First - we have gotten a few messages about the earthquake in Peru - thank you for thinking of us... We are actually totally safe in Argentina now. :)

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About Peru....

This recap is far too detailed to think that you all will want to read it. I (diana) realize that... there is just so much to say and rather than try to trim and edit, I just wrote it freestyle so that we could get it posted. It is a full brain-dump of everything we did - it is pretty journal-y and I'm sorry for the excess words. I will attempt to summarize into bullets for those of you who appreciate a more abbreviated form of story :)

I'll add photos tomorrow. I may even edit the post a bit :)

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CLIFFS NOTES

What We Did

• Explored Cusco on foot
• Visited cathedrals
• City market
• Art museums
• Traditional dance show
• Ate good, cheap food
• Caught our breath every block or two (elevation was 11,000 feet)
• Train ride to and from Macchu Picchu, complete with fashion show
• Toured Macchu Picchu
• Hiked to Sun Gate
• Explored Aguas Calientes - including local soccer match
• Met up with friends from our Galapagos cruise
• Toured several other local sites around Cusco (e.g. Saqsawhuaman - also known as Sexy Woman)
• Dinner with 4 new friends

What We Liked Most

• Macchu Picchu
• Landscape, architecture and scenery
• Feeling of history

Memorable moments

• First seeing Macchu Picchu and later being chased by a llama
• Train ride to and from from MP (for both scenery, and fashion show)
• Watching the soccer match in Aguas Calientes
• Seeing the big cathedral in Cusco

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THE PLAY-BY-PLAY

Upon departure from Galapagos, we stayed one night in Guayaquil. We felt like we were in the lap of luxury with the free soap, fast internet, and air conditioning. It was the nicest Holiday Inn we've ever seen - probably the nicest in the world. ;)

We made our way through the inefficiency of the Guayaquil airport, and the extreme efficiency of the Lima airport into Cusco. We thought we had successfully haggled our way into a "good deal" on a cab ride to later find out that we had paid more than we should have. But we got to our hostel safe and sound, so that is what matters most.

We had read and heard many wonderful stories about Peru, but in the mix we also heard of robberies, scams, and pickpocketing so we were both very on guard when we arrived. We felt quite safe and "protected" in Ecuador since the tourism industry on Galapagos is very important. But in Peru we felt a bit more nervous at first. We spent our first afternoon and evening walking around and exploring the city of Cusco. We were on the hunt for the place to buy our train tickets to Macchu Picchu and to buy our actual passes to get into the Macchu Picchu site. We quickly came to find that one of our biggest challenges would be finding our way around. Our map was not complete and signage for the places we were trying to find was either non-existent or it was in a non-obvious name. We eventually found where we needed to be. After the places had closed. But the good news was that it meant we could return first thing in the morning. We also found a market that became our regular stop each day and stocked up on water, granola bars, and plantain chips.

The next morning we made our way back to the offices to buy our train tix, MP passes (unfortunately they were sold out of Wayna Picchu passes for 5 days). We also bought our Cusco City Tourist Ticket (a must-have if you ever go to Cusco - it covers entrance fees for 10-12 different sites in the city). After our successful errands, we high-fived and found a place for lunch. It was the first of what has become many, many, many meals of pizza. After lunch we explored a local cathedral. The altar was gorgeous with ornate detailing and we were able to go downstairs and upstairs to see a lovely view overlooking one of the main plazas. We also ventured over to the city mercado which contained kiosks for anything from souvenirs and trinkets to whole pigs (not alive), produce, grains, clothing, and walk-up lunch stands.

I will also mention that by this point, we were feeling the elevation. Cusco sits at just over 11,000 feet in elevation. We both had slight headaches and were very winded when walking up the hill to our hostel neighborhood - a great area called San Blas. Fortunately, our hostel had a self-serve bar where we could make ourselves coca tea anytime we needed. Another interesting fact about Cusco: it is the oldest continuously running city in South America. We found it to be rich in culture, history, and architecture.

That evening, we got dinner at a great tiny restaurant called Tika. Then we went to a traditional Peruvian dance show. It featured 12 dancers and a live string band. The dancers paired up for a variety of different dances to live music all adorned with colorful, flowing costumes. We thoroughly enjoyed the one hour show and felt like it was a great introduction to Peru.

We returned back to the hostel with the knowledge (thank you, Vince) that Thursdays were free Pisco Sour night. Pisco Sours are the specialty Peruvian drink that is made from a liqueur, sweet and sour, blended up with an egg white. Some of you may know that I am allergic to eggs which made the Pisco Sour into a risky endeavor. I asked the hostel/bar guy if he could make one without the egg white - explaining as best I could in Spanglish that "huevos equal [insert choking motions]". His response was to say that "...just uno huevo will be no problem, si?" I responded with no. He proceeded to make them anyway, and Charley downed both of them. He thought they were a bit like a thick margarita. I might try to make one - sin huevo - when I get back to the states.

On Friday we ventured out to our first few Cusco City tourist ticket destinations. First, we visited the Arte Popular Museo and the Arte Contemporaneo. We liked the contemporary one a bit more than the other. It is just more cheerful and has nice paintings. The popular one is smaller and has lots of sculpture - but has some darker subject matter. They did not allow photography so we don't have any examples to share. We did take a few photos from the Contemporary Arte Museo as well - one depiction of Cusco is in the photo album for Peru. We had to be up at 4am the next morning for our venture up to Macchu Picchu, so arranged for our 4:45am taxi, and packed our very small day packs for our trip and left our big bags in the common area of the hostel (with fingers crossed hoping that our bags didn't look too interesting to anyone else).

The next morning we arrived (proudly) as the first passengers for our bus/train ride to MP. We got to see the sun come up over Cusco and the 1 hour bus ride was gorgeous. In Pachar we transitioned from bus to Peru Rail for the remaining couple of hours of our trip. We sat across from a lovely couple from Brazil - Helena and Domingos. We took lots of photos from the train - most turned out poorly - it always seems like a good idea to take those photos but the moving landscape and the glare from the window make the photos impossible.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes - the town that seems to exist exclusively to support tourists going to Macchu Picchu - and found our bus up the mountain. The bus ride up could qualify as a theme park ride. It put Lombard street in San Francisco to shame with its sharp switchbacks next to drop-offs - and all combined with oncoming traffic that resulted in at least a couple of "stand-offs" on our way up and down the mountain. In those cases, one bus had to back up or down to a point when the other could pass.

We arrived safely at Macchu Picchu and decided that we wanted to seek out the help of a guide. We found a guide who could give us a tour in English but he was a bit expensive so we asked if we could wait for additional English speaking customers and share the cost. Over the next 20-30 minutes, the guide and I (diana) proceeded to approach random strangers asking if they wanted to share anEnglish speaking guide. He was declined by all. I got a few confused responses including one guy that seemed to think that *I* wanted to give him a tour, but in the end we haggled the price down a bit and got the guide to ourselves.

Our guide was great, he was passionate about Incan history and culture. We entered into Macchu Picchu expecting what we have seen in photographs. We did see the same sites we've seen in photos, but the photos do not do it justice at all. It is breathtaking. We were both in awe of the sophisticated engineering as well as the scale and size of the city. Our guide explained the importance of the concept of "balance" within the city. We felt that this was a great way to describe the underlying feel of the place. There was so much attention to nature, detail, and usability of the features in each building. It is a very special place.

And there were llamas (Tiffany!) tending the grass. Our tour ended and we decided to sit down for some granola bars and enjoy the view of Putucusi (Happy Mountain). The llama that was grazing a couple of terrace-tiers below us caught a whiff of my peanut butter granola and made his way to us for a visit. When he arrived he had a non-verbal conversation with me "we can do this the easy way or the hard way, it is up to you" and proceeded to follow (I like to say he chased me but it was very slow) me around. I quickly finished my bar and he lost interest.

After our 2 hour tour, snack break, and llama chase, we hiked up to the Sun Gate which overlooks the city from a distance. The Sun Gate is one of the final points on the Inca trail. It was a nice hike that reminded us both how long its been since we have hiked or run :) and the view of the city from above was beautiful

I will say that I felt like a bit of a slacker taking the train up to MP and not doing the Wayna Picchu hike. However, we did try to get Wayna Picchu tickets and they were sold out. If I go back to Peru, I think it would be worth it to do an "alternative route" hike up to Macchu Picchu. And in the end - we felt we had a very full couple of days with our travel time and with the Sun Gate hike.

We made our way down to Aguas Calientes and checked into our hostel. We were happy to find a super clean room with bathroom AND soap! It is comical the way we have come to treasure soap.

We found a little pizza place and after a series of: haggling over the prices listed on the windows versus the menus, a broken glass, and a beer arrived with unidentifiable "things" in it, we finally chowed down some ham pizza and cervezas. That night was a movie night (thank you, Dave). We watched The Hangover from a memory stick on our little netbook.

The next day consisted of wandering around the tiny town of Aguas Calientes waiting for our train departure. We ran into our friends that we met on the train in, and sat in the town square for a bit. It was entertaining that it was 10am on a Sunday morning, we sat next to a church on the edge of the square and we could hear remixed techno music blaring out of one of the local restaurants. A little while later, we happened upon a local football (soccer) match and sat down to watch. It was very entertaining and we decided to follow the crowd cheers and just ended up cheering for everyone.

Another note about Aguas Calientes: The town had countless dogs running around off-lease. It took all of my willpower to not call over and pet every dog that I saw - but it was impossible to tell which ones were strays and which ones were just out carousing for the day. I am happy to report that most of the dogs seemed to be in good condition.

Our train ride back to Cusco was entertaining. A little while into the ride, a character in a rainbow-striped jester-crossed-with-scary-clown outfit came out to dance and entertain. He was closely followed by the folks who had previously been our crew doing a fashion show complete with model-turns and runway music. It the most bizarre and random thing we've seen on a train trip.

As coincidence would have it, we (again) ran into Helena and Domingos in our train car. We exchanged info with them and made plans to have dinner with them the next evening.

When we got back to Cusco, we encounted a big success with a dinner. We got the fixed menu which consisted of a starter for each of us (e.g. avocado/tomato salad), then a big bowl of soup, then I had spaghetti and Charley had meat and rice. We also both got a drink. My meal was 10 soles which is a about $3.50, Charley's was 15 soles which is about $5.

We arranged to have coffee the next morning with Vivienne and Brian - a couple from the Galapagos cruise who was in Cusco as well. We met up with them the next morning with intent of having coffee and then getting on a double-decker bus for a tour. When we found them they let us know that their hotel had informed them that there was a transportation strike and that it would not be safe to ride the bus because people blocked the busses with boulders and threw rocks at the busses when there was a strike going on. We decided to hold off and go to the big city market instead with Brian and Vivienne. We invited them to dinner with our other friends as well.

This would be our last day in Peru so we packed the day with another activity and went on a tour of a few sites in the area. We first visited the Cathedral - not the one we already saw, but one that we didn't realize we could go into. It was amazing. It is the 2nd largest cathedral in South America with multiple altars and a whole array of artwork and history. In addition, we got to see Tambo Machay, Puka Pukara, Quenqo, and the famed Saqsayhuaman (lovingly referred to as Sexy Woman). All were beautiful structures and engineering wonders, but we were most impressed with Saqsayhuaman. Our transportation that day consisted of a full shuttle with some other tourists. The driver had to navigate around several areas where people had attempted to block the road with large rocks, boulders, and trees.

After our tour, we ran back to the hostel to pack up for our departure the next day and made our way over to our triple date at Jack's cafe. The food was great, the company was better, and the wine and beer flowed. We were happy to share our experiences from Cusco and Macchu Picchu and glad to have met some new friends.

Peru seemed like a quick visit. We originally intended to go to Lake Titicaca as well, but we have decided to take a little more time to enjoy fewer things/cities rather than try to cram everything into our timeframe. Our thought at this point is that we will try to return to South America for a couple of additional trips: one to Bolivia and Lake Titicaca, one to Brazil, and one to Patagonia/Chile.

We were thoroughly impressed with Macchu Picchu and while we wished we'd been able to do the Wayna Picchu portion, we did feel that we had a full experience. Overall, for Peru, we both really enjoyed the amazing scenery and landscape. We felt that we were surrounded by history and culture and that we just barely touched the surface.