Final Stuff

So the end of the trip was wild but i basically don't remember and I certainly don't feel like typing anymore. I did add the pictures which you can click on the right. Siiick

Day 12: more islands

Quick: space key is broken on this comp. I will try hard but tough.

The alarm was set for 6:30am, which didn´t matter to the daughter of the family, who woke us up at 6. Breakfast was not until 7 so I took a stroll aound the island. I got back at 7 sharp, having missed breakfast (huh?). I ate a quick, cold egg and hadsome tea. We went down to the boat amd promptly took off 30 minutes later. (note: I am not being sarcastic, this is prompt.)

At 9 we arrived at Taquile, the more touristyof the islands (see previous). We walked around pretty much the entire island. After we saw some Incan ruins, we headed down to the pueblo. A hat that was less nice than the one Berry hadbought onAmantaní for $2.30 cost $12 here. Food did not follow that trend, though. We had two sanwhishes each, for $1.33 total. After the sandwhiches, we headed down to the port, and took off. After about 2 hours of trying to skeep in the cabin, I realized if I am on a boat, I may as well be on the boat, so I went out in the wind. About 45 minutes later, a storm, which we had been trying toavoid, caught us, sending all but the well-worn travelers below deck (ie everyone but me and the Peruvians). The lake all of a sudden became choppy and turned from peaceful blueto stormy green. It was pretty sweet. After about 1.5 hours, we got back. As we passed the Uros Islands (Islas Flotantes) I remembered we hadbeen there only a day before, even though it seemed like forever.

In Puno, we ran some quick errands. I got money and then we went to the cevicheria for food. Berry then went to5:45 mass (which started at 6:15 - it's a complicted time system here) and I strolled. I like walking in the non-touristy parts, which was very nice. I looked for thesecond tolast of the presents-to-buy with no luck. I bought a hat for 7 soles ($2.30ish) and one present. I walked back to the Cathedral and saw Berry who had been waiting for 30 minutes. Sorry about that. We grabbed a cab to the bus station, and got 20 soles tickets for the night bus. B went to internet, I hung loose.

And then the night bus...that will take a long time to tell. At least you know I´m alive, a feeling I did not have last night.

Day 11: Islands on Lake Titicaca

After 6:30a alarm, we headed to the port. We got tickets that sent us to all the places we wanted to go and back, but the boat didn´t leave til 8 South American time. Had a quick breakfast of egg and maté de coca. During breakfast another odd thing happened, this time, I´m still baffled. A truck came speeding down the road, and turned right at the end of the road at the port. There was a lot of yelling about 4 minutes later, and then everyone started running toward the truck. People starting yelling more and then something that seemed like an explosion went off, pouring smoke all over the street right att the port. Everyone started throwing things at the truck, which sped off. Seevral cars followed it until it was out of sight. I have no explanation.

First we took the boat to Uros, the floating islands. These are made entirely of reeds, and float. It´s absolutely unbgelievable, especially when we got out and stepped on the reeds. It fdelt a little like walking on the beach, but different. After a few minutes though you basically forgot about the fact you were not on ground. Then the boat took us to Amantaní, the smaller and less toursity of the two main islands on the Peruvian side. The whole ride was absolutely freezing, probably because we were on the top level and prey to the wind.

On arrival in Amantaní, the townspeople, by some unknown system communicated in Quechua, their main language, split us (the tourists) up into families. Berry and I were assigned to a very nice fmaily with at least 1 daughter and as many as 3 sons that I saw. We shared the house with 2 German woman, a mother and a daughter. The mother was visiting the daughter, who had been studying in Chile for three months. Shortly we were served lunch of soup and rice + potatoes. After lunch, I had a headache and rested while Berry went for a tour with the daughter. I woke up and went exploring by myself.

My exploration turned out to be the best part of going to the island. I walked up down and around. I came from a bed that was too short in a room with a ceiling straight out of a construction site, having gotten up to the room on a ¨staircase¨ held together with a few nails and a far amount of luck, so needless to say I was a little surprised to see a beautiful soccer stadium. The all-cement stands were expertly joined, with paths below and artistic decoration above the seats, all over-looking and entirely empty field with two goals, on an island where in all other circumstances, all corners, no matter how monutainous, were covered with farm.

I also accidentally stumbled on a wedding, and, caught after sunset, was forced to watch a lightning storm across the lake, too far to hear the thunder at all. I somehow made it back in the dark, probably due to the Strasser Sense of Direction, passed from generation to generation. Berry and I watched the lightning some more and then ate dinner: soup and rice + potatoes (yes I copied and pasted that, and could many more times).

After dinner, the girls got dressed up in traditional Quechua dress and went dancing. As you all could guess, I passed on that. It helped that I was dead tied and could at least lie to myself that that was why I wasn´t going. I have a nice pic of Berry which I will post soon enough. While waiting for Berry to return, I fell asleep.

Quick Break 2

We are, pending health-related restrictions, going to Taquile, an Island on Lake Titicaca, tomorrow. They have no electrcity on the island, so I´m guessing no internet. After that, things are busy so it might not be until saturday in the airport that I´m back. Or tomorrow. Anyway, be prepared like the lion king.

Day 10: Crossing back

Last night was horrible. It was freezing, and I had to put on my wool hat to survive. Still, we got a lt of sleep because of our lazy wake up time: 8am. We tried to call to get tickets to Puno for that afternoon, but no luck. We hiked al the way around our end of the island, which was pretty sweet. We saw some more Incan ruins from afar but decided that the water was more important. We bought more unmentionable stuff. Berry was pretty sick now. We ran down the mountain to catch the boat, and then, after boarding, that the South America is between 15 and 45 minutes ahead of itself, and the 10:30am departure time meant 11:15am local. This time we were on the top of the boat, although not in the fenced deck provided, whihc had no room.

Back in Copacabana, we called Berry´s mom for medical reasons, and then mine. Berry likes to maintain a yearly call to my mom re her health, usually during the summer, although I thought this was an extreme way to necessitate it. After the clal, we grabbed tickets for the 1:30pm to Puno, and then ate a quick meal. They probably overcharged us, and so e underpaid. I talked the owner, and gave him all the money I had. We went to the bathroom and headed to the bus.

Immigration was fine on both sides. We went a long way, and Berry managed to sleep for most it, although I did not. We passed a massive fire in the distance, and everyoen stared although noone knew what it was.

Then a very odd thing happened. We were stopped passing through Customs (about 1.5 hours after the border). Three officers boarded and went straight ot the bck. they pulled off a chinese looking guy, and then 5 minutes later, came back on, and pulled off the other two chinese looking passengers. then they pulled off an old german couple. the owner of the bus, who was on board, went at it a little with them, and they yelled back some. After 25 minutes, everyone from the bus was returned and we were o our way again. We asked the owner what had happened and he said they had gotten some sketchy info that some chinese peope were doing something bad, and had pulled us over to check. He said they do it to be bothersome, and that they had no right etc. etc. which was inclined to believe. The chino, who was actually of Japanese decent but a citizen of Peru, and who therefor had a passport from Peru, gave the the most trouble apparently, because they thought he had forged the passport; ohw could anyone who looked chinese e peruvian? Good question.

We arrived, got in a taxi, and went to the hotel Berry had read in the book. We got a nice room, put our electronics in to charge (which we have to do every time there is an outlet, so far twice). We went to get cash, hopefully for the last time, did a little moneya nd time planning, and now, here I am.

Day 9: Crossing the border

6:30am alarm and the breakfast. Guy from night before came and picked us up, and took us ot his private terminal. Nice, easy ride to the Bolivian border lthough I did't manage to slepp. At border, Berry realized she had lost her immigration card, so she got a new one as I chaned Soles to Bolivianos. Immigration was fine, crossed border, immigrtion on the other side also fine. Back to the bus. There was an unknown problem with our tickets, although we didn't seem to suffer any consequence for it. We got there and got the boat tickets fo Isla del Sol. We ate, and I had a much neede pizza. I went to get internet, but Berry did not see me apparently. I was on for about 12 minutes before I had to run to the boat, where, luckily, I found here again. It was nice to be on the boat on the lake, as you must all know my osession with water. Unfortunately we were below deck and not on top with the early-commers.

At the Isla, a 15ish year old walked us up the mountain, which took about 30 grueling minutes. Got a good-enough hotel for 50 bolivianos total, or about $3 a person. I felt very dizzy and Berry felt a little sick. The kid had told us that hte mountain was 4000 meters high. In American measures, that's pretty damn high. We napped for about an hour, and then walked to the stop of the mountain, which was more over and less up. I must have taken 6,000 pictures. We stayed until the sunset, and more pictures, at which point I realized I literally could not feel my fingers.

We walked down to a nice restaurant, which had 4 empty tables. We sat, and a nice man helped us. He offered us tea, and mentioned té medicinál. We asked about htat, and got into a lengthy discussion about Berry´s symptoms. He went down the mountain, and consulted his wife and sister, and came back with the perfect leaf. I just had regular old máte de coca, or tea from coca leaves. It helps with the altitude, they say. We each had about 5 cups fo tea. I also got trout and spaghetti, and Berry got nothing. We spent a long time arguing, mostly about the South.

By the time we left, it was pitch black. We stumbled and wandered around, until we finally foudn or hotel. Our Spanish neighbors were very loud and smoking what had to be weed, which made it pretty hard to sleep. Still, I managed it. What a trooper.

Day 8: Locura, Arequipa style

We slept until 9am, which feels a lot like 1pm at home. As I was getting ouof the shower, BErry reported that there was a disagreement over money with the hotel. After resolving that, and getting aniec free breakfast atop the roof, we ran a few errands. After the pharmacy (Berry starting to get a little worse), tourist info, cash machine, and a quick snack, we started the day.

Our first stop was Juanita. I'm about to sound quite nerdy, but eh. So Juanita is an Incan woman, between 12 and 14 years old, who was sacrificed to the sun Gods on top of a mountain near Arequipa. The mountain is frozen, or was, until recently. The neighboring mountain, excuse me, volcano, erupted, and the ash melted a lot of the ice on Juanita's mountain. She had been perfectly preserved, frozen in the ice, for the previous 5oo years. Coincidentally, an expedition found her 3 weeks after she was dislodged. She had decomposed only slightly in that time, and was immediately frozen. He skin was a little messed up on her face, and her upper lip was gone. Other than that, all organs were perfect, including her brain. There is way to much to tell here, but they did many tests and found out some absoltely amazing things. Even more memorable though was Juanita herself, sitting in an icy box, for me to look at.

After Juanita we hopped in a cab to El Azufral, the stadium of Arequipa. There we caught the city's 375th(?) anniversary's bullfight. The prelimary rounds were pretty dull, but the beer helped that. About half way through we grabbed a nice fried guinea pig, and ate that, although based on our neighbors' example, we really did not get it all. As the fights got more and more serious, I started to pick favorites. The only two that I cared about one. Galileo Jr. beat Nazi. (Hmm I wonder why I picked that one?) Then El Negro Asesino (The Black Assasin) beat La Loca Pirero. A lot of my friends used to all me el negro asesino, so yeah.

After the 15 minute cab right back to the centro, we visited the cathedral, which spans an entire side of the main plaza de armas. We got our bags from the hotel, got a cab to the bus station and took the bus from Arequipa to Puno, which left around 6:30pm.

We (purposefully, for leg room) got the two front row seats on the top level, just like the number 9, or even more the N9, which made me think quite a bit. After letting the marinate for about 2 hours, I managed to sleep. I was basically asleep from 8:30pm - 12:30am. Berry was very out of it and sick when we got there. I got the hotel and tickets for Copacobana for the next day, and we went to some hostel, where I promptly fell back to sleep.

Night 7: Night Bus, try 2

Berry by now was feeling pretty sick and did't have the best ride on the bus. I, on the other hand, slept basically all the way to Chivay. Berry came back from using the baño in Chivay, and I took the aisle. My right knee was dead, and this way I stretched it out. We waited in CHivay fora bout 1.5 hours, which sucked, even more so since the drier had left the door open to let peole on and off. As soon as the motor was back on, though, I was gone, out cold.

After 3 tries, we found a hostel in Arequipa called the San Augustin, which turn out to be very nice. We arrived at 4:45am to the door, I', fairly sure I was asleep by 4:49.

Day 7: The Cañon del Colca

We both slpet horribly last night. It was pretty freezing in the room and we really had not done anything. We were rudely awakened by our alarm at 4:15am. That's kinda near midnight for those of you who don't recognize the time. We rushed to et and to bus station, hopped on of hte last 3 seats and left Chivay.

Around 6:30 we arrived at the Cruz del Condor. We were among 4 people at our look out. At this point, the canyon is about the size of the grand canyon I tihnk. It is famous for the humongous and beautiful condors that fly there in the morning. We watched them int he bitter cold, which turned out to be worth it. There were 5 in total, and 2 were bigger and had white backs. I'm guessing either adults or males. After about 2 hours, man tourist groups started coming, but the birds had for the most part stopped flying. suckas. After pulling a foot and using a nice rock formation as a toilet, I managed to spot a public bus. All had been private and expensive tour buses. We hopped on, and went the 20 minutes to Cabanaconde.

We left our bags in a hostel and climbed down the canyon. It took about 2 to 3 hours, and that was at our I-can't-lt-the-other-be-faster pace. We stopped once for a brief drink and that's all. We arrived around 1pm and had planned to turn around at about 2 and go back up. Berry was feeling sick and I was feeling intimidated by the canyon, so we planned to take the mules back up. Unfortunately, there were no mules, and had there been, we could not have taken them since it was too sunny. Instead, we strolled down to the river, and swam. It was unbelievably cold, seeing as it was a fast moving mountain stream, but, stubborn as the mules, we both did it. Then we slept in the sun on the rock until the mountain blocked the sun. We got dressed again, and hung out in the little town for a while. Berry made quite a bit of small talk with the locals, who were very nice. They told us we could leave in 20 minutes, at 4, when the mules were rested.

At 4, we went to wait. At 4:30, the guy came an said soon enough. At 4:45 a different guy said our mules were coming downt he other mountain. I laughed cause I thought he was joking, but apparently he wasn't. We got under way arund 5:15.

Now I don't know if you are having troubl picturing me on a mule, but you should be. I felt more ridiculous then I looked, but Berry was nice enought to take pictures, so we'll see. We were guided by two siblings who basically sprinted after the mule, and made us look ridiculous. THey went up the mountain faster than we could go down. Damn. About half way up we met there 5 year old brother, who, had I not seen him, suld easily have been 15. Luckily, the South American time turned out ot be advantageous. We saw the sun setting over the mountains, retty unmissable. Of course, and I don't know how technological you are, but of course once the sun had set, it was dark. Not like oh the street lights will guide us, no like let's hope the mules can see farther than I can. As it turns out, mine started down a non-path, and I was fairly sure I was goign to die, but then the 15 eyar old boy ran down the moutnain had herded him the right way. Close call. AS we got farther up, I really had gotten the hang of it. Then, there were parts where we had to go down. I did not have the hang of anythign, it turned out. I was about 1 sec or 1 more sweat droplet on my hands from falling face first under the mule. Luckily, it all worked out. Finally we were back. I tried to call home to congrtulte my sis, but I think they've forgotten me already. We got a beer, and waited til 8:45, when we got on the night bus back to Arequipa. As you might expect, I was pretty scared (see beer, above) about the night bus.

Day 6

We felt very lazy and didn't wake up until 8 tis morning. I took a nice, (rare,) long, hot shower. My lips look like the canyon we are going to see soon, so the shower was extra helpful. After a nice breakfast ont he terrace of our hostel, we went to the bus station and got the last tickets for the bus to Chivay. We hung out for a while and then boarded the bus.

The 11:45am bus left on time at 12pm, and it was going quite smoothly, until around 12:30pm when the steering stopped functioning. We waited about 20 minutes for the mechanic, who fixed the problem in only 30 minutes. I was very impressed until we broke down 20 minutes later. We then waited for another bus to pick us up. As we got on, I went to pee, and then got in line. The gentelman that I am let the 4 women in front of me go first. Bad call. 2 of them got seats in the smaller bus; I did not. We got going at 2pm, and I and two other (guys) were forced to stand the whole time. I did get a nice chance to observe everything around me. This included the old indigenous couple who had a box of chicks with them, although te box was a little old and wet and kept breaking, so i had to pick up the chicks and return them occasionally. On the other side there was a mother and her 1- and 3. year old sons. The 1 year old cried a lot and slept the rest, but the 3 year old found an unbelievable complex and fasciniating toy: my shoelaces. I let him play a while, since his knots were not that great, and eventually he untied me. Around 4 a very nice woman offered me an orange but I, presumably delirious from standing for so long, refused, thinking that I couldn't eat fruit. Damn it.

Finally we arrived at about 4:40. Well-rested Berry caught us a cab while I sat down. We went to the hostel, and a ten year old girl gav us a room, bargaining quite professionally over price. After a long dinner with a heated conversation, we went shopping. Berry began to fell poorly around right here. See later. I can't tell you about the shopping yet, since it has to be a surprise, but we spent quite a wihle barganing there. As an aside, I absolutely hate bargaining and feel ridiculous when we do, or at elast that's how it was at the beginning. Now I've realized that that is built into the price. I still feel odd doing it. After shopping, we went to bed.

Quick Break

Sorry, but befre i get to day 6 and beyond, a few things. My sister took th MCATs on Sat, so congratulate her.

2 - the keyboard i'm using is horrible. the keys stick and the letters are worn off. i think i can touch type, although apparently not with the spanish encoding. for instance, i don't know where ñ is on the american keyboard.

3 - since it has been so long, my posts may be longer or shorter, or soemthing. i dont care. you should feel free to comment but who knows if i'll read it.

ok back to the grindstone

Day 5: Arequipa and Corire

After Hell (see previous) we grabed a 6:30 bus to Corire, throughout which I was fast asleep. I got the very middle seat in the back, and therefor had the whole length of the bus for my legs. After arriving at about 9:15, we ate a huge breakfast. We each had two pastries and coffee, and got three empanadas for lunch for later. We went all out for this meal, spending 9 soles or a little less than $3. We walked to Toro Muerto which took about 30 minutes. From there we got directions to the petroglifos. We tried not to hard to follow them, and got fairly lost. We wandered around for about an hour and half, before stumbling onto the first base station.

I think I´ve never even heard of somehwere like this place. Besides the actual Petroglyphs themselves, which were absolutely amazing, this place was so odd. A previous visitor and commented ´geoligicamente, mágico´or geologically magic. There isn´t much of a better way to say it. It was a desert, as far as I could tell. There were huge sandy mountains on either side. looking down into the valley from which we had come, we saw only green, but looing around us, only sand and rock. Still, it didn´t look like a normal desert. I supposed and Berry agreed that there had at one point been a river where we were. It´s too hard to explain in words. We spent all day wandering about, and didn´t see anyone at all for the 4 hours we were up there. We ate and walked back. I would guess we walked 10 sandy miles during the day, which was very welcome after the hours and hours cramped in the bus.

We came back, hung out and planned. I met some missionaries from San Diego while Berry made a phone call. I think the wil be a subjec to of a later, more philosophical post. After that we grabbed a bus back to Arequipa, and walked around. I was in the mood for a change, so we went to a Chifa. New Havenites thinkMain Garden, D.C. folks think that (or an) chinese place around 14th and Columbia Ave. It was just as in the States, and very welcomed. We went back to our hostel, crashed and will head to the canyon tomorrow.

Night 4: Hell, I mean night bus

Ow. We had a bus from Cusco to Arequipa that left at 7:30pm and arrived at 5:30am. All looked fine when we bought the tickets for 25 soles each, or about $8. We got to the train station a little late, and were a tad rushed. We eached grabbed our rain coats, the only thing at hand, to use for pillows. We hopped on and I knew I was in trouble. I couldn´t simlultaneously be seated and not be crushing my knees into the metal seat in fron of me. We both fell asleep for a little while once the bus got going, but then I awoke and Berry did a little while later.

After that I was pretty much done for. I watched a poorly dubbed film about a kickboxer whose love Marianne had been taken from him. It really changed my life. No not really. Then I tried, in vain, to find a omfortable position. The window was wet, the bus was absolutely freezing and the seat was too small. The constant baby crying and the next movie, face-off, did not help either. I put in my shuffle and tried to ignore everting, which didn´t work. I wound up watching face-off and reading the spanish subitles. At least I got to work on my spanish, I guess.

Finally, during the third crappy movie, I put my seat up and slept sitting straight up. Thanks mom for teaching me that skill. I woke up when we got there, haveing slept about 4 hours, confused, sore and tired. Maybe next time we´ll spring for the full bed bus. All things considered, I did make it, and sleep is for cowards. I can sleep when I´m dead and all that. So hopefully that was the worst of the trip.

Day 4

We woke up at 5 am and hopped on the 5:45 train to Ollentayambo this morning. From there we had a long breakfast during which we planned the rest of hte trip, which was nice. We'll be doing some pretty amazing things. We saw the pre-Incan and Incan ruins in Ollentaytambo, and paid for a guide for the first time, which turned otu to be a brilliant decision (by me).

After the ruins,w e hopped in cab, the only way ot get to our destination of Moray. We visited the Incan ruins there. Moray is a semi-natural half-crater that was used for agricluture. For various environmental reasons, its 12ish levels fo terraces all had different 'micro-climates', which was pretty cool to see, mostly because the INcas were pretty damn smart.

From Moray we headed back to Cuzco, where we walked for approximately 1 hour to the bus station. We got night bus tickets to arequipa for tonight, and it looks like from there I won't have nearly such high tech access as here. We will see some pretty amazing things though. It is now time for lunch since Slavemaster Kennedy didn't have time to eat earlier. Hasta luego or never.

Day 3: Machu Pichu

Again awake at 3:30. This time we went to get coffee and food and stumlbed into a random restaurant that was closed until 6. They served us. Soon a large group had come in, one by one, and ate. We ate pancakes, coffee and rolls. Only when we asked to pay did the group of Americans tell us that they thought (and were right) that we had accidentally jumped into their group and gotten their pre paid food. We left quickly after that but we did giev the owner a ince little tip. We got out ont he trial at abotu 4:15, ready to go. It was pretty dark but we foudn the trail eventually. About a third of the way up, I got pretty dizzy and couldn´t quite see, so we slowed down, drank (most of the) water and took it in pieces. I might need to ge in shape soon. We got there around 5:45, and it opens (supposedly) at 6. It was stil dark, and we waited for the tickets. I got in the line that had formed as the well rested tourists came from the first but that arrived. I got to the front of the line adn we still had no tickets, even though berry was 2nd in line. I got back in the end of the line, and was about to get out when she came with 2 student tickets. We used those, except I don´t have a student id with me. I had to go back and bacy the difference, and then finally got into machu pichu. Machi Pichu right off the bat was amazing. If any of you can go, go. It was so cool. At about 10am we left on the other side and climbed a neighboring peak which has an amazing view of the whole valley. I will show pictures of that too. We came back down, did the other half of Machu Pichu, and walked back home. We both instantly collapsed, and decided to take a nice 3o minute nap. Grabbed lunch, dropping 10 soles or $3 for the whole meal, which was pretty ok. I accidentally drank the juice, which may or may not have been made with water, so I may or may not (read defintely will) get sick tonight or tomorrow. Uh oh. I don´t know when I will have internet again, although I will try.

Day 2

Today´s wake up call rang pretty loud at 3:3o this morning. Berry slept right htourhg it and the poking. We finally got up, had a nice breakfast (included in such an expensive place) and went to the airport. We were about 2 hours early (as intstructed). We grabbed our flight to cuzco, which went fine. The flight took us right over the andes, which was pretty amazing. We bought tickets for our train tonight and then ran soem errands, checking Berry´s stuff, gettign tourist tickets etc. Grabbed a nice lunch of soup, meat, riec and salad, which came at the ridiculous price of 20 soles, or about $6 total. Ripoff. Then the craziness started. Most tourists get a train ticket to aguas calientes, wihhc is righ tnext to machu pichu. Berry organized for us to take the local bus wiht the workers fresh from their jobs and the schoolchildren who had just finished up. It was a touch crowded, and I was glad I didn´t ave to sit on the roof with the others. This ride was very instructive about the gente, but I don´t have time to get into all that right now. My hour is almost up. We were tyring ot see the salt mines at Salineras, but we missed hte stop. Berry was sleeping and the guy was talkng to me. I´m having lmost no trouble understanding the spanish in cities, but in the campo, it´s like a whole new language. So we got out at Urubamba, grabbed the cab to Tallabamaba? or some such place. We then walked anice mountainous trail tot he salt mines, which were very cool. The technology, created but hte Incas was so simple and depended on nothing we would call technology. Still, the mines produce 10 bags (about 50 kgs) every two months, per rectangular area. There about 4,000 areas in use, according to a few workers there. The mines are operated by a coop, and the people are genuine and nice, as we keep inding here. As you might imagine, Berry an I have alot of conversing time on our hands. If you know either of us, you know we each like to argue. If you know both of us, you know we especially like to argue with each other. Our first big argument happened on this crazy several hour journey. We argued about religion, and despite being the most stubborn being in the world, Berry will happily admit that I won the argument. After 3 hours though, and they usally dont´go quite that long. We couldn´t find a bus on the way back from the mines, and so accepted a random guy´s offer (he siad he was a taxi) drive us back. This ´taxi driver´ happened to be taxiing his family as well. I sat in the trunk, backwards and tried to understand the spanish. Beryy made conversation, of course. When we got to ollentaytamba, there was an inauguration gogin on, with music dancing etc int hte streets. W grabbed a beer or two and watched that for a while. Then we hopped on the 8pm train to Aguas Calientes aka Machu Pichu. I fell asleep instantly since it was Berry´s turn to watch the stuff. We found an accurately priced hostel for 90 soles for two nights. I will add pictures later but in yoru terms that´s $30 for two nights for two of us, or $7.50 a night. And in the most toursty place in the whole country too. Tomorrow is Machu Pichu, and another early call.

Day 1

So today I was travelling pretty much all day. I got up bright and early and got ot the airport. I took a flight ot San Salvador, El Salvdor, tearing through my first book fairly quickly. I would have loved to sleep but I was covered head to toe but the fat man to my left, who got to use the arm rest for his stomach, and my stomach for his arm. Ironic I suppose. I slept for my entire second flight to San Jose Costa Rica. The last flight, the one to Lima, was the longest and I was the most bored. I of course spilled wine all over myself (wine and all other alcoholic beverages are somehow free on Taca airlines, my favorite airline). I slept for a while and in talkign tot he stewardesses, my panish started to come back. Someone tell Jaime Estrada. I got to Lima, got through immigration easily. Beryr met me at my baggage cliam somehow. It was good to see her, tongue ring and all. We got lodging for the night that was way out of our league. We dropped $58 on the cab ride to and form and the one night in the manhattan hotel. Quite a spend. Berry went ot call her parents while we waited for the cab. She was taking about 6 hours, so I went to search for her. I finally did find her scrounging for money. Apparently, while asleep on the plane, she was robbed of her wallet, including her money, her cards and some other things she needed. So that sucks. But now all is ok, since she´s laid back and I´m also laid back. We ended the day with some nice emailing around, askign for some dinero, como dicén, and all was solved.

Intro

I don´t have gret access to internet, and even more importantly, Berry, my compatriot, is plain'out a slavedriver. We wake, eat go go go and then sleep (if she´s feeling generous). So I may update this, I may not, there is no telling. That´s punto #1. Another consideration is that I barely manage to keep up with the spanish, so I may not feel like converting back to english too often. If there are words that don´t seem like English, look them up.

Ok now to the trip. We will be (= are) in Peru for 14 days including travel, the 13th through the 26th. I will post what I can when I can, and I hope to see you all again sometime or another.