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.