Who knew?

Hola from Lake Titicaca!
Peru is a country full of contrasts and pleasant suprises...the mountains are extremely cold at night but the sun can burn you in the day...you can ride a chicken bus in the day and dine at a 5 star (the food is amaaaaaaazing) restaurant at night. You can eat giant corn on the cob with a hunk of cheese for lunch then dance away the night in a discoteque drinking the national drink of Pisco sours. You can climb a mountain one day...sail to a forgotten island on the highest lake in the world the next...then pop down to the jungle on the weekend. And yes, we are doing it all!

Travelling in a foreign country is nothing short of entertaining and we have had our share of ´3´s company´who-knew moments already. For example:

Wh0 knew the name of our first camp on the trek, Nununganioc, meant the ´place of teets´? We wouldn´t have chanted that name as loudly (or at all) to our guide and driver when we first met them if we had known that...

Who knew ´coochie´meant piggy in the local native language of Quechuan? Janice wouldn´t have shouted that out to our porters during a group photo if she had know that...

Who knew they don´t do ceviche quite the same as we do at home...uggghhh...

Who knew a pisco sour is made with raw egg whites...uggghhhh....

Who knew óff the beaten track´REALLY means off the beaten track in the lonely planet guidebook? Look up the village of Ccotos and you will see what I mean...

Who knew they eat soup (and fried cheese) for breakfast lunch and dinner in the remote villages on the lake Titicaca?

Who knew gas and bad dreams were a symptom of altitude sickness? Well, all of us girls sharing tents on the trek know that now of course...

HAHAHA I love Peru!

Brad and I have just spent a few days on Lake Titicaca and it has been an interesting journey to say the least...next up back to Cusco (my fave city for sure) to clean up and reconfigure our gear before heading to the jungle! We are SO looking forward to being stinking hot in the jungle...life is pretty cool at 3800meters!

Ciao for now!
SS

Titicaca

Thats right...we are heading to Lake Titicaca tomorrow for a few days at one of the highest lakes in the world...if we have time we will also go visit the deepest canyon in the world Colca canyon.

After that we return to this wonderful city of Cusco for a night before heading to the Jungle for a few days of wildlife encounters!

Today we spent the day visiting the Sacred valley towns...i got to play tour guide for Brad at a few of the amazing Inca sites as i had visited them on my own tour last week. My highlight was visiting a womens weaving centre...unbelievable...beautiful ancient weaving traditions...smiling and laughing women...making a good living for themselves and keeping their culture alive...Chinchero - dont miss it if you are in Cusco.

Photos are not happening...way too much time! You will have to wait until I get home...
Adios!

Next Adventure: R&R

Time for a rest! The team headed home to Canada yesterday afternoon and after many goodbyes the end of the Peru Trek 2010 Adventure has arrived. The crew will have many many tales to share and thousands of amazing photos to show when they return to Canada later this evening. It is a long journey to Peru but SO worth the time, energy and resources needed to get here. I know many of the women from our trip are already planning to return to Peru in the future. Beautiful people, landscape and history.

I spent yesterday evening wandering solo through the narrow cobblestone streets of the San Blas neighbourhood in Cusco. I popped into a few shops and picked up some warm alpaca socks, a cozy toque and gloves. Once darkness fell I couldn´t keep my eyes open and passed out around 7:30 into a deep 11 hour sleep! This amazingly full trip has me in need of a holiday LOL! After a wonderful sleep and hot cup of tea I picked up Brad at the airport around 8am. Now it is Brad who needs a few days to adapt to the 3400 m elevation. We are going to spend a few days relaxing, resting, exploring this wonderful mountain city.

We don´t have any plans for the next 10 days until we fly to Quito and make our way to the Galapagos islands for our diving and wildlife adventure.

Hasta luego!
SS

Hola!

Hola from Peru!
WOW what a journey. We have just completed the most amazing 7 day trek through the Andes...words cannot explain where we have been, what we have seen, and the emotions we have experienced on this trek. We have travelled up, over and around many many mountains...we have trekked day after day in hot sun and harsh valley wind...we have spent 7 days trekking at altitudes from 3000-4700 metres without a break...we have overcome altitude sickness...we have climbed up and down thousands of metres, thousands of stone stairs and we have travelled 90kms on our own 2 feet.

We have also stood in wonder under a night sky unlike any other...awoken at the foot of a mighty, snowy, ´Savage´mountain known as Salkantay...washed our faces in ice cold mountain rivers...shed tears of joy and hollered cheers of encouragement atop a 4700 metre pass...we have witnessed sunrise and sunset from the Andean mountains...we have laughed to tears over hot cups of coca tea in our tents...we have been everywhere man...

We have just had the best showers (and cold beer) of our lives and now we are getting ready to celebrate once more together at dinner at Inka Terra Machu Picchu (google it). Tomorrow we get up early once more to return to Machu Picchu for sunrise...

We have a few more days together to share laughter and stories and create more memories together before the end of the trip. I feel so grateful to be here sharing this journey with such an amazing group of women. I am so PROUD of them all!

Hasta luego amigos!

Here We Go!

Goodbye Bootcamp recruits! See you in October!

I am on my way to the airport and SO EXCITED to meet up with my 12 amazing women who are ready to trek to Machu Picchu! Stay tuned for blogposts and photos as I will do my best to post whenever I can from South America!

Hasta luego, muchachos:)

Sarita