Here, There and Everywhere

Sorry guys the bulk picture uploader on this site is not working and it takes forever to load even one. I am going to put some up on facebook but no worries when I get back there will be plenty to go on here as well. At the moment I uploaded one photo of Thom and I dressed in traditional Peruvian clothes from our homestay. More to come.
Kel

Ok so we have been traveling around now for the last few days to places where I did not have internet acess so I am going to try and recap as best as I can.
Last place I left off at was Arequipa. From there we traveled to Chivay where we went as high as 4,600 meters! Do the math for feet. This is twice the altitude of Machu Pichu! Thom and I were feeling altitude sickness. Headaches at the back of your neck, light headed and even a little dizzy. I think I had it worst then everyone. Along the way we stopped at this smally place to buy Coca leaves and drink Coca Tea which is made from the leaves and hot water. The tea was quite nice kinda reminded me of green tea. Chewing on the leaves..eh... you need to add this pellet thing to them to make it work well and that tastes nasty. So Atilla gave us a "How to chew Coca Leaves" lesson on the bus. What it does is it makes your mouth and throat a little numb so that you relax and actually take in more oxygen. Sure why not....
At Chivay we met up with another Itrepid/Dragonman group that was basicly doing the same trip we were but from the opposite direction La Paz- Lima. It was nice to meet some new people and we all joined together to go to the Hot Springs that night. Very nice, it did not smell strongly of sulfer like some hot springs can. That night we went to a pretty bad resturant where we all waited for hours to get the wrong food that we ordered. Ha! I think it was because there was a big festival going on outside that night. I was too cold and sick from the altitude to really enjoy that festival but I think Thom got some video.
The next moring we awoke around 5:30 so that we could leave and get a good spot at Colca Canyon. The Canyon is one of the biggest in the world, 3x the size of our Grand Canyon. We wanted to get a good spot because when the sun hits just right in the morning the Condors circle up out of the Canyon and right over your head. They are huge birds!!! After taking 50 photos where probably only one or two are decent...LOL.... we drove to Espinar.
Espinar was really only a stop over to make our journey to Raquchi shorter.
At Raqchi we did our home stays!!! It was really nice. This town is known for making pottery from the clay and volcanic elements in the surrounding area. The men make it and women paint and cell it. Thom, Megan and I were sent to one family home while the other three were sent to another. After eating diner with Gido and Carmen (Two children who lived there) they dressed us up in traditional clothing where we had a ceromony and danced around the fire while the women sang and a man played a guitar with 18 strings. They were so kind.
Today we woke at our homestay and went to see a demonstration on how they make the pottery. Thom got to make one as well. Then after many hugs and goodbyes we drove to Cusco.
We are here for today and have a meeting tomorrow morning about our treck up the Inca Trail which we will be starting on the 20th. I am a bit nervous since even thought the altitude sickness had gone away and should not be as bad since the elevation is not as high as where we were, it still knocks the wind out of you just to walk up a flight of steps or bend over to tie your shoes. Ehhhhhhhhhh we'll be fine and if not there is always the emergency donkey to take us back down.....
Seriosly I am more worried about being cold at night then anything so I am going into Cusco to buy some long Johns I think today. The trek will take us 4 days to reach the top and then we will be back in Cusco for a whole other free day before we start the final leg of our Journey to La Paz. I will be putting up pictures here today or tomorrow as well since they have a decent computer system here.
Love and Miss you guys!

Yesterday we woke up with a free day to explore Arequipa. First things first...we sent our Laundry to get done since that is the only way you can do it here (Fine by me!) The city is actually a lot larger then I thought. It is a city like Lima but a lot cleaner, safer and nicer. All of us pretty much just wanted to walk around town do some shoppping and visit the Plaza de Arms......(I think every city here has one of these). The weather here goes from very hot strong sun and no humidity to pretty chilly nights. Thom and I walked around town and visited lots of shops. I bought a cheap pair of Jeans since there was talk of going out that night. Then I found a fabulous store that was filled with clothes hats and scarves made from really nice quality baby alpaca wool. It was a family run buisness by a really sweet and kind Mother and Daughter. They let us try on everything! Many of the hats and scarves were hand made. I bought an orange turtle neck sweater and a great hat in the Andes style with the flaps on the side. Later when I get to Cusco I want to buy a really warm wool pull'over for the Inca Trail. Many things here are really cheap for us since it is about 3 Sols to the Dollar.

Now moving on....
Last night all the Ladies and Atilla and Guytano went out to dance. We went to a Peruvian Modern Night Club. We were the only gringa´s in the place but we still had a pretty good time dancing to the mix of techno and Latin american beats. Many drinks were had by all. I will just leave it at that for now. But we all got home safe.

Today we are leaving Arequipa at noon to head to Chivay. Atilla said that we may feel the altitude there so I am hoping that I no one gets sick. We are stopping there to try out the HOT SPRING!!! Yeah!!!! More to come. I did put some pics up on Facebook and if you are not my friend or don´t have an account I will be posting some here soon as well. Time and proper Technology are variables in this equation.

After camping on the lawn of the hotel resort...(little silly) and a group breakfast we waited for our guide Johnson to meet up with us. We headed off into the desert and I mean the desert. The roads if you could call them that were hardly distinguishable. We arrived at the Nazca pyramid/ temple which was dicovered by an Itallian no less and it has taken 20 years just to unearth one of what they think are many hidden under the sand dumes. After our interesting tour of the temple we got to ride on roof top seats on our overland vehicle in through the desert! So much fun!!! Next it was off to see the mummies at the Cementerio de Chauchilla. Here we were lead to tombs where 2000 year old mummies, pottery, food and clothes are still perserved because of the deserts natural climate. (there is no f!"#$ apostrophie on this keyboard....yea the keyboards are quite a site at times...).

When that was done we drove to our next location, Purto Inca. t was a hillside ocean front bungalo resort in the center of Incan Ruins. We had a fire and Atilla made a fabulous dinner for us all!
Today we spent most of the day driving to Arequipa a city located in the valley of some impressive snow capped mountians and a volcano. Our bags should be meeting us here with in the hour. More later as we are getting ready to go out for dinner for a group meal. We will be here for the next two nights. Hopefully we will be able to post a picture or two as well.....Hopefully...if we get our bags... and the computer works....LOL
Thanks for reading and the comments. We love you guys!!! Feel free to send me all the gossip I am missing as well.

I am going to keep this short and to the point since the keyboard I am typing on is not the best. Still no bags but we should be picking them up in a day or two. Yesterday and today were amazing!!! Our bus is great with a safe for our important things and tables and a small library. We went to the Bastilla Islands yesterday by speed boat. It was quite amazing. The water was so blue and the islands are covered completely with birds. We saw penguins, sea lions and dolphins that came right up to the boat. Then we had a great lunch by the sea. Next we drove an hour to the sand dumes where we road dune buggies and went sand boarding. So much fun!! I was nervous at first about the height but after the first try I was hooked. Next we were brought to where we would be camping out under the stars between the dunes. They prepared a fabulous fire and barbaque and plenty of pisca and cola. I had never slept outside with out a tent and this was a fantastic place to try, sand and no bugs! Atilla and Guytano our guides showed us how to stay warm by sleeping on coals from the fire burried in the sand. Today we woke and the morning moisture got the better of us and sand was stuck to everything! But we had a wonderful breakfast at this oais (resort looking area now but actually a natural water hole amongst the desert dunes) with fresh squeezed orange juice, french pressed coffee and huge pancakes with fruit and chocolate! Next we traveled to Nazca where we when up in a tiny plane to get the best view of the mysterious line drawings in the sand. I personally did not enjoy the sea sickness brought on from the small plane but all was well in the end. Tonight we are camping again but we are actuall at a resort...strange, there is a pool and the internet so besides the tents it is really upscale for camping. Tomorrow we are going to see some ancient cemetary and mummies I think??? Not completely sure I will have to get back to you on that one.
All of the people I have met have been really great and kind. There was Lenny a complete stranger who very graciously helped to translate the menu our first night in Lima when we were still kinda on our own and frazzled from the flight. Jesus and his brothers who run the dune buggy adventure and camped with us in the dunes and cooked our dinner had the greatest smiles. Plus all the people in our group have been kind and generous with sharing and taking care of one another. It has only been two days but they have been jam packed with excitement and memories.