Peru to Bolivia

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this is without spell check and was written a blistering speed so please excuse the numerous errors.

We just watched the sunset over Lake Titicaca, colors painted rapidly before our eyes. New shades with every sip of beer. It´s our second sunset here, and our second in Bolivia. And we are enjoying being on top of the world. Although, we have felt this high (13000+ ft) at least for the past few weeks....

After leaving Cusco and the excitement of the Inca Trail we headed way down to sea level; Lima. We spent a few days enjoying the city and the oxygen. But it was a little weird to be in a big city again. We toured the San Francisco church and saw huge old catacombs! We walked through a museum where tortures were held during the inquisition. We walked along the Pacific for a few hours and explored several cool parks. Two days was enough big city for us and we headed north to the Cordilla Blanca region, of snow-capped Andes, glacial lakes, gigantic cacti and towering eucalyptus.

We started in Huarez, a pretty big town, as we made our arangements to trek the Santa Cruz trail. It´s a four to five day trip that starts in a little town, casapampa, and travels into the high and mysterious lands of peru. the trail reaches its max and ours at 15760 breath taking ft. the hike was one for the ages as it lead us through a granite lined valley with towering snowcapped peaks creasting overhead. On one day we must of have walked past 12 peaks that were over 18,000 ft. it is tough to describe the sheer agony and joy of seeing such heights....as we walked to the pass surrounded by one of the best views anyone could imagine, we found ourselves struggling through each step, the next being harder then than the last. As you go up your mind goes down, it is like you can watch your IQ points spinning out of your ears as you push your heavy feet for one more step. I (meaning ben) have always thought of myself as the type to climb the highest peaks but after this experience, I have no idea how anyone is capable of going to top of everst and others. After a lot of grit, a little blood, some tears, and a lot of happy smiles we completed our hike at the town of vaquiera.

the town of vaquiera is 2 houses. Two.
We got there with the expectation of more but so it goes so we settled in and waited with some new found New Zealand friends from the trail and wait for a combi.

Combi: a small van, usually a toyota or VW, that has been remodeled (old seats ripped out, new bleechers put in) to allow greater capacity for shared and lower cost travel. most often used to travel along incredibly dangerous roads at absurd speeds, loaded down with items of both travel and farmer alike. some items include: live sheep, other people, backpacks, beverages, fruit, and other native staples. Comforatbly seats 10 usual capacity is 24!!!!!!

we caught ours and indeed it was loaded with live sheep on top. this van loaded with 22 people, sheep, numerous bags and blaring awful music via one back corner speaker that was blown out about 8 years ago was off. we went up to 5000 meters and then as we slowly crawled over the top we were blessed with an amazing view of glaciers and two bright blue lakes. then we looked further down the hill to see one of the most insane roads of all time...to top of the danger there was a smashed up bus that had gone of the edge two weeks before and killed everyone!! it was a chilling 2 hours down but fairly uneventful, minus the sheep, other vehicals, seeing the bus destroyed up close, and each turn feeling like it could be the end.

we spent the night in haurez playing bar olympics(foosball, pool, chess, ping-pong) with our NZ friends and then the next moring a bus for lima to arequipa to puno...

more to come

hope all is well.

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Photos

the bones
this is where they bury people who cant afford the cemetary.