Peru/Cusco/Lots of bracelets....

Peru

Wednesday April 17- April 19

April 17th: Peru! Yay, we're so close, we've practically made it!! That's what I was thinking as our plane landed in Arica, Chile right on the border to Peru. Little did I know of the journey we had ahead of us... :)

We started out Wednesday morning with a flight from Santiago, Chile to Arica, Chile. Luckily 2 days before we had figured out a cheap way to fly to the border of Peru and it saved us a horrendous 30 hour bus ride! We were feeling pretty proud of ourselves for that when the plane landed in Arica. As we collected our bags, double checking to make sure nothing else had been stolen, we walked out and were surround by the usual crowd of taxi drivers all making their case for why they should be the one to take us wherever we were going despite the extremely steep fare they think is ok to hit the gringos with. We finally found a guy who agreed to drive us across the border in to Tacna, Peru for $30, but not after questioning every word he said like we thought he was some kind of hardened criminal who was not to be trusted. Everything went smoothly and 45 minutes later we were in Tacna. Cusco was our final destination, unfortunately from Tacna there are no direct buses to Cusco, so after grabbing a deliciously cheap lunch we caught an 8 hour bus to Arrequipa for about $7. We thought we were being real smart and took the front two seats on the top level of the double decker bus, we may have had 2 inches of extra leg room, but I think the blazing sun shining directly on us with no AC canceled that out and then some! Not to mention all the buses have speed limiters on them and if the drivers go faster than they're supposed to (which all of them do), this crazy loud screeching noise comes blaring in at you from all angles, I think we had the prime time seats for that concert as well! We finally made it to Arrequipa around 7 at night and from there found a night bus that would get us to Cusco in the morning. Luckily this was only another 12 hours on a bus, so the fun was just starting.... :) Another bonus, because it was night we didn't have to worry about the heat, we did have to worry about the cold though! I thought I was going to lose a couple toes it was so freezing! McKay had been really smart and brought his sleeping bag on the bus, I was really grateful for that because even when he moved to a different row to stretch out, I somehow finagled my way in to keeping it with me and he froze in his tshirt and shorts..... If that doesn't put him up for best husband of the year, I just don't know what will!

At the airport waiting for our flight, look at that sweet innocent smile on my face... Clearly I have no idea about the horrendous hours of traveling we're about to experience!

I'm pretty sure this Peruvian desert is where they filmed all that fake footage of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon....

Goodbye Chile and your ridiculously high priced lunches!

Peru! Never looked so good, especially through the windshield of a Chilean taxi!

In a 24 hour period, we went from spending $110 for lunch to $5 total for a two course meal and a drink each, tip included! I love this place!

Yay for cheap big (gl)ass bottles of Coke that help me look like I have a drinking problem!

April 18th-19th Thursday and Friday

We finally made it in to Cusco Thursday morning after almost 27 hours of straight traveling. We both wanted to die, but only in the proverbial pop culture slang kind of way of course! It was so great to be back in Cusco and see so many familiar things, I was definitely feeling nostalgic! We took a taxi up to a hostel near the Plaza San Blas and took a little nap. After that we went out on the town and I showed McKay my old home turf. We visited my old school and I was so surprised and felt awesome that the two head teachers remembered me! They were so sweet and kept asking if I still liked soccer and I was really glad McKay was there, because they don't speak English and in case anyone has forgotten, my Spanish is definitely sub par! :) It was fun to show him the school and where I spent so much time and I'm so sad we forgot to take any pictures. We spent Thursday and Friday exploring the city and eating at as many of the delicious places I'd been craving as we could. We even popped in to see my old host mom and she was so sweet and invited to come stay with her when we got back from Machu Picchu. She just kept saying this is your home you come here whenever you want, it was really good to see her!  

I was doing my happy dance when we saw this sign, and not just because we had been on a bus for 12 hours and I needed a bathroom break!

The Plaza De Armas, translated Plaza of Arms and as in weapons or guns... Clearly they did not think about the political repercussions that could come from using a name like that.

No worries this is just Pachaqutec the famous Inca king behind us, he's kind of a BD around these parts and I used to walk past him everyday on my way to school.

This is my host Mom Isabelle, she is the sweetest! I had lost her address and didn't have any way to contact her, but she happened to be outside getting the mail as we were walking by and was so excited to see us (naturally) and invited us in for tea and delicious Peruvian bread!

Picarones! This was one of my favorite things in Peru, they're a mix between a donut and a scone and they put this honey like mix on them, mmmmm delicious! McKay was so excited about eating these he couldn't even keep his mouth shut!

We ran in to the missionaries while walking around and took them out for some pizza! It never ceases to amaze me how much the missionaries can eat! :)

Legit delicious fruit smoothies, another one of my favorite things, ever, period, end of story. There are about 30 of these stands lined up next to each other in this market and they all go crazy trying to get your attention as you walk by so you'll buy from them. Clearly she is stoked to be in our picture...

I don't know why I think these ladies are so funny, but their job is to sit around wearing a bright neon green vest and they carry a bunch of cell phones on them that people walk up and use and then pay them for the minutes they use. It's like a human telephone booth without Clark Kent being able to dash inside and turn himself in to Superman.

Looking over Cusco and representing those Aggies!

This is the Cristo Blanco overlooking the city.

Awww yeeeeah!


My favorite view of Cusco from the Cristo Blanco! Just looking at this picture gets me pumped! :)


These are the ruins of Saqsaywaman, they were built by the Inca's and are part of the Sacred Valley tour that takes you to a bunch of different ancient Inca sites. We were too cheap to pay for the whole tour so we had to take this pic from afar.... while traveling in a moving vehicle....