southern peru

Friends, family, maybe random blog readers from the internet,

Jeff and I have made our way almost through Peru; we are now relaxing and soaking up sun on the terrace in Arequipa. Last you had read we were to fly to Cuzco, the famed belly button of the world, this saved us our sanity from 24 possible bus hours. We found the best little hostel in the colonial city close to the main square. Cuzco is busy with tourists wanting to explore the ancient trials left by the Incans- who’s to blame them the Incan ruins are absolutely stunning. The large amount of tourists encourages the emergence of touts hawking city and Inca Trail tours or over-priced restaurants.

We tried to visit as many sights in the city and around as we could without wearing ourselves out: the ruins of Saqsaywaman and the art museums of the city. Of course the main purpose to head to the 11,000 feet high city was to launch a visit to the Big MP (Machu Picchu). We opted out of going with a tour so that we could travel the way we chose. We toyed with the idea of hiking the 4-day Inca Trail but decided that wasn’t our priority. Our tour began early in the morning with a Vanaxi (I believe Jeff already explained this mode of transportation) ride to Ollantaytambo, a fabulous Incan city ruin a few hours from Cuzco. We took a tour of the complex before catching the train (the only way to travel to Machu Picchu Pueblo not via the Inca Trail) to the little crummy town that would house us for the evening. We arrived, checked in to our hostel, and immediately set off to hike up an adjacent mountain.

Although the mountain Putucusi is quite a bit lower in elevation, ≈ 8,500 feet, than the places we have been living; the hike was VERTICAL with parts only possible by climbing up established wooden ladders. We were unsure we would make it, especially since we were racing the daylight to not get caught in the forest in the dark. But as you can see in the pictures we made it! It was worth every pain; the view across the valley to Machu Picchu was gorgeous. The evening was uneventful and we went to bed early to be up to make one of the first busses (5:30) up the mountain to the ruins of Machu Picchu.

I had wanted to go early to beat the crowds and to see the ruins blanketed in fog as they are known to be in the early morning. We of course had no idea that the city was going to remain engulfed all day. Nevertheless we had a great visit of the majestic citadel accompanied by our guide Ernesto. We stayed as long as we could in the rain walking around the ruins before returning to the town and taking the train back to Ollantaytambo and then vanaxi to Cuzco.

We stayed one more day in the city and took another night bus to the white city of Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city. It’s called the white city because many of the old colonial buildings are constructed using sillar, a white volcanic stone. The view almost anywhere in the city is fascinating because of the volcanoes: there are always three to be seen on the horizon all over 19000 feet. We have been here for a few days and will set off again on Sunday (the 13th) in hopes of making it to Mendoza by the 17th, so we are at some type of a destination for Christmas.

We love you all and think of you often,
Red