CUSCO WEEK

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hey all! this is our first official blog of our time spent traveling in peru. we are only traveling for 2 weeks, and more than one has already gone by. so much has happened since then, so i´ll do my best to relate it to you. this entry will only be of the first week, the cusco week, just to space things out properly
we left la merced by a night bus, which was probably the best decision of both of our lives. most. comfortable. seats. ever. slept the whole way. anyway, we arrived in lima bright and early (actually it was still dark- we arrived at 4:30). we just chilled in a main plaza for a while before getting breakfast and looking around a few churches. we saw catacombes in one, which was very interesting. for lunch, we met up with lovely victoria, who is our companion on our journey. after a particularely delicious arroz a la cubana (dynamite rice), we flew to cusco.
we didnt really do anyhting of intrest for the next few days, except discover the wonderful world of the menu. menus are cheap, cheap meals consisting usually of a soup course, a main course, a drink, and if we are lucky, desert. most menus cost about 3$ canadian. i love peru.
other than that, we wandered around the main plaza of cusco, shopped in the small artesian stores of san blas, and visited many ruins, including sacsaywaman. and yes, thats pronounced ¨sexy woman.¨ but really, we're just flattered they noticed.
on thursday, we left for our trek, once again at an obscenely early time. the first day was a trip to the hot springs of lares, and then an afternoon of walking up, and up, and up. at this point, we were high in the andes, and the views were spectacular, not that i saw much of them. most of the time was spent looking at our feet as we tried to catch our breath. the highest point we reached that day was 4800m. at this point, you might be thinking ¨my goodness, kristina must be getting fit after all that icecream i read about her eating in the jungle.¨ not so, my friends- we had a personal chef for the 3 of us and our guide, and we ate massive meals. Our breakfasts consisted of four courses, including pancakes, fruit, bread, AND oatmeal. anyway, my point is, we spent the rest of the walking part of the trek going (rolling) downhill, which was significantly easier. this part of the trek was completed with little difficulty, except for the occasional blister the size of a contanent, and various tropical bug bites. we passed many children on the way, and we brought pencils and pencil crayons along to give to them. it made me miss the little ones at coto coto and inabif.
in the afternoon of the third treking day, we visited the ruins of ollantaytambo, which was an absolutely huge incan settlement, partly destroyed by the spanish. by the end of this trip, we will all be able to identify incan arcatecture from 100 m away.
ok, so the last day was machu picchu. we arrived in time to see the sun rise over the mountains, and took some excelent pictures, if we do say so ourselves. i actually wasnt to impressed with machu picchu. the arcitecture at ollantaytambo was more exact, while sacsaywaman was more impressive in terms of size. but it wasnt destroyed, untouched by the spanish, so it was very interesting to see a complete incan settlement.
after our trek, we loitered around cusco, and by extreme guile and sneakyness, we managed to get into a museum through the back door and not pay. (actually, the gardener left the door open for the hose and we accidentaly wandered in, but dont tell anyone that).
our last day in cusco, andrea and i decided to do something wild and crazy and fun and a once-in-a-lifetime oportunity, so we went paragliding! tandem paragliding of course, so all i did was run a bit off of a hillside, then sit and enjoy until we landed. it was one of the most peaceful things i have ever experienced, just sitting and watching the countryside below, hearing only the wind.
anyway, now we're in arequipa and partying it up beside the deepest canion in the world. i'll see you all in 4 days!!!!

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Comments

[Inga Rinne]

Paragliding! I'm so proud of you!