Last night was awesome. Today suuuuuuuuuucked. Lauren and I went out last night to a hostel called the Wild Rover, where some of our new friends were staying. The Wild Rover is a notorious party hostel and we hadn't really gone drinking since we arrived, so we decided to cut loose. We met up with our Irish mates and headed to the bar at the Wild Rover. I won a free beer on a bet with one of the guys because I was able to read the map correctly and get us to the h...

Yesterday we started our 2 day trip to the Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in South America and the 3rd deepest in the world. I believe the world's 2 deepest canyons are in China. They say Colca Canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, though you wouldn't really know just by looking at it. When we signed up for Peru Hop, the group we've been traveling with for the past week, we signed up for the all inclusive package because there were many tours included in...

Yesterday we tried actual sandboarding for the first time. We got up early so we could be out on the dunes before the sand became too hot. Let me tell you that sandboarding is not like snowboarding. Maybe it's because I'm used to being on a snowboard but I found it much more difficult to maneuver the board down the mountain in sand. That being said, there are only 2 speeds on a sandboard; stopped and really really fast. It was so much fun just zooming down the hi...

Today we are spending the day lounging in Huacachina, or as the locals fondly refer to it 'Huacaf***ingchina.' We spend some time by the pool enjoying the cloudy but warm Monterey-esque weather. We play a bit of pool volleyball with some of our fellow bus mates and overall just kill time until 4pm, when the real fun begins. For 2 hours we drive out into the middle of the vast sand dunes surrounding the city and receive a thrilling ride on a dune buggy. The driver...

Last night we met up with our Peru Hop bus group for dinner. We went out to pizza of all things, but it was actually pretty good. Our guide, Nilo, is this awesome little Peruvian guy who sang a bit of karaoke for us. His song of choice was 'What I Got' by Sublime, so he's OK in my book. We sat at a table with 5 Irish guys and an American, whose dad owns a tree trimming business in Napa on Lincoln Avenue. Talk about a small world. The guys were all really cool, ...