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.