We survived the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu was beautiful! While I wish I could say it went over like a breeze, I would be lying - the Inca Trail is a long, hard climb! Fortunately, we had really good weather despite it being the wet season as we only got rained on once for about 15 minutes on the third day. The weather did change drastically though between night and day with it falling almost to zero in the evening and getting very hot during the day. My nose and forehead are badly burned, blistered and peeling due to me not bringing my hat on the trail - big mistake! We booked our Inca Trail/Machu Picchu trip through ´Peru Treks´ and they were fantastic! While it was very expensive (roughly $500 USD/person not including breakfast ... read more

We arrived in Arequipa at 7am on Nov. 30th and checked into the ´Hostal Su Majestad´. It is a really nice hostel and we couldn´t believe we got our room for half the normal price - must be because it is low season. The city was appealing to us however we were unable to see anything other than the Plaza de Armas because Braeden was sick in bed the whole first day and me the second day - we figure it was the change in altitude that did us in. Fortunately we had booked our trip to the Colca Canyon for our 3rd day so were feeling much better by the time we had to board the bus. *Correction from last blog: The Colca Canyon is not the largest canyon in the world. According to the ... read more

We arrived in Huacachina, Peru on the 25th following a short 5 hour bus ride. Huacachina is a very small town (approx. 200 ppl) just outside of Ica and is the place where tourists come to sand board and dune buggy (the town is literally surrounded by sand dunes). We did just that on our 2nd day here and it was so much fun! Braeden learned that it is much easier (and faster) to go down on your stomach as opposed to standing up - apparently sand boarding and snowboarding aren´t as similar as one would think. Dune buggying was crazy and our driver made my stomach hit my throat a couple times throughout the 2 hour trip. Fortunately there was only 4 of us so we were able to get in more boarding than those ... read more

Sunny Mancora is not the place you want to get sick, just ask Braeden. He has unfortunately been sick for almost the entire time we have been here and has been trapped in the room for days. We believe he got a bacterial infection from the bloody hamburger he ate (he knew better but decided to try it anyway) as he has been sick since that meal 5 days ago. Even his prescribed dose of Cipro wasn´t strong enough to cure it so today I went on a mission to find something that would work. Unfortunately, there are no English-speaking doctors in Mancora but I did manage to find a Spanish-speaking Scottish man who acted as my translator at the medical center and pharmacy. We now have 2 different types of pills that he is on ... read more

We are still here in Montañita and unfortunately the weather has not changed. We have not seen sunshine the whole week or so we have been here and there has been more or less a constant light drizzle of rain that is enough to get you damp and keep you that way. Braeden has enjoyed surfing every day despite the cool temperature but I have yet to get into a bathing suit. If you´re not a surfer and can´t lay out on the beach, there really isn´t that much to do around here. For this reason, I´m pretty sure we will be moving on to Peru on Monday. Mancora is supposed to be beautiful with sunny weather all year round (more like the beach weather I´ve been hoping for). I believe Matt will be coming along ... read more