peru, the aftermath

praise God that i am recovered from the evilness peru gave me this week! i am slowly re-introducing food back into my system. hopefully, i can eat meat by the 4th of july bbq. :P maybe i will be adventurous and fulfill my 2 week craving for a burrito. hm, hold that thought.

many of you are prolly wondering...
what did i do in peru?
(you can check out pictures here.)
-the first day i was in peru, linda and i strolled around miraflores, lima. miraflores is the safest suburb of Lima and is at the seaside. i was advised to stay away from central lima by a native on the plane to peru.
-visited the city of cusco, which is at really high elevation at 3400 m, 11,150 ft. it’s a bustling city that’s 1.5 hour plane ride southeast of lima.
-hiked and camped through the back country of peru's sacred valley.


me at the 1st pass: waynaqasa @ elev. of 4380 meters.
i can't believe i made it up there.
the next part of the hike was to go pass the lakes picture behind me and through the mts. shudder.

-visited Machu Picchu


su, linda, & i finally at machu picchu in the early morning for sunrise!

-went horseback riding for the first time.
-visited Puerto Maldonado, the Amazon Jungle that’s 30 min. plane ride east of Cusco.


our humble abode in the jungle lodge complete w/ mosquito nets!

-got terribly sick multiple times (common among all of us on the tour)
-met cool ppls from around the world: Ireland, Australia, Canada, & even MN!
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i made it thru my crazy peru trip. i never thought i’d have such an adventure. i learned a lot about myself. one major part is that i can't push myself too much out of my comfort zone. ie. the hiking and camping part was a major character test. i think it stemmed from the cold temps i wasn't prepared for at night. the cold made me gag and not want to eat. now that i think of it, i could've had hypothermia. luckily the second night i had a hot water bottle for a few hours (i wish our guide told us the idea the 1st night). i thought i was prepared for this trip but it turns out i was not at all. i can't believe i did so much and accomplished the hiking/camping portion. we hiked 8 miles the 1st day, 18 the 2nd, and 7 the 3rd. grand total of 33 miles! the highest elevation we were at was 4380 meters. the highest campsite was at 4230 meters. no wonder why i was freezing AND there was tons of frost on the ground the next morning! the night sky was awesome too. clear skies and bright stars.

many have asked me if i would go on this trip if i knew what it was really going to be like. the truth is, i think i would even if there was no way to protect myself from my stomach problems and altitude sickness. there are a lot of "if onlys": if i knew to bring a winter jacket and rent an air mattress i'd totally do it again! i saw so many things i would never imagine myself seeing EVER. it makes me really grateful that God provided me this opportunity to experience this adventure and how spoiled i am in life. it's amazing how the quechans (the last indigenous ppls of peru) can live such a simple life: planting potatoes, herding alpacas/llamas/sheep, and still wear their traditional dress in the year 2005. the jungle lodge was awesome too. it was a relaxing retreat with no electricity. we played a lot of fun card games, lounged in hammocks, and ate great food by candlelight. every morning, i'd wake up to this loud howling, thinking it was the wind but actually the howler monkeys. funny how it was soothing to hear bickering birds in the morning and lay in my mosquito net/tent bed. linda, su and the rest of the tour gang were great traveling companions. i'd go back to peru but avoid lima. it's a major pollution bubble full of crazy drivers. i played human frogger and became quite good at dodging cars. :P the sun also never goes through the pollution haze. peru is sure full of rich treasures (learning about the culture was neat-o. the incans were very civilized and innovative.) and is super inexpensive there. :)

i could go on but i'll spare you! so, that's all folks!