Peru

After the All Volunteer meeting, I headed right for Peru; it was time for a little vacation from Bolivia. I met up with Chris for one of the best trips ever. We had an amazing time exploring the beautiful country together. We probably would have been happy anywhere… but Peru was truly wonderful. With flights that landed just about an hour apart we met up in the airport in Lima. It was a wonderful reunion and as being away from Chris is the hardest thing for me, some tears of joy were shed. The next day we took off for Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incan Empire. Cuzco is a beautiful city, nestled in a valley of the Andes. It has a good mix of tourism and tranquility, just what we were looking for. The combination of the high altitude and the dry climate left us feeling a little weird… out of breath, weird stomachs, shriveled fingers, a little dizziness. Thankfully we soon got used to it and probably would have stopped huffing and puffing if we didn’t chose a hostel at the top of the mountain… but it had the best view at the best price so we had no choice, we loved it. We spent a week in Cuzco exploring the nearby ruins, enjoying the city, trying new food and relaxing together (Chris was a big fan of the guinea pig and alpaca- he even got an “big pac” burger). We made sure that we weren’t running around the whole time and got in lots of card playing and siestas. A great vacation! We then traveled to Machu Pichu. The most visited tourist site in South America… and yes there were tourists, but it was so truly amazing that we weren’t bothered. To get to Machu Pichu you have to take a 4.5-hour train from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes (which is the town below Machu Pichu). Aguas Calientes is a weird town that hasn’t quite found itself but still serves its purpose. We spent a rather short night in Aguas Calientes (due to construction that went on till 12pm and overly excited tourists breakfasting at 4am) and headed up to Machu Pichu early the next morning. Taking the easy way up (the bus) we were still amazed by the difference in climate and landscape from Cuzco. The Machu Pichu area is much more tropical and humid, the actual site of Machu Pichu is located in a cloud forest, making the view even more magical.
At first glace Machu Pichu is simply breathtaking, it is so beautiful and mysterious that you have to question if it is real. We had an interesting tour of the site, in which we learned a lot and really became even more enthralled with the Incan history. I was surprised to learn that they were very knowledgeable about earthquakes and their patterns, and had built earthquake proof structures. They studied the constellations and the changing of the seasons through the stars. They had a great water system at the top of this mountain- that still worked! Their postal service to Cuzco took the Incans 5 hours by foot with a handoff delivery system! Amazing amazing, and now it takes weeks for mail to reach me from Santa Cruz! Also very interesting, the Incan leaders that lived in Machu Pichu fled when they heard that the Spanish army was headed their way. They left the site, taking all of their treasures (only one golden bracelet has been found at Machu Pichu). The next settling of the leaders and their treasure is thought to be the lost city, still to be found… For me, the best part was after the tour Chris and I explored by ourselves and had the most beautiful picnic looking at the peaks of the Andes and the ruins of this remarkable civilization.

After Machu Pichu we had a couple of days to enjoy Cuzco and then headed back to Lima. We thought we might try to head to a beach town about an hour outside of the city so Chris could get in some surfing, but it ended in a deserted summer-only type place, a cab driver urging us not to stay there and us jumping on the microbus back to the city after about 10 minutes… at least we got to see a little more of the country. Haha. We ended up staying in a nice hostel in a beautiful old house in the Miraflores region of Lima. Miraflores seemed to me like the Brooklyn of the city. There were tons of new restaurants, shopping, surfing and beautiful cliff top parks. (I guess we don’t really have the cliff top parks in Brooklyn and the east river offers little for surfers… but you know what I mean) Little did we know when we arrived, we were staying in the perfect location \ a block away from a walk down to the beach in one of the best spots in Lima “las rocitas”- Chris got to surf, and I enjoyed watching. We had a great last few days sipping Pisco sours (egg whites, lemon and a grape alcohol), eating ceviche and arroz con mariscos, enjoying the Pacific and each other’s company, and trying not to be sad that the trip was coming to an end. Leaving Chris was horrible, as always… more than ever actually, but I continue to tell myself as I am back in San José sweating in the heat, that it is only sad because it was so good. So goodbye Peru, goodbye Chris… I love you both, hasta pronto.