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Machu Picchu

Lake Titicaca

Alpaca Meat in Arequipa

Back in the USA

After spending a full day, yesterday, in Lima, I'm now back in the states. Photos and more should be up soon. As for 26th... I flew into Lima from Arequipa somewhat early in the morning, arriving in the capitol around 10:30am. There, I was picked up by a friend of a friend (my Peruvian USA co-worker's buddy from back home) and spent my 14 hour layover hanging out in dirt-town. Lima, while holding some charm at night, is a rather large and drab corner of the Earth. I'm glad I only spent one day there. That said, the Miraflores neighborhood is fantastic. After seeing Lima's main plaza, we hit up this cozy section of town for lunch. After lunch, we hit up a sports bar called The Corner... or, as I like to call it: Gringo McGringoson's. Basicall, this place could have been anywhere in the U.S., as it was filled with TVs and travelers. We watched some Argentinian soccer and the final two Elite 8 NCAA tournament games before Edgar drove me back to the airport for my 12:40am flight. Like I said, photos and more to come...

Arequipa (with effort)

So, this is my last night in Arequipa before flying off to Lima in the morning for a 14 hour layover. It sounds bad, but I planned it that way. A friend of a friend is picking me up at the airport and we'll hit up a soccer match and see the city before catching my flight to Atlanta. That said... Arequipa is the perfect little hangout city. Not too big. Not too small. Great plaza. On my first full day, I explored the famous Monistary known for its colonial architecture. It's rather expeneive, as things go in Peru, but worth every single penny. In fact, it's right up there with Machu Picchu as the highlight of the trip. Seriously. It had amazing architecture and vibrant colors, and I found myself taking photos like a crazed idiot. Like the lost Inca city in the mountains, you need photos to explain how amazing it is... yet they will do it no justice. Spent the rest of the day hanging out in the Plaza de Armas, reading my book and watching people. Last night was rum night at the hostel... many of the patrons and staff ended up going out after several games of extreme Janga. It was an interesting night. This morning's activities involved watching Liverpool and Everton play on TV, followed by Chelsea v Man City. Once I was able to peel myself off the couch from my Premier League bliss, I spent the rest of the day wandering around the town, relaxing in the plaza, and waiting for my big dinner. Yesterday, while having a drink at one of the blacony restaurants overlooking the plaza, I started to chat with the owner/chef. He invited me to tour his kitchen and impressed me with his Alpaca meat and old world cooking tools. I promised him I would come back for dinner tonight. Amazing. He unloaded huge chunks of Alpaca meat on to my table, slabbed over two black, hot volcanic rocks. "Now, rip with hands!" No forks or knives. Photos forthcoming. Tonight should be a pretty laid back evening... most of us in the hostel are either leaving town or hiking in the area. Arequipa... the perfect place to chill out at the end of a vacation.

Arequipa

In ¨The White City¨after a loooong, slow bus ride. The hostel is a little far from the center, but I will see how accessable the city is today when I start to venture out. Seems like a great place. All for now... lazy.

Copacabana, Bolivia

Internet is slow, so I will keep it short. Tried to go from Cuzco to Copacabana, Bolivia yesterday, but, alas, it seems not possible. So, I made the best of Puno, Peru (2.5 hours to the Bolivian border), taking a trip to the Uros Islands on Lake Titikaka. The Uros Islands are floating islands, in fact, made of reeds. A little touristy, but I actually had a pretty good time. At night, I had great pizza in a bar and spent the rest of the night drinking free Cubra Libres. Basically, in many of these cities, there is so much competition for tourists that they give you free drink coupons on the street. I just went up and down the strip checking out different bars and people. Not a bad way to spend an evening I hoped I wouldn't have to endure. Puno isn't much, but it's not as bad as people say. This morning, I crossed the border into Copacabana and found myself a $5 room right on the freakin' lake. My room overlooks the water and has my own bathroom with hot water shower. Doesn't sound like much, but 'round here it's royalty. Today I will just chill out by the water and relax. Tomorrow, I will take a boat out to Isle del Sol for an all day hike from the north end to the south end before coming back to the mainland. Sunsets should be great. After two nights here, I plan to head back into Peru to the city of Arequipa. That will likely be my next blog before heading to Lima and then back home. Believe the hype - Copa rocks!

The Inca Trail

Just arrived back in Cuzco after four days and three nights on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Words really cannot describe the experience, but I will give it a short go. The first day for me and my three new Swedish friends involved an easy hike to the first camp, all while enjoying warm, sunny skies. Dinnter that night, as with all other meals throughout the trip, was unreal. Along with our guide and cook, we had seven porters lugging the gear over the 30 miles we would cover. These guys are amazing. With about 50 pounds of gear on their backs, they RUN up the mountain so camp can be set up for meals and sleeping. Most wear sandals. Anyway, the second day is the tough day and we thought we were well aware as to what was to come. Not a chance. In an off-and-on rain storm, we trudged up the mountain to close to 14,000 feet. There really is no sugar-coating it... day two is brutal beyond belief. Every time I turned a corner it was just mroe and more uphill. More cold. More pain. Finally, we reached the pass and worked our way down into camp two which was not as nice as the first camp... but welcome nonetheless. Somehow, the sun came out about 30 minutes before we got there, so we were treated to super views of the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains. The next day was non-stop rain... NON STOP. The first part involved more uphill climbing to the point of mental numbness. All of us were soaked to the bone, and it got to the point where it just wasn't worth trying to put on dry clothes because they would onyl get wet too. Again, however, as we neared camp three, the sun came out and allowed us to enjoy our biggest and grandest Inca Site yet. The camp was more fun than the others because, well, it had a bar. As the 15 km day three marked the last day of heavy walking, everyone (our group and all the other groups) celebrates after dinner. Drinking cheap Peruvian beer with our guides and porters, we Salsa danced the night away until the wee hour of 10:30pm... wake up for day four was 4:30am. Up into the darkness, we quickly had breakfast and made our way to the sun gate to watch the sun light up Machu Picchu... this was our first view of the ancient city of the Incas. From the gate, it was about 40 minutes to the actual site. We checked in and Flavio, our guide, gave us a 2-plus hour tour of the ruins, bringing this 15th century civilization to life. From there, we had free time to kill until the train back to cuzco... I took a well deserved nap int he shadows of the ruins and then did some more exploring. Once I get back to the states and put up photos, hopefully I can bring more life to what was one of the grandest experiences of my life. Now I am back in Cuzco, and plan to head down to the Bolivian side of Lake Titikaka (ha ha ha... it still makes me laugh). More than likely, however, I will have to spend one night in the Peruvian nothign town of Puno. Anyway... my first shower in days felt great, and I'm ready to move on to week two.

Soccer

Last night, a group of us from Loki made our way to the stadium for the big Copa Libertadores match between Cienciano (us) and Caracas FC (them). The home side one 2-1, and it was the best $5 one could spend for third-class soccer. The seating is kind of funny... one buys a ticket for a specific section (ours was "Oriente"), and then you sit where you like within your section. There are no seats, however, but rather just poured concrete levels. Needless to say, because of cold and ass-pain, we stood the entire second half. After, we all piled into the Irish Bar (getting the true Peruvian experience, of course) to "celebrate the victory." Anyway, today is another relaxation day... tomorrow the big hike begins. Cuzco is fantastic.

Lima and Cuzco

Well, I finally arrived in Peru a little after midnight last night. Spent the night at the airport in the food court with all the other backpackers who end up killing a few hours before making their connecting flights for elsewhere in Peru. Compared to what all this country has to offer, Lima isn't the most popular place to hang out. My 6am flight this morning to Cuzco was amazing, flying over clouds and the snowy peaks of the Andes popping up through the cover here and there. The descent into Cuzco was, for this white-knuckle flyer, less than fun... but also quite a thing to behold. Really, though, mountains should never come that close to your wings. I was met at the airport by Michelle, a Welsh lady who runs the trekking company, Llama Path. With her driver, she drove me around Cuzco (the oldest city in South America) and told me a little of the history. She also explained to me that my trekking group on Thursday will consist of me... and three Swedish girls. I know, this vacation sucks already. I was dropped off at my Hostel (Loki Hostel) and went up to their amazing cafe to throw down some Coca Tea (da da da da da da da da COCAINE!). The tea helps with altitude sickness as we are at 11,000 feet. So far I feel OK, but who know how I will do. Tonight, after catching up on some sleep, I'm meeting an English dude I met on the plane to catch a Copa Libertadores soccer match here in town. We flew over the stadium and it should be quite an event... for those who care, the Copa Libertadores is South America's top club competition. Tomorrow I meet with my group at 6pm to go over the details of our 4 day, 30 mile trek through the Andes, ending at Macchu Pichu. So, that's it for now. Off to drink some more Coca Tea and check out the amazing views.

The New Sleeping Bag: REI Polar Pod +20

Houston Who?

Hey web-editor... Dynamo or 1836? I guess anything worth doing is worth doing half-assed. That said... Dynamo logo looks good. NOTES ON THE IMAGE: No doctoring, here. This was really how it looked shortly after the announcement. Things seemed to be updated properly by 11:35am EST... about half an hour after the official announcement. (Click to Enlarge)