Fresh off a 4 day trek, destination Machu Picchu, there is plenty of story to be told... So Chris and I booked the mountain biking trek last Tuesday and we went shopping around agencies to find the cheapest price. It would probably be more accurate to say the agencies shopped for us considering hordes of Peruvians try and molest you about Machu Picchu information all the time. That might be the most annoying thing about this place, the shameless harassment...it really grinds my gears. Anyways, the cheapest we found was $160, but this more professional looking place was charging $170, so [View Full Entry]

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Ahh, what a road it's been for my poor travel companion Grant. Day 1 in Lima he started losing stuff and ever since then it's been all downhill. He got pretty disgustingly ill (it really was gross) not long after that, which went on strong for about 5 days. That was in Arequipa in what he dubbed "Arequipan Hell". We were so excited to leave Arequipa and head to Cuzco and our luck was looking up when we boarded our bus. Leather seats that reclined almost into bed position (semi-cama) and onboard food and service for half the price of the [View Full Entry]

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I have recently arrived back in Arequipa, fresh from a 2 day 1 night trek of Colca Cañon, the deepest canyon in the world. There is literally probably a thousand words I could use to describe the experience, but it´ll suffice to just say I went through a hurricane / rainbow / other various weather analogies - of emotions. We chose to do the 2 day 1 night trek instead of the 3 day because it seemed ideal to arrive back in Arequipa Thursday at 5 pm and take a 10 hour bus out to Cuzco that same night at 8:30 [View Full Entry]

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Not pretty, but a very real part of traveling, the loose stools are flowing plentifully for both Grant and I. Let me start at the beginning... We took the economic bus to Arequipa, a 16 hour journey on a bus with no bathroom and 1 stop. Let it also be known that the 1 stop was at around 2 am and I´m like 95% sure it was at a dogfighting arena. They did have a movie selection though, it was a horror movie and when they started it it was at volume level infinite and the rather gruesome depiction of a [View Full Entry]

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Oh Lima, what a city...it really grows on you, sort of like an underappreciated mole. I had resolved the city was mainly just a sespool of smog and crazy drivers. It is in fact a sespool of that, plus some beautiful views and plazas and people. We hopped on some buses into the center of Lima and ended up in the shantytowns accidentally which was scary as hell. The plaza mayor though, once we arrived proved to be quite nice, with literally about 200 police and assault vehicles because of El Cumbre that happened today. We ended up meeting some colorful [View Full Entry]

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I am now in Lima, but I´m about ready to die. Took a Greyhound bus out of Raleigh at 10:30 pm to Richmond, VA for $50. For some odd reason they didn´t let us get on our transfer bus to Washington DC, so we had to wait around for an hour and a half before catching the 2nd bus to the middle of DC. Let it be known to never travel Greyhound, it is the worst - smelly, rude, disorganized, intimidating are all words to describe Greyhound. Anyways once in DC, we decided to take a 50 minute taxi to Dulles [View Full Entry]

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Not Quite Ready So I decided to officially start packing today, and I realized how unprepared I am. Still have yellow fever vaccinations and malaria pills I need to get, no travelers checks yet, and the list goes on. I think Grant and I have decided we're going to Greyhound it up to DC to catch our flight though, and since the bus leaves at 10:30 at night, no lodging costs - sweet. However I did just get some fly overpriced gear from REI, including these ex officio boxers that supposedly last weeks before you need to wash them. This [View Full Entry]

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