Hey everyone. Haven´t written in a while, here´s a bit of an update...
katie, ari and I spent 2ish weeks in cusco doing a spanish school and living witha host family. Overall I enjoyed it, although all of us were happy to get out of the big city and explore more rural areas. We went to Machu Picchu on a 4 day trek that was biking and hiking and some hot springs, lot of fun, met a cool Australian couple. MP had tons of tourists, but I loooovved it and would like to go back again some day. i feel like i didnt even begin to comprehend it. Ari was the toughest one of us all, she was sick the first day of hiking and got terrible blisters but was a total trooper. we also visited some smaller towns in the sacred valley, like Pisac and Ollantaytanbo, which have spectacular ruins and mountains and artesania.
Then we went to Arequipa, in southern peru, which is the country´s biggest city. We did a 3 day hike through colca canyon, which was also very spectacular, relaxing. the women wear really beautiful elaborate clothing, unique to the region. didnt spend much time in the city.
then we bussed it down to Nazca, and saw the nazca lines, very mysterious and cool. we went in a tiny plane which was fun.oh and katie got her camera and other stuff stolen on the night bus from cuzco to arequipa, which is a big bummer. watch your bags on the night buses! ps.. cuzco´s original name in quechua is q´osqo. It means center of the earth, i think. the spanish changed it to cuzco because they couldnt pronounce it right, which apparently is a word for a little dog or puppy.
after nazca, went to paracas, on the coast south of lima, and the islas ballestas, saw penguins and sealions and lots of pelicans and their shit. we made a random friend named fernando who was this stoner jewelry maker guy who lived on a tent on the beach.
THEN we went to lima, hung out there for a few hours before getting on the bus to huaraz. I actualy started to really like Lima, its really big and bustling and crazy.
So we got to huaraz this morning after our 4th all night bus. phew. we are sick of buses! but this place is pretty cool. Tons of trekking opportunities here, but less expensive and touristy than the sacred valley. And amazaing mountains, cant wait to explore. after this, we will be meeting up with ming trav bri mer in....chiclayo i think. hasta pronto guys!