Machu Picchu

Okay, so pretty much, it´s as awesome as you´d think. And I´m not just talking about the famous Machu Picchu, but the Inca Trail in general. You don´t even know how fricken sore my legs were after the 4 day/3 night trek (all 45km of it - and I now use the metric system, so pardon the conversion...it´s probably about 30 miles). The body is an amazing thing though ya know, as my legs are already tackling stairs again after a nice 1 hour, $10 massage in Cuzco (they literally haraass you on the street!) the morning after. But before that it took me about 10 seconds to go down one stair...mainly bc Monday morning i climbed about 1,000 stairs to the top of Waynapicchu, the mountain in the back of the famous photos you´ve all seen of machu picchu (which means old mountain - don´t ask what the American way of saying it means ;) Anyway, after feeling like i was on top of the world (hope to show some more

pictures but me on the rock is one of them), we then had to climb DOWN all 1000+ stairs yet again, hanging onto only rope at some points. Yes, I risked my life for the thrill of adventure! That´s what this trip is all about, right dad?? The first photo is looking up at Dead Woman´s Pass, day 2, hardest part (though not as hard as we all imagined). Pretty steep climb (i was nearly at the top when I took that photo). You can see my excitement in the next photo as i reached the summit :)

I´d even have to say the highlight wasn´t coming over Sun Gate (Inti Punku) to catch our first glance of the ruins, nor taking the first steps into Machu Picchu, but the fabulous, warm, hilarious crew we enjoyed trekking all 4 days with via SAS Travel company (which i totally recommend by the way - like 6 course meals for bfast, lunch and dinner, which i thoroughly took advantage of as we were exhausted and hungry!). We had mainly Americanos, but a few POME´S (which I soon found out meant ¨prisoners of Mother England¨) and a couple Aussies. Simon, the Aussie dude, was absolutely hilarious. he really kept the entertainment coming the whole trip, amen! Yes, the Brits and Aussies combined talked sooo much cricket, Aussie rules football, and crude jokes in slang that i hardly followed what they were saying, but nonetheless, fantastic company. Thanks to each person who made it such a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience...again, i´ll let some of the pictures (and videos) do the talking! Trying to download to Flickr now.

So i´m currently in Arequipa with my mom - we met up in Cuzco Monday night at the luxurious Monasterio HOtel (THANK YOU MOM!!) Can´t tell you how nice a hot shower was - well, a shower in general to be honest. And real cushy towels...and a bed. My hips were still bruised from sleeping in a tent on my side ;) After my massage Tuesdsay we caught a flight to Arequipa, Peru´s second largest city. Met up with a friend´s boyfriend who is from here and he took us to a nice Arequipan restaurant. Unfort mom and i had our least favorite meal yet, but we made up for it today as we ventured into the seafood department at El Camaroncito - one of the city´s best spots for shrimp. Mmmm. Also just enjoyed another typical Peruvian dinner of empandas de carne, steak w papas fritas, egg, fried banana and rice (sounds Cuban!). Tried ¨queso helado¨today too, which translates as Cheese ice cream, mostly bc how rich it is! Yes, the food is tasty...but off we go tomorrow to Santiago, and I will have to say goodbye to Peru. It has been so good to me ;( By the way, kudos to Brad who was a great travel buddy. I had a blast with you and we´ll do Australia next year!!

TTFN.

Kaitlin