Central America - Where and What to do?

My cousin informed me earlier this year that if I wanted/needed a travel partner for this summer she would gladly follow me anywhere I wanted to go.

That's a pretty tall order to fill, wouldn't you say?

I'd originally wanted to organize a trip to Egypt with the bunch of us that were in Peru together, but a few things came up that would make such a trip somewhat difficult (including, but not exclusively limited to the issues Egypt has had lately).

So then I started thinking about Central America. I'd enjoyed Peru a lot and I had been considering doing a trip there earlier as well. I asked my cousin what she thought and she said she was up for an adventure to anywhere I was hoping to go... so the planning started.

Unfortunately I don't have as many vacation days this year as I had last year, so my time will be a bit shorter than in previous years (though I think I hit the jack pot last year with trips to Vegas, Vancouver, Finland/France/UK AND Peru all between April and November) but I still think it's do-able to see as much of the area as possible.

The options consist of 2 different ideas:

Costa Rica and Panama - lots of adventurey things to do plus a bit easier to get around and more backpacker friendly but more expensive due to being more touristy

or Mexico (Cancun/Cozumel/Playa Del Carmen), Belize and Guatemala - a bit more off the beaten track, with lots of diving/snorkelling to do as well as a bit cheaper and things like Mayan ruins to check out.

At this point the price of flights is similar to all destinations so that's not a big factor - but I'm taking advice and  suggestions - where do you think I should go?

The A-Train will be leaving the station again soon!

Today I booked my next trip.

In May I will be taking off with one of my best friends and his best friend to beautiful Thailand.

Any tips and advice is totally appreciated! More details to come as I plan what we're going to do while we are there!

Photos from Peru

Now that I've finally got some time to myself, I've spent the morning working on editing my photos from Peru and attempting to get them up on my photo blog. Check them out!!

Peru - People of Cuzco
Peru - Market
Peru - Ccaccoccollo Homestay
Peru - Lima

Lima and Home

Our last day in Peru came far too quickly.

After a wonderful sleep in (however necessary, having gone to bed somewhere around 5:30am) I missed breakfast served at the hotel. The general plan was to meet the other girls in the lobby around noon and go from there to find lunch and the markets that were supposed to be somewhere near by.

Slowly the group convened and after much deliberation we decided to set out and find something to eat. Justin had mentioned that he and Matt were going to a little place a few blocks from the hotel and if we wanted to join up with them we could. We didn't make any concrete plans but told him maybe we'd run into them.

Our idea was to find something along the water so the group of us went out in search of somewhere to eat with a view. We did our best not to get hit by a car (the only way to cross a street in Lima is to start walking and just stick your hand out in "stop" fashion, with pure hope that the cars stop for you) and started walking down random streets... which led us directly to the restaurant that Justin and co were at. We sat down with the intention of eating there, since we were hungry and just needed food, but soon discovered that the menu was all seafood. Some of the group couldn't do seafood and the rest didn't think it was the best idea for the first meal of the day, so we got up and decided to head towards the sandwich place we'd gone to the day before.

We didn't really know where the sandwich place was but managed to find it anyway. Lunch was just as delicious the second time around, though I had the chicken sandwich (instead of the chicarron) this time.

All of us were in the mood for something low-key to do so we set off in search of the markets. We found them without too much difficulty (they were actually just down the street from our hotel) but were somewhat disappointed to find out they weren't anything like the markets in Cusco- more just shops selling the standard knitted fare that we'd seen everywhere else. However it gave us a chance to stay out of the bit of rain that was starting to fall (and they say it never rains in Lima!).

We window shopped for a while and then decided to just find somewhere to sit down and get a warm beverage. We'd passed a Starbucks on our way to the markets and decided to go back there (free wifi was a definite deciding factor). On the way Rose and I were lucky enough to get some pretty awesome necklaces from a guy on the street for only 10 soles. Maybe my best find of the whole trip.

Warm bevs in hand, we killed at least an hour at Starbucks. While there we asked a security guard where the best place to buy a bottle of Pisco might be - the ones we'd seen were about S/20 for a small bottle. He suggested Metro which was basically just across the square. We started our adventure to find the store, taking the long route around because there actually seemed to be cross walks around the square so we wouldn't die by Peruvian motorists.

Once in the Metro we asked where to find the Pisco and were led into a room filled with bottles floor to ceiling. One whole wall was dedicated to the country's national spirit. Prices ranged from S/24 to about S/60 but most of us opted for the cheap bottle with a picture of Machu Picchu.

Pisco in hand we headed back to the hotel. We had a few hours to kill before meeting Barbara for dinner and most of us just hung around the hotel lobby. I myself curled up in the corner of the couch and had a nap. At 6 Barbara came and took us to a nice place on the square for dinner - she made great suggestions for stuff to eat and I don't think any of us were disappointed. I had a seafood dish that was similar to jumbalaya (one of my fav things).

We couldn't linger too long after dinner since we had a shuttle to the airport booked, so we went to meet everyone at the hotel. Onto the bus we went, taking with us a few other GAP adventure people that were also staying at the hotel. The bus trip was about an hour but it definitely didn't seem that way. Traffic was terrifying as always... I don't think I would EVER be able to drive in Lima!

Since Carolina had checked us all in the day before we didn't need to do anything at the airport except head to the gate. Some of us were going to the west coast of Canada and others to the east, so we parted ways before security. On the way to the gate Justin suggested a beer at one of the bars so I took him up on the offer. By the time we got to the gate we found out that for some unknown reason our flights were delayed by about half an hour. Someone told us that there was a free wifi zone back around gate 17, so a few of us went back down there to kill more time on the internet.

While waiting in line Rose pointed out a guy with a pretty fantastic looking hair do - pure 80s magic. We snickered and commented on the fact that he looked like he belonged in a band from the 80s and so did the guy standing beside him with the long curly blond ponytail. The longer we stood in line staring at the pair the more convinced we were that we were staring at Dee Snider of Twisted Sister.

We weren't lucky enough to get first class on the way home (darn!) but Carolina managed to get us bulkhead seats AND complimentary champange before take off. Before take off "Dee Snider" passed by us, muttered a few words and the voice and face together was enough confirmation for us that it was indeed him.

Because our flight was so late taking off, almost 1am, both Rose and I opted out of dinner and promptly fell asleep. Having the extra leg room was awesome, and even though we weren't in first class any more the blankets they had on the plane were SOO cozy. I almost stone one, I have to admit (and with this cold weather I've been dealing with since returning home I wish I had). I slept soundly the entire flight and only woke up when the flight attendent was right beside me with the breakfast tray.

Our flight being delayed in Lima meant that we missed our connecting flight in New York, but luckily LAN reprotected us on a flight with American Airlines. We ended up having to wait an extra hour or more for the new flight, which caused me to have to change my shuttle that I had booked back to London. I'd only flown via JFK once before (when I flew with Finnair in Aug) but the terminal we left from was the same so it was sorta nice to feel a bit of familiarity despite the disruption in our flights.

Got back to Toronto just after 2pm and had to say goodbye to half the group since they were taking a taxi downtown Toronto. Rose, Heather and I hung around terminal 3 until they had to catch their planes, at which point I went down to wait for the shuttle... all alone after 8 days of being surrounded by people. It felt weird.

Got back to London around 7pm, and a friend picked me up in my car (I'd loaned it to him for the week while I was gone) and took me to home. It had just started to snow, which was quite the shock after it being close to 20 degrees in Lima when we left!!

Overall Peru with GAP and LAN was a fantastic trip that I think will stick out in my mind forever. Experiencing the Peruvian culture, food and country is just something everyone should do in their life time. South America is a facinating place, and there are so many more places on the continent I'd like to get to (Galapagos, Brazil, etc). LAN was a great airline to fly with, the service was amazing and the planes themselves were full of amenities (over 40 movies alone to choose from!). GAP made the whole thing a very "real" experience and we had lots of free time to do what we wanted. Our guide, Barbara, was adorable and I wish we could have brought her back with us to Canada ... and she tells me she would have liked to come along because for some reason she loves the snow!

As with every trip I go on, I met some amazing people that I hope to stay in contact with for years to come - it helps that the women on the trip were all people that work for the same company but I think we became more than collegues over the week long trip - we definitely became friends.

And so ends my accounts of my trip to Peru - I hope everyone has enjoyed reading my stories, and continue to check back on this page from time to time... I don't sit still very long and will be off on another adventure soon.

Next stop: Costa Rica in Feb with Volunteer Abroad (if I can get a big enough group to go) to help save the sea turtles
Thailand in May for the full moon festival
Egypt with some of the TCUTS/ATC ladies from Peru in the fall.... hopefully.

Off to Lima!!

My apologies for not getting my updates out to you all sooner - we've been buried under snow here in London and I just finally got it back to work on Thursday! Not that I'm complaining about the bit of extra holidays I had, but it's kinda nice to get back to a regular routine.

We woke up early one last time in Cuzco and gathered in the lobby of the hotel. After our exhausting last couple days at the homestay and then Machu Picchu, the majority of the group had gone to bed early. We all headed out to the bus one last time and took off...

Completely forgetting Lisa, one of the girls from Toronto!

We made it partway down the street before we realized she was running to catch up, pulled over and let her on. D'oh!! She climbed aboard, we apologized profusely, and off to the airport we went. Carolina worked her magic and got us all seats near the front of the plane where there was more leg room. We checked our luggage, went through security and waited to board.

The flight itself wasn't overy exciting, we enjoyed a small snack and I'm pretty sure half the plane was watching Just for Laughs. We arrived in Lima in one piece, gathered our luggage and went to our shuttle to the hotel while Carolina went to go check us in for our flight back to New York the next evening.

I have to admit, upon arrival in Lima and on the drive to the hotel I wasn't totally sure how I felt about the city. At first glance, that's all it is - a city. Billboards everywhere, chaotic traffic and a lot of poverty. We had a city tour planned for the afternoon, but along the way Barbara gave us some information on the city itself. She showed us the river, the Rimac, for which the city is somewhat named. River is sort of a misnomer though - there was barely any water in the river!

The scenery did improve as we got farther from the airport however. We drove along the coast which is being completely overhauled and made into parkland, and as we approached Mira Flores, the area where our hotel was located, the buildings became more modern and less run down looking.

We arrived at the hotel and went into the lobby - such a nice place!! Hotel Britania was the name and it was gorgeous! We were given our room keys and we all dispersed with the plan to meet back in an hour to go for lunch at a little sandwich place Barbara knew about. Our bags were delivered to our rooms (how's that for service!) and we changed into more summer appropriate clothes since the weather in Lima was warmer and more humid that Cuzco. Watched some TV (the only English show on was Ghost Whisperer... I should have avoided TV all together) and then went back to the lobby, met the group and headed toward La Lucha.

Barbara gave us the run down of what there was to eat, from things like chicken, to pork, to ham etc. I tried the chicharron which was good but I'm glad I didn't ask what it actually was (pork rinds..*shudder*). The place also had AMAZING french fries, which we all ordered or shared with the group.

We couldn't linger too long at La Lucha because we had to meet our guide for our 3h city tour at 2pm. We went back to the hotel, grabbed our stuff from our rooms and got on the bus. Our guide's name was Celes and he had all kinds of interesting things to tell us.

• the population of Lima is about 9 million - 1/3 of the country lives here
• there are 43 districts in Lima
• Mira Flores, where we were staying, is primarily the tourist district
• Love Park, the park overlooking the water, used to be really trashy but they have since revamped it and created the park in memory of those who had committed suicide there. The idea is to "love life"
• The Incas built Huacas (sounds like wakas) where they would scarifice things to the sun gods - women, seafood, etc. 
• When the Spanish arrived in 1530 they didn't fight against the Incas - the civilization was in conflict and the Spanish used this to their advantage and turned the sides against each others.
• Lima doesn't get very much rain - it's often very cloudy however. Therefore the roofs are generally mostly flat. Once, in the 70s it rained for 11 hours and everything flooded. The only houses that were okay were the European style ones that had sloped roofs.
• Pizarro picked the location of the city for a port and wanted to name if the City of Kings - Lima is a result of the mispronuciation of Rimac, the river that runs through the city. 
• Gustaf Eiffel, builder of the Eiffel tower, designed the first metal building in the city - an art gallery
• Public transportation in Lima is terrible - there is minimal organized public transport, a result of the previous president's decision to import old japanese cars and leave people without a lot of jobs. 
• Peru was one of the last Spanish colonies to gain independence, since all the money/resources was located there. It was due to other S. American countries stepping in that they were able to fight the Spanish and gain independence.

Our guide showed us the main square in the city and man was it gorgeous!! Such a difference from the slummy type areas we drove through on our way to the hotel. The buildings were bright yellow and very colonial type architecture - mixture of French and Spanish design. 

We also visited the San Franciscan Monastery, and the catacombs below - really really interesting! Over 25K people were buried there at some point, which is pretty incredible. I was really sad I couldn't take pictures - the library located inside was a sight to see - sky lights and spiral stair cases, rows and rows of books. It was breathtaking!

After the monastery, we went to get on the bus, but before we could get on we were approached by a guard who wanted to tell us a joke - in English. We laughed and then he told us another. Pretty sure someone got the second one on video. 

The tour ended back at the hotel around 5pm, giving us enough time to shower and get ready for our goodbye dinner. Dinner was to be held at Huaca Pucllana, a restaurant that was located beside one of the huacas that existed in the city. We all met in the lobby and walked to the restuarant where we were met by Justin and a couple other people from the GAP office. 

Dinner was, as we'd come to expect, amazing. The night was warm and the views of the huaca were pretty fabulous as well. After dinner we all got in taxis and spent a night on the town, with Matt from GAP as our guide - he seemed to know all the great places to go and showed us a great time as promised!

Got to bed late, as often happens with a night out, but thankfully had a whole day off to do whatever we wanted before our shuttle to the airport at 8pm.

Only one more day left in Lima!! Stay tuned to see how our last day went

Take Me Wit-chu to Machu Picchu!!

Ever since the new list of the Seven Wonders of the World came out, I made it my goal to visit them all, and I've already been to Colosseum, so the fact that I was going to Peru and Machu Picchu had me super excited.

We've all seen pictures of Machu Picchu, with it's terraced slopes and massive mountains in the background, but how many of us have actually SEEN it? Well, as of 2003, over 400K people, according to Wikipedia. And now I had the chance to be one of them.

Our day started incredibly early, as I mentioned before, with us meeting in the lobby of the hotel. We packed ourselves some snacks for the trip and all headed down to the bus stop at the base of the hill by the railroad tracks. The buses run from about 5am til about 9pm, every 10 min at times. We piled on the bus and settled in for the half hour trek up the hill. The bus took off, crossed the river and started the ascent.

Back and forth we went up the mountain side, terrifying drops awaited anyone who was brave enough to look out the window when their side of the bus was overlooking the edge. Hairpin turns allowed the bus to zigzag up the mountain and the roads were just barely wide enough for another bus to pass. Eventually we made it to the top and gathered as a group to await Barbara's instructions.

We were told that sunrise was at about 6:30, but considering the skies were already blue we figured we'd missed the good time of day to see the famous site. Barbara told us not to worry, and handed out our tickets. She led the way to the gates where we gave our tickets to the attendants and then continued our way up the hill.

We were greeted by a fork in the road. One pathway went straight up, with the word "Long" on a sign with an arrow. The other pathway went straight, with an arrow pointing down the hill. All of a sudden we started on the vertical path up, with it's ominous looking arrow.

Up and up and up we hiked, huffing and puffing and complaining about how difficult it was to haul ourselves up the hill. Pretty sure I remember hearing a few of the group mention how there wasn't much chance of us doing the Inca Trail if we can't even do the stairs up to overlook Machu Picchu.

Eventually we reached the top and it was completely worth it. The view of the ancient site was unobstructed and the clouds were drifting past just enough to give some depth to the scene. There were llamas atop the hill as well, presumably to be posed in pictures (and here I thought they just photoshopped them in!) for the tourists. Barbara pointed the way to the Sun Gate, location further up the hill, about a 45 min hike away.

The group of us ran around taking pictures, taking in the view and just generally being in complete awe of the fact that we were indeed at Machu Picchu! The sun was shining and despite our worries, it came up over the mountains while we were there casting an amazing light over the whole city.

We had to head back down the mountain to the fork in the road and then back to the gate to meet our guide. The way down was almost as scary as the way up since the rocks are slippery and steep. Once at the bottom we all gathered for a photo overlooking the city before heading to meet our guide. Just want to mention - this was all by about 7:30am! Amazing what can be accomplished before 8am!

Our guide,Wagner,  was waiting for us at the gates at 8am. He took us back up the hill to the fork in the road and this time instead of going up the monstrous hill we went down the stairs towards the ruins themselves. We stopped in the shade and he started to explain the site to us. There are 2 main areas, the agricultural section and the urban section. The part that most people see from the photos is the urban area.

Some of the interesting points Wagner told us are as follows:

• there are more than 5000 steps in the ancient city
• built on top of a mountain to avoid landslides - on the east side of the mountain the terraces are for agriculture, on the west side they are just retaining walls 
• the bricks used throughout the city were created by chiseling the naturally occuring granite, following the lines of the rocks and grinding them down with water to make them smooth.
• Incas built all their buildings to withstand the frequent earthquakes by using trapezoid shapes. 
• The Temple of the Sun is an accurate calendar showing the winter (June 21st) and summer (Dec 21st) solstice. Unlike our Gregorian calendar, which has to be adjusted every 4 years, the Temple of the Sun is accurate to 14,000 years.
• Machu Picchu was one of 4 ancient cities (Ollantaytambo and Pisac are others) that have been discovered. They are still searching for the 4th. 
• The Incas domesticated potatoes - they figured out how to breed the alkyds out of the potatoes so they were no longer poisonous. Scientists today still do not know how to do this. 
• There are over 3000 types of potatoes in Peru 
• Incas and Andean people live on a mostly carb diet - potatoes, corn, grains - due to their extremely active lifestyle. (Believe me, all that hiking you'd need lots of sustenance!)
• Andean culture nowadays is very similar to those of the Incas - the only difference is that some of the knowledge (like how to breed potatoes) was not passed down after the Spanish took over. 
• The Spanish brought disease to the Incas - prior to them arriving there was very little sickness. The Incas would send the men out of the communities at 17/18 years old and they would move to another community. By moving the people around, there was no incest and stronger bloodlines.
• The Incas taught the Spanish how to find gold and silver - things that were mostly useless to them. Their treasures were the seeds to their plants. 
• Machu Picchu was home to approx 800-1000 people though they could not possibly grow that much food on the land they had. They would instead harvest fruits etc from the nearby jungle, dry it and trade it with other nearby villages. 

After the tour, which was fantastic (I highly recommend having a guide at such a facinating place, since you will get so much more out of the experience), some of the group stayed behind to do the Sun Gate hike while the rest of us went back down the hill into the town to find something to eat. 

As we arrived back in Aguas Calientes, the skys opened up and it started to rain. A group of us decided to go for Mexican food at a cute spot long the railway tracks with outdoor seating and a nice awning While we were sitting there a band happened by to play us some live music. We sat back, listened and discussed the amazing things we'd seen that morning. 

Once completely stuffed, the group split up. Some of us went to check our emails while others went to shop in the markets surrounding the train station. All in all we just killed time until our train from Aguas to Cusco that departed at 5:30 

The train ride was about 3 hours long and we didn't get back to Cusco city until nearly 10pm.... it felt great to be back "home" in a familiar hotel. Showers and repacking commenced. Some people went out but the majority just hung back to get a good nights sleep before another early morning - next stop, LIMA!

** Just want to mention - while at MP myself and a few others got eaten by Peruvian black flies (or something similar) - so be sure to use serious bug spray or wear long pants. A week later and my legs are still insanely itchy (23 bites in total on my legs) and I have yet to find something that really makes them stop. 

Train to Aguas Calientes

After leaving the homestay and saying our goodbyes, we took off in our bus to the town of Ollantaytambo, a small town from which we were going to take the train to Aguas Calientes (which is a very new town created to host the tourists going to Machu Picchu). It's too bad we only drove through, as the town itself seemed great for travellers. Along the way we also passed Pisac, another Inca archeological site. Later we learned that Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo and Pisac were all cities that made up 3 of the 4 areas in one division of the Inca Empire. Since each division had 4 cities, they are still searching for the 4th city - maybe one day we'll hear about the discovery of a new ancient city!

Once in Ollantaytambo, we waited around for the train. After being at the homestay for 2 days without running water or flush toilets, I think it's safe to say we all took full advantage of the amenities! The train arrived around 3:45 and we all boarded. The ride was to be about an hour and a half long, even though the destination was only about 50km away.

The train itself was really nice, and if you've read my other stories you'll know how I generally have bad luck with trains. The seats on this train were comfy and pretty roomy, and the carriage itself had lots of big windows along the sides and curving over the ceiling so that it was possible to see the mountains without too much difficulty. Not too long into our journey we were given a snack of salad and a tart (and, like all the food we ate throughout our adventure, it was amazing)

At km 82 along the tracks you can see the entrance to the Inca Trail, where the travelers with much more time and much more guts than any of us start. The Inca Trail can be hiked in 2, 3 or 4 days. After all the hills we climbed at the homestay, I honestly can't imagine doing the trail. A note to anyone wanting to do it - make sure to allow yourself at least 3 days in Cuzco to get used to the thinner air at the higher altitude. The Inca Trail is a bit lower in altitude than Cuzco, but after breathing the thinner air you'll feel like an athlete on the trail!

Eventually, after inching along at what felt like a snails pace (max 35km!) we finally arrived at Aguas Calientes. We filed off the bus, gathered our things and headed through the market to get to the main area of town. We climbed up the hill on one side of the raging river with the intention of crossing one of the bridges. However, when we reached said bridge we found it was out, so we had to walk all the way back down the street to a bridge close to where we started. Back up the other side of the river we went, on a 45 degree angle. Eventually when we reached the top we were totally exhausted. Luckily the promise of a soak in the hot springs that the town is named for (those fluent in Spanish would have noticed that Aguas Calientes literally means hot waters). We dumped our stuff off the hotel (but not before climbing 4 flights of stairs!) and put on our bathing suits and headed towards the spas.

Along the walk (still up the 45 degree hill) we picked up some towels for rent (3 or 4 soles, getting more expensive the closer to the entrace you went) and got to the gates. A surly looking man at the gate informed us that even though there was only an hour left til the hot springs closed we would have to pay S/10.00 each. Carolina, with her fluent Spanish, tried to convince him to cut us a deal but he wasn't having any of it. He also didn't want to break anyone's 50 notes. Sigh.

After deciding that an hour was still enough to soak in some hot mineral water, we continued the trek to the springs. We assumed that we were close. We assumed wrong. The walk from the point of entry to the springs itself was easily a 5-10 min walk, depending on how fast you went. For some reason, even after being in Peru and hiking up all the hills, my body still seemed to insist on going at it's normal walking speed, which is fast even in Canada. In Peru it was heart attack inducing.

We arrived at the hot springs, dropped our stuff off at the entrance, practically ran down the stairs to change and went to stake claim on a spot in one of the pools. We picked the least busy looking one and got in.

The ground was sandy/rocky, something like the bottom of one of the great lakes. And it smelled funny. And worst of all, there wasn't anywhere to sit along the edges anywhere! We found spots to sit/crouch along the outside while we waited for the rest of the group to find us. By the time they joined us, we had also realized why this particular pool wasn't as busy as the others - it wasn't very hot at all!

Once the rest of the group was in the water (all but 3 of us from the whole tour decided to venture to the hot springs) we decided to move to another pool, one that hopefully was warmer. It took a few tries, but we finally found the pool that was actually what any of us would consider to be "hot".

Despite the odd smellingness of the water (which, thankfully wasn't sulphur but some other odd smell) and the rocky bottoms of the pools, I think we all enjoyed ourselves. The water was soothing after days of roughing it at the homestay and working our way up steep hills with our 30lb backpacks on our backs.

Around 8 we decided to head back to the hotel. We'd planned to shower at the hotsprings but realized soon after arriving that there wasn't any proper showers there. The plan was to shower (so that we'd smell awesome instead of strange) and meet back in the lobby in half an hour to go find something to eat.

We'd been warned that Aguas was much more expensive than Cuzco, so we set out looking for a deal. We walked down the hill (going down was almost as hard as going up, since the sidewalks were somewhat slippery from rain that had fallen). About halfway down the hill and not finding anything that really caught our eye we decided to go back up the hill so that we didn't have to walk all the way back up from the bottom. Some of the girls wanted a woodfire pizza and we remembered a place that had 5 for 1 drinks right by the hotel so thats where we decided to go.

We wanted to sit on the balcony, so we went upstairs and found a table in the corner long enough to accommodate 9 of us. We ordered drinks and pizzas and made ourselves comfortable. What we didn't realize was that our particular table was right beside the chimney for the pizza oven and before long the smoke coming out of it had a couple of the girls fleeing to the other end of the table.

It took forever for our pizza to arrive, and it turned out that 3 thin crust pizzas were not enough for 9 hungry women to share. However, since it took almost an hour for those 3 pizzas to show up we decided to call it a night and go back to the hotel. We had a 5am wake up call awaiting us so we didn't think we should be up all night.

To our rooms we went, and I checked under the blankets - yup, hidden under the deceiving bed spread was at least 2 llama blankets. How I would go home to Canada and sleep without the weight of a full animal on my chest, I didn't know.

Set my alarm for 5am (GROSS!) and fell asleep quickly, even though my hair had the distinct stench of  campfire on it.

Turns out I didn't need my alarm, however... at 3:45 am I was awoke by someone banging on a nearby door telling them to wake up.Then, at 4am, I was awoken by not one but two roosters outside the window. They continued their wake up calls every 5 to 7 minutes until 5 am finally rolled around.

Erin and I got ourselves up, I got dressed and attempted in vain to do something with my hair, and packed my things up. We took our bags downstairs, gave them to the front desk and settled in for some breakfast. Apparently my stomach doesn't wake up at 5:30am and I wasn't overly hungry. I forced down a bun with jam and some tea or coffee, I don't even remember now. Because I knew the food would be scarce at Machu Picchu, I also packed a bun and jam for the road, as well as a banana. Into the backpack the snacks went and off to the bus we went to drive up to Machu Picchu.