long journey home

I begin my 24 hour journey home in 2 hours. I´m sad to be leaving but I´m happy to go home. I miss my family and my dog and I´m starting to hate potatoes. I miss regular trips to the bathroom and not having to sanitize my water and to not keep my mouth shut in the shower. Me encanta Peru. I´m ready to come home. Bien viaje.

the sacred valley

I´m going to Machu Picchu tomorrow and I can´t decide if I want to walk all the way up (like 1700 Incan stairs) or take the bus. We shall see. Today at 3:30pm we take the train to Aguas Calientes for the night and come back to Ollantaytambo tomorrow around 3ish. I need to do some serious shopping still. I have a couple things but need more! I only have one more week here and then I´ll be seeing all of you again! Hasta pronto!

welcome to the jungle

Hello friends,

The last few days have been busy traveling days. I spent some of last week in the Amazon and it was amazing! I was literally IN the Amazon river. We decided to go swimming in a little town called Infierno, which means ¨hell.¨I thought it was funny. We stayed at an ecoLodge there and our rooms literally looked out into the jungle. If you want to look at pictures it is called Posada Amazonas near Puerto Maldonado. We saw monkeys, macaws, bugs, cabibarra, birds, bugs, and bugs. It was fantastic. Now I´m in a place called Ollantaytambo, which is right outside of Machu Picchu. I will be going there on Sunday. I saw some ruins today and it was freaking amazing! We were in Cusco last night and it was a really cool town. I can´t wait to go back there and do some shopping! Just so you all know, Pisco, the local alcohol is GREAT. A pisco sour tastes like a margharita only better. No joke. A met an older woman today from the UK who lives here in Ollantaytambo (yes, that takes me a while to type) and she is doing nonprofit work for the local women, teaching them about contraception and giving them birth control. They give them Depo because pills are too hard. She also helps with getting food for the local children who have to walk 3 hours downhill to get to school and most never eat, then they have to walk 3 hours back uphill. She´s an amazing lady.

Lastly, I´d like to say: GO KASEY KAHNE! He´s 6th in the points race right now! By the way, my group leader has nicknames for everyone and mine is ¨NASCAR,¨I like it.

That´s all for now amigos! Adios!

one week down, two to go

I´m now in Huaraz and will be leaving tonight. The reason I haven´t posted in a few days is because I was in a little mountain town called Vicos. There was little running water and so no internet. Most people spoke only Quechua or Spanish so my speaking skills are improving everyday, which is really exciting! I´ve been eating potatoes for every meal and luckily I haven´t gotten sick...yet. Most people in my group have gotten a flu thing which I´m trying really hard to avoid. Tonight we head to the jungle. I´m excited because the longer I sit here in Huaraz the more homesick I get. I miss you all and hope that all is well. If you want to look it up the name of the town I´m going to is Puerto Maldonado. Oh, let me share a magical moment with you. While the rest of my group hiked to the top of the largest mountain I´ve every seen, I stayed behind and gazed at the Andes while my babysitter, Manuel, played his flute for me. Now, please go listen to ¨Come Fly With Me¨by Frank Sinatra for me so you know what I´m talking about.

xoxo