Much needed post

I feel like I start all my posts out saying sorry for not posting.  So I am just going to leave that out on this one.  We are in Mancora, Peru currently, have been for 3 or 4 days now.  It is this gorgeous beach town where all of the buildings have straw or bamboo roofs.  It is the kind of place where you lose track of the time of day and the day of the week.  We lived the high life earlier and our trip, so it really did not come as a surprise when we got here and found our bank accounts dwindling down.  The lack of money led us to look for ways to save.  Amy loves to cook and picked up a job in the kitchen at a local vegan restaurant.  In exchange for teaching the other employees english she gets free cooking lessons and food.  Everyone knows that cooking is not really my style :) I picked up a bartending position at our hostel in exchange for a free bed and discounted food..not a bad trade off at all.
For everyone I have not kept in touch with I will give you an update.  We met a couple of friends while in Cusco and completely changed our travel plans.  We decided to backtrack across Peru and go into Ecuador rather than heading across the border to Boivia.  I just recently found out that the miners in Bolivia had gone on strike during the presidential election  (the time we were supposed to be going into the country) and the border was closed off..lucky us.  Anyway, we followed our friends to Montañita, Ecuador.  This beautiful, hippie, beach town was exactly what we all needed after the cool nights we spent in Cusco.  Our hostels were not what we were used to, but we didnt spend much time in them.  Our days were spent at the beach, walking the streets being entertained by hippies doing fire or juggling tricks (except for our friend Roddy who was appaled by the sight of so many jobless, un-showered people in one town ha).  At night we danced and listened to music.  We experienced the best calamari and mashed potato meal any of us had ever had, and ate it 3 days in a row for every meal.  We eventually got bored with the town and the little there was to see and do so we decided to head further into Ecuador, completely ignoring the warnings and pleas of my parents who had read about how dangerous the city is.  We took a bus toQuito, Ecuador where we went to the center of the Earth and straddled the equator.  Unfortunately, after the sun sets at 5pm, the city is not safe, as mom and dad had warned me.  We were stuck entertaining ourselves in our hostel for the rest of the evening..not our idea of an ideal vacation, we decided to head back into Peru.
So that is how we have arrived in Mancora, and I couldnt think of a better place to spend two weeks.  Along with bartending at the hostel, I met another girl working here who is also volunteering with a program that helps handicap and at risk children through special schools and programs.  On Wed. I am going with her and will also be helping out there for the remainder of my time in Mancora.  I am having the time of my life, and making a lot of friends along the way.
On the other side of things I am very home sick and, while I have enjoyed my traveling, I am counting down the days till I get back home.  The fourth of July in Michigan with my family is the best homecoming party I could ask for!  Not to mention that soon after I will be on the lawn at Verizon with my cousin singing our hearts out and dancing to Rascal Flats!!!  Then in Nashville visiting my best friend in her new apartment with her crazy, but wonderful boyfriend.  See everyone soon!  Love

Puppitos

So Caity has this thing where every single stray dog she sees, she pets and loves on and tries to feed. She calls them her "Puppitos". This usually freaks the rest of us tourists out and occasionally one of us pops in the nearest pharmacy and hands her a bottle of hand sanitizer (haha Roddy). Well, I thought I would confess to Caity and the world that this morning on the beach I made a dog friend. I had been jogging and I was doing sit ups in the sand (I know, badass haha) and I was like "Oh great, here comes a dog". Mind you, there wasn´t a soul on the beach except for maybe 7 stray dogs walking around. I really don´t like when they come over to me, either. They play rough and they bump into me with their wet, flea bittenness...and what if they were to accidently bite me while they were playing on top of me? What if one bit me on purpose? Yeah, no thanks. Well, here comes Blackie and she just curls up and lays down beside me while I´m doing my work out. Occasionally I pet her on the head and when the rowdy dogs come close she stands up and barks at them. I´m pretty sure she says something in dog like "Come any closer to my human friend and I´ll cut you" because the other dogs just stare for a minute and then back away several steps. I appreciate this very much because I can continue in peace. She followed me all the way back to my hostel where I had to say goodbye, though I entertained brief thoughts of sticking her in the shower and smuggling her on the bus with me later. And yes, she had fleas, but confession people? We all do. Me and Caity have been covered in flea bites for a week now on our ankles, legs, stomach (yes even this morning on my collarbone) from God knows where...blankets on the bus, the sand, ubiquitous dogs...oh well. The point is, Caity, I found a dog and I gave her some love and I thought you´d be proud of me. And wash your hands.

Montañita

Amy here. Well after reeeeally long bus rides and a 3 hour $100 cab, we got to Montañita, Ecuador last night at about 11 pm. Seems like the nicest place out of all the cities we passed in Ecuador. Amazing food. All the hostels are like 5 steps from the ocean. I went for a run on the beach this morning, ate a big bowl of fruit, juice, crepe, green tea for under $5, and am writing in a very nice, high tech internet place. I don´t know what this city is like quite yet...seems very hippy-ish. It´s nice and humid and hot (and that´s why we ran away from Bolivia...the cold). They use dollars now in Ecuador as their currency, but sometimes I get a random 5 or 50 Ecuadorian cent piece. All of our American friends from Cusco are in this city too, so Caity is glad for familiar faces. For sure the locals do not speak a word of English and their Spanish is different from Peru so I am having a little difficulty. We want to stay here for a while (1 to 3 weeks) and it seems like a place where we could definitely do that. The only real difficulty now is do I want fresh lobster with seafood sauce or giant shrimp with mango sauce....

Salkantay Trail

Hey all! Amy is blogging right now (woah) and Caity-kins is asleep. The "e" key sticks on these keyboards so it is supr frustrating to writ a whol blog. We got back from our Salkantay trek last night and bought shampoo (boy was that amazing). We had the most unbelievable time. Waking up to roosters at 5 am and knocking on the tent "Coca tea!", the most breathtaking views of snow capped mountains, out of the way mountain lakes, to being suddenly immersed in the jungle "Cloud Forest" and surrounded by waterfalls, orchids, and green green green. Machupicchu was a great finish to the trail, but certainly wasn´t the only thing that made it worthwhile. Our guide was a good guy and very caring and our cooks did some amazing stuff with a gas flame and pan (waking up to banana pancakes...wouldn´t Jack Johnson be surprised). We feel in great shape, just some coughing and sniffles. Gonna hang out in Cusco a couple more nights to unwind before moving on to Puno. I´m on a mission today to find the Chocolate Museum again so we can go on a tour. This morning is already starting well. I went for a jog, walked in on Mass, and found an American market where I bought milk and cereal for breakfast *sigh*. Life is good.

Summary of the past few days

Hi everyone!  Sorry I haven´t posted. Our days have been busy from morning to night!  On Friday Amy was not feeling so hot so I went exploring with Dija, a girl rooming with us.  We took a local bus from the center of Cusco up the mountains to see some of the ruins.  The bus ride itself was incredible.  We got to experience local life first hand since the bus we were on took workers and school children from the city to their homes in the small cities on the mountain sides.  The 50 minute ride held breath taking viwes of small towns, beautiful waterfalls and patches of forest with the diverse plant and tree life.  Once Dija and I got to our destination we took about 1 hour to look around the site then decided to walk back down to the city rather than take the bus.  We saw more on this hike down the mountain than either of us have seen since we have been in Cusco.  We talked to the kids in the towns we passed and took pictures with locals.  We saw llamas grazing on the side of the road that we pet and got unbelieveable pictures that I will hopefully get posted on facebook tonight.  The walk took us about 2 1/2 hours so by time we got to town we were starving.  The two of us grabbed dinner (mushroom soup and lomo carne and lomo pollo) I think is how you say it.  Basically meat and chicken with grilled veggies on top of french fries lol.  After we got our bellies full we hung around the hostel then went out salsa dancing with other kids from the hostel.  The bars around here are very touristy but if we get it on the right night we have been able to find live local bands playing.

Yesterday, Saturday, Amy and I went horseback riding in the mountains and toured more ruins.  If I weren´t so animal crazy I would have enjoyed the tour a lot, but I kept feeling bad for the horses..go figure.  We got lucky that one of the guys in our group spoke English and Spanish, since our guide did not, he was able to translate and we learned quite a bit.  Our tour took most of the day and when we got back to the hostel our host and hostess were having a BBQ party for everyone in the hostel...BBQ in South America is just a cook out.  There is no bbq sauce involved at all which is always a disappointment.  It was good though and everyone had a great time, we went out dancing afterwards but everyone was stuffed so after and hour we made a group decision to have a movie night at the hostel. 


Today I am going to the salt mines and some small towns with Dija and her brother, Amy is trying to save up her energy since we leave for our Machu Picchu hike tomorrow morning.  I will post pictures tonight but won´t have internet on our hike so be patient I will post when we get back.


Missing everyone! Love you guys

To Sarah our blog is like CSI..Sorry to the addicts that I´ve been slacking on posts ;)

Ok so updatee!  Our bus left Lima on Sunday.  It was a 21 hour bus ride but omg did we have it cush!  We had a double decker bus, basically lazy-boy recliners as our seats.  Dinner, snacks and breakfast provided, movies...let´s just say it made the trip not so bad.  For the first hour of our bus ride the only scenery were miles and miles of poor cities..very poor cities.  It really made you take a step back and appreciate what you have.  After we got into the mountains though the views were breath taking.  I tried to get some pictures, but like everything else the pictures just don´t do it justice.  So we got to Cusco and its now our second day here.  Its much differen than Lima, a lot less developed and more poverty.  Stray dogs roam the streets everywhere, there are street markets down every road lines with people selling everything from fruits to goat heads to fish. It is great though.  Learning a lot, meeting a lot of people in the hostels.  But theres a line for the net behind me so I will post tomorrow.  Not a lot to do the city besides walk around, but its definitely and experience!..ps look on facebook for pictures..for some reason blogspot isnt getting along with my camera.

Tribute to Mario

I messed up a few posts ago and it NEEDS to be corrected!.  Mario, Amys novio, has been so much help to us on this first stretch of our trip´.  We are staying with his friends mom whom he put us in contact with and he also informed his friends that we would be in town so we would have people to show us around and help us out if needed.  We really appreciate everything he has done to help us out, it is really nice to have friends when you are in a strange city..or in our case an entire country lol.  So anyway thank you so much Mario you have been wonderful.!
O! anddd when the airlines screwed us over major he also called a friend in Ft. Lauderdale who hung out with us and gave us a lift back to the airport.
love-Caity

About the Ocean

Hey look, the other member of this blog lives! While Caity was surfing, I was having some deep thoughts (at a really cool restaurant on the pier) that I wanted to share. I was into the beginning of a Hemingway and mostly through my second mimosa, looking out at a fisherman at his work. I was worried about him: what if he got pushed too far out to sea? Well, he would make his way back. What if a unexpected wave overturned his boat? Well, so he would turn the boat back over. Even at that moment a large wave was in front of him and one was behind him and I couldnt even see the boat he was in. Would I have preferred a more tranquil sea? Would that set my mind at ease? You know what, it doesnt matter what sort of sea I would prefer...nobody asked me! It is pointless to try to force the sea to conform to my fears. It is not to my will that the sea rolls. It just is. I will have peace with the sea when I submit myself to nature and not the other way around. How frustrating that is, anyways, for me. I didnt grow up around the ocean, I went surfing for the first time the other day, and I dont feel afraid like I did. So the ocean waves are powerful...they will not overtake me. So the sea is deep...I can swim. I dont want the constant rolling and crashing to stop or calm down or give me a second of stillness to catch my breath...I want to learn how to accept what it is and be in the flow of it.

Lessons Learned while in Lima

1. Chife in South America is delicious going in..not so delicious digesting and going out.
2. If you think you are safe to cross the road look again because you are not.
3.Short buses (tin can on wheels) are safer than they look..Big commercial buses are not as safe as they look.
4. Always invite little homeless kids to share your dinner, they are great company.
5. Surfing is a great ab work out.
6. Street vendors have the best food...well its the cheapest at least.
7. Do not cheap out!  Its expensive here but buy sunscreen!!
8. Learn to whistle..its the only way to get anyones attention.
9. People from Lima are not called Lemons.
10. Do not take the bus during rush hour.
11. The best way to experience this city is to walk around. 
12. The locals are very friendly and helpful.
13. Peruvian coke is most certainly made with cocaine.
14. If you are here long enough you WILL become addicted to soap operas and coca coal so dont fight it.
15. To many exhaust fumes in one city will causes cancer and smog!

*All is well!  I am going to start posting on Sundays only so we arent constantly coming down to the internet cafe.  Good news: Amy and I are pretty darn good surfers.  Bad news: We saw a lady crossing the road get hit by a motorcycle  yikes! (she was ok)
Sorry no pictures until we get to our hostel in Cusco.  We leave Lima on Sunday and decided to take a bus to Cusco..its highly recommended.  Apparently people fancy driving through the Andes Mountains..who knew_ lol

HOLA!

Hi =) we are having so much fun in Lima!  Sorry we havent posted in a while it has been a little crazy getting into the city and settled.  We are staying with the mother (Cesi) of Amys friend (Carlos) in San Miguel.  Cesi is very sweet and even though she no english she has been very helpful with everything, ery funny too.   So it is day 2 in Lima.  Day 1; we walked around our area of town, not a whole lot to do.  We ended u taking a bus to Miraflores which is a wealthier, touristy district.  It overlooks the ocean, and there are huge cliffs which used to be the beach before the water receeded and there are gorgeous mornimng glories that climb up and cover the cliff sides.  Day 2; had an amazing adventure in Barranco.  Another beautiful, rich area of town.  Pretty touristy as well but we had a good time!  We will post later the the cafe is getting ready to close!

Getting there is half the battle

 Wow so we had a bit of a rough time with Spirit...which we were warned about.  Our layover was delayed so we had to spend the night in the airport at Ft. Lauderdale..not comfy.  Our flight left at 1030 am and we made it out of the states finally!  Not there yet, we have another layover which is 8 hours and in Columbia..so that is where we are currently.  We will arrive in Lima tonight.  Everything is going great though!  Amy and I spent the day at the beach yesterday had lunch overlooking the ocean and met some really interesting people.  Internet and phones are expensive until we get to Lima so once we get there I will be able to call home and get online for free so there will be more posts and pictures hopefully!  And Grandpa everything is good and Amy wanted me to throw in here that she will call you as well when we get into Lima.  The windows out of the airport here overlook the mountains and it is beautiful!  We are a little sleep deprived but having such a good time...I{m learning spanish but having a hard time with spanish keyboards lol talk to everyone soon love you guys

Packing...

You've heard the old advice for packing, right? "Lay out everything you are taking. Take half the stuff, twice the money." Ok well I halved and halved and halved again...and at least now it all Fits in my backpack. It's stuffed to the brim though, which doesn't bode well for souvenir-ing. I guess I'll have to figure out what I can live without (and there's not even a single pair of heels in that bag!). I'd rather abandon my possessions here, where I know I can recover them someday, than somewhere on an Incan trail. Caity, I just wanted to blog because I was so proud of myself for getting everything in the bag, but now I see that it's back to the old drawing board...

Woo! We officially have plane tickets! Mine's a one-way and Caity'kins's is round-trip. We leave Saturday at 9 am from O'Hare and we have Megabus tickets to Chicago for Friday evening (we are staying with Caity's aunt for the night). Woulda left a couple days earlier, but the cheap-o airline was all booked through Saturday. Now that we have a date, it's time to get to work: buy travel health insurance, call credit cards, PACK (yeah, no, haven't done this yet), make all my last-time visits (again!), and clean my room until it sparkles (yay finally). I will blog more when there's more to blog....I know it's only Tuesday but I'm getting fired up! Too funny: I just checked the forecast for Saturday...in Indy? 71 and stormy...in Lima? 71 and cloudy. Same weather exactly, just maybe the people are a little tanner. :)

The Plan

I got an email today saying that my passport has been mailed..FINALLY!  And it will be here by Tue. which means that this time next week Ams and I will be in Lima, Peru!  We also finalized our  itinerary.  We are taking a bus  to Chicago to catch an 8 hour flight to Lima...with a 5 hour layover in Florida.   We will spend about a week in Lima and the surrounding areas before flying to Cusco, Peru.  Three days give or take in Cusco to acclimate to the high altitude and then we will be leaving on a 5 day/4 night camping/hiking tour which takes us to Machu Picchu.  After returning from our tour we ill travel by bus, from Cusco to our last city in Peru, Puno.  A few days there and then we will cross Lake Titicaca via ferryboat and arrive in La Paz, Bolivia.  A week in La Paz exploring around and getting accustomed to the Bolivian lifestyle and then we will depart by bus (10 hours) to Sucre, another city in Bolivia with much to see and do.  After a week in Sucre, a three hour bus ride will take us south to Potosi, a city in Bolivia known for its mining.  We will be able to tour around the mines and talk with the locals (if we've picked up enough Spanish along the way).  A few days there and then we have a long bus journey even farther south to Uyuni, Bolivia (the last city on our trip).  We are going there to see Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world (4,086 sq. mi.)!!!  And from there we will be back tracking a little to Sucre, the closest town for us to catch a plane.  Me, back to Lima then home.  Amy, to Argentina to wait for her work visa or straight to Brazil to begin her new life!  Thats the plan and we're hoping to stick to it..for the most part.