Peru

alright, I admit. I've been super bad about updating y'all on my life.  So for winter break in July I went to Peru for nearly 2.5 weeks and it was freaking awesome! Peru is an amazing country, beautiful, awesome intact indigenous culture still and their spanish is so much better!  The food is spicy, the landscape amazing, the history is everywhere and fascinating and is super different from Chile.  It was awesome to finally do some traveling - granted coming to Chile was one huge trip but I live and work here... it's different.  I got to practice my spanish with strangers, eat different foods, see new and different places.  We spent a couple of days traveling (flight at 330am which I thankfully boarded after purchasing the WRONG ticket.... then a collectivo at 730am across the Peru/Chilean border, a bus at 830am and finally arriving in Arequipa at 330pm where it was nice a HOT! FINALLY).  Arequipa is super beautiful as you can see below....

but not tons to do. We went to the Monastery which was completely cloistered until the 70s! can you imagine.....

Afterwards, we took an 11 hour bus ride overnight between Arequipa and Cusco.  oh geez... and cusco is beautiful as well tho in a totally different way than Arequipa. and man that altitude will get you.  We stayed in Cusco for 4 days I think before we went on our trek to Machu Picchu

Cusco

Sexy Woman (which sounds like it's real name), Sacsayhuaman, outside of Cusco, and my friend Lauren

one day which we escaped from Cusco and took a 4 hour bus into rural Peru to celebrate the Festival de Virgen de Carmen in Paurcartambo.  Super interesting but exhausting trip.

Paurcartambo

LaVirgen!

check out the terracing from the last hundreds of years... incredible

peru y una peruana

Afterwards... we began our amazing Salkantay Trek: 4 days of walking through the diverse environment of Peru (hills, mountains, glaciers, forest, and semi-tropical environments). incredible! seriously intense.  At the highest, we were are 4600m, which doesnt sound like much but i believe is around 15000ft! take that. to give you an idea, I literally would walk like 300ft and have to take a break (uphill).  That night I could not sleep (I mean it was ACTUALLY freezing and I was sleeping it what apparently is a sleeping bag LINER, ha jokes on me) and I could not control my breathing. it was like I had just stopped running, sprinting even, but I was laying down trying to fall asleep.  It was like the torture.  take a second to reflect on trying to breath normal and not being able to too!!!


crazy.  anyways, it was truly an amazing way to see peru. the food was awesome. great company and at the end! MACHU PICCHU! which was insane: we woke up at 330 am to hike to the entrance (arriving a lil before 5am) to wait in line. the first 200 people to enter can climb up Wayna Picchu (I believe it is spelled) which is the taller mountain behind all the fotos of MP and is an even more intense hike (literally straight up) but has even more amazing ruins on top of a tiny peak.  dude, it's terrifying... the steps are teeny tiny and straight up, you fall and youre donzo, you fall to the river below... and actually this has happened before. scary stuff. but definitely worth it, just dont look down and tread slowly!

which is Inca?

obviously Machu Picchu

Wayna Picchu