End Trip Stats:

Miles Driven: 8,149

Photos Taken: 3,857

Total Miles Travelled:15,125

Cars Sunk: 01

Check out this link for my mapped out route:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
117407388497926931075.000476937dcc9bb52a9dc

Maaaachu picchu!

Woke up early to catch the bus up to the city on the hill. Like 4:30 am early :)! Machu Pichu was amazingly amazing. I wasn't sure what to expect but the mortar-less city was exceedingly more than i thought. The city was believed to be constructed in only 33 years. what? After a quick tour Franco had to leave and catch his train and we were free to roam around and explore the city of stone. We had a lot of fun, avoiding the shrill whistles of the watchful guards that didn't appreciate climbing on the walls. After a healthy amount of goofing off with the surrounding we split up. I left Karina and Jeff to go hike up the Wannapichu Temple. And what a hike it was: 45 minutes later sweating and holding on to the smooth steps tightly I was at the top. Unfortunately the apex is also the home of flying (stinging) ants. awesome. So i snapped a few pics and hopped around the rest of the temple enjoying the 360 view before carefully making my way back down. The three of us hopped back on a bus as the rain started to come down again :) We quickly made our way back to the train station waiting for the train. After some slight confusion as to whether or not we missed our train it pulled into the station and we headed back towards cusco.

We spent our last night in Cusco out on the town, enjoying the sights and fine dining. yum.

Basically straight down

we're lama's... get it?

taking a nap

Next morning we woke up early (again) to meet our tourguide Franco and drive 1.5 hours to catch an hour train ride into Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is the closest town to machu picchu and has only one road running through town. The railway is the lifeline of the town serving as it's mainstreet. After a light breakfast we set out for a hike along the railway to visit the botanical gardens. Walking along the railway was nice and peaceful until the blaring train horn gave us about 15 seconds warning for us to get off the track before a huge blue engine roared by. The botanical gardens were actually pretty interesting, full of life and amazing waterfalls. We headed back to camp to enjoy some delicious trout from the sacred river. Then headed off towards the hotsprings in the pouring rain. (thanks for the ponchos mom :) That night we camped just outside of Aguas Calientes.

Cusco

It's 6am, Bright eyed and bushy tailed, We landed and headed to the hotel for a quick nap. Cusco is about 3000 meters above sea level. That's over 11,000 feet. The Coca tea is said to help with the altitude so we drank up It takes a while for people to get used to the altitude change. But before we could acclimate, we were off heading to do some whitewater rafting down the sacred river that runs beside Machu Picchu. After a scenic ride to the river camp, we were outfitted with wetsuits and helmets ready to take on the elements. We had a great time listening to our guide tell us about the river and the history of the inca trail. On our return we enjoyed a hearty meal of delicious hot soup and chicken. All of us dozed off on the bus ride back to the hotel where Karina and I crashed out. Luckily Uncle Jeff surprised us with some fresh brick oven cooked Pizza. perfect bedtime snack Mmmmm...

This is coca tea... really good.

We had a lot of with everyone on the rafting trip.

Relative Revival

Went to the airport to pick up Karina and Jeff. Decided to ride the bus there (always an adventure) and made it there with time to spare. Met by Big Smiles and colorful backpacks we set off towards the hotel we were going to stay in. Opting for the taxi, (only $7.50 :) this time was an equally adventurous choice, with a mid-way taxi switch. Once settled in at the hotel I showed the fam around Mira flores (town next to Lima) a little before Karina and Jeff took flight. A steep cliff separates Mira Flores from the ocean and it makes for a perfect take off for Paragliders. Well it took about 2 minutes of watching them before Jeff decided to go for a flight. And Karina wanted to go to. I chose to stay on the ground and be the photographer :) Mira Flores is also having a cow parade for the next couple of months, something to do with the dairy farms. So all of the parks are littered with these decorative cows. After flying we enjoyed some delicious dinner and decided to turn in to get some sleep before our 4 am flight. The next 48 hours had the consistency of a 7 day vacation bottled up into into a short time frame to fit Karinas school schedule. It was intensely fun. I was still trying to catch up on sleep so the next morning I caught some Zzz. on the plane, but Uncle Jeff did wake me up to see these mountains peaking out of the clouds. I've never seen such jagged mountains. I will return.

Post flight, huge smiles

Peru is killing me

Peru. Is rather awesome.

Got off the plane from panama and set out in search of wifi to try and locate the hostel I had seen on the internet. As soon as I stepped out of the airport I was greeted by throngs of avid taxi drivers urging to take me wherever I wanted. And after a few minutes I ditched a particularly persistent driver who wanted 30 dollars to take me to the hostel, but I found a crowded bus and walked the rest of the way for 75 cents. Given, it did take me an hour and a half to make it there, but right now I have nothing but time. The hostel is pretty laid back and carefree, most of the guests just hang out all day at the hostel and then get drunk at the bar and go out to the clubs. I fit right in. Ha except I decided i wasn't going hang out at the hostel all day. Hostels are the best way to travel, you meet all kinds of different people from all corners and it's cheap. Win. The few days leading up to Jeff and Karina's arrival were spent exploring the coastline of lima. I saved money and walked everywhere. But by the third day I had fallen into the hostel life and didn't even leave all day. Night life is pretty outrageous, the bars and clubs don't close until dawn and the drinks are cheap. I kept thinking of the city of Madrid's slogan "Madrid is killing me" the mornings after. hah It's also pretty nice not having the car to worry about.

Panama

So after attempting to get the Saturn started, our good friend Arturo, the taxi/towtruck decided that he would buy it. After getting it towed back and all of the correct paperwork taken care of, the car was sold and we were ready to ditch costa rica. The weather wasn't on the same schedule we were so our plane was delayed out of Puerto Jimenez. Finally we were penciled in and were allowed to leave. Leapfrogging from San Jose to Panama City, We found a hotel and hit the pillows. The next morning we adventured in search of the Mira Flores locks. After perusing the museum and watching a few large tankers go through we continued onto the centennial bridge to snap some pictures. Our tourguide taxi dropped us off on the jetties. We headed back into the city in search of a hotel and ended the night with some skyscraper scavenger hunts. Panama is unlike any other central american country I have been to. They speak spanish, but it's a shortened up version. Much faster than mexican spanish, almost everyone drops of the last part of their words while talking so that they can fit in more syllables between breaths. It's really hard to keep up with. They use american bills in combination with their own coins for means of currency. There are all different types of people living in the city and everyone is generally nice. Although I'm not sad to be leaving tomorrow. I am sad that my mom is heading back home, but I'm also excited for Peru.