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.

The end of the beginning...

As of last Friday I ended my volunteer experience and I can hardly believe it's over.  The last week and a half were very eventful and to say the least, I'm going to miss being with those kids everyday.  

The week before last was quite interesting.  The director of the school, Nancy, upon seeing my resume and information when I first arrived, was so thrilled that I had a Business degree and marketing experience.  For the entire two months that I was there she kept bringing up the possibility of me imparting my extensive, endless knowledge of business to the administration at the school.  I talked about this with the director of my program who, luckily, said he would join to help explain to me exactly what it was they wanted.  We put together some information to give to and discuss with the administration and it went quite well.  Our international business summit lasted for about two hours and we talked about how they wanted to use marketing to help their program.  Had my program director not been there I would have been lost.  He was able to explain the workings of the community and how the principles I understand in terms of the U.S. economy differ from those in Peru.  Although I was only able to meet once with them I hope they can find some application from the things we discussed.  

The following week (my last week) was quite eventful as well.  Last week, the kids at the school all started back to their regular schools after their summer break.  School here is quite different as far as the hours because they only attend for about 4 or 5 hours.  School days are divided into two sessions, morning and afternoon.  So...kids that go to school in the morning come in the afternoon to the program I was working with, and kids that go to school in the afternoon attend the program in the morning.  Normally I only work from the morning until 12:30 but this week I wanted to stay for a full day to see all the kids before I left.  However, I started getting sick on Sunday and it lasted all week and I am finally getting over whatever it was.  I had to stay home from work two days this week but luckily I was able to stay all day on Thursday to see all of the kids.

This ended up being quite an eventful day.  Some of the kids were upset that I was leaving and I had to explain to them that I wouldn't be coming back.  The kids and the teachers put together a little going away party.  They decorated the white board with some drawings and some of the kids put together little presentations to say thanks and give me a few small gifts.  

On Friday it was more of the same, saying bye to the kids and explaining I wasn't going to be coming back on Monday.  It was hard to leave and on my way out I said goodbye to the administration.  It was quite funny because, as I was saying goodbye, they all looked at each other like they should be giving me a present of some sort so they grabbed whatever was close by.  In the lobby they sell crafts the kids have made and one of their products was a wooden magazine rack from a carpentry class.  They pulled the magazine rack from the shelf and gave it to me.  Although I was/am very thankful, I kept wondering how I was going to travel around with a magazine rack (I don't know how but I was able to fit it into one of my backpacks and it shouldn't be too burdensome).  

Yesterday was Sunday (which means today is Monday) and it was my last day in the house.  I left last night after dinner and am now staying in a hostel in Miraflores.  I have a few days of down time until Thursday when I will meet up with Alanna who will be flying into Lima from Cusco.  From there things will pick up quite a bit as we will be traveling for about a month or so.  The plan, as of now, is to leave for the northern part of Peru on Saturday.  We will spend about a week in several cities and beach towns like Trujillo, Huanchaco, Chiclayo, etc. although we're not quite sure yet where we are going.  After this we will make our way back to Cusco and get our Macchu Picchu on.  Then, we will go southeast to Puno and Lake Titicaca.  Once in Puno, we will take a short trip to Bolivia to renew our soon-expiring tourist visas.  After all of this we will finally end up back in Cusco where we will be looking for work.  

That is the tentative plan and it feels like it is finally underway.  The first two months have gone by faster than I expected and I am now on to the next stage of my trek.  My time here so far has been very structured and this next phase is very unknown and should be very exciting.  I'm sure it will go by faster than I expect and I'm looking forward to doing more traveling.  

On another exciting note, we now have an apartment in Cusco!!  I haven't been there yet so I don't know what it looks like or exactly where it is but it's a 3 bedroom place not too far from the center of town.  It was mostly furnished until last friday when I received my magazine rack which now makes it completely furnished.  So....now that you have a place to stay in Peru, start planning your trip!!  

Again, I can hardly believe how fast my time has already gone and it will start speeding up as I start the next part of my journey....

Don't let them fool you....

These two are probably the most troublesome kids in the whole school.  It's not that they're bad kids, they just do their own thing and controlling them is near impossible.  Using the many skills that I have crafted over years of big brothership I have befriended these crazies and earned their respect.  The one in front is Italo and the one in the back is Armondo.  They're a lot of fun and most of the teachers have given up on trying to contain them in the classroom.  The other day Italo told me he was coming back with me to my country so when I come back I wouldn't be surprised if he magically appears in one of my bags.  

Group photo

Me and most of the kids from the school on one of my last days.  We tried to organize a group shot after a little goodbye party they had for me and this is what we ended up with.  The teacher on the right was one that I worked with a lot but Tito, the one I worked with the most isn't in this picture.  The teacher on the left only comes in the afternoons so I saw her every now and then but mostly worked with the other ones.  

A few of the kids playing wall ball.  My roommate and I taught them how to play last week and after a few games they picked it up and now it's all they want to do.  

nap time

I don't know this kids name because he's not in my class but just about every time I go into his room I expect to find him asleep like this on the table.

Reading

This girl's name is Xiamara...and she is reading.  Some days they have reading classes for the kids and bring in a bunch of books to choose from.  As you can see, she chose to read Pollito, a Peruvian classic haha.  I always like these days because reading kids books is great practice for my spanish and I'm usually the last one reading in the class.  The kids can pay attention for about one book and then they're off doing something else but if I'm in there reading with them they're able to pay better attention so I try to stay as long as possible.  I think Xiamara is 8.  It's sad because you can tell she has a lot of problems outside of the school and for some reason a lot of the kids don't like her. All I can do is be her friend for a few hours a day and try to give her some of the attention she needs.