The Land of Backpackers, Alpaca & Adventures

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We are in Cuzco, Peru now and it is WAY better than Lima. It is a pretty cool little town that is in a very scenic valley up in the Andes. Unlike Lima, which seemed to be filled with wealthier travellers looking to go shopping, Cuzco is full of young backpackers looking for an adventure. It is a pretty neat little city with steep hills, coblestone roads, old Spanish cathedrals, and scenic views. However, Cuzco doesn't really seem like a place that people come to hang out at as much as it is a hub to plan an andventure. There are literally hundreds of tour guides here in the city offering anything from plush jungle lodge stays to white water rafting adventures. We hung out in the city today, mainly just wandering around and exploring. We took pictures with llamas and ate alpaca for dinner. We really had no idea what we were ordering and the only word we recognized was alpaca. Mine was just like a very tough steak, but it was tasty. Hesam ended up getting the deep fried alpaca tendons and joints or something though. Needless to say, his was a lot less tasty. Either way, at least we can now both say we've eaten alpaca.

While here, Hesam and I have two things that we want to do. We definitely have to visit Machu Picchu since it is one of the most famous landmarks in South America. Also, we want to visit the nearby Manu National Park which is a pristine jungle full of caimen, toucans, capybara, jaguars, monkeys, and countless other jungle creatures. Today we visited a handfull of tour agencies that offer multiday trips into the Manu Park. Many of them were expensive, and seemed way too dull for what we are looking for. However, at about the fourth place we checked out, we found a winner. We booked a 4 day, 3 night trek into the jungle. It has only one night in a lodge with the other two camping out in the jungle. We're going to have 7 to 8 hour hikes to get to our campsites with 4 other young people and a guide. The trek leaves tomorrow at 6AM and since we booked it so last minute, we got a great deal. We paid only half the price of what the others paid. We're not really sure what to expect, but we're excited nonetheless. We hope that it's an adventure.

Either way, we are not going to have any internet access for at least the next 4 days so there won't be any new blog entires for a bit. We'll let you know how it went when we get back!

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Comments

[Eric Pearson]

I'll have the Alpaca burger
How is all that college Spanish treating you? You ordered Alpaca tendons for dinner? Have a great time in the Amazon tell Hesam that a bowl full of Piranah eyeballs will go perfect with the Alpaca.

[Scott]

Cool blog, I like the pics! Dude Brian I barely recognize you with short hair and no stache, haha. Have fun in South America guys. PS The fish tank was a nightmare to move.