And so it goes....

This past week has been very exciting.  I found a local after-school program for kids to volunteer with.  Last week I spent my afternoons and evenings at a school about a 5-minute walk from my apartment.  The program basically aims to provide learning opportunities and life lessons that aren’t generally received by the kids at home or school.  The kids I was working with here were anywhere from about 6-12 years old and it was quite an experience.  Half of my time there was spent playing games and interacting with the kids and the other half was spent teaching classes.  I was glad to have found this program, but, as it turns out, I will not be able to work there anymore because…as some of you may know, I will be coming home next week!  That’s right, the Tyler Nelson shaped hole in the U.S. will be filled shortly.  I will be leaving Cusco the 29^th and I fly into LA on the morning of the 30^th.  I am going to stay in LA for several days to visit friends and will be back in AZ sometime during the first week of May.  I have decided to come back for many reasons (hopefully good ones) and will find out what’s next for me when I return.  Furthermore, since my time here is ending and the purpose of this blog was to share some of what I’ve been doing in Peru, I see no purpose in or possibility of continuing it.  So…this will be my last post.  You can stop reading this blog unless you enjoyed it so much that you want to read back over my exciting words and experiences, in which case I would feel bad for you and kindly tell you to find something more productive to do.  Just kidding…but seriously…it’s over.  Thanks so much for reading!

MACHU PICCHU!!!

Contrary to what you might think, I did actually go to Machu Picchu and here are a few of the pictures, even though they're a few weeks late.  The ones with the fog are from when we first arrived, early in the morning.  During the early morning hike it was foggy and rainy and then in the mid morning it started clearing up.  

This was quite an experience and an amazing sight.  What was very amazing to me is that it was basically unknown for hundreds of years until the early 1900's.  It was built in the 1400's and no one knows exactly why it was abandoned.  Some people think it was because of the Spanish invasion and to prevent it from being discovered, the inhabitants left.  I also heard a theory that there was some sort of plague and the people living there were all killed.  Regardless, it's amazing that it was undiscovered for so long and you can look up all the history for yourself and enjoy these pictures along with it.  

It wouldn't be Peru without llamas I suppose so I made sure to get a picture with a few of the ones wandering around the ruins.  The picture from way up high is from the top of Waynapicchu, the mountain they only allow 400 people/day on.  It's actually a very steep hike up and it takes about an hour.  We had some decent weather up on top before it started pouring and had to make the trek down.  You never know what the weather is going to be like and we lucked out and got a few good hours in.  

Well...I finally got up some more pictures and it's just in time...I'm at a cafe picking up a wireless signal from somewhere and my computer is about to die so I hope you enjoy these few images of my Machu Picchu trip.

On the way up...

Here are a few pictures from the trail (Salkantay) on the way to Machu Picchu.  A lot of the way it rained, especially the second day, during and after the biggest climb.  The picture with the sign is from the second day.  It's at the top of the Salkantay pass...over 15,000 ft.  From there it was mostly flat but with so much rain it was like walking through a mid pit for most of the day.  The one of Alanna and me is in front of one of the many waterfalls along the trail.  This area is constantly getting rained on and, consequently, landslides are very common and you can often see the damage left by landslides all over the mountains.  The one with the APU sign is when we first arrived to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu.  I'm not sure what apu means but I know it's a Quechua word and I had to take a picture with it...obviously.

Lake Titicaca

Aside from the funny name, Lake Titicaca is actually very interesting. It sits over 12,000 ft above sea level which makes it the world´s highest navigable lake...and it´s huge (South America's largest lake)! A lot of the time you would think you're looking at an ocean because it never seems to end. Like I said, we visitied the floating islands from the Peruvian side...which is where the picture of the lady in the reed boat is from, and the Bolivian side. The picture of me from the rear is on the Bolivian side, on Isla del Sol and the island you see in the distance is the Isla de la Luna. Look up the history and facts of the lake because I don't want to explain it right now.

Of course...

Once I found an internet cafe with fast enough internet to load pictures it starts freezing. I put up a few pictures from some of the trips and I have yet to post any from Machu Picchu obviously. I probably could wait out the slow connection but I don´t have the patience for it right now and I´d rather just go back to my apartment to see the start of the Masters coverage. So...you´ll have to wait to see the Machu Picchu pics!

hey look...a condor

We were lucky and able to see a few condors soaring above the canyon....they´re ginormous.

Colca Canyon

A few pictures of me, Alanna, and some landscape on our way up to Colca Canyon.

Huanchaco...

Sunset on the beach in Huanchaco.

A quick update....

Well…it’s certainly not for a lack of excitement or events that I haven’t written in so long. The reason I haven’t posted anything in weeks is simply because I haven’t had the time; I’ve been traveling nonstop and up until now, I haven’t been able to sit down and write or even collect my thoughts.

It started after I ended my volunteer program and met up with Alanna in Lima. From there, we immediately left for the northern coast to a city called Trujillo and a small beach town called Huanchaco.

We took the first of what would be many night buses to Trujillo and then hopped on a ‘micro’ for the 15-minute drive to Huanchaco. After being in Lima for two months, arriving to a small, quiet beach town was a much-welcomed break. We spent the next several days lounging around on the beach, surfing, and visiting nearby ruins. After Huanchaco, we took another night bus back to Lima to pick up our luggage that we had left with my friend Miryam.

We spend about half a day in Lima, most of which was at Miryam’s house eating and visiting with her family before the next night bus to Arequipa. Arequipa is a city south of Lima and we took this trip in part to get to Cusco. The bus ride from Lima to Cusco is notoriously dangerous so by going south first, we could come back up and avoid the mountain roads in between Lima and Cusco.

Upon arriving in Arequipa, we left the next morning for a two-day tour of the Colca Canyon. This canyon is the second deepest in the world, second only to a nearby canyon (whose name I can’t remember) that is nearly impossible to reach. This was a fun tour and one of the main attractions is watching Condors (of which we were able to see several) soar around the Canyon.

At this point, we already had our apartment in Cusco but had yet to move in. So, after Arequipa and the Colca Canyon tour, we took yet another night bus to Cusco for one short day before leaving the following day for Machu Picchu.

We set out on a Monday for Machu Picchu on a trail called Salkantay. The most popular trail is the Inka Trail, but, according to most, it’s so packed with people it’s similar to walking down a city street. So, we opted for the less crowded Salkantay. This trail was a 5-day trek, the last of which is spent at Machu Picchu. Each day was a little bit different as far as the terrain but on average, we hiked for about 7 or 8 hours/day. Our group of 12 was accompanied by two guides and other staff who provided 3 meals a day for us. Each day we hiked to a new campground where our tents were waiting along with our food.

On Thursday evening of the trek we arrived at the small town called Aguas Calientes at the base of the Machu Picchu mountain. We stayed in a hostel here before waking up at 4 the next morning to make the hike up to Machu Picchu. By arriving early at Machu Picchu you are able to receive one of the only 400 tickets they hand out a day to hike up a higher mountain (Waynapicchu) for an even more breathtaking view. Another benefit of arriving early is that you have a better chance of getting good weather, which is always unpredictable. Upon arrival, we were taken around Machu Picchu by our guide who, after giving us a tour, left us to explore the ruins on our own.

After climbing up Waynapicchu we had about 30 minutes of good weather before the rain came in and forced us to take shelter outside the park. Luckily, we already had several hours of good weather before the rain came and after trying to wait it out for hours, we decided to head back to Aguas Calientes from where we would take the train/bus rides back to Cusco.

We arrived back in Cusco late Friday night and the stay at our apartment was short lived because we left the next Monday for Lake Titicaca. We left Monday morning for Puno, which is the largest city on the Peruvian side of the lake. From here, we took the boat ride out to the floating islands, Los Uros, with a tour. Lake Titicaca is inhabited by many people who, although now making a living from tourism, once survived on islands made of a buoyant mix of dirt and reeds.

We stayed one night in a hostel on one of these islands and took the boat ride back to Puno the following day, from where we boarded another bus to cross over the Peruvian/Bolivian border and into Copacabana. Not only did we want to make this trip, but it was somewhat of a necessity to renew our soon expiring tourist visas. From Copacabana we took another boat ride, this time for an hour and a half, to the Island of the Sun, Isla Del Sol. We explored the small ruins on the island for a while and the next day we took the boat and multiple bus rides back across the border and eventually made it to Cusco.

This is certainly a shortened version of the traveling I have been doing and there has been plenty of excitement, learning, and fun along the way that is going unmentioned. It feels good to be somewhat settled at last in Cusco but I’m certainly thankful for the traveling I’ve been doing and I doubt I’ll ever see two wonders of the world in one week again (one man-made, Machu Picchu, and one natural, Lake Titicaca).

Now that I’m in Cusco indefinitely, I’m facing the next part of the adventure, whatever it may be….

I´ll post some pictures as soon as I can...which will likely be when I have internet set up in our apartment and am not forced to wait out the slow connection at an internet cafe.