Onwards to Cusco, Peru and Machu Picchu!

As the trip continued, Jorge, Mikey and I went on to Cusco, Peru, to visit Machu Picchu and many other Inca Ruins. The ruins we visited were A-mazing! I mean, the lengths that Inca's must have gone to to build what they did is indescribable! Their whole socitey and way of life centered around the sun. they built whole cities on mountain tops across this area of the Andes. It was warm when the sun was out, but sooo cold when the sun was gone. even though we were at 13 degrees south latitude in the tropics. The town of Cusco sits 3400 meters high.







From there you take a 4 hour train ride to a town called
Aguas Calientes, or "hot water". Here, at the base of the mountain in which Machu Picchu lies, this tiny town with no streets built wide enough for cars (as the town is not big enough to need them), and natural springs of hot water to relax in after climbing around Machu Picchu all day, which we did. Early in the morning, before the sun rises, you leave your hostel and walk down the street to meet the buses that will take you up to Machu Picchu, this is a little over a half hour.


We had a tour of the lost city first thing in the morning. We could not see anything when we first
arrived, but in minutes the clouds lifted and revealed the most amazing sight! This lost city is by far, the most amazing city the Inca's built. It is thought to be the last city they built before they disappeared due to the approaching conquistadors. It was very hot at MP (Machu Picchu) as its elevation is only 2400 m and it sits in the same latitude as Cusco. This was a nice change as I was sick of being cold. It was an absolutely incredible place and they used Al Paca's to mow the lawn! I feel that if I try to describe this high energy place anymore, I will not be doing it any justice. It is truly a world wonder and I recommend that everyone go. Oh, and one more thing about it. Next to MP is another mountain called Wynna Picchu that you can climb and look down at MP.

Mikey and I did this and it was well worth the trouble. It wasn't to difficult, all though most people on the trail were amazed to find that I was doing it in my slippers (flip-flops for all you mainlanders)! Next to Wynna Picchu we were taking group shots and there was a school tour group there from somewhere else in Peru. They thought we were just awesome and all wanted their pictures taken with us, this was a funny and delightful experience.






After MP, we went back into the town and ate at Judy'd, our new favorite spot with a great happy hour!! We had a few drinks and then Jorge and I went to the natural springs to relax. These natural springs did not look to natural though as they had been built up for the tourists with tiled walls and different pools were controlled at different levels of heat. In fact, I think these pools made me very sick the next day. It was an awful train ride back to Cusco!




Back in Cusco, time was well spent! Mostly Jorge and I hung out with some of the locals, we even got to play with fire some! I made a great new friend Roberto, who I tried my best to learn Spanish from. I probably failed that course, but I tried. Roberto got a wonderful puppy while I was there named Canabito. Cusco also had a wonderful market with the most amazing juice bar ever! This is Jorge trying to pick out what fruit he wanted his fresh squeezed juice to come from! It was a very difficult choice. For less then aa dollar you would get 3 or 4 glasses filled with theis fresh juice, it was A-mazing!

Mendoza, Argentina

After a few days in BA, Jorge, Mikey, Renee and a Deutsch friend of Renee's, Dafney, took a bus through the night from BA to Mendoza, a smaller country town near the foothills of the Andes in Argentina. I had been to this area before and found it amazingly beautiful and peaceful and I was happy to return. Mendoza has the biggest park I could possibly imagine. It is bigger than the town itself! We spent the whole first day at the park, we ate at a cafe there (where we saw a "love" bus that looked like it spent the 60's in San Fran), napped in an open field, did a little meditation by the water, and palyed futbal with some of the local kids, who later yanked Jorge's watch when he wasn't looking :( Not that he really minded as time was becoming less important on this adventure.








The next day we met a new friend, Ryan, at our hostel, who I think was from Wisconsin. We all went on a wine and bike tour of the area together! Did I mention that Mendoza is great the great wine country of Argentina! We rented bikes from a man named Hugo who gave us directions to each vineyard in the area. We had a blast, and I only fell off my bike once, at the very end. My favorite wine was served by the man named Pablo, in the winery of.. umm.. I forgot to write that down at that point in the day! I know I definitely love the Malbec wine from Mendoza now! The setting was serene, there were lush trees hanging over our heads, creating a canopy of shade to ride our bikes through. At the end of the day we returned our
bikes to Hugo and found relief from the sun in his hammocks!









Then we returned back to town for dinner, in which, Mikey celebrated at the open fire of Argentinian meat cooking for us, and a little fun in the hostel before bed. I ended up going out and buying a bracelet from a man named Tati and hanging out with him and his family and friends for the rest of the night. The language was a bit of a problem, but they were very welcoming nonetheless and a great evening was had by all!

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Well, it was a great first day in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I met up with my friend Jorge and his friend Mikey who would be traveling with us. I also re-met Jorge's sister, Celi, whom were staying with in BA. The first day, Jorge, Mikey and some of their other friends in BA and I went to a little area called Boca. This was an awesome area and most definitely my favorite spot in BA. Boca is on the water (which could stand to smell better) and was the landing spot for many Italians as they migrated to Argentina. The Italians were pore and used sheet metal to build their homes and places of business. This would naturally rust very quickly being on the water and therefore, every year, the Italians would paint their homes different colors. This has lead to a very colorful neighborhood (as you can see in the pics).The streets are live with music here. There were bands performing in the streets and couples dancing the beautiful tango. Besides being colorful, Boca was also the birth place for the TANGO (Jorge pictured with 2 tango dancers was in delight watching them perform in the streets)! It is a very interesting place, full of life and adventure, but don't leave the main touristy area, and don't get stuck there at night, and you should remain safe.


After a great day in Boca, we returned home where Celi was gearing up to teach a group Tango lesson. We all participated and had a joyous time trying not to trample all over each others feet! Here is Mikey and I trying our best to make our feet and bodies move across the floor without falling or running into anyone else. And here is a lovely pic of our new friend, host, and tango teacher Celi, who obviously thought we could do better :)

The next day we went to an Argentinian Futbal game (soccer for all you Americans). This was an adventure of its own kind all together. The game was Boca Juniors vs. Arsenal. We of course cheered for Boca seeing as we were there the day before and as it is Jorge's favorite team. I guess they usually don't loose, however they did loose this game :( It was crazy getting into this game. We heard tickets were sold out, or that you couldn't go to a normal ticket window anyway to purchase tickets. We had to get them in the street. We were instructed not to speak English and give ourselves away, or lord knows what could and would have happened to us. After speaking with different street scammers, we finally desided on which one to let help us in... the cop. Of all the street scammers in BA, it is the police who have the best chance of actually helping you for a nice small bribe. All though, they too, can be quick to take your money and leave you hanging. It turns out we selected (bribed) the right cop, who got us into the stadium and seated hours before the main crowd arrived. This was good as it allowed us to be the first ones there to try and get the safest seats in the house. I guess it is not unheard of at these games for people to get hurt or even killed by the wild fans! Eeeek! We stayed in the back, top of the stands, with our backs against the walls. This seemed to work out well. We did not get hurt and we did not see anyone else get hurt or into a fight. Interestingly enough, and very different from America culture, they do not serve alcohol at sporting events. I guess they figure they do not need to fuel the crowds tendency to be violent. On the other hand, they allow people to smoke joints in the stands and do not make any attempt to moderate it, I guess they figure this helps to calm the crowds in an effort to stop the violence before it stops. After all, there are cops with shotguns positioned on each side, of each row of bleachers (more like rows of cement), so if they wanted to do something about it, they could have. All in all, it was a great day in the sun, except of course for Boca loosing! (Pictured below with me is Celi's friend from California, Renee!)