free coca tea to help with altitude sickness!  And, get ready: breakfast, towels, TV, AND a space heater!!!!  I know, just smiling thinking about it!
Otherwise, having a very pleasant time : ) A few little odd ball things here that are stereotypical of Peru I did not expect.  First, all the girls wear tight pants.  Not just some or a little bit tight but all women and spandex tight, no matter shape or size.  I was people watching and saw this one girl who wore sort of baggy pants.  I chuckled and figured she just shopped in the men's section.... then I noticed my own pants. Mmm.

Another interesting fact are line cutters here.  One of my pet peeves is when someone cuts in line.  I don´t think I have been in line without this happening, seriously.  The first time was by a woman small enough she should have been scared I would eat her children. She wasn´t, apparently.  I figured it was just that I looked foreign (no) or that this sort of thing is ok here (no) and now I don´t care.  I am going to be the annoying American who thinks that because they are in line the get a spot.  I´m reclaiming my right!  So far it has worked once : ) Also, dogs are everywhere.  But, they are all really, really nice.  I was thinking of adopting one for the road...still thinking.
And, I think that is enough rambling for today!  Patty, I hope you can see what I´m wearing : )

How is it possible to be bitten 18 times when there is snow around??

Ok, So I may have been a little naive thinking, oh, a trek, it is like hiking in the mountains or something, right?  Well, apparently climbing 1200 meters in a day, descending 500m then camping does not make me feel very well! I felt like I was dreaming and going to be sick and that pesky problem of being able to breathe kept getting in the way.  It was snowing at the top! Started to really rain when we were coming down. And I fell in a river on the way so my shoes were soaking.
BUT, I MADE IT! That´s right.  I made it to the top of 4750 meters, that´s 14,250 feet. I would take some frost bitten fingers ary day to say I made it :)  That smile in the picture was the only one I had for an hour before and an hour after.  The guide tried to sing to me and kept lurking right behind me.  I think he was nervous I would fall off the mountain :)  I didn´t.  It was much harder than I thought, kudos to you papa! Climbing mountains is hard! The last picture was of this amazing turquoise lake.  It was surreal the color of it.  Glacier water and minerals.  When the sun is shinning it glows!  Hope you are all doing well and keeping warm with the rain! Off to Trujillo tonight.  Night bus for 8-10 hours...saves on a room! 

Adventura Numero Uno

So the first is of Tortugas, near Casma.  Beautiful.  Second is my new home, Huraz.  It has been raining quite a bit and I think I need to invest in a hat and or scarf. I set myself a trek tomorrow for 4 days.  Should be beauiful :)  I want to do another one that will only be for 2 days but it is gnarley and advised I wait until afterwards just for acclimizing reasons.  We camp at 5k+ ... maybe.  Not sure if I need to spend the money for it or not yet.... we will see.
Yesterday I went to Chavin, which was AMAZING but I got the sweat scared out of me pretty quickly.  The tour group was something like 20 people and I ended up being the last one seeing all the sites.  I noticed that almost everyone was done looking and heading to the bus.  I had 1 last underground tunnel to explore so I went solo.  It was nice there no one was in my pictures, I wandered around, thought how you could get lost in the begining, started to head back and the lights flickered.  I think this is when my heart stoped. Until a few seconds later when the lights went out completly.  I immediatly started to sweat.  Good times.  I started to yell :)  ¡Necisito Ayuda! ¿Hola? I hollored for a while and felt my way towards a direction I though was right.  The tunel is made out of stone for a 5ft person. I hollored for a while more and started to hear people.  I went towards that direction and here I am! I was scared to say the least. They didn´t understand why I was in there if it was dark and I explained it wasn´t when I first started!  Im eating more carrots.

I{m in love, with Huraz! (still don{t know where the apostrophe key is)

Ok, so the trip has been mediocre since I left, not gonna lie.  But Huraz is so incredibly beautiful I can barley walk down the streets without looking A) like a tourist sneaking pictures in and B) with a smile plastered on my face because it is so beautiful!!!  This little town is surrounded by mountaintops covered in snow (one of them claiming to be the one in paramount pictures logo), small streets, beautiful parks, and awesome people.  I have not found one other traveler that speaks English but I have found the best Peruvian people!  (no Peruvian babies to take yet, sorry John). I spent a few hours in Casma the other day and a mother and daughter adopted me for the day.  We went to go see some archaeological sites and then the beach.  The mother paid for breakfast/lunch (11am) and I shared a few beers with the both of them.  Very sweet.  And yes beers that early but really, we had been up since 4am and, well we were all on vacation! Small taxi-mini bus here with a tiny young woman practically sitting on my lap for the last hour or so.  She was small. We tried to have a conversation and I am still terrible at speaking Spanish.  She was very sweet, we, well, everyone in the taxi asked questions and I answered as best I could in Spanish and then she told the rest of the taxi what I was trying to say.  I need a translator even in Spanish. Great.
Crazy turns with mist filled mountains, traditional Peruvian men and woman herding in the hills and I even saw a pig :) It rained last night and although I was glad that my insulin would be cold and Bonnie &Clyde weren{t with me, I was freezing!  Today I opted for pants and sweating.  Good times. Hope you are all doing well and have missed all of you... it gets a little lonely wandering solo! But, worth it :)

Crazy, everyone speaks spanish!

Well, I made it safe and sound.  I made it a day before messing up my camera charger otherwise I would give a picture or two!  Have only been to central downtown Lima and well, I think one day was good enough there :) Insane amounts of people and cars!  When stepping into the crosswalk there is a painted fact that states 4 out of 5 accidents are pedestrian deaths.  I believe it.  Look, then RUN!  Beautiful architecture around.  In the middle of a street mall there was this amazing old church with beautiful giant doors, looming statues and crazy buttresses.  It looked like a forgotten piece of history tucked inside a modern mall walk.   Crazy days.  Today maybe paragliding, maybe just watching others do it.  & maybe Ill try the bus system back...Maybe. Hope your all doing well!!!!

I figured out how to use the blog!

Turns out carrying 3 months worth of things is really heavy!  Go figure.  Also decided to use the rest of the hair die tonight and due to the fact everything else I own is now in storage, i will be heading down south with purple hands.  Not just a little purple, very purple.   :> 5am here I come!