Well, Mike, I think you were right. Before we came to South America you mentioned Huaraz as one of your favorite, or perhaps your favorite, town on your trip. Huaraz looks to be my favorite place as well. We have spent a full 8 days here, significantly more than anywhere else, and it has been fantastic. Huaraz is a town of about 120,000 people, sitting at about 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) in elevation. It is bordered on the east side by the Cordillera Blanca, which has a plethora of 5,000+ meter tall mountains that are snow covered and glaciated year round. On the west are the Cordillera Negra which are not as high, but still impressive mountains. The Cordillera Blanca are encompassed by Huascaran National Park, which we explored quite a bit on our visit...although we ... read more

After a much faster cab ride back to the Civa bus terminal, at about 6:30 pm, we negotiated seats for the Civa affiliated Rodriguez bus to Huaraz. I thought the bus was at 8, but turns out it was at 9, so we had some time to kill. Fortunately there was a big soccer game going on and the TV in the terminal was surrounded by fans. We were only a few blocks from the soccer stadium and now regretted not asking the hostal about attending a soccer game. Big time bummer because we had even thought about asking and we definitely would have gone to the game. Apparently it was a big game. We have no idea who the teams were, but the team everybody was cheering for lost 1-0. Given the proximity to the ... read more

We arrived at Hostel Santa Catalina at about 7:30 in the morning. And this is something we have not really talked about, but is worth mentioning here. The check-in/check-out process/times for hostels is remarkable. You could never check in to a hotel in the US at 7:30 in the morning. It just is not an option. Santa Catalina, however, had a room pretty much ready to go for us. I am assuming the room had been occupied by people who went out on one of the early morning tours (read as early as 2:00 AM). The hostel setup was really nice with great views from the rooftop deck. We soaked those in before setting off on a self tour of the city. One of our Peru books had a short walking tour that highlighted the 18th ... read more

In attempt to get to Machu Picchu on the road less travelled we were also going to be traveling on the road less known. Most people get there by catching a bus from Cusco to Ollanytambo then catching a train to Aguas Caliente, which is the town at the base of MP. But to make the trip a little more adventerous (read: significantly cheaper) we decided to catch a bus from Cusco to Santa Maria, a collectivo from Santa Maria to Santa Theresa, another collectivo from Santa Theresa to Hydroelectrica, then walk along the train tracks 3 hours until Aguas Caliente. Was this going to work? I was hopeful and Matt seemed confident. There was little information on times and availbility of collectivos but our hostel host gave us some information and we joined forces with ... read more

Jungle jungle here we come! At 5am our tour guide, Marco, picked us up at Hostel Andrea to begin our trip to Parque National del Manu. Along with our 4 traveling companions we slept through the first 2 hours until arriving in the small town of Paucartambo. Marco, who we soon found holds an incredible amount of knowledge about everything in the area, gave us quick walking tour and explained the huge yearly Virgen del Carmen festival that now attracts thousands of tourists to the tiny town. People from all parts of the jungle and adjoining towns come for the ultimate dance-off and at the end the dancers get into a WWF style fighting competition until a victor prevails, usually a dude from Cusco. Perhaps Dancing with the Stars could add a new twist next season? ... read more