peru1

a rough recap:

the first night in peru was spent hanging out all night in the hotel in lima, drinking duty free scoth and enjoying the company of my travel mates. we talked to some fellow gringo travelers and shared advice, and got gradually more manic as the night went on. we arrived in cuzco at 7am the next morning, completely disoriented, and enentually found a hostel. a private room with three beds was under $20 and as we sat down to talk about the details we were served coca tea. it would not be my last taste of the leaf.

we spent that day and the next planning our machu picchu journey, sipping the local beer, and getting toursit crap shoved in our face. food and souvenirs are cheap and the people are quite friendly, but the combination can be overwhelming.

muchu picchu journey, day 1: a very confused start. the guide said he'd show up at 7:30 and drive us to the bus station for the 8am 3 hour bus to the start. showed up at 7:50, on a bike. the bus was oversold, so peruvians sat in my lap. after we}ve been climbing a seemingly endless muddy mountain road with attempted construciton and closures for 6 hours through the rain, the guide decides its time to get out and get on bikes. the peruvians happily take our seats and stare dumbfounded as we put on some strange helmets, sit on the bikes, and start riding down to the jungle, instantly covered in mud. expectations were quite low at this point. it was about 40 miles downhill and turned out to be one of my favorite strange adventures. we eventually descended below the clouds, the road and mud on my face dried, no more consturction, great views over the amazon basin. my ass paid the price of entry to this paradise. jake's bike exploded and was stranded in the jungle as night fell.
-day 2 and 3 were about 30 miles through the jungle on foot with small packs, picking fruit off trees for snacks, chewing coca leaves and being dominated by mosquitos. we slept in busted hostels in small jungle town and failed to converse with the guide in spanish. we drink heavily one of these nights in a bar that was like an interrogation room from cop movies and are taught a drinking game that involves poking a cigarette into a napkin on a beer and having to drink the ash beer if you do it wrong. we try to explain flippy cup but it deteriorates into drinking a full beer every time you miss the flip. i got zapatos locos (crazy shows) and refused to go to bed when the guide said it was time and ran away while my travel mates convinced the guide to take us to another bar. he said i was a small problem. roosters do not just crow once during sunrise. those fuckers are relentless. we also crossed a river by a self propelled zipline and learned the hungry chicken handshake.
-day 4 we climbed a moutnain in the dark to get to machu picchu for sunrise, then climbed another mountain to be able to look down on it. absolute beauty. i was really expecting to feel a special power to the place, and i´m a little disappointed that i did not. perhaps it was that there were thousands of tourists and those that pray on them. either way, an incredible place.

then we spent the night partying, making it nearly 24 straight hours awake. we spent the next day in a deep chill and planned a trek, which i am supposed to be on right now, but it got delayed because jake got food posioning. he´s alright. we leave tomorrow and it should be amazing, though if things go wrong we may miss our flight to lima. i just said goodbye forever to the three pretty europeans from the MP journey and i´m really wondering why i didnt try to hook up with any of them, or that one peruvian girl. i,ve written kelly two emails and got no response and have now decided to take off the necklace she made me and experience some local culture in every way possible. before you object, i will state that we decided that we were not together this month, and we're both moving a month after i return.

everything else is basically solid. we eat out for every meal for about 5$. the food isnt spicy enough and i miss solitude, fast internet, my bed, hot showers, friends, family, girl... but its damn beautiful here once you get away from the plazas. today we went to the central market and there were piles of chicken heads and shit. it did not help cure jake´s stomach. tomorrow´s two day hike should be incredible. love to you all.