We Need a Vacation

The last day of our trip, and our last 4:30am wake-up.  Bleary eyed, we start the morning with a bumpy three-hour car ride - dozing most of the time, waking up intermittently to see crazy fog, our driver playing chicky with fuel trucks, and barren end-of-the-world looking landscapes.

Spend about an hour and a half at our first stop, the archeological site of El Brujo, which rose out of the desolate horizon shrouded in mist, a forbidding-looking concrete structure at its base.  This site is located in the Chicama Valley and consists of three pyramids wedged between vast sugar cane fields, the ocean, and the dusty "wasteland".

Next, a one-and-a-half hour drive to Huacas del Sol y de la Luna (two more pyramids).  At this point we realize that our day is running short on time - it is now about noon and we have three more stops and lunch before we have to be at the airport at 4:20pm!  Let the marathon pyramid-exploring continue...

Lunch is at a restaurant on Huanchaco Beach, a location we would have liked to spend some relaxing time at, but this was not in the itinerary ;)

A super quick stop after eating for a photo with the fishing boats, known locally as "seahorses"

Shuffled back into the van and off to Chan Chan - a site composed of nine pyramids, but we only have time to visit one.  (No great loss, at this point Mom and I are getting pyramided out haha)

Glazed look on my face = pyramid overload

With constant watch-checking we zip over to our last stop - the Golden/Rainbow/Dragon Temple (it seems they could not decide on a name, so picked them all)  I think that is the fastest our tour guide has ever shown any site in her entire life... clocking in at fifteen minutes.

With one flight already under our belts, we are currently sitting in the VIP Lounge at the Lima airport for our five hour layover before heading to Miami.  There I will sadly depart with Mom and continue on to San Francisco.

We hope that you have enjoyed our blog, and if there is no Friday post (which I can fairly confidently say there will not be) let me just be the first to give Nish a shout-out - Happy Birthday!!!

woot woot,
The End

p.s.  we need a vacation ;)    

Apologize for the Brevity

This is our second-to-last post, and I apologize in advance for its brevity.  It is almost 11pm now, and we have a 4:30am wake-up call tomorrow morning - which will be our last day here in Peru :(  Not only our last day, but also a travel day right from the depths of you-know-where, including three flights for yours truly.

Today we went to two archaeological sites and one museum in the Chiclayo area.

This is taken at the site of Sipan, where a bunch of dudes' tombs were found.  There are still excavations going on here, with pretty relevant cultural findings (as long as the looters don't get there first)

Unfortunately, I was so distracted with my new lenses and photography that I kept forgetting to take video footage!  duh.  Well, better late than never!

One more day... see you all stateside!  Will try and fill you in tomorrow on more details about today, as well as tomorrow's news, maybe if we have time between flights :)

woot woot

Return to Civilization - Day of Travel

It took us the entire day - 11am to 11pm - to get ourselves out of the rainforest and on to our next destination, Chiclayo.

Packing was more difficult than usual this morning, primarily due to the dampness of our luggage contents.

I spent a portion of the morning just trying to dry out my hat.  Btw, notice the "fire extinguisher" under the sink...

Stopped at Inkaterra's Butterfly Garden on the way out of Puerto Maldonado:

Think the netting that was keeping the butterflies in was also working to keep the mosquitos out, so that was a plus haha

Flight to flight to flight finally resulted in our arrival to Chiclayo, four hours later than initially planned.  Highlights of trip:
- I tried two things for the first time, Papa John's pizza and Inca Kola (a Peruvian soft drink) which tasted medicinal and looked like toxic urine.  Papa John's wasn't much of a winner either, especially since they insisted Mom put her passport number on the credit card receipt.  You can guess who won that battle...

That's it.  Next two days are gonna be C-R-A-Z-Y... sleep in tomorrow until 7:45am... gotta get to bed now seeing as how it is about 1am...

nighty nite!

back-post - Mon. Jan. 24th

Imagine this -

You stroll along the natural winding path, trees and plants blossoming with flowers of every color on either side of you, sun lighting up the fresh morning dew.  The audio is the wind rustling leaves and birds calling near and far.  Stepping off the path you arrive to your cabana, hammocks out front, fan whirring causing the fabric around your bed to flutter.  The rainforest?  Not that romantic notion at all.

You are speedwalking in the dim, overcast light swatting at bugs both real and imaginary.  Humidity out of control, everything you own, worn or not, is damp.  Feet slipping and sliding in bogs of mud, or splashing in pools of water from the 80" of rain.  Good thing the hotel provided galoshes, but they should have offered waders!  Electricity, as it turns out, is only offered for limited hours.  OFF becomes our new best friend, going everywhere.

Today starts at 5am.  At this time you cannot see the mosquitos, you can only hear them.  We have two excursions planned for today...

Hike to canoe Lake Sandoval:
We take a twenty minute boat ride to a 1.8mile hike through the muddy jungle to a half-submerged canoe which our guide, Jesus, bails out to take us on a one hour canoe trip around Lake Sandoval.

Anything has to be better than that hike

Since it is the rainy season we did not see as many animals as we thought we would.  However, we did get to glimpse some creatures - several beautiful bird species, including macaws, a red howler monkey, some prehistoric 10ft fish, and some long-nose bats.  Canoe ride over, we start the 1.8mile trek back again.  Every time we asked Jesus a question he would stop walking and the mosquitos would descend in swarms... our inquisitive natures were shortly put on hold.  I often walked with my head down, black coat closed up around my throat and hood over my head.  Every time I looked up I would seem swarms of mosquitos around Mom's head, and would see her blotting her face with a napkin as the rain caused the OFF to run into her eyes.  But we hoped for the rain to pour and pour, as at least that helped to keep the bugs at bay.

After lunch, back out again!  We were excited starting this second excursion since the rain had picked up even harder.

Canopy Walkway:
Pouring rain as we go traipsing off into the jungle's understory.  It was supposed to be an easy twenty minute walk to the canopy bridges, but Jesus had other ideas for us...  Not quite sure why, but Jesus decided that we had not had enough adventure so he improvised.

Trail?  What trail?

All of a sudden he stopped walking, claiming that the trail was blocked by fallen trees.  Would we like to attempt to continue on anyway?  he asks.  Mom and I look at each other, and with shrugs of "why the frick not" we follow Jesus as he machete-cuts his way through the underbrush.  Shortly we are balancing on slippery fallen tree limbs and clawing our way through branches, wading through water dangerously close to cascading into our knee-high galoshes.  No trail in sight.  (keep in mind, this is all done with me carrying my camera and full gear bag!  Mom has her own backpack, and my tripod, as well as an umbrella)  This goes on for some time until Jesus seems to reach an impasse - a pool of water that would clearly be waist deep should we attempt to go any further.  Jesus asks if we want to continue anyway (are you freakin' kidding?!?) and then says he might be able to find another way through.  We trek back over and under the trees, sloshing through the black water and muck, to the original trail which picks right back up again and we continue on our merry way to the canopy towers.  What just happened?!?

Only two canopy bridge systems in Peru - this is one of them!  

Seven cable-suspended walkways, the wooden slats slippery in the rain.  Didn't see much, but were fun to walk across (in a dangerous-going-to-slip-and-fall-to-my-death kind of way)

We survived the day to return to the lodge around 5pm, exhausted, satisfied with our accomplishments, and ready to get the heck out of the rainforest.

Despite the forty applications of insect repellent an hour, I still manage to get several bug bites.  Wish me luck that I don't contract any of the three major insect-related diseases common around Peru right now... (insert nervous laughter here)

woot woot

back-post -- Arrival in Amazon Sun. Jan. 23rd

We only took four photos on the idiot camera today (our arrival to Amazon, Jan. 23rd), and cannot agree on which one(s) to post.  As a result, there are no pictures to share - sorry!

Not much information to share either, haha.  As the plane landed in Puerto Maldonado there was jungle as far as the eye could see.  So muggy when we got off the plane that my camera lens fogged up, and took like twenty minutes to clear!

After a van drive and boat ride we reached the hotel, off the Madre de Dios river southbound in the Amazon rainforest, around 3pm.  Side note - we always got cold towels upon hotel arrivals, and as dutiful Americans used them to wash our hands.  Found out today that these towels are supposed to be used to cool the face and neck.  Wondered why they were always cold... haha

No excursion tonight - was supposed to go on a sunset boat cruise, but raining and overcast - no sun to set!

Sleep early for full day tomorrow :)

dead zone

hello all

gotta keep this short and sweet - mother and I are in a dead zone and god knows when this frail internet connection is going to kick the bucket...

in the rainforest for two nights - will send updated blog posts (and photos) when we get back to civilization

that is, if we survive the pouring rain, humidity, and intermittent electricity

not to mention the plethora of mosquitos and tiny spiders which are playing off of my phobia of small insects in large numbers... hey, at least I don't feel sick any longer haha

long day tomorrow - starting at 5am - planning on three excursions :)

be in touch in a couple days!  if you haven't heard from me by Wednesday call in the troops, armed with bug spray

woot

danielle + cusco = unhappiness

As soon as I woke up this morning I was feeling like crap.  That horrible feeling you get when you feel empty and shaky but not hungry... hot and cold... weak like a baby kitten... yeah, you know that feeling.  Not sure what is up - hoping it just has to do with the altitude and will be gone by tomorrow!  Needless to say I was less than on my game today, and napped in the van through more than one site.

However, Mom was the energizer bunny and greatly enjoyed the city tour of Cusco.  First stop was the Convento de Santo Domingo, where monks still reside today.  Next onto Sacsayhuaman, the largest completed Incan temple in Peru.

Mom at the zigzag walls - there are three parallel zigzag walls at this site.  There may be three because three is a sacred number to the Incans, but not sure why they are zigzag. This may symbolize one of the three sacred animals, the snake (the other two being the puma and the condor)

After this we went to Tambomachay, at 12,620ft, which is the Temple of the Water.  Relatively unimpressive, I think I took one photograph.

This is the point I called it quits.  Mom continued on to look at Kenko (the Temple of Mother Earth) while I napped in the van.

Later on she and I walked to the Plaza de Armas and saw La Basilica Catedral, which was large and very over-done.  Ate a late lunch in a cute organic restaurant called Greens that would fit in perfectly in San Francisco!  After some shopping headed back to the hotel, where we hung out in the bar for a bit before calling it a night.

Mom and her Chivas, me and my coca tea

9pm now and I still feel "off", hopefully tomorrow I will wake refreshed and ready to hit the Amazon at full force.

nite to all

Machu Picchu - Part 2

The most amazing part about today?  The fact that we were able to sleep until 9:30am.  And then after breakfast the first thing we did?  Buy Mom her birthday present :)

Lucky Mamoo, it  is so beautiful - silver with Peruvian weaving and turquoise beads

Back to Machu Picchu to hike the Sun Gate path - took us about two hours despite the hot, muggy, mosquito-laden weather.  Side note - we just found out that this year is the site's 100th anniversary!

View from the Sun Gate, with Machu Picchu in the background

After we trekked back to the main site it started to rain, so a couple more photos and we headed back down to Aguas Calientes.

Yes, that is a scarf on my head - stupid hair kept falling in my face haha

5:30pm take the Hiram Bingham train to Ollantaytambo, then a bus to Cusco where driver meets us for transport to our Cusco hotel (we arrive at 10:15pm).  The train was super luxurious, with drinks and dinner and live music.

That's it.  Short and sweet.  Nite!

Machu Picchu - Part 1

Bright and early hopped on the Peru Rail train to Aguas Calientes, located at the base of Machu Picchu.  Upon boarding saw our seats were on the less scenic side of the train... Ruben was a rock star and got us the money seats located in the very first row - with a huge window and unobstructed view of the train as it rolled forward.  It was like we were the conductors!

8:45am "The Great Moment has Arrived", as stated by the train announcer.  Disembarked and hopped on a bus to head straight up the mountain.  Spent the afternoon touring Machu Picchu - we lucked out with plenty of sun; at least that is what we thought until we started actually hiking the site haha  So hot and humid!  But it was breathtakingly beautiful, not sure my photos will be able to do it justice...

Glorious

Wayna (or Huayna or Young Peak) Picchu is the mountain in the background, and we will not be getting up at 3:30am to stand in line for two hours to be one of the 400 people a day that does the strictly vertical climb up.  HA.  But we did hike down into and around the site itself, and tomorrow will be going back to do a less psychotic hike to the Sun Gate.  After touring the ruins all we can say is that we are glad we were not a part of the construction crew ;)

After spending about three hours wandering about we had a delicious, well-deserved lunch and then headed to our fabulous eco-hotel.  Putzed about the local market for an hour or so and now in for the night - another day full of hiking tomorrow!

woot woot

more from yesterday

We posted a kind of incomplete blog about yesterday, due both to total exhaustion and birthday Pisco drinking, we are now going to continue with our report -

ummm... where were we...

Yesterday we drove all around the Sacred Valley, visiting various towns and archeological sites, with lots of interesting things to see along the road.

Like these 18 piglets - Nish would have been in heaven!

We stopped at a site in a town called Moray that looked like an amphitheater, however we shortly learned that it was an Incan agricultural experiment to see if circular terracing would produce greater results than the standard familiar stepped terracing.  No news yet on the results.

 the camera bag is freakin' heavy OY

From Moray we head to Maras to the Salt Works, where water from the Pacific Ocean flows underground for 630 miles to fill man-made pools on the side of a mountain.  Here the water evaporates, leaving the salt behind to be harvested.

 this isn't what evaporation is all about...

Rainbow flags abound so we asked Ruben, is there a lot of gay pride here in Peru?  His response - no, that is the flag of Cusco.  hmmm that makes more sense haha

Despite the rain we continued on to an amazing fortress/temple at Ollantaytambo - no photo here, you will have to trust us until we can share the cream of our photographic crop.  Even though the Incans worked on this site for over ninety years, it was never completed.

Back at the hotel around 5pm, we attended a Pisco tasting (not recommended) and then Mom got her second surprise of the evening (first being the flowers from Nish from the previous blog...)

big surprise points to Nish

The waiters sung "happy birthday" in both English and Spanish, and the cake was delicious!

Got to sleep around midnight, in great anticipation of our 4:30am wake-up call...

That's all we got for yesterday... now on to the magic of today :)

duh, why not photos?

In honor of Mom's birthday, and our brains back at 100%, we are going to start including photos in our posts - I can see you now jumping up and down in great anticipation!  The creative juices have started to slowly recirculate around our oxygen-deprived brains and I am feeling more confident about spicing this blog up a bit haha.  However, I do feel the need to say that we are only choosing photos to post from my idiot camera, so don't judge hahaha  Here it goes:

Mom and I first night in Lima, enjoying our Pisco cocktails at Astrid & Gaston - Fri. Jan. 14th

Enjoying life at the Monasterio de Santa Catalina - Mon. Jan. 17th

Feeding alfalfa to some very friendly alpacas... or are they llamas... no, alpacas... - Tues. Jan. 18th

Beautiful birthday bouquet from Nicole - Wed. Jan. 19th - Happy Bday Mamoo!!!

It is now 11pm and we have a 4:30am wake-up call and still have things to get done tonight.  The posting from today's full schedule of activities will have to wait until tomorrow.  Oooo the suspense :)

woot woot and night to all!

we enter the Sacred Valley

Another 5am wake-up call.  Tomorrow we don't have to get up until 7:30am and we are both so excited... funny to say that I am on vacation and thrilled to be able to sleep in until 7:30am hahaha

Anyway, hop a puddle-jumper to Cusco and meet our new guide Ruben who as it turns out is quite the international man of mystery, who promised to fill our days with salsa and chucacapra (umm yeah, I am confused too).  Our intrepid new leader shuffles us to our chariot and off we go on our drive to the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  Relatively well rested, headaches gone, sun shining the day is off to a promising start.  A few look-out stops here and there and we reach Awanacancha - a cameloid meet-and-greet and weaving center.  Got up close and personal with a few llamas and alpacas, while viewing the more wild vicunas and guanacos from afar, and then learned some interesting dying/weaving factoids that we will never apply in our personal lives.  We are now pretty much experts in the difference between the four native cameloids of Peru, and can tell you all about the parasites they use to dye the wool.  Just don't think about it too hard...  On the road again, a few more look-outs, and we reach Pisac where there is a ginormous maze of a market.  A little shopping under our belt, with solid bargaining skills on Mom's behalf, we leave wishing we had more than 45min. to explore the narrow market streets.  With so many beautiful llama and alpaca handmade products on display I have never lamented my allergy to wool as strongly.  Tried to convince myself the allergy did not exist and tried on a gorgeous sweater, but within ten seconds my body was rebelling.  Ok skin, you win this round.

Got to our hotel around 2pm - stunning and magnificent!  Hard to describe... small buildings covered in vines and flowers with narrow stone paths between, large expanses of verdant green lawn and ferns, located next to a rushing river and in a small valley next to looming volcanic mountains.  They even have the friendliest lawn ornaments you will ever meet - one llama (named Lila) and two baby alpaca siblings - female named Bianca and we christened the male Paco.  Had a well-deserved two hour lunch on the back patio listening to the birds and rushing sacred river, smelling the fragrant flowers, and watching Lila, Paco, and Bianca frolick about.

Spent the rest of the day wandering the grounds and taking it easy.  Glad we are spending two nights at this fabulous spot!

11pm, definitely far past our bedtime - good night :)

a momentary unrelated note

Ok, so I realize that I am not nearly as fun, entertaining, and witty a writer as Nish or Fartinski or Kevsters so without video or photos and even editing down the information I bet these posts can get a bit... (fill in the blank here) to read haha

This is where I ask you - what do YOU want to hear about?  What do you find interesting or want to know about the trip?  If you have any questions for us please leave a comment and let us know what you would like to read about :)

More details on what we are eating?  More, or less, description on the places we are visiting?  Specifics, such as the number of bottled waters mother is able to consume in a 24hr period?

Bring it on - you are the one reading these posts, let us know what you want to know :)

Back to Arequipa

So Mother and I made it out of the Colca Valley, but only barely.  I was feeling awesome last night and all was well only to have another crazy headache hit in the middle of the night.  BOO.  Then hazily checked clock at 7:30am only to realize alarm had not gone off and we were supposed to be meeting Zuley at 8am.  Jump out of bed cram stuff in suitcases shove bread in mouth and out the door.  Mom was feeling pretty good about the three hours of sleep she got, so we were off to a solid start.  Stopped at a few places along the road back to Arequipa, including a "wishing spot" with thousands of stone piles made by tourists, where there were 360 degree views of volcanos.  I thought about making a wishing stone pile myself, but we were at 16,108ft and I had trouble breathing while walking, nevermind gathering stones and carefully piling them together.  Saw some vizcachas, an interesting rodent that looks like a cross between a ground squirrel and a rabbit.  On the way into Arequipa got pulled over a couple times by the local policia... apparently they are totally corrupt and spend their days at these check points checking to see if people have both a driver's license and car insurance.  If they do not they don't get a ticket, they just have to pay off/bribe the officers.  The policia do nothing along the lines of traffic control, speeding tickets, etc. - their primary presence is at these outposts of corruption.

The coolest thing we did in Arequipa was go to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina - a convent which is a "city within a city".  Oh, as an aside Arequipa is called the "white city" due to the sillar volcanic ash used in construction of the building.  On that note, the convent buildings used to be this white ash color but in the 1980s it was deemed too bright and the walls were painted in very strong reds and blues.  Walked about Arequipa some more, checked out a few other cathedrals and churches, and then to the Museum of Andean Sanctuaries to see "Juanita".  As it turned out Juanita was not in residence so we were left with Saracita - one of fourteen other naturally preserved children found in Peru.  Note: they are not mummies!  These children were used in ritual sacrifice to appease the mountain gods.

Back to our hotel at 6pm, looking forward to a solid headache-free six-hour night sleep, gotta be up and running bright and early tomorrow (even too early for breakfast!) for our flight to Cuzco.

woot woot

Colca Valley

After last night's awful sleep and 5am wake-up full of fatigue and almost debilatating headaches we were both in a bit of a fog for today's sightseeing activities.  As a result, you will get a quick rundown but the details are momentarily lost in our fuzzy brains.  Hopefully the photos will jog our memories and prove as accurate documentation of the many towns we visited.  As a side note, I took some sinus/headache/nighttime meds when I woke up, and while this cured my altitude sickness it had the unfortunate yet not unexpected side-effect of completely knocking me out.  So while Mom was nonfunctional due to the altitude and fatigue, I was loopy on drugs.  We still got to see almost everything we were supposed to today, only missing out on one hike that clearly neither of us were up for.  The towns we visited are as follows:

Yanque - cute town with many locals dressed in their native, colorful garb, including decorated llams, children dancing, and women holding Andean eagles (on their arms, without gloves!)  You could take photos if you paid, so sadly I have no pics of this.  I could have paid, but felt kind of awkward about it, and prefer the more candid stuff anyway.  In hindsight, if we come across something like that again I will fork over the cash so as to share the experience with everyone else :)

Achoma - saw the largest hummingbird ever here, I swear it was the size of a gerbil

Condor Cross - an overlook located in Pinchollo (meaning "small penis) where we had the good luck of seeing one of Peru's fifty last remaining condors in flight.  12,461ft above sea level

Maca and Coporaque - two very similar small towns... common elements of each town is a fountain, a church, and a village square

Stopped for lunch back in Chivay where we had an extensive buffet - items included alpaca pesto, boiled guinea pig, fried trout, quinoa with cheese and milk, some sort of peruvian mango that looked like a cross between an apricot and whatever that small orange fruit from Israel was, and a delicious drink called chicha morada made of black corn, pineapple rind, lemon, cinnamon, and sugar.

Did more scenic driving and then back to hotel around 2pm for a much needed nap.

About 7pm now - left on the agenda is re-packing our mess of suitcases, dinner, shower, and maybe some 24.  Need to be up early again tomorrow for trip back to Arequipa.  My symptoms of altitude sickness are thankfully gone, wish Mom luck :)  Personally, I am looking forward to more chicken soup and coca tea for dinner ;)

woot woot

Catching Up

Howdy everyone!  Mother and I are feeling better so time for a bit of catch-up.

Yesterday when leaving Lima we found ourselves on the same flight to Arequipa as one of the eight presidential candidates - but there were eight smartly dressed men in the group so we don't actually have any idea which one was "the one".  Albeit to say when landed in Arequipa our flight was greeted with flag-waving, music-playing, cheering supporters as well as automatic weapon-carrying soldiers.  Quite the spectacle, at first we weren't sure if it was a parade or a protest!  We met our new guide, Zuley, a charming young woman and started the drive to Chivay.  During this ride we got to try the coca leaves.  Quite the experience hahaha.  You start by taking a generous handful of the large, dry, green leaves and arranging them in a neat stack.  Next, break off any stems and roll the stack into a cylindrical ball.  Now, stick that ball in the right or left side of your cheek.  Note:  Do NOT move the ball from left to right side of your mouth as this will cause it to break down and not only will it lessen the effects of the leaves but it will be really gross (Mother made this mistake!)  Anyway so now you are chewing and chewing and feel sort of like a cow.  The leaves taste a little earthy/grassy, but yet similar to green tea.  After you have chewed it soft you then take a tiny bit of this gray chalky material called lliqta.  Lliqta is made of ash, clay, lime, salt, and anise.  Zuley said that it usually tastes salty, but ours tasted sweet which was actually kind of nice.  You chew this whole concoction for about thirty minutes until the wonderful moment when you can just spit the whole green cud-looking wad out.  There is one side effect that neither Zuley nor Mom got, but that I did - the side of my mouth where I was chewing the coca leaves went completely numb, and stayed that way for about twenty minutes after spitting the wad out.  Fun times.

This day was expected to be our roughest day, in the sense that we were passing through the highest elevation of 16,108ft and we were a little concerned about altitude sickness.  However, we were both fine during the car ride, not counting lips and fingernails turning purple HA  Arrive in Chivay around 2:30pm, quick nap, and then meet up with Zuley again at 3:30pm for a walking tour of the town.  Everything was fine until we attempted to trek up a small hill.  Mom's heart started racing and the blood was pounding in our heads.  Now keep in mind, when I say "small hill" I literally mean like a mound of dirt.  It was less steep than one of the hills in Nish's "secret park" in Miami, and for the skiers out there it was smaller than a bunny hill.  I mean I know I am not in shape but this was ridiculous.  Not until that moment did we feel the effects of the altitude, but after my attempt to run up the trail it was all downhill from there.  Blood thumping, hearts pounding slowly turned into lightheadedness and increasing headache which lasted the rest of the day and all through the night.  As a side note, we had dinner at the hotel and probably the best chicken soup of my life.  In bed by 8:30pm, we had to be up at 5am today, but we probably got a total of only two solid hours of sleep due to headaches.

This post has gotten long, so I will start a new one to report on today's excursions into the towns of Colca Valley.

WOOT WOOT

oy the headache

I had the full intention of writing a full post re: today's fun and factoids but alas, I feel like my body is jello and my brain is thumping.  Thought the altitude had not affected me, I did chew the coca leaves after all, until I tried trekking up a mountain.  Now at 8pm Mother and I are calling it quits and heading to bed, maybe sleep will ease the odd fatigue-feeling from being at 16,000+ feet.  Mom has her cache of misc. drugs, so depending on how we feel tomorrow we may delve into that jackpot.  Of course, I will let her be the guinea pig (but not the kind we had for dinner last night hahaha)

Hopefully tomorrow will be back at 100% and can post something a wee bit more interesting, as of now it hurts to concentrate on spelling.  Until next time...

The End of the Video

Hello one and all.  So I have tried and tried in vain to get the video blog posts working, but to no avail.  As a result, if you are interested in hearing what we are up to you will have to settle for boring old text posts ;) Well, hopefully the posts aren't boring hahah

And as we are now a day behind, I will start with yesterday -
The first thing we did, after landing in Lima at 5:30am, was head straight to the hotel and take a five hour nap, waking in time to take a stroll, grab some lunch, and meet up with our Lima guide, Minuska, at 2pm.  We did a bunch of interesting sightseeing, with my highlight being some creepy ass catacombs at the Saint Franciscan Monastery filled with femurs and skulls - unfortunately no photos allowed or I would share the creepatcular with you all.  For the family reading this, Mom and I did indeed randomly run into Jane and Jerry at one of the museums!  Talk about small world...  Dinner at Astrid&Gaston, a restaurant which served foamy, small-plated, pretentious yet delicious cuisine.  We ate your guinea pig.  Yes, the lovable rodents many Americans have as pets.  We ate it and the crispy skin was mouth-watering ;)
Interesting Factoid - cab drivers in Lima can charge whatever they want, so if they see you and your Rolex expect to pay more

Today's post will come shortly...