After leaving my host family in Cusco, I traveled with my real family to Machu Picchu. To get there we took a bus from Cusco about 6 hours to get to a very remote village in order to start our hike...or horseback riding trek to even more remote villages. For my family, this was the first time they had traveled to such a remote village. I really enjoyed seeing their reaction to some things that I had amazingly grown accustom to. For example they did not think it was normal to see llamas and alpaca crossing roads, or normal to eat guinea pig, or sleep on alpaca hides, or see people walking around in ponchos speaking in quechua. Looking back I remember how new and exciting these things were to me just four months ago, but after time it somehow became just normal life for me. Seeing the reaction of my family to these new things really made me take a step back to realize yet again just how different these things were.
I have a few pictures from our trip to these rural villages, but unfortunately I lost the flash drive on which I stored my pictures of Machu Picchu and my mom’s pictures...sorry mom!
Rural village on our trip
Looks like songs around the camp fire are pretty popular all over
Trekking on horseback
In a month's time we really covered quite a bit of Peru. It will be hard to tell about everything, but I'll do my best to hit the highlights. After spending a bit of time with my host family and seeing Machu Picchu it was off to Puno and Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake. One day there and then Kim's short trip was over and I was headed toward the coast with my mom and dad. On our way we stopped in Ica to check out the sand dunes. I was really surprised by the enormity of the dunes. If I were dropped off there not knowing where I was and a camel was added to the scene I would have really thought I were somewhere in Africa. While visiting the dunes we of course went on a dune buggy ride which was more exciting than I could have asked for. I absolutely love adrenaline rushes. Cedar Point is one of my favorite vacation spots. I have to admit though I was a little nervous the way we were flying over the tops of sand dunes. It was a little too much for my mom as she lost her lunch about half way through our trip.
While on the dunes I also got a chance to try sand boarding which was surprisingly similar to snowboarding, except you get covered in sand and it's not so cold. Riding was a bit slower than snow boarding and I also found it cool that you can actually feel a difference in board performance from the top of a dune to the bottom as the wax is rubbed from the board by the sand.
After this side trip it was off to Las Islas Ballastas or the poor mans Galapagos. In the end, it was quite a far stretch to be called the poor mans Galapagos, but it was still pretty cool to see the spot with the highest bird concentration in the world and wild penguins! The only downside to all the birds...all the bird poop. On our 2 hour trip I think I got pooped on 4 times. My mom and dad, 0. Lucky me!
Penguins!
Birds...lots of birds
On the back side of our trip we had a really nice time visiting Lima, Peru's capital with Jaime Gomez, the dad of one of my friends back home and making our way to the jungle with him. The best part of that trip was probably the native village that we toured. It was a little bit touristy, but none the less, still pretty cool to get a glimpse of how some people still live in the Jungle today.
My mom passing out Jelly Bellys to kids in the jungle village
Our final destination was Trujillo and Huanchaco, the town in which I am currently living. There we got a chance to visit the family of another friend from the states and finally relax on the beach.
Just as fast as my parents arrived, they were gone again.
Until next time, keep livin' the dream!
Looks like songs around the camp fire are pretty popular all over
Trekking on horseback
While on the dunes I also got a chance to try sand boarding which was surprisingly similar to snowboarding, except you get covered in sand and it's not so cold. Riding was a bit slower than snow boarding and I also found it cool that you can actually feel a difference in board performance from the top of a dune to the bottom as the wax is rubbed from the board by the sand.
After this side trip it was off to Las Islas Ballastas or the poor mans Galapagos. In the end, it was quite a far stretch to be called the poor mans Galapagos, but it was still pretty cool to see the spot with the highest bird concentration in the world and wild penguins! The only downside to all the birds...all the bird poop. On our 2 hour trip I think I got pooped on 4 times. My mom and dad, 0. Lucky me!
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