Day 6- Aguas Calientes - Ollantaytambo - Cuzco, Peru

We got up bright and early as usual today, got our backpacks ready, and walked across the bouncy bridge over the river to the train station. It was a very stress free ordeal, and even though I was sick a lot during my time in Aguas Calientes I think I will miss it a little because something about the constant running water and not having cars just really relaxed me. We then got on the lovely scenic train ride back to the little town of Ollantaytambo. When we arrived, many of the passengers from the train started running up the hill towards the bus station area. When we got up there John and I realized it's because the buses get full very quickly, so if you want to save money on transportation you have to be one of the first to get there. The bus we had originally taken in to the city was already full, so we wandered around for a while unsure of what to do. A man approached us and offered us a private cab ride back into the city of Cuzco. It wasn't too outrageous of a price, so we agreed. We sat in the cab (with no seatbelts, of course. None of the cars there ever seem to have them) ready to go, and then our driver asked me if it was alright if a friend of his rode into town with us too. Random. So, all cozy in the cab we headed on the route to Cuzco. We drove over cobble stoned streets for a while (bumpy!!), then we got out into the more rural mountaintop areas. We drove past many interesting things, and it was unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was more so the "real Peru" than anything we'd seen the last few days of being in tourist towns. We passed families out farming with their children, and I wondered things like where they went to school, where they go when they need a doctor, where they get clean water from etc. because it is a very remote area. It just makes you realize how much you have and take for granted as an American when you see any sort of poverty. The drive was beautiful though, and the altitude was definitely getting to me. I started getting my first of what would be many random headaches during the trip. Finally, we arrived back into Cuzco. I was glad because our cab driver was listening to a radio station the entire time of the same little girl singing multiple whiny mournful love songs with a man yelling things in Spanish in the background like "sing it girl!". It was a bit odd.

Cuzco. 11,000 feet above sea level, and man you can tell! If you aren't used to high altitude like me, you will be out of breath after about 1 minute of walking. The city is very historic and is the ancient land of the Incan rulers and has many ruins still standing. The main part of the city has the central Plaza de Armas with the 600 year old Catholic churches, modern day restaurants, fountains, shops, and vendors. Most of the buildings are colorful and seem to have orange terra-cotta or adobe style roofs. I think the city is beautiful! There may not be too much to do, but it is nice to look at! The first thing we did in Cuzco was take a cab to our hostel, Pirwa Colonial, located in the Plaza San Francisco (about 2 blocks away from the main square). It is situated next to a 500 year old church and is a renovated old colonial building with an open air courtyard. It has two stories and the second floor has a lounge area with pool tables, free internet, and a restaurant and bar that were buzzing with activity in preparation for the big New Years Eve party. I was feeling better, but when John and I set out to get lunch I was still too nauseous to eat anything besides a candy bar. John had a coworker who had been to Cuzco before and taken a photo of a little restaurant that she said had amazing empanadas. John printed this photo, and by coincidence the hostel woman recognized it, and we found it easily! John was thrilled of course, and since it was a local place it was very very affordable. John had about 4 empanadas and an Inka Cola for probably 2$ US. I just sat and observed him eating, willing my stomach to stop being so mean.

Our first stop for the day was the Qorikancha ruins. We walked up a hill and on the way up saw a group of local girls wearing brightly colored traditional style clothing. One of them was even carrying a lamb. It seemed so cute and natural that I made John take a stalker photo. Then, one of the girls ran up to me and started chatting with me in Spanish. It was then, we realized, that they were only dressed like this so that tourists would take pictures with them and then they could get money for posing. This girl asked if I wanted a picture, so I figured "sure I'll just give her 1 sole and it'll be fine." We stood there for the photo then instantly the 4 other girls, baby, and extra lamb jumped in the photo too. I gave the girl I talked to a sole, and then the bad stuff went down. Those girls were mean, rude little you-know-whats! The girl whined to me that the sole "was not enough". I told her all she had to do was stand there, so that should be plenty. Then she said the other girls wanted money, and she wanted more since she was the one who talked to me first. Demanding!! I kept walking up the hill but they followed me, pestering me and all sticking their hands out in my face trying to block me in. I pulled out all the change I had in my pocket which was only 5 more soles, and I tried to hand it to the original girl. However, one of her other friends snatched it out of my hand and ran away! She then yelled at me that she should get more, and I scolded her back saying that 6 soles was more than enough and that it wasn't my fault her friend left and wasn't going to split the money evenly. The other girls eventually gave up following me and after the main girl asked if John had any money I finally just yelled at her and said "that is all I have, it is plenty, go yell at your friends who aren't sharing, it's not my problem." I was getting very irritated and flustered at this point, and she was still following me. I then just totally ignored all the whiny, annoying, rude things she was saying until we got to the entrance of the ruins. I was relieved to get her out of my sight. They all seemed so cute and innocent at first with their little lambs and babies but no, they are fierce! The only plus side of this is it's a good story and I probably spoke Spanish more rapidly than I ever had before because I was put on the spot so much. Good practice. If you read this and go to Cuzco, avoid those deceiving little lamb girls!!

Anyways, the Qorikancha ruins are really just stones now, and these form the base of the current colonial church and convent of Santo Domingo. It was once the richest temple in the Incan empire, but all that remains of it today is the original stonework and some carvings of Incan gods. In the Inca times the place was literally covered with gold, but within months of the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors the incredible place was looted to just the stone base. The Spanish wanted to oppress the local people and "put them in their place" and so constructed a church on top of the Incan ruins as a way to dishonor and desecrate the Incan gods and religion. Through putting their Catholic church on top of the site, they successfully disrespected the local people's beliefs and heritage. How kind of them! (in the photo the stones at the bottom are the Incan ones) John and I walked around and since we had no map we were confused about where to go. We heard a man giving an English tour and so, assuming it was a complimentary tour, joined in. We learned a lot about the history and saw most of the church, colonial artwork, and Incan walls. Then, the man asked us if we were in his group, and we said "no..." and then he basically told us he was a tour guide for a company, so we just awkwardly ran away. We ended up finding someone with a map, which they just forgot to give us, and once we had that we were fine. We explored the garden area and overlook of the city, and it was very beautiful. The next thing included in our ticket was entry to the nearby Convento de Santa Clara. We walked down some alley where John was pestered by a man to buy his un-original artwork. When we arrived, the interior was very dark and empty. Although there were a lot of interesting artwork and artifacts, it was a little creepy because they had wax mannequins of the nuns acting out the activities or duties they used to do, and they looked like they were going to start moving or talking at any minute!

After that, we headed back towards the main Plaza de Armas. It was a very exciting place to be since everything was bustling with activity in preparation for New Years Eve. In Peru, everyone wears yellow and decorates with yellow for the holiday. There were yellow balloons, banners, confetti, and children selling yellow necklaces and hats everywhere! There were also many vendors selling fireworks, roman candles, and various other unsafe pyrotechnics. It was definitely an exciting atmosphere though! Since the main Catedral de Cusco was closed because they were decorating and setting up music in front of it for the fiesta that night, we decided to go inside and check out the other church of La Compañía de Jesús. From the exterior it is beautiful, and inside is even more impressive. It reminds me of most of the Gothic cathedrals in Europe, but much of the artwork had local people or natives painted in place of the traditional "white people" that appears in most religious art. According to the brochure the church was "originally begun in the late 16th century but was almost entirely demolished by the earthquake of 1650, rebuilt, and finally finished 18 years later. Like the main cathedral, La Compañía was also built over the site of an important ancient palace, that of the Inca Huayna Cápac, said to be the most beautiful of all the Inca rulers' palaces." Again, how nice of the oppressive Spanish people! We hired a very friendly guide for about 30 minutes and he explained the history and some of the artwork, then took us downstairs to see the catacombs (luckily I saw no creepy skulls like the one in Lima). Then, we walked up an extremely narrow and steep set of steps up towards the second story bell-tower area. It had a great view of the plaza, and made for some great photos.

Once we left the church I bought some yellow necklaces from a little girl so we could be festive for New Years Eve! We then returned to the hostel and gathered up our dirty laundry into a bag. We walked about 3 blocks up a hill from our hostel to the first place we saw advertising laundry. We gave the man our names and he told us to come back to pick it up tomorrow. At this point in the evening I was feeling the effects of the altitude, some dehydration, and my nausea, so I decided to stay in the room and take a nap. I felt so sick though that I just laid there listening to music and couldn't fall asleep at all. Luckily no one else was there to see me, because it would have been so embarrassing. John walked around the city for a few hours, enjoying the hype in the atmosphere, and found a good local place to eat dinner. I had looked forward to celebrating New Years Eve in Cuzco ever since we started planning this trip back in April, and I tried to make myself feel better so hard, but it didn't seem to be working.

When John came back around 10pm it had started raining, and he said the city was so alive and fun and that I absolutely had to go out for it. I started crying because I felt miserable, and honestly didn't have the strength to walk around unless I really forced it. I was feeling sorry for myself, hadn't eaten anything the whole day, and really what else would a girl do besides let a few tears loose in that situation? John talked me into standing up, and then I somehow put on all my yellow accessories and made myself presentable enough to take a photo holding the grapes he had bought from a local woman. It is tradition in Peru to eat 12 grapes at midnight, one for each month, for luck and prosperity during the coming year. We also put coins in the corner of the hostel room to have financial success in 2010. To get to the Plaza John basically just walked for me, holding up most of my weight. It was around 10:30 when we went so I could look around and see the gigantic party and crazy firework shoot-off it had already become. It began to rain harder so we came back to the hostel to wait until closer to midnight. We went up to the bar where the dance floor was hopping with some awesome salsa music, and John got himself a Cusqueña beer. We got some free party hats, and just enjoyed the festive atmosphere. I was sad I wasn't feeling better because I would have loved to have a drink and done some dancing. However, I was thankful to just be able to walk around.

Closer to midnight we headed down to the main square again. I made John stand with me underneath the balconies that line the plaza because I felt it would be slightly safer from all the random haphazard fireworks. There are no rules or restrictions on New Years Eve apparently because anyone and everyone were shooting off fireworks, roman candles, and various other explosives without any warning to the people nearby. You would look over and see a kid sticking their arm up in the middle of a crowd, with babies nearby even, and then shoot off a roman candle that was taller than they were! It was pretty entertaining actually, but you just had to be on guard. People were popping champagne bottles too and just drinking and dancing in the square. It was so crowded and lively though, I loved it! I was starting to feel slightly better too so I was definitely glad John dragged me down to the Plaza for it. To quote John's take on this: "Here we celebrated the coming of the New Year by wearing as much yellow as possible (even the dogs did), eating 12 grapes at midnight and running from children with 5ft long roman candles (yes, taller than the kids were). I didn't get any really good pictures that night because I feared for my limbs due to the high explosive content in the air".

The clock on the main cathedral got to 11:59, and then the countdown began, it was fun to yell out "DIEZ! NUEVE! .... FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!!", people went crazy at midnight and threw confetti which got everywhere, all over our hair and clothes, and John even got sprayed by someone's champagne! We celebrated the American tradition of a New Year's kiss (how cute) and then we each ate 12 grapes. Even though I thought I was going to get sick the whole night, I somehow digested the grapes. Miracle! Then, the people in the center of the square began running the traditional 4 laps around the plaza. It was a crazy group, and it was fun to watch. Back at the hostel, things were hopping. I went to bed early but the bar party was going on with the loud Spanish music bass booming til about 4am or so. Despite being sick, New Years Eve in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco was a crazy, insane, fun experience that I will definitely remember the rest of my life. CLICK to watch someone else's video of their experience in the Plaza!

Day 5- Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu, Peru

Around 4:15am I was awake and preparing for the day. I didn't sleep very much last night due to being miserably ill, but my excitement for what was ahead gave me energy to get up and deal with it. I took some of the medicine I had bought, and that made me feel surprisingly better. This was great, because if I was sick for Machu Picchu my anger and disappointment could not be completely expressed. Once we got our backpacks ready John and I walked to the bus stop. We expected that since it was before dawn and since the site didn't even open until 5 am that there would not be much of a crowd, but oh how wrong we were. There was a gigantic line waiting for the buses! It didn't take all that long actually, and before I knew it we were heading on a very narrow uphill zig-zag road toward the site. I kept being paranoid that the bus would veer off track and we'd tumble down the cliffs to our imminent death, but all was good. The sun had finally risen and then we arrived! I was so so excited!

Now, as a side note, before this trip I had heard about Machu Picchu in history classes in school, and seen photos in National Geographic. I had always been fascinated by it and had wanted to go ever since I was a kid. So, for me, this was sort of the realization of a life dream. It was the main reason I wanted to go to Peru in the first place, and the driving factor behind me working all summer to save money and convincing John to join me on this trip. I thought it was internationally famous, but shockingly several people I talked to had never heard of it before! If you are one of these sheltered people, Machu Picchu is a famous Incan ruin and is located 8,000 feet up a windy mountain road. You can get to it via the Inca trail, however we didn't want to spend the 3 days hiking it. To quote John, "Machu Picchu is also extremely popular and has grown in popularity massively after being named one of the wonders of the world." It is often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas" because it was unknown to the outside world until an American historian named Hiram Bingham "re-discovered" it in 1911 and began researching and excavating the site. The Incas started building it around 1430 but it was abandoned a hundred years later around the time that the Spanish conquistadors came and started wreaking havoc, spreading diseases, and basically oppressing the people of South America. Since the Spanish didn't plunder it, it is still very well preserved and to this day is considered a sacred place. According to my brochure, "Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the "Temple of the Sun", and the "Room of the Three Windows". It is also interesting to note that many religious celebrations occurred here, and that child sacrifice was practiced as a part of the Incan beliefs.

Once we arrived we waited in another line to get entry into the site, and once we handed over our tickets we were instantly bombarded with requests to go on this or that tour with this tour guide, etc. Somehow a young woman named Yrene convinced John and I that we should hire her as our personal tour guide for 2 hours. Her price wasn't bad, and since the site didn't provide many brochures or maps even, we figured we might as well. Huffing and puffing from the altitude (well, only I was feeling its effects- John is lucky) we climbed up many winding steps. We still couldn't see the city, so the anticipation was building. We turned one last corner and then suddenly, BAM! You could see it all, hiding up in the mountains, surrounded by clouds. (the photo shows our first view) It had a very surreal, almost eerie feel. My Spanish teacher had described it to me as "eerily magical", and I have to say I agree with that statement. It is hard to explain what it looks like and what it is like to be there without actually going, but in my opinion it was truly amazing. Our guide took us down towards the main city and we learned about its history, and saw some of the main structures. The way they stacked the different shaped stones to somehow form even walls was very interesting. We also learned that they were very advanced technologically, especially for living in such an isolated, remote location. They had several buildings made to worship nature and the sun, and on the summer solstice the sun shines directly in the center of the "Temple of the Sun" (the circular building in the photo). They also had running water going through the whole village, and the step looking things on the grass are terraces for farming. They did this partially to avoid landslides, and also to be able to do agricultural experiments by testing different crops. It wasn't very crowded during the morning, and so we were able to do a lap around most of the site, and take many amazing photos. I was in awe from all of the stunning views, and it was really neat to try to imagine what it was like to have lived there during its prime. It's also interesting to think about how and why the civilization ended. It was likely from disease wiping out most of the town, but there are some conspiracy theories about it too. John also asked Yrene about climbing up one of the mountains called Huayna Picchu, but sadly other tourists had already taken up all the slots to hike it for the day. It was alright though, because the views were still amazing. We understood Yrene's English most of the time, and so we did learn a decent amount from her. It was definitely worth it to hire her, especially since she led us around the potentially confusing and maze-like design of the place. Once our tour ended, John and I had some breakfast near the entrance, and by this point in the day (around 9am) it had gotten very crowded. Our first photo we took has almost no people in it, but if we tried to take the same thing again later it would have been cluttered with tourists. We decided to do a second lap around the site, and explore more in depth. This involved some dodging and avoiding maneuvers of tour groups, (which we were happy to not be in) but once we broke free of crowds it was all good.

We walked around some of the homes, and saw the temple of the condor (stones shaped like a bird) and a tomb where the Incan priests were buried. John touched some stone that supposedly gave you the sun's energy, and at one point I slipped and fell down a couple of steps, scratching the screen on my camera. I wasn't that upset about it though since I am normally clumsy, and at least it's a cool story when people ask what happened to my camera! As we explored we got to see one stunning view after another. In a way, it is indescribable. We ended up going higher up the mountain toward the guard's hut, and it was there that we found the population of llamas! We got some good photos of them and then laid out John's poncho on some grass and sat down to just rest up and take in the sight. It started getting really crowded after that, and then it began to rain. I was very glad about my purchase of a yellow rain coat at that point! The clouds were more or less blocking most of the views, so we were definitely lucky to have arrived when we did because otherwise we would have missed out on the initial clear view we had. Once we decided we had taken all the photos we wanted and had seen Machu Picchu to my satisfaction, we took the bus back into town. I was very happy with our visit- it was everything I had ever hoped it would be, and more! It was amazing and something I will always remember. Plus, John got the most classic photo of a llama ever. It looks so confused, it completes my life:

Once we were back in good old Aguas Calientes we decided to get lunch. After the usual attack of menus in your face we ended up at some generic tourist place, again. There isn't much variety though. It is odd because even though the workers are so exceedingly pushy and desperate for your business, once you sit down, they more or less forget about you. You have to flag them down and fight to make eye contact so that you can order, then your food takes forever, and then they disappear until you can hunt them down to get your check. It was actually humorous to me in a weird way though. This restaurant took especially long, and so John and I played a whole game of chess waiting for our food. It was also funny because someone ordered a pizza, and then watched the server run the pizza across the street, and then run it back later. I guess their oven wasn't working? I was so happy I was feeling better though and that I had been able to eat food.

After lunch we did some more shopping in town. I had my eye on a colorful woven blanket at the craft market, and so I asked the old woman vendor the price. It was a bit too high for my liking so I said no thanks. She protested and lowered the price slightly, but I ignored her and we continued on. About fifteen minutes later after I had bought some other items I turned a corner and the old woman was there again! She had been following me with the blanket, and basically handed it to me and stated a price about 15 soles less than her first offer. I could tell she was really desperate for my business, and since it wasn't a bad price I gave in. It was just funny to me that she stalked me that far! We also stopped by a less-touristy fruit market where John began his hunt for custard apples. Sadly, no one had any. After that John and I hung out in the hostel and did some writing until dinner time.

I guess that since I had gone most of the day without feeling too sick, my illness was angry at me for ignoring it, and so decided to strike back. I ordered pizza at dinner, and as soon as it was set in front of me the smell of the cheese made me feel queasy. I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat it, and so without taking so much as a single bite I had to sacrifice it to John. I was pretty upset that my sickness had come back, and so we went to one of the pharmacies so I could stock up on the gravol for the rest of the trip. The woman at the pharmacy randomly told me that the place I bought my drugs at the day before was a bad place and that their pills were "contraband", and since hers weren't she was going to charge me more money. I don't care if they are contraband or not because they were the exact same thing, so I returned to the original store and bought more! Take that! At about 9pm it was bed time for me, and I was so happy about it. It was a long day for sure. I fell asleep to the sounds of children loudly playing and yelling on the street.

Day 4- Lima-Ollantaytambo-Aguas Calientes, Peru

The morning began bright and early, or should I say dark and early, at 4am. I had slept decently although the hostel guests were serenaded by some street cats getting into a huge hissy fight around 3am. It was actually pretty hilarious to listen to. Anyways, our cab showed up and we had a surprisingly calm ride to the airport. Unfortunately, my illness was back with a vengeance! Poor John had to wait in all the airport lines while I ran off "mysteriously" for 2 minute spans. After paying the random "airport tax" we got onto a very tiny baby plane and I sat next to a Canadian couple. I talked to the guy, and he told me he had been in South America for 3 weeks already, and gave me some advice about the rainforest. Basically I bought those shoes in Lima unnecessarily because most companies give you boots for hiking since it is "rainy season" currently, a.k.a. summer, in South America. I felt pretty sick the majority of the plane ride, so I had to give my free food away to John. During the flight we saw our first glimpse of the Andes mountains, and then we arrived in Cuzco/Cusco (In Spanish it is spelled with the "s" but for some reason English speakers are too cool for "s" and so we use a "z"?).

We got our luggage, and took an over-priced cab from the airport to some alleyway that was also the location of the bus company we needed. After the workers chucked our luggage onto the roof of the little bus we set off on our journey! John and I were the only tourists on this bus, which he of course loved. The drive ended up being incredibly scenic as we drove higher and higher into the mountains. We got to see a lot of local small towns and some really beautiful Andean landscape. Since I was feeling queasy I thought the driver was going crazy fast and taking the turns a bit too hard, but John assured me that we were fine. After about 2 hours we arrived to a small mountain town called Ollantaytambo (between Cuzco & Machu Picchu on the above map). We got there much earlier than the time our train was departing, so we had about 3 hours to kill. Luckily I wasn't feeling it yet, but it was only inevitable before the soroche, or altitude sickness, would set in. We started out by eating breakfast. John had his beloved empanada and I successfully ate some bread and butter-I was pretty excited about it. We spent the rest of the time people-watching, taking photos, bartering, and playing a trivia game I brought. I bought Rachel a colorful woven purse from a really nice lady who also sold John this cowboy/Indiana-Jones style hat (you will see it in most of the future pictures since he fell in love with it!) We didn't have a place to put our backpacks so we had to carry them with us the whole time. This wasn't a problem until it started raining, but luckily we snagged a sheltered bench just in time. By the time our train was close to arriving the little street had gotten very crowded with tourists.

When the time came, we got on the train. For some reason the train is set up so that 2 seats face inwards towards 2 other seats. A Brazilian couple sat across from us and the man across from me wasn't exactly petite, so there wasn't really room for my legs. It was kind of awkward so I tried sitting sideways etc. After the train departed Ollanta the Brazilian woman suggested we switch seats, it was nice because now John and I could both see out the window. The train ride to the city of Aguas Calientes was really scenic, it followed the river, and being able to look up and see the Andes mountains and the surrounding landscape was great. We saw waterfalls, and some small local schools and homes too. It was a nice relaxing train ride, and definitely very beautiful. When we arrived into Aguas Calientes (the most touristy town in all of Peru) we looked for a person holding a sign with John's name on it. I saw a sign from Pirwa Backpackers that said "Jhon Weiold", and I thought "hmm that is pretty close to John's name.. Probably us." It indeed was. After we waited for them to rally up some more of us tourists we followed our hostel-person into the small town.

The town is centered around the Urubamba River, and it almost is like a semi-waterfall because it runs slowly downhill through the middle of the city. You can only access the city by train so the town has no cars or anything. The rushing water is fairly loud but it makes you feel relaxed and "away from it all" since you get to listen to the water instead of cars honking. To get to our hostel we had to cross a bouncy rope-bridge and walk uphill on cobblestone streets. Our hostel was a nice place right next to the river, so there was always the relaxing running water sound. After dropping off our backpacks we went out into town. Our first stop was the ticket office to buy our entry into Machu Picchu for tomorrow. It was the most expensive thing I've bought on the trip so far! After that we got in line for a bus ticket from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu. They only let you pay for this in US dollars randomly? We then spent some time shopping. They have a crazy amount of vendors and shops and open air markets selling anything and everything you could ever need in the souvenir department. The most repetitive items were things like vases, necklaces, sweaters, snow hats with llama designs on them, and colorful woven blankets, scarves, and purses. I bought a Peruvian style snow hat, some shot glasses, a magnet and postcards. For dinner we walked down the steep street that the majority of restaurants were on and within seconds we were swarmed! All the servers come out in the street shoving their menus in your face and telling you about free drinks, happy hour, their set menu, etc. It is a bit overwhelming and hard to choose with how pushy and desperate they are for you to eat at their restaurant. I never know how we end up deciding which place to eat at, but we ended up somewhere where I could eat a pizza, since I was craving one. I actually ate it but then once we left the restaurant I started feeling extremely sick. I convinced John to let me take a nap in the hostel while he went out and explored the less tourist-infested parts of the city.

When he came back I still wasn't feeling any better, but we had one thing left on our agenda- The natural hot springs! In English the name of the city Aguas Calientes means "hot waters", and so it was only natural that we should want to visit the source of its namesake. I was feeling very miserably sick and told John I didn't want to go, but he more or less forced me by saying I would always regret it if I didn't go, and that saying no wasn't an option! I agreed with this, and I somehow changed into a swimsuit and dragged myself up the hill to where the hot springs were. It was actually a neat walk because it was dark and with the running water it felt all mysterious and cool. When we got there we thought that the various pools would have different temperatures, but we realized they were all the same. We tried out a bunch and finally settled in and relaxed at one. I was hoping the water would calm me and make my intense nausea go away, but it had the reverse effect. I was sitting there relaxing, enjoying the hot water and then suddenly I jumped out and ran to a nearby isolated flower bush. Getting sick in public is not fun but is something I have to get used to for this trip apparently. I started pathetically crying because I was feeling both sorry for myself and guilty for ruining John's fun. After that incident we went back to the hostel and even though the international call was crazy expensive I caved and called my mom. She had been talking to some doctor friends about what I could do, and she gave me the spanish name of a strong anti nausea medicine. The doctor who told her the name frequently went to Peru on medical mission trips and said the drug was over the counter and very popular all over the country.

After I reviewed the page in my Spanish phrase book about medical symptoms, John and I went to find a pharmacy. We fought our way down the restaurant street and I am glad I knew how to say "we already ate", because it would have been a lot worse otherwise, haha. We arrived at a pharmacy and I, (be proud) in Spanish, explained my symptoms and told them what my US doctor had told me. The pharmacist said she had never heard of this supposedly popular drug, but recommended something else called "gravol" that I could take every 8 hours. We went to another pharmacy to see if they had heard of the meds I was supposed to find, but they also did not know what it was. It was frustrating for sure, but I ended up trusting their judgement and, after price comparing, went back to the first place and bought the gravol. I didn't really feel any difference after taking it, but I could at least keep down water. I had a miserable time falling asleep because I felt extremely nauseous and had really bad cold chills almost the whole night. I just kept praying that I would be okay for the next day because tomorrow was Machu Picchu! It has been my life dream to go there for years and I did not want to let some stupid illness ruin the experience for me!

Day 3- Lima, Peru

Today started out with a quick photo shoot of the view we have from the street our hostel is on (in the below image), then we continued to walk into the streets of Barranco where we found a man wearing a yellow vest. Just hanging out in the middle of the street exchanging money with foreigners might seem odd, but it's his full time job. It was a little strange, but very convenient! With our sewn-in hidden pockets full of nuevo-soles, we were ready to begin the day. We took a cab to a place about 20 minutes away known as Huaca Pucllana. This place is a location full of ancient pyramid-like structures from 200-700 AD, and is right in the middle of the city. It "features walls of adobe bricks, built in a bookshelf fashion, which were found to be earthquake resistant. It was constructed by the pre-Incan peoples of the Miraflores district in Lima as a ceremonial site. Today it is an active archaeological site." Shockingly it wasn't a landmark or anything special until about 50 years ago when the government decided to kick out all the poor people who lived on it and turn it into a national historic sight. When we got there in the blazing sunlight we were happily greeted by our tour guide. He was a very sociable guy and we learned a lot about the history of the place. We learned that they used the structures primarily for religious reasons, and they had found remnants of child sacrifices there! Crazy stuff. They also stacked the bricks vertically instead of horizontally, which is how it has lasted through the many earthquakes Lima has. When you climb to the top of the structures you can see the ocean and the surrounding mountains, so it also made for a great view of Lima in general. While we were there construction workers were there too rebuilding parts of the sight since all of the bricks are just made out of sun-dried clay.We also learned that in their society, women were the leaders. When our guide said this I nodded my head thinking it was awesome and said "that's right", and then he continued to say that despite this, most of the human sacrifices were women. John of course made some snarky comment and the guide thought we were hilarious. I guess he gets a little bored with his job, but I'm glad we could entertain. Anyways after we looked around the pyramids and at the creepy mannequins for a while we went to a little farm area and I saw my first llama of South America! We also saw a little hut full of guinea pigs getting plumped up to be someone's dinner someday. After the tour finished we perused the gift shop and got some much needed water.

We then took a quick cab ride to the next location we had highlighted in our Lonely Planet guide book, which was a place to shop and barter known as El Mercado de Los Indios. We walked around the numerous open air shops, perusing the Peruvian souvenir goods for the first time. I was impressed by how inexpensive and colorful everything was- though it was a little annoying to have the workers constantly following you around and pressing you to buy their products. (I later realized that only in more tourist cities are the workers this obnoxious.) It was probably more beneficial to the workers who weren't paying attention because I was more likely to stay at their stand longer if I didn't feel pressured. I ended up buying a ceramic vase item for Danielle, as well as a Christmas ornament. John got a traditional brightly colored woven blanket. I didn't have my usual buyers remorse that tends to happen to me when shopping because we paid in Peruvian soles- definitely a plus! After we wore ourselves out from shopping it was time for lunch. We were in the fun, beautiful, and more artistic area of the city known as Miraflores, but unfortunately no food places were to be found for several blocks. Luckily, we stumbled upon a tourist info stand where the nice lady kindly informed us of a street to go to that had many food choices. When we got to the very decorative and colorful street we were instantly targeted as tourists (thanks to our pale skin and backpacks, haha) and so the pushy waiters were running out into the streets with their menus, trying to convince us that their place was the best choice. One man was extremely pushy, possibly the most pushy waiter we experienced on the whole trip (and trust me, we experienced many), but unfortunately his restaurant seemed to have the best menu and prices, so even though it hurt our pride to give in to his annoying ways, we sat down there to have lunch. We didn't make it very far down the street, haha. John kindly ate there for my sake, since it was an Italian place, even though he disapproved of its status as a "tourist restaurant". He dealt with it though because after being so sick yesterday I needed some substantial food! During our meal a man came by playing three instruments at once, and John of course used his crazy zoom lens on his amazing camera and got some choice candids. (The photo on the right is the view from our table)

After a nice and relaxing lunch we went out to hail a cab. (This process of "cab hunting" was a new experience for me that day, but it would later become a very frequent occurrence- You go up to drivers and say "how much would it cost to go to ___"?, scope out their price, and compare. If you don't feel like actually comparing you can just lie and tell the cab driver that the other driver close by was going to do it for 5 soles less, and then they will usually jump down to your price and comply. However, you do have to know how to speak decent Spanish for this to happen!) We then took this oh-so-craftily hailed cab to a more distant location, Parque de Las Leyendas Zoo, which allowed us to take a long and scenic oceanside drive. I had a 30 second chat in Spanish with our cab driver about sand dredging, which made me happy because I actually understood him. Once we arrived John and I realized that we were the only tourists (white people) around. It was a neat feeling though because we felt like we were finally in the "real Lima" or something. Admission to the zoo was inexpensive, and we walked around for a long time and saw many different animals. One thing I noticed is that the big cats weren't necessarily contained all that well, and they were crazy close! It made for good photo taking, but it was somewhat scary. We witnessed a bear sitting in a hilarious pose eating a banana randomly, and also some jaguars get into a little tiff. I was impressed with all the monkeys there and how active they were being, and also with the fact that I could get within 4 feet of a huge Bengal tiger. John and I also had fun attempting to pick out good candy from the vending machine- we had never heard of a single one of the brands before.

After we had our fill of being in the heat we got another cab to take back to the main Plaza de Armas. Since it was rush hour the cab ride took an eternity. Our driver took a different route than the one we took to get there and we went through some somewhat sketchy parts of the city. Thanks to the paranoia instilled in me by the pessimistic guidebooks I harbored a slight fear that we were being taken to a remote location where we would then be mugged and abandoned. But, that of course was not the case! It was just a usual crazy, jilting, terrifying cab ride! Once back at the plaza we went shoe shopping for me since John thought it'd be a good idea for me to buy shoes I didn't care about ruining for the rainforest trip. After having semi-confusing discussions about shoe types and sizes with the workers (I am a size 39 apparently), I ended up getting some brown gym shoes. John then went outside and bought an empanada, and since we were tired we took another scary, near death experience cab ride back to the hostel. We stocked up on more cash from our in-room locker and then at dusk we went to an ocean view mirador (lookout) that we had noticed from the balcony of our hostel. The walk there was very scenic and we got some good pictures, and the mirador itself was very pretty at that time of night. We then had a quick dinner at a local place, and returned to the hostel where I arranged for us to have a cab pick us up at 4am the next morning. Ugh! I hadn't been feeling sick all day luckily, but for some reason I started feeling nauseous again before we went to bed. Also our hostel had a little bar in the common area, and so John got a Cusqueno beer- and now, sleep!

Day 2- Lima, Peru

Today I woke up far too early and put on the same sweaty, smelly clothes from yesterday. I also had leftover makeup on, and my face broke out but I didn't have concealer with me. Strands of my hair were also suspiciously crunchy. Let's just say, I looked incredibly attractive! Our hostel luckily provides free breakfast, so I dragged my nauseous self downstairs. During the time it took John to be able to eat 3 pieces of bread, a banana, and drink a cup of tea I managed to eat 3/4 of one banana. It was a struggle to even do that. I had to mentally will myself not to get sick. I also then realized that it was crazy hot, and humid. So, with that wonderful start to the trip John and I set out. We walked around the streets and shops in the Barranco area, and exchanged some US dollars into Peruvian nuevo-soles. It was very exciting to give the money changer man $100 of something and then get $280 in return. I love it! After the morning stroll we went down these stone steps across the street from our hostel. The steps led us to a bridge which then led us to the beach! The ocean here has almost no waves, and the beach consisted of large stones instead of the usual sand. It wasn't conducive to being barefoot, so my first time touching the Pacific ocean was actually just me dipping my hand in, but I was excited nonetheless. Once we walked back up the steps, John bought some nuts from a local vendor. We then went back to the hostel and I asked our worker Carmen if she could call us a cab. She then informed me our luggage would be arriving around noon- yayy!! But wow American Airlines, 12 hours behind our arrival into the city- way to go! While waiting for the cab we hung out in the hostel's lobby and got into a conversation with a British ex-pat about the rain forest and horseback riding in Cuzco. Then the cab came and took us to the Plaza de Armas- Lima's main square. It was an amazing place- It has many brightly colored colonial style buildings, fountains, gardens, restaurants, street vendors, and huge cathedrals. Since it is summer down here everything is green and vibrant too. I had no idea what to expect of Lima really, and it is a far more beautiful city than I realized. We went into the Catedral de Santo Domingo during Sunday mass, and it is crazy to think that Francisco Pizarro (the Spanish conquistador) founded this church when he came over to oppress the local people back in the 15th century. It is also the oldest church in the entire country of Peru! After that we wandered over to the yellow colored Monasterio de San Francisco- a home for monks in the 16th century. We bought tickets and went on a tour. It started out normal, typical, looking at paintings and ornate ceilings. Then we went down these narrow steps into the dark catacombs- the ones in Rome have nothing on these! Without any forewarning you go underground and then suddenly BAM! Bones. Bones everywhere! So many real, human bones. That place HAS to be haunted! I noticed that all the bones were in huge piles but separated by body part. For example, we'd see a mass pile of legs, then a stack of skulls. Some skulls still had teeth and chunks of hair. One had a jaw open like it was in pain and screaming. Graphic. I wonder if they separated the bones after they were bones or while they were still... fresh? Who knows!

After that interesting venture we went to a nearby park, Parque de La Muralla. It was alongside the Rimac river and the reggaeton song "Calle Ocho" was blaring by this festival area full of inflatables and rides for kids. The park had some of the ancient pre-Incan city walls on site, and a restaurant full of Asian tourists. Beyond that though, John and I were the only gringos to be seen. The park had an excellent view of these houses on a nearby hillside- it was very colorful. When we were exiting the park a local man randomly walked up to us asking us where we were from, and introduced himself with a big smile and just said "Bienvenidos a Peru!" The Lonely Planet travel guide book made me paranoid that this was the scenario where he was distracting us with conversation while his friend was pickpocketing us. However, John and I had locks on our backpacks, so even though I glanced behind me I had no need to worry. It was actually a nice feeling to know that unlike French people, the Peruvians don't harbor bitterness towards tourists.

Lunch time! John led us to a place near the plaza (of course it was full of locals since John picked it, and as such was a sign it had decent food) called Restaurante Machu Picchu. I ordered us an appetizer of cancha, or partially popped Peruvian popcorn, mmm! John got some Inka Cola- a locally made soda which outsells Coca Cola in Peru each year (Coca Cola was mad about this and so bought them out) and tastes kind of like bubblegum, very sugary. For my meal I ordered chaufa de pollo, a very tasty dish of rice, eggs and chicken stirred together in a tasty sauce. So good. The first meal I'd had in about 24 hours was bound to be good though! As for John, well, he decided to go all out and ordered cuy picante- also known as roasted guinea pig! It was served in a shape that you could still tell where its cute little face was, and its tiny paws too! After lunch I had my first experience with public restrooms in South America- even though you pay to use the restroom, more often than not there is no toilet paper, soap, or flusher, and you cannot flush the toilet paper anyway. This of course is conducive to pleasant odors and even better personal hygiene! Oh well, I came prepared for this. Anyways, we left the restaurant and walked around the busy streets looking in on a few tourist shops. The majority have the same thing for sale over and over, and most of the workers were hovering and pushy, but they did have some really neat items. I got a scarf with a llama design on it and also a little mini llama statue. Plenty of practice asking "cuanto cuesta?"

Next we wandered over to this shopping area by the river known as Jirion de La Union. It has street vendors and fruit stands- so John bought a mango. There was also a festival of some sort going on and so the park was full of people, food, and live music. I love the music here, very upbeat and lively! Also for less than 1$ I bought chocolate covered strawberries on a skewer and John got a local dessert recommended by our guidebook called suspiro limeño (as seen in the photo). We then went on a hunt for Saint Rose of Lima's birthplace, all for the sake of my mom, and ended up in a sketchy area of the city. When we found it, it was closed, but I got some photos anyways. On our later unsuccessful search for the Museum of the Spanish Inquisition we were hassled by some 6 year old girls who really wanted a sole. By this point in the day we had walked close to 10 miles and were exhausted. After negating the idea of going to an art museum and a mirador (lookout) on a hilltop in a poor area of Lima we decided to hop in a cab and say adios to central Lima.

We were dropped off at a very pretty park called Parque de La Reserva, it really should have just been called "Fountain Park" or something though because there were close to 15 huge and unique fountains there. It was easy to get some neat photos, and John took some of me walking through this canopy of water. Some of the fountains coordinated to music, and apparently at twilight one of them has a laser light show. Tons of kids were there at the park playing in some of the fountains- a fun way to beat the heat. I noticed here for the first time that many of the older women still dress in the traditional Andean clothing style- a flat wide brim bowler hat with dark pigtail braids, and a full woven skirt with colorful stockings and flats.

Once John and I had our fill of seeing moving water we cabbed it back to Barranco. We freshened up, were reunited with our backpacks, and I showered and decided to blow dry my hair. Somehow when I pulled it out of the wall I ended up getting electrically shocked. It scared me so much I started crying, and my arm felt weird for a little bit. Despite that, feeling clean and refreshed inspired us to set out at sunset for a lap around the area. The main square at Barranco has many street vendors and John got a locally popular pisco sour alcoholic drink for us. I also bought Matt an alpaca (llama) woven bracelet and my mom a Peruvian Nativity. It is a little odd to see Christmas trees, nativity sets and Feliz Navidad everywhere since it's so warm and palm-tree filled here. It's crazy to think Santa came to my house in Kentucky only two days ago! So for dinner, John and I decided to go down to the beach walk again. A woman approached us and told me we could get free pisco sours if we ate at her restaurant. We agreed (I'm holding it in the photo). The restaurant was called Toto's oddly and was on a balcony which overlooked a narrow, stone street which led down to the ocean. Salsa music was playing in the background, and it was a great atmosphere. For dinner John ate seafood- some octopus thing with creyfish and something with shells which I would never eat. I got aji de gallina, a local dish of chicken and potatoes smothered in a decent tasting cheesy sauce with rice all over it. Once our meal was done and we had gone through the usual South American custom of hunting down your server and trying very hard to make eye contact in order to say nos trae la cuenta por favor (bring us the check please), we strolled hand-in-hand around town (how cute). Now we are both back at the hostel being nerds and writing in our journals. My feet are sore and I'm absolutely beat! We have no AC so the windows are wide open and I must say you can hear everything happening outside! Should be interesting.

Day 1-Lima, Peru

(I am typing these after the events actually happened- I am copying down what I wrote in my journal and adding photos)

I can't believe I'm finally here! After about 7 months of some serious planning, preparation, and money spending, John and I are finally here in South America! Our flight left the US out of Miami yesterday morning, and it was not off to the best start. As usual I had my irritating stomach acid problem that loves to pop up whenever I travel, and so within the few hours we waited at the airport before our flight left I got sick multiple times- figures. I even took medicine ahead of time hoping to prevent it, but it still happened to me of course. Anyways, the flight from Miami into Lima, Peru wasn't too bad, it was just extremely cold. I was feeling less nauseous and could actually keep food down though.

Once we landed and went through customs John and I were saddened to find that while we made it to Lima, our luggage did not (as a side note, my backpack only weighed 27 pounds! Be proud of my light packing skills!). We had to fill out some papers, and I was sad because my makeup and fresh clothing wouldn't see me for about 12 more hours. After that ordeal we scoured the airport for a man holding up a sign with John's name it. We finally found this man, named Jon (pronounced "yon") ironically, and followed him out to his car. He drove us, along with two Chilean boys, to the Barranco's Backpackers hostel. The drive to the hostel from the airport was about 30 minutes, and I felt my life was threatened about 25 times. People in Lima are crazy, insane drivers! Worse than in Rome even- and I thought that was bad! No rules basically. Blinkers- Why bother? Lanes- Why did they even paint them? Speed limits and stopping at stop signs are just unnecessary. Large buses almost merged onto our tiny car several times. I was more or less cringing the majority of the drive. To distract myself, I had a fairly decent conversation with Jon in Spanish, asking him questions about Lima. Compared to the last time I was in a Spanish speaking country (2.5 years ago) my abilities at conversing have increased, and I could definitely notice a difference in my confidence and ease when it comes to speaking Spanish- it was nice! It made me feel like all those hours of Spanish classes and papers were somewhat worth it!

We finally arrived and checked into our hostel around 11:30PM. I had been feeling better but I guess the car ride made me feel a little off again unfortunately. Another problem was that John had nothing to put his contacts in since our luggage was still in Miami. So, we ventured out into the Barranco neighborhood of Lima on a Saturday night. This area of town is notorious for its party time night life, and I can definitely see why! The streets were packed with people drinking and going from one discoteca to the other, loud reggaeton music was blaring- much to John's dismay (although I really love that type of music!). We found a small restaurant still open, and John had a quick Peruvian dinner. I, on the other hand, proceeded to get sick again. Twice. On the streets of Lima. Luckily I didn't stand out too much since there were many other people doing the same thing as me, although likely for reasons involving alcohol! I don't think anyone else actually saw me besides poor John, but it was still embarrassing and kind of degrading. So, after that unfortunate incident I felt loads better and then successfully negotiated in Spanish to a worker at a pharmacy to get John contact solution, a case, and toothpaste. Finally, we returned to the hostel. I'd like to say I fell asleep immediately, but that is not the case. John passed out in his bed almost instantly. I however stayed up in mine until about 3am relieving my body of the contents I had eaten in the past day. I also had cold chills, likely due to dehydration, and so even though earlier I thought the no AC and heat was oppressive, I shivered in my little bed all night.