Sweet Peru!

It feels like my trip to Peru was just a dream. Luckily, I have the pictures to prove it! And to avoid one extremely long blog entry about my whole trip, I'll post a few pictures and a few stories a day.

And without further adieu, I must begin with Machu Picchu.

kristyn, brian, mara & cory

me & our tour guide, ALBERTO, not to be confused with Ricardo, the suedo tour guide we had on the bus that picked us up at the Lima airport-

me crossing the bridge before taking the bus up to Machu Pichu-


Visiting Machu Pichu was, obviously, one of the highlights of the trip. From Cuzco, we took an almost 4 hour train ride-which was beautiful- down to Machu Picchu. Once there, we got on a bus which zig-zagged up this steeeeeeeep mountain to the base of where the tour began. Unfortunately, it was very overcast that day so visibility was pretty low. It also rained off and on for our entire hike (and I mean hike!) around the ruins.

Before the tour, we all went to the bathroom and we had to pay to get in! Fine fine, but when I stepped into my stall, there wasn't even a toilet seat! Talk about annoying. I mean, if they're going to make me pay, the least they can do is make sure all the toilets have seats!

And Cory had to make an emergency stop at the Machu Picchu infirmary. He, along with my sister Mara, got the dreaded Soroche, which is altitude sickness that REALLY messes you up. The high altitude in general affected everyone. I'd be walking up some ancient Incan stone steps, and after maybe 10 I'd have to stop and catch my breath. We were all doing that. It was quite funny. Well, not at the time. At the time it sucked, but looking back, it was a bit humorous. One of us would start walking a little faster and within 30 seconds, they would have to stop, feeling like they just ran the marathon. It was very bizarre.

On the train ride home, I guess they figured we all needed some entertainment, so they had an Alpaca sweater fashion show! It was just a riot. The train attendants would one at a time walk down the isle, modeling a sweater to terrible American techno music from the late 90's, my personal favorite being the remix of the Knight Rider Theme song. Yeah. Not sure who picked out that selection.

Overall, seeing Machu Picchu can't even be put into words. It was that amazing to see. I hope you all can make it there one day and I hope to go back! But for now, it's good to be home in the States.