emily in peru

We survived the Inca Trail. It was amazing. I don´t have the time to write about it just yet or to upload photos, but I will. The train from Aguas Calientes leaves in an hour for Cuzco. Lisa and I fly to Lima tomorrow and then catch our red eye back to the states friday night. We should be back in MN saturday evening after a nice long layover in Atlanta. Once at home with cable internet I will upload the rest of the pictures and write about the last week of my stay here in Peru. 9 weeks flew by. See everyone soon.... read more

Here are more pictures of lake titicaca the Bolivian side, border crossing and Copacabana.... read more

There are few words that can accuratly describe the jungle, but I will do my best. To start off with its hot. Not only is it ridiculously hot, it is also unbearably humid. The entire day from sunrise to sunset you spend sweating, you are always sweating. We arrived in Puerto Maldonado around 11 am where we met our guides and ditched most of our luggage before the hour bus ride with no air conditioning to the river town Inferno or Hell town. (side note: The town was settled by people immigrating from the highlands. They found the weather so unbearable that they names their settlement Hell. I think it fits) We took a boat down the Tambopata river 2 hours from Hell to our lodge. The lodge itself was georgous. Each hut was covered with ... read more

Another cold cloudy day in Lima. I don´t think I have seen the sky once since I have been here, only clouds. We did quite a bit of exploring the city yesterday and came to the conclusion that Lima has the feel of a Euopean city despite the fog and areas of extreme poverty. A guided tour of the city brought us around central Lima and Mira Flores. We began at El parque de amor or the park of love which was created in the image of the park in Barcelona. It was beautiful on top of a cliff overlooking the pacific. Mosaic tiled walls of poems lined the walkways and a large staue titled The Kiss was in the center. From the park we drove through the wealthy neighborhood where many of the ambasadors live. ... read more

After quite sometime I´m back. Sorry everyone. Between the site being down and traveling I haven´t had much time to update. There are some entrys that have been lost and I will try to recover them someday when I have time, probably back in the states. As for now I am in Lima, the grand city of Lima. Ok, actually its not that grand at all. The city is always over cast and filled with smog and the traffic is unbelievable. With this out of the way though its not really a bad city, just large and loud. We arrived here in Lima this morning around 8 am and made it to Mira Flores around 10 to start our backpacking adventure. First let me give a quick over view of the previous weekend and week to ... read more

Slow weeks continue here in Ayacucho. There have been strong rumors circulating through the clinics that the stikes will be over by next week. We all know better than to hope but its hard not to. There were talks in lima this past weekend and things are looking good so maybe these rumors might come true. Last week ended slowly. We went to a campaign in a neighborhood further down in the valley, unfortunatly for us there was no general doctor so there was nothing for us to do. We helped translate a poster from english to spanish for the veteranarian about zoonic diseases but that was it. The weekend was slow and quiet and the four of us who stayed in the house enjoyed the quiet. Sometimes you forget how loud living in a house ... read more

Paracas might just be one of my favorite towns in Peru so far. It is extreamly small, the entire town in settled along the water front along a board walk. Unfortunatly it is also very touristy so gringos appear in every direction and the resaurants tend to cater to more american appetites. After a wonderful dinner sunday night on the boardwalk we settled into our hostal for bed. Yes, the pillow was lumpy but the bed was fine and I got a good nights sleep for the first time on the trip. We awoke early in the morning and headed next door for yet another breakfast of rolls and instant coffee. From breakfast we loaded in to the van for the short drive to the docks where we boarded our little boat to tour the ... read more