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5/21 We left Kansas City and flew to Lima via Houston. The flight to Lima wasn't too long and painful. Peru makes you fill out 3 different documents with a lot of questions and then an additional health document. I felt like I was applying for Pervuian citizenship. After going through customs and immigration we were supposed to meet our tour guide outside of customs. We entered the Lima airport with about 100 signs waiting for a pickup - none of which held our names. We waited for about 30 mintues and then started looking around for our names again. After about an hour we found our tour guide who was actually waiting for us for an hour. I guessed we missed our sign. I felt really bad for them waiting for so long, but we tipped them well to make up for it. We took a private shuttle to our hotel and fell fast asleep.
5/22 The next morning we woke up and took a private 4 hour tour of Lima. Lima has over 9 million people in the city and I was actually really impressed. The weather was tropical and warm, the buildings were very nice considering the
overcrowding. We toured some churchs, some parks and some old inca ruins. After our quick tour we headed to the Lima airport where we were whisked away to Cusco, Peru.
We arrived at Cusco around 4 pm. Cusco sits at 11,000 ft and I quickly realized that this Louisiana boy cannot handle altitude. I was light headed just walking to the baggage claim. We were greeted with another tour guide at the airport and shuttled to our hotel. As soon as I get to the hotel, they had Coca tea waiting for us which is supposed to help with the altitude. I had 4 cups and still could not shake my heaving breathing and drugged up feeling. We did not leave the hotel that night to explore mainly because I thought I was going to pass out. Our hotel does not have elevators and climbing stairs was killing me. After a complete night of insomina, I was ready to explore the city.
5/23 Our tour guide met us at 9 am to explore Cusco. I quickly found out that Coca tea has more caffine in one small glass than 2 large cups of coffee. I think that explains
the insomnia the night before. We explored some churches, muesumes and a few ruins around town. Just simple walking up stairs or paths give me a pounding headache and I was very short of breath. I know Im out of shape but this was getting out of hand, not to mention embarrassing. Luckily Megan, Carrie and Kim were having the same trouble. The ruins were pretty amazing and those Incas were smart little people. We had the afternoon/evening free and we explored the city. We met Patty and Stu for dinner in search for guinea pig (knows around here as Cuy). We could not find any resutarant that had it - it had to be special ordered the day before. I did, however, eat Alpaca on 2 different occasions and it was pretty good - tasted like a pork chop.
5/24 Our tour guide met us at 8 am to go to Pisac. We hiked up a large hill (I consider a large moutain, but to the locals it is a small hill). I was getting better at the alitutude and I did not feel like I was going to pass out. The hike was amazing but scary in
some parts. If we slipped we would have plummeted down quite a bit. After Pisac, we had lunch in the market and headed to another town called Ollytotamba. We explored a large Inca ruin there for a few hours and then headed to the train to trek it to Agus Calientes. We checked into our hotel, had dinner, a few beers, went back to the hotel played cards and went to sleep quickly.
5/25 Our tour guide met us in the lobby at 5 30 am to go to Macchu Picchu. We waited for about 20 minutes and boarded a bus which drove us to entry point. We got to the site right before the sun rise and got to see the sun rise above the moutains. It was one of most amazing things I have seen in my life. I was so moved by the city and moutain. If you ever have the chance, you must go to experience this city. None of the pictures do it justice. We stayed in Macchu Picchu for about 5 hours. We explored all of the different rooms and temples. Megan and I hiked up the moutain to this lost Inca bridge. The walk was a little scary and a little steep. We left Macchu Picchu, had lunch in Agus Caleintes and started back to Cusco. After a 4 our trek via train - bus - van we arrived back in our original hotel in Cusco. We just had dinner and now off to bed.
A few things about Peru: do not drink the water, although I slipped a few times and brushed my teeth with it (so far so good). You cannot flush toilet paper down the toilet you have to throw it away in the trash can. (what the hell is that about). They eat guinea pig (could not find) and alpaca (actually pretty good). DO NOT DRINK COCA TEA AFTER 5 PM (I learned that the hard way). Train at home before climbing Inca ruins in high altitude (I suggest doing a stairmaster for 5 straight minutes while holding your breath).
Tomorrow we are off to Chile for 4 days of wine tours. My body needs it after 4 straight days of climbing moutains (ok......fine, hills)
Jason
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Christine Korth
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Hello
Jason, Great blog. I am glad you guys are having great weather. Here in KC it is about 65 degrees and rains off and on. My question is who is on the llama? Is it Kim or Carrie?