Thursday, April 24, 2008
Oliver comes to town!
I picked Oli up in Lima, where we hung out in the "park of love", which was built as a counterforce to all the monuments to war. The benches are all covered with snippets of love poems and names of well-known literary and real-life couples
We then spent a week in Huancayo, where I worked and he checked out the local sites, such as the Parque de la Identidad (below). We made a bunch of yummy Mexican food one day and took it to share with my co-workers. Delicious!
We wanted to go to Cusco and Machu Picchu and thought it would be a great idea to take a bus from Huancayo all the way there. Although it looks like a short trip as the crow flies, the route goes over the andes on curvy, unpaved roads and we were really glad for the beautiful scenery and not-so-frequent breaks on our....32 hour trip (!):
We stopped off in Ayacucho for a day, where we visited the capital of the Wari empire (a pre-inca culture). Although the site is 16 square km, only a very small area has been excavated, but we were able to see what was likely a ceremonial centre:
Ayacucho is a really beautiful city, but not highly touristed (it was the centre of the Shining Path movement in the 1980s, but is safe now). And then we were off to Cusco and Machu Picchu!
We lived the full-blown tourist life in Cusco, buying wool hats and llama sweaters and eating over-priced food -we loved it:
We'll have to wait until July for our next adventures together - I know they'll be wonderful.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Mi casa y vida

There you have it!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail!


The trail itself is manageable, although not an easy hike in the woods. We climbed over four mountains, and at our highest point crossed a 4,200 metre pass before descending to sleep at 3,600 metres (it got to -2 that night)
First you go up...and then hike right back down
It was so fun to go with Gabbs, and I'm sure we were helpful at entertaining our fellow tour group members with our incessant giggles, snotty faces, card playing and photo ops at every turn. I miss you already Gabbs!
A few reasons why I am infinitely cooler than Gabby, as exemplified in these photos:
1. Rain pants from 1987
2. Tilley hat
3. Florescent orange water bottle holder
4. Bright purple poncho strapped to my back
5. Thumbs up.
You'll note that Gabby looks like she could be modelling for a Peruvian alpaca wool outdoor adventure company - who looks that good after hiking up 4,200 metres?
Anyways, after passing through some beautiful Incan archaeological sites and agricultural terraces,