Blogs from Cusco, Cusco, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 72

After a 22 hour bus journey from Lima, we eventually arrived in Cusco (the worst part of the trip was having to watch a Jennifer Lopez movie)! After checking into a nice hostal in the middle of the city, we set out to explore the ultimate "gringo hangout". The central square (Plaza de Armas), has a much more interesting name in Quechuan; The Place of Tears (interesting, since the name pre-dates the arrival on the Spanish). Despite its name, the square was a great place to have lunch and watch the world go by. img= http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v252/145/67/223401787/n223401787_6227052_7355.jpg center ´Place of Tears´- looks quite happy to me. Cusco was the former capital of the Inca Empire (it literally means “navel” in Quechuan) and everywhere you walk you can see Inca stonework used as foundations for modern day buildings. ... read more

Rachel and I have just finished hiking the Inca Trail for 4 days to reach Machu Picchu. It was an incredible experience, and we are exhausted. We will update on our fabulous adventures when we have more energy. Here is a public link to our photos on my facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90740&l=721fe&id=511315650 Love you! Becky ... read more

It's all part of the experience Where do I even start? The past few days have been a whirlwind of great, terrible, amazing, and eye-opening experiences. We'll start with the bad news...Unfortunately, the night before leaving for Sacred Valley, I got very, very sick. It was one of the worst feelings I have ever experienced in my life, but fortunately it passed very quickly. The doctor arrived to the house soon after everyone left for the Sacred Valley and did some tests. Turns out I had fallen victim to several severities of Salmonella and I had a parasite...lovely eh? I was very fortunate to get better rather than worse, so I didn't have to go to the hospital, but there have been two other team members who have had to endured the hospital here. Everyone ... read more

Another night in our Puno hotel, all was quiet except for our security whistlers outside. We felt so pathetic about not taking anything to the kids that we decided to go back to the tour operator and see whether they could somehow get some books and stuff to the kids for us. Easier said than done. Observing siesta time means that they were shut from 1 until 3:30, which is when we were due to get a bus to Cusco. We bought some stuff and only realised this after going there the third time to be met with a bolted door. The shop across the way was open so after explaining our situation and writing a swift note to the tour operator, we left the stuff in good faith that the computer shop people would pass ... read more

Een tijd sinds mijn laatste update, maar ik had niet zo veel zin om aan het thuisfront te moeten berichten dat ik ziek was. 1e week, volgens mijn dokter salmonella, maar tenminste geen parasiet (wat de gouden combi is waar iedereen hier aan lijd). Braaf mijn pilletjes geslikt en het een weekje rustig aangedaan. 2e week, oeps! Toch geen salmonella, maar een bacterie en toch parasieten (dat krijg je nou als je meteen braaf naar de dokter gaat. Dan gokken ze maar wat, omdat het op de tests nog niet zo goed te zien is). Deze keer werd ik van mijn medicijnen flink ziek, wat dus inhield dat ik na drie daagjes weer aan het werk al weer kon stoppen. 3e week, de hele nacht overgegeven. Oh de bacteries reageert niet op de antibiotica. Blijf maar ... read more