These are not necessarily in the order listed in the title, but man yesterday and today’s travel ran the list of these. When I initially booked my tickets, using my miles, I didn’t realize that I was scheduled to fly home early Wed, not late Wed. All I saw was Wednesday and I assumed it was an overnight flight. As I went online the next morning to cancel the tickets and rebook, I was given a new option that flew out of the airport closest to my home, and put me in First Class and Business First on the way down to Lima. Heck yeah. Good! Of course the flight was full, but it was comfortable enough. We hadn’t even pushed back from the gate when I felt my nose assaulted and my hair starting to ... read more

The end is coming. I can smell it. I can feel the hustle and bustle of the Lima airport stalking me from 160 miles away. I walk quickly, looking over my shoulder to make sure it can't touch me, and realize the only sure way to beat it back is by going out and having copious amounts of fun to spite it. So, that becomes the plan for Ica. My Cruz del Sur bus took longer than I thought. I have no idea where I got the idea that it would only take a half hour. In that scenario it was perfect. I would leave Nazca at 11:30, arrive here around noon, have lunch and head off to explore. I reality, I missed lunch entirely, arrived to a blisteringly hot, crowded, madhouse of a city. I'm ... read more

The overnight bus ride from Arequipa to Nazca was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. The seats were comfortable and reclined. The bad part is that when the person in front of me reclined all the way back, it crunched my knees so much that I couldn't sit with my knees forward. I used positions such as hanging over the armrest into the aisle, or propping my foot on the back of his armrest. One thing I thought was odd was that the driver videotaped each passenger while saying what seat number that person was in. I have no idea what that was all about. We left Arequipa at 9:30 and arrived in Nazca around 7. Although I was not able to check into the hotel until 2, they let me stash my luggage ... read more

I am hoping that the blog title will have captured your interest, because this was an absolutely amazing 2 day tour. For all of the internal freak outs I have had on this trip, my overnight trip to the Colca Canyon was absolutely postcard perfect. Pick up was at 7:30 yesterday morning. When the guide told me that it was a small group, I didn’t expect that it would be only 1 other person on the trip, and he was on a 3 day tour, so today I was the only person on the tour. For someone who doesn’t like crowds, this was an unexpected surprise. Both the guide and the driver were incredibly friendly and helpful. I swear, that driver had eyes like a hawk. He could spot a chinchilla resting on rocks beside the ... read more

Today started at 4:30 AM. My hike up Wayna Picchu, also spelled Huayna Picchu, was to start between 7 and 8 AM. They allow 200 people up in that time slot and 200 people up in another slot. I was determined to get up there before the rain. I had a quick breakfast in the hotel and was at the bus stop by 5:20. Heck, I was so early that I was on the 3rd bus up the hill. As we ascended the hill, the sun started coming up and it looked like a nice day. By the time we were waiting for the park to open at 6, it was beautiful. I bolted through the gate like the gazelle that some of my coworkers know so well. Off I went up the steep stone steps, ... read more