Living up Peru

Katie again, just updating about the last few days. As our time in Peru is coming to a close (very quickly, we leave tomorrow for Arequipa and then Chile in a few days), we are making sure that we are living it up to the max in this incredible country. It helps that we returned today from our visit to Machu Picchu. While we were there, it rained pretty much the entire day and fog was covering our view of the ancient city from our perch on Wayna Picchu but it was impressive nonetheless. Last time I wrote, I left off telling about our City tour that we were taking. Seeing the ruins that day was great but the best part ended up meeting a group of fellow travellers who we ended up hanging out with for the next couple days. Hallye and I have decided that one of the very best parts about travelling is meeting new people from different parts of the world. Our little group consisted of a Canadian, a Brazilian, and three Isrealis. After the tour, we made plans for dinner and then the obligatory visit to the discoteca. Cuzco has an amazing nightlife and we were lucky to meet good people and experience it with them. The first night, Hallye and I danced until 5:30 in the morning. Upon arriving to the hostal at around six, we found that we were just in time for breakfast which prepared us perfectly for a day spent in bed. That night, we met our friends for dinner and a movie (in the hostal) and a couple hours once again dancing at the club. Although we were scheduled to board our bus at 8:30 that morning, we did not pass up another chance to stay out and have some fun. We still had no problem making it to our second day tour which ended with a train ride to Aguascalientes where we stayed the night before going to Machu Picchu. Now a little bit about the great visit to MP: As some of you know, Hallye and I made plans to climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain that stands at the back of the city as seen from most touristic photos. In order to do this, it is necessary to take the 5:30 am bus up the mountain in order to get a ticket to climb. These days, they only let 400 people a day climb Wayna because its foundation has been slipping at a rate of about one centemeter a month (I think that is the figure). So we wanted to be the first there to ensure getting one of the 400 tickets. This meant waking up at 4:30 in the morning and catching the bus with all of the other travellers intent on making the climb. Up before dawn we were and one of the first 30 `people at MP that day. After securing our ticket, we could see people running towards the control trying to get one as well. Little did they know, the 400 mark wasnt reached until later that afternoon because the day had begun with a downpour of rain which likely kept most visitors at bay until the following day. Our guide took us on a two hour tour in the morning and before 11:00 we began the ascent to WP. THe hike was almost straight vertical at some points and the slippery rocks made for a dangerous climb. Once we reached the top, we were disheartened to see all of the fog blocking our view of MP. We stayed up there for nearly two hours waiting for a break in the clouds so we could snap some photos. The rain got a little harder and we made our way back down. Altough the fog throughout the day took away from some of the grandeur of MP, it still allowed for some amazing views (and creepy with all of the clouds). We were at MP just about all day and afternoon it seemed and were glad to get back and get dry clothes on and some dinner. We got an early night´s sleep (for once) and woke up this morning to get the train back to Cuzco. Tomorrow we are off to Arequipa and then Chile before the week is over. This past week has drained some our funds due to nights out at the clubs and trains to Machu Picchu but it was all entirely worth it. We are looking forward to meeting more great people in Santiago de Chile and living up our twenty-two-ness yet again even though it might mean an early ticket home. If you would like to donate a few dollars so we can make it to Argentina just contact me and...just kidding.

Hallye will have more on MP and our visits to the other ruins shortly.
Love you all,
Katie