Trekking to Macchu Piccu, Sleeping on Water and Punctuation.

Punctuation on this "blog" will be incorrect and that is not my problem. As I have already stated keyboards here are stupid. The shift key on the left is the size of a letter button so I miss it constantly. Also the question mark is located next to the zero, above all the letters. In it´s place is the Ñ. In the apostrophe spot is Ç. Again, not my fault, not my problem.

macchu piccu....4 day trek was CRAZY. so you start off the first day, its kinda a normal hike, some decent uphills, nothing crazy, just getting used to it. Since I love being prepared for things (its a little boyscout esque and nauseating).. i had packed extra food, water, a huge first aid kit, plus sleeping bag, all that kinda junk you need. So my pack was like 30 pounds on the first day..mostly cause of about 12 pounds of water. So we are all kinda in one big group the first day, not too fast, but Aaron and I easily have the biggest packs. except for porters. Porters are incredible people. These dudes would RUN uphill, with 60 pounds on their back...in SANDALS. It was one of the most incredible things i´d ever seen. By the time you get to a rest site or camp site, they´ve been there, set up tents, cooked lunch...its completely insane. they are amazing. Anyway, we get to day 2. Now in all the guidebooks and such, day 2 is supposed to be pretty hard. I figured this to be for the average Joe. Call me average. Day 2 was insane. You climb to 4200 meters, on what feels like an endless, endless incan staircase. The view is immense, and breathtaking, but unfortunately..the stairs are also breathtaking, so as you sweat, and gasp for air, every once in a while you can glance around and see some nice views. Oh and when you start day two its sunny, hot, and 80 degrees. When you reach the summit on day 2, it´s rainy, cloudy, WINDY and 45 degrees. Its a glorious swing. Day 3 is a beautiful trek, and you end up at this place called mirador which is unbelievable. Huge terraces carved into the mountain side for incan farming. For the last 3 hours of day 3, we went down a section called the "gringo killer" which is just over 2000 steps downhill. For this section i paced with porters which essentially meant running down the mountain. They are outrageously fast, and I was completely exhausted when we reached camp for the night. Fourth morning you get up at 345 am, and line up at the gate for the final stint to macchu picchu. Its basically a race because only the first 400 people to arrive at macchu picchu can get tickets to climb Wynapiccu, the huge mountain next to macchu picchu with spectacular views. So after an early morning sprint, stopping to see pictures of the sungate, you see this unreal postcard view of macchu picchu, all covered in fog and mystery. (haha..had to laugh at that line) Its a pretty surreal site. I was number 338 or something for wynapiccu and the views from the top were moderately terrifying (your climbing wet, vertical steps where one wrong step and you plummet 4000 meters to your death) but absolutely worth the ascent. When we got back to aguas calientes at the base of machu picchu, i proceeded to get in bed at 3pm and sleep until 8am the following morning.

Next we went back to Cusco for a day. Relatively uneventful, some st patties day drinking, but pretty much just more sleeping.

2 days ago we headed down to Puno which is on Lake Titicaca. There we took this old, supposedly seaworthy boat out to some reed islands called "Unos". The islands are literally made of piles of reeds stacked on top of each other and little reed huts on top of that. We stayed there for the night which was to say the least..interesting. It was freezing, and you are in this little hut, in the pitch black. Now at midnight when it starts downpouring, you start to ponder whether the island is going to sink, you are going to freeze, or the islanders are going to sell your kidneys. All seem plausible. In the morning we sat and waited for a boat, for about 6 hours before finally paying someone on the island to take us back on another "seaworthy" boat.

Today we are in Arequipa which is probably my favorite spot thus far in terms of cities. The center plaza is beautiful, there is no one asking me to buy things for the most part which is an appreciated break, and the food is delicious. Tonight should be fun, although from walking around last night, the downtown club areas seem to be filled with what looks like gangs of 14 year olds. It honestly looks like every high school and middle school kid in town shows up. But what can ya do. Tomorrow afternoon we go white water rafting, then Monday morning we go mountain biking down a volcano. Should be intense. More info to follow.