The Inca Trail

So, I did it. No donkeys! For those of you who don´t even know what Im talking about basically I went on a 4 day hike which ends up at the lost Incan city of Macchu Piccu and the hike is special because the trail was created and travelled upon by the ancient Incas. There were lots of Inca sights along the way to look at and of course, lots of scenery. They said we went through 8 different micro-environments during the hike. I feel I really did pick the best tour company to go with, Llama Path, especially hearing stories from other people (´My guide didnt even have a flashlight, he didnt tell us we needed to bring water, he said we could buy it along the way AND he forgot to give us our entrance tickets to Macchu Piccu´) I however ´roughed it´in the lap of luxury. There were 9 of us and we had 2 guides, 2 cook and 9 porters to carry all of the cooking equipment, food, tents, tables.
When we first got picked up I saw 4 couples, and me which was awesome. Talk about being the 9th wheel, but actually there was only one couple (married from Norway) and everyone else was just friends. I mostly hung out with Carlos and Rhianon (Ree-anneon) who were from Washington DC. They were both really nice and we had lots to talk about. Sometimes they would bicker and Id hang out with them individually cuz they were getting on eachothers nerves. THEN there were 4 friends (2 girsl 2 guys) who I nicknamed TEAM AMERICA (yes, like the movie). They were these 4 really tall ´trekkers´who all carried these huge packs and hike all the time and didnt even use walking sticks. I found the two girls of that group really hard to like, they were just really antisocial. Infact, TEAM AMERICA played cards in their tent more often than they hung out with the rest of us, which was fine.
The food was amazing. We would have breakfast, Tea, Lunch, Tea and then dinner. And these were all three course meals. But we were always hungrgy from the hike. Out of all the non team america´s I was the only one who DIDn´t hire a proter to carry my bag (thanks to some BAD advice, you know who you are) SO I had a really hard time the first day carrying my big bag (which wasnt even full, or very heavy) up and down stairs and being told that the first day is the easiest. I was ready to fake an injury so I didnt have to finish the hike. But on day two (the hardest day) Carlos carried my sleeping bag (which was surpisingly my heaviest item) and actually he carried it on day three as well which SAVED me. Our guides were really great as well, really passionate about the trail and maintaining it and really into the history and spirituality of the place. So the hike:

DAY ONE
We got picked up at like 430 AM and got bussed to the start of the trail. The first day is called the Inca Flat and we came to realize that comparitively to the rest of the trail it was flat but, not actually flat. We saw some Inca sights and took breaks quite regularly. By the time lunch rolled around I was dying of the weight on my back, plus the sun was blasting. Usually most groups stop and camp where we had lunch, but we walked 2 hours more uphill in order to make dreaded day 2 a bit easier.

DAY TWO
Was definatley the hardest day. We basically climbed up 900 meters to the high altitude of 4200 meters, only to directly climb down 700 meters on stone steps. Then we had lunsh and went up again, only to come down again. SO we basically did an ´N´ up and down two mountains. And let me say, going up was hard but so was going down, especially on the knees. And these Inca steps were definatley not even. I was confused because the Incas were short but some of these steps were at my stomach, just going up or down one step was really difficult. And because of the altitude, I felt so out of shape. Doing anything made you breathless sometimes it was rediculous. Walking from my tent to the bathroom I would be huffing and puffing, but so was everyone else so...

DAY THREE
Was the easiest day. Because we had gone farther than most groups on day one and two, on day three we only hiked for 4 hours and then got to chill in the afternoon. We went to a nearby Inca site and went for a drink in the bar located at the campsite. It was quite nice.

DAY FOUR
Woke up at 3 AM so that we could start hiking by 430. We wanted to be the first in line at the gate to get onto the final part of the trail. SO we did a 5 minute walk from the campsite just to wait at the gate for an hour. But we were first. Walked for another hour and arrived at the Sun Gate, which is where you get your first glimpse of Macchu Piccu. IT was kinda surreal being there because you work so hard to get there, and then there it is...just like the pictures. We took an hour long tour of it and were given free time to explore. Then we headed to th nearby town of Aguas Calientes (Hot water) and went to the hot springs, which was so nice after 4 days of hiking. Had lunch with everyone and then caught the train back into Cusco. Evryone came back to gether except (you guessed it) the people I bonded with the most. Carlos and Rhianon satyed in Aguas Calientes for one more night. The rest of us went out for dinner at 930 (after showers of course) to this place that the Norweigan couple went to Ç(and was reccomended in Lonely Planet) called the Witches Garden. It was pricey, but so worht it. I had (as if I hadn´t eaten enough over the past 4 days) fresh strawberry-mago juice, some wine, an Alpaca steak covered in Andean cheese and some sort of sauce, sweet mashed potatoes and stir fyied veggies. Then we all tried this dessert called the Black Hole (also reccomended in LP) and it was so amazing. Went back to my hostel around midnight and packed because I had a bus to Puno this morning.

Arrived in Puno around 4 today and booked my tour for tommorow.Ill be seeing and staying on the floating islands, back on Sunday, leaving for Bolivia on monday. So, yeah.

Change of Plans

So today I went horse-backriding. But wait, Lauren, weren´t you supposed to go water rafting today? Why yes friends, yes I was but you´ve forgotten 2 important things
1. Im inPeru
2. Im dealing with Peruvians

So I wake up nice and early today and Im all ready formy 830 pick up.Standing around, waiting. Go sit in the office ofthe hostel. Chat with the very nice owner whose Irish and a little hard to understand sometimes. Wait some more. We call the tour place and they say ´5-10 minutes´. Half an hour goes by...we fill time by looking up dirty phrases in the Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook, which has phrases for everything let me tell you. We flip to the ´sex´portion of the book which I must admit was a bit immature/quite funny. My favourite phrase was ´Thats okay, Ill just finish myself off´. Im not lying people, if your in a Spanish speaking country and you need to say that to someone, Lonely Planet has got your back!
ANyways, now its 1015 and the guy from the tour agency walks into the office and apologises, but therewill be no rafting today. His reason? We couldnt tell, it was in very muddled English, although the rest of his english was quite good, funny that! So he offers me horse back riding to all of the ruins around Cusco which sounded quite nice, and it was really coldfor rafting anyways so I agree.

So we walk to themain square and he passes me off to some woman, who then passes me off to a different woman and her little child. Then we wait around in the square for quite awhile ´waitingfora cab´although there weretonnes of cabsdriving by. Finally get a cab, drive up to Sacsaywaman and she says, go explore for 30 minutes and then meet me back here.
30 minutes later she is nowhere to be found. Another random guys comes up to me and asks if I was the one for horses? Well yes I was, so we walk to his ranch like 5 minutes awayand finally im on a horse.

The actual riding was kind of awkwards because
A. I havent been on a horse in 6 years
B. There saddles and harnesses arent Western, Albertan type saddles and harnesses
andC. Im not actually wearing riding shoes so they keep slipping through the foot hold.

But all in all, I got back in the swing of things pretty quickly because at one time (6 years ago)I was quite decent (right Nadia?) and because it was just me and this guiide, I got to set the pace and didnt have to worry about anyone else. So we ran the horses alot. Went to 5 different ruin sites and it was supposed to take 3 hours, but since we ran somuch, we did itin 2. We passed tonnes of other big groups who were just walking the horses, which I could imagine would have been quite boring. So all in all it was good I didnt go rafting anyways.

I was going to walk back into town, but then it started pouring so I shared a cab with this other tourist, from Slovenia. Anytime IsayIm from Canada, Ive noticed that people are really proud of themselves for knowing the capital. Peruvians and foreigners alike. Heres a typical conversation.

THEM: ¨So, what part of the States are you from?´ (Do they not see my big Canada flag?)
ME: Actually Im from Canada
THEM: Oh Canada, capital Ottawa!

Unless they are from the States and then theconversation ismore like this

THEM: You must be from Canada
ME: Why do you say that?
THEM: The way you say out and about, its funny

Anyways, I kinda though I was being silly booking the Inca Trail back in January. But now I just smile as all these other tourists arrive here and are like, I want to go to Macchu Piccu. Well, the Inca Trail is booked solid until September, The train isbooked as well. So you can do other, longer, harder treks if you would like. No they would not like, but what can they do, they´re screwed.So I leave tommorow, back on Thursday and then moving on to Puno on Friday. In Puno I will see a big boat and some floating islands. Ive heard its nice. Then Im off to Bolivia. It´s actually is easy to get there by bus, so no worries that my plane ticket got cancelled. Andits much cheaper so, yay bus! Bye!

Cusco

So being in Cusco right now is crazy because of the festival. Everyday theres parades going on in the street and people in crazycostumes and the streets are packed and people are selling food , I want to say its like the fringe, but 10 times bigger. When I first got here I was still recovering so that ment a lot of staying in the Hostel and watching TV, which was lame. My hostel is freezing because its basically a courtyard, so you have to go outside to reach all the different rooms. And at such a high altitude, its not very warm outside.

I finally went to explore Cusco but Ive decided that Im all ´museumed´out. It seems that they all have the same stuff. So from now on Im only going to ones that have a different subject matter than ´the history of peru´. I finally ate after 3 days of not and I ordered ravioli, cuz the picture looked good, but we´re in Peru, so their Italian is not the best and I couldnt eat it all anyways cuz my stomach shrunk. So basically Im at one meal a day right now.
Yesturday I went on a tour of ´The Sacred Valley´ which is basically three different towns which have old Inca cities by them. The first two were huge, and so pretty, but of course, I was really cold. I got some nice pictures though. Then we had this buffet for lunchwhich was really gross I must say. They had some odd choices for food and by ´buffet´I mean they just hand you a plate with everything on it, so i picked through that. By the time we reached the last sight it was really dark and you could barely see anything, but the only thing there was to see was a church. I wondered outloud why we even bothered coming here at all, quite a few people agreed with me.

Once I got home there was this massive partyt on the streets. Everyone was drinking and eating, there were bands and dancers and firecrackers. It was crazy. Of course in all of this madness I had to find a bank, withdraw 300 USD, find my tour agency and pay them for the rest of the Inca trail It wasnt easy let me tell you, and walking around withall that money freaked me out, but I made it. Im getting picked up on Monday at 430 AM! YES!

Today there was the actual closing of the Festival called INTI RAYMI. Everyone goes up to one of the ruins just outside of town called Sacsaywaman (Not to be confused with Sexy Womanas my guide warned) and they re-enacct this ancient Solstice ritual. But firt I went to the main square and watched them there. They had the band enter the square, and then the warriors, and then the dancers, and then the GOLDEN INCA, which is really just a man dressed up as an Incan King. There was lots of music and dancing and then some speeches. It was so crowded and a little hard to see (being so TALL and all) but it lasted about an hour. And then the crowd followed them all up to Sacsaywaman. I had lunch first cuz I didnt really feel like going up and waiting for two hours for the Inti Raymi to start. Walked up a bit later and I had been warned that I wouldnt actually see any of the ritual because there would be so many people there. But I managed to find a little place to watch from (although my view was quite limited) The walk up was a bit brutal, lots of stairs and basically straight up for 45 minutes, but there were lots of vendors along they way. Ive learned not to let them catch you looking at their wares, otherwise they will just not leave you alone! I am now the proud owner of a friendship bracelet and this weird wooden pear with the history of the Incas carved into it. Lucky Me! Theres also so much cultural ponography here. Like women will walk up to you with their babies in their arms in Traditional Costumes and say ´take my picture for money?´ ITs horrible.

Anyways, the ritual was kinda slow and there was lots of talking which (of course) I didnt understand so...After an hour I kinda lost interest and then it started to rain so I took that as a sign that it was time to leave. Tommorow Im going on a full day Rafting trip. It should be harder than the one in Arequipa so Im excited, espeially now that im such a ´seasoned´rafter:). Anyways, on MOnday I leave for the Inca Trail as I said before and I´ll bbe gone for 4 days, and of course, out of touch. Ill post again when I get back. Wish me Luck!

Colca Canyon

3 things I got made fun of on a regular basis at the Canyon:
1. Having a big Canada flag on my backpack (the Americans especially found this funny, as did other Canadians, I told them my mom made me)
2. Keeping my bag locked while we were in the middle of nowhere (like who was going to steal my stuff? )
3. Yet another tour guide having a crush on me!

Anyways, I really liked everyone in the group which is unusual, but great. There were two couples; one from eastern Canada, one from Russia/Spain. An English girl, a South African guy, and my favourite Melissa from Colorado. OUr guides name was Nestor and while we were walking he would give us lots of information about local plants and their medicinal uses. So the first day we hiked down into the canyon and once we reachd the bottom we had to go about halfway back up on the otherside to get to our camp for the night. It was getting late and dark and while we were crossing a river and walking on the edge of cliffs in complete darkness with nothing but flashlights I mentioned that this was getting a little sketchy. But we reached the camp safely and it was so cute, like being at summer camp. The people in these little villages all still dress in tradtional Peruvian attire and they are self sufficient. Which we thought was cool until we saw all the dead birds hanging upside down at breakfast. We slept in a log cabin and I (horror) slept in the same bed as Melissa cuz we were so cold, Tom (the SOuth African) called us Gay on many occasions!

The next morning we had pancakes for breakfast and then had an easy hike back down into the canyon to an oasis (thats 2 oasis´Ive been to now) we went swimmin and suntanning and then instantly I felt really sick. Like nautious sick and the smell of food at lunch only made it worse. We had a three hour hike up the canyon, at the two hour mark I had barley made it halfway, so my guide ran a got a donkey for me to ride up the rest of the way which was embarrasing/hurt my pride/ so helpful. The donkey was a bit scary though, cuz it would go right to the edge before turning to go the othr way and Its so stubbor and it kept getting whipped to keep going and I felt like, maybe if he didnt have this stupid girl on him he would have a much easier time. ANyways, made it to the top, finally. Once we got to the hostel for the night I just went straight to bed. Slept from 6pm-6am with a fever and everything.

Couldnt eat the next day either, and we were mostly on the bus so I slept even more. We stopped at the Condor place, but barely saw any. APparently its not bird season. Then we went to the hot springs, but I just sat and had a juice since i still felt crappy. Arrived back in Arequipa at my hostel at 445 and the girl there told me my bus had changed and instead of leaving at 10, its leaving at 6. So I do a rush job packing and hurry to the bus station only to sit on the bus for 2 hours. We didnt leave until 8! Apparently we were waiting for a connecting bus. But this bus was sweet, it was like being on an airplane, but with more legroom. They even gave you dinner, and we played bingo. The Peruvian boy sitting beside me helped me play. Then a stupid Steven Segal movie was on called ´Today You Die´I tried to watch it but it was SO BAD I just decided to go to sleep.

So now Im in CUsco and just by coincidence theres a major festival going on for the next 4 days. So I watched a parade in the main square, which was kinda fun!

Downtown Arequipa

A few fun facts about Peru:
1. Black slaves were used in Peru up until the 1800´s, can you beleive that? Even in SA?
2. Arequipa was named afted the man who founded it, Harry Keeper, but since the locals couldn´t pronounce that very well it morphed into ARequipa.
3. Human Sacrifice is STILL practised to day in remote areas of Peru...STILL!

Anyways, today I spent the day in downtown ARequipa. I went out for breakfast (which I never do) but the resteraunt was on a terrace overlooking the main square and I just had to. So I had this huge breakfast of fresh orange juice, coffee, toast, this awesome fruit salad and of course...a hamburger? I mean its breakfast, why wouldnt you have a hamburger? Anyways it was very good. Then I saw a few churches and a colonial house. Then I spent a few hours in an old monistary. It was like, 4 city blocks and so pretty. I got a guided tour with some other girls and I took lots of pictures. Then I went to go see JUANITA THE ICE PRINCESS. She was a child sacrifice that they found frozen on the top of a mountain. It was creepy but really neat!

I´ll be out of touch for a few days because Im going on a three day trek idown into what they thought was the deepest canyon in the world! Turns out the one beside it is 150ft. deeper...oh well. ANyways there will be hiking, rewarded by lots of hotsprings and at the very end we go to a national condor (like the bird) reserve. Ive seen other peoples pictures and it looks amazing! Anyways, Im calling this my pre-inca trail workout. Should be fun!

Arequipa

A lot of people have mentioned that A: I dont post pictures and B: My spelling and typing is crap. What I have to say to them is that A: My blog site is in spanish and you try figuring out how to post a picture with Spanish instructions and B: Most of the keyboards down here are so old that most of the letters have worn off and it makes things a bit difficult. SO there!

I spent my last few hours in Nazca in a tourism office with the lady who works there teaching me some spanish. She thinks Im crazy for being down here by myself. Imagine that? She was really nice and wanted to see my guide book. SHe has never been outside of peru. Another interesting fact, down here they wear their wedding rings on their right hand, not the left. When I arrived at the bus station there were lots of other travellers there. I met a brother and sister from Detroit who were a bit bitter about me being from edmonton (you know, the whole ´hockey´thing) I also ran into one of the guys who I flew on the plane with that morning in Nazca and we ended up having seats next to eachother on the bus (its assigned seating). So we´re supposed to leave at 945 and dont end up getting out of there till 11, something about thew fog? At this point Id been up since 7 and it wasnt a very good sleep at that (roosters) and hge is just rambling on and on. Like the whole bus is sleeping and just keeps talking to me about how he was unfairly fired from his job and how great Thailand was and...on and on. I added the occasional úh huh´ but really couldnt wait just to go to sleep. The bus smelled as good as it did for Keg Cup, and I think we all (or at least some of us) remember that. Sleeping on the bus was not that great and we arrived in Arequipa at 7 am.

Arequipa is apparently the most beautiful city in SOuth AMerica. I havent seent that much of it, but the place that Im staying is quite nice and walking around on the streets (im in a residental area) it seems to be wealthier than most of the cities Ive been to. The first day I literally did nothing. I was feeling really sick. I think the food/bad sleeps/roosters/always being on the go was catching up with me plus its a much higher altitude here. So I watched two World Cup games (Ecuador beat Costa Rica 3-nill and England beat Trinidad 2-nill, in case you were interested) then I slept, watched some movies, hung around on a hammock...basically nothing.

Today I slept in and then went white water rafting. It was so much fun. There were ten of us all together and I was with 4 other girls and our guide. You can imagine all the squealing and high pitched shreiks as we went down dips and smashed into rocks. But it was awesome. We went from level 1 to level 4 (the highest is 6) and at the end down a 2 meter drop. I had fun but I was freezing next time Ill be more prepared (oh there will be a next time, probably in cuzco). Anyways, back at the hostel now. Planning on checking out the town tommorow.

Ica and Nazca

So the days of shadieness are almost over. The most shady part of all was Pepe, my tour guide. I wanted to go to Ica and go sandboarding so he arranged a package for me, because he already arranged Pisco and Nazca. But what I didnt realize is that Pepe comes with you? Its called ´personal assistance´. So we hop a bus to Ica, which immediatley breaks down. Its 840, i have to be in ica by 10, and it takes a hour to get there. So we get off the bus, take a mini cab back to the bus station to get a refund, take a bigger cab out to the highway and just grab the next bus that comes along. Arrive in ica at 953, take a cab to Huacachina, an oasis just outside of Ica, where we arrive at 10 on the dot, and the tour doesnt even get going until like, 1030. Awesome. So it was weird travelling with this guy because not only could we not really uinderstand eachother, he also had a big crush on me. It was getting uncomfortable, he would always sit and stand too close, be touching my face, calling me beautiful. He even asked if I wanted him to come to Nazca with me, I said NO. I couldnt wait to get rid of him.
But the sandboarding was awesome. It was a group of 12 and we went out on dune buggies. It was like being on a rollercoaster. They would go really fast and over jumps and down really steep hills. So basically we would go to the top of a hill, they would drop us off. We would sandboard down, and they would pick us up at the bottom, drive around a bit and then board down another hill. There were 6 hills in total. I was actually pretty good on that thing. I guess I should thank the person who taught me how to snowboard. Lots of the girls were just going down on their bums...lame.It was harder than snowboarding though because theres no edges and you cant turn, uyou basically just go straight down. It was sooo hot.
Then I went to a museum and a wine vineyard. The wine, though was one of the best wineries in Peru tasted el cheapo! I got a private tour in spanish,. but she talked slow for me and I actually picked up a lot more than I thought I would. Then Pepe wanted us to have lunch together, but I told him I wasnt hungry (which was a complete lie, i hadent eaten all day) and that I just wanted to go on to Nazca. I went to nazce in get this, a cadellac? There were 7 of us stuffed in there but lots of the people were travellers and spoke english.
They were all travelling on this 80 foot research yacht that was sailing around SA. They said anyone could get on and it costs $25 a day to live there. Sounded fun. Arrived in Nazca and actually it wasnt scary at all. Pisco was way worse. After trying to sort out our hostals (mine didnt have my reservation) and they had to find one. Finally, around 8 we went for dinner. We astually went to quite a nice place and they told lots of crazy stories about life on the boat. Then we parted ways, we wanted to get together for lunch the next day, but by the time I was done my tours they had already left.
My hostal room was really nice and it was private, but the windows faced the open street and I had such a bad sleep because of all the roosters, seriously roosters at 4 in the morning, and dogs barking..ahhh!

This morning I went and flew over the Nazca lines. It was in a small 6 seater airplane and I felt sick after about 10 minutes. Good call on not eating before! The lines were a lot smaller than I first thought they would be so it took a while to actually see one. The lines are shaped etched into the rock and can only be seen from the sky. There are some serious theories out there by serious archeologists that they were put there by aliens and not the Nazca tribes. Who knows? Then they took us to the cemetary of Chauchilla. There were lots of excavated tombs and I got to see lots of mummies. The mummies here are really cool and really well preserved. They were buried in the fetal position and wrapped into bundles. So now the hair and the skin is still there and there are these creepy little mummies all curled up! Then we went to a pottery workshop and a gold workshop to see their process. Then the tour was over, that was at 2, my bus to the next city doesn t leave until 945, so i have a lot of time to kill. I went and atelunch and then and saw the aquaducts, which were really neat. I was expewcting, you know, roman aquaducts. But the process here was so different. Then I went and read in the square for a bit. I was approached by a guy and we talked for a while. He read a bit of my book out loud, he doesnt have very good english. Then he asked me out for dinner. I said no, my boyfriend was back at the hostal waiting for me, but somehow he just didnt seem to understand ´boyfriend´. How convenient.
Anyways, Im leaving for Arequipa tonight. I takes 9 hours to get there, so its an overnight bus, thats why it leaves so late. I guess Ill go watch a soccer game. Thats all they do here, every tv I pass is playing a soccer game and there eyes are glued to it. The only channel you get down here in english is fox news so, I am very up to date on foreign affairs. Did you know that President Bush made a surprise visit to Iran yesturday to show support to the new government, cuz I do. I know your saying, your in Peru and your watching tv? But late at night in my hostal the noise makes me feel more comfortable. Anyways, Ill try to post again soon.

Pisco

One of Peru{s most famous drinks is the pisco sour, which is a bit of a spicy version of the lime margarita. Why they would decide to name the drink after this dingy little town is BEYOND me! I arrived yesturday on the bus. The bus actually wasn{t bad, like the greyhound. And we watched Smallville (of all things) in English no less, with spanish subtitles. Once again I was the only white person for MILES. It was really gloomy yesturday and so foggy I coulnt see out the windows most of the time. When I could, it wasnt much to look at, just dirt. So I arrive and this town has nothing, I mean nothing to see. A church and a cemetary, and even then I was warned not to go outside of the main square by myself. So I was stuck in my hostel room for the rest of the night with no roomates (which actually was scarier) I went to bed at 8:30. ANyways, remember how I thought I would feel safer and like the smaller towns better, no, in retospect Lima was totally fine. K so enough ranting about Pisco, but seriously, its a dingy, shady little place.
Today I took a day tour of the national reserve and the Ballestas Islands, which is actually why I am in Pisco. It was really beautiful, and there were 4 other people who spoke english round my age, so we all hung out together. We saw the ´poor mans galapagos´ which was the island. There were tonns of birds and sealions, penguins. It was neat. Then we drove around the reserve which was like a desert. I got some great pictures of the ocean and the cliffs. Sometimes we drove past fish factories on the way there, which stunk let me tell you, thanks for the Tigerbalm mom!
I also ate a lot of seafood. I tried this one dish that Peru is known for called ceviche. Its raw fish which marinates in a lime sauce, which was quite tasty. I also tried a banana hilkshake, but it was weird, cuz it wasnt cold. It was like drinking thick banana. I find all there juices are warm and thick, Im not sure if I enjoy it. I have to start drinking more water, I know Im not getting enough. Everytime I buy a bottle I drink half a litre at one go.
Tommorow Im out of here. Tonight Im going to hang out with on of the girls I met today, since we are the only two staying here tonight. Tommorow I head to ICA to go sandboarding and dune buggying, then onto Nazca which Ive been told is worse than Pisco in terms of shadiness, great!
In other news its my Dads birthday on Tuesday, so everyone wish him a Happy Birthday!

Lima

Remember how in my last e-mail I was kinda sad about being alone? Sratch that. Right after I sent that these three girls from Michigan asked me if I wanted to go out on the town with them. I thought it sounded better than going to bed. It started off well we danced and drank some Pisco Sour which is like the national drink down here, then the fighting started. They couldnt agree on where to go next, we finally decide on this karaoke bar but one of them is pouting. Then We want to go dancing but a different girl starts pouting and walks off on her own. Then we have to go find her...and on and on. It was fun for the most part, but all the drama made me remember why I was doing this alone.

So now that Ive been in Lima for three days I think Ive actually done every tourist thing that Lonely Planet has suggested, and then some. Yesturday I went to downtown central Lima and saw the two main plazas, the cathedral, an inquisition museum, the presidents residence. There were so many police around the area and tanks as well, which was a little disturbing. Sometimes there would be a row of them standing in fron of a street I would want to go down. And I asked if I could go there and they were like, of course you can, like why would you think you couldnt pass a large barricade of police with riot shields? I walked pass a strike demonstration which was a little intense. Took a bus to the highest point in Lima. Then I went to these catacombs, but there was a tour of the upsatirs fist and of course it was in spanish. Now this was my 3rd tour in spanish that day so I decided just to go off on my own. But, of course, I couldn{t actually find the catacombs so I was a little lost. Then I ran into this cool couple from New York who were having the same problem. So we stuck together and finally found them. The good part about being down there on our own was that we could take pictures (which were not allowed) but the bad thing is that it was so creepy being down there with the bones and the silence. Oh well. Then we headed to an Indian market closer to our hostels and decided to go for dinner in this party area known as Barranco. But it was dead. I couldnt read the menu so I just ordered the most interesting sounding thing. Which ended up being meat with onions on a pile of fries, with rice and salad on the side. It was really salty, but pretty good. It seems the most popular meal down here is 1/4 chicken with fries and salad and this gross pap called Inca Kola, which tastes just like Iron Bru, from Scotland which I didnt care for either.

Then we went to a cuban club and watched all the salsa dancing. If I had more energy I would have tried to find a dance partner, but I was so tired. Rohan and Erika were leaving Lima this morning so I said good bye.

Today I went to Pachacamac, which are ruins of an ancient city about 30 kms outside of Lima. I was adventerous, I took a local bus, which is more like a big van. Their local busses are crazy! And theres about a million of them so if you get on the wrong one it could be trouble! Anyways, the ruins were neat but again, if I wanted to pay for a tour it would have been in spanish, so off on my own again. Im leaving Lima tommorow morning to go to Pisco.