Saturday night, I had to pack. So I stayed up watching a movie and packing. Sunday morning came way too early. I don’t remember if I actually slept or not. Our bus was leaving for Peru at 4 am. So I struggled out the door and on my way to another country. I got comfy on the bus and we were about to go when Sandra told me I had to move to the other bus. It was like a short bus. I felt cheated. There were about 10 of us that got the shaft. It was a super bumpy ride with red emergency lights on the whole time. Needless to say, none of us really got any sleep like we had hoped. We arrived at the airport in Rosario about 30 minutes before the bus. So we chilled until they got there. We waited in line forever to get our boarding passes and then waited some more to go through security.
I remember traveling with PJ to the Philippines and know that it didn’t have to take that long, but it did. In their defense, we did have a big group. I got my passport stamped and waited to get on the plane. Once I got on the plane, I passed out. It’s a gift I have really. Lol. We arrived in Lima and the two buses dropped us off at our hotel. I stayed with Rosemary. We were given 20 minutes then we walked to a nearby shopping center. It had a lot of American food so naturally we stopped at Chili’s. It had been so long since I had any kind of food like that. It tasted SO good. After Chili’s we stopped at Starbucks, where I passed out because I was so tired. I have to admit that I usually don’t stop at Starbucks ‘cause I don’t drink coffee, but it was really the only place that reminded me of Christmas. It even smelled like Christmas!
After that Rose, Krista and I went back to our hotel where we stayed in and watched Sunday Night Football. I’m a sucker for football and hadn’t been able to watch any games this season. After the game, I went to the other girls’ room and watched the rest of Taken. What an appropriate movie since we were all in another country. The next morning we got up and took a tour of the city. They took us to the historical part of the city. It was beautiful. They took us to this huge cathedral and catacombs. Even though the catacombs were a little morbid, it was fascinating to see all the bones lined up. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but a couple people from our group snuck in a couple.
We had the rest of the day off after that so we just chilled and went to the market, went back to Chili’s and then I got to watch my Patriots KILL the New York Jets. Our cable went out during the last half of the 4th quarter, so Krista and I went up to James’ room and watched Oceans 13 with him and Paul.
We got up the next morning and left for Cusco. The city is at a really high altitude so they had a drink a lot of mate de coca. It didn’t taste very good, but I didn’t get sick so that’s good. They took us on a tour of this monastery and another cathedral. One thing about being at such a high altitude is that it makes you super sleepy. So by the middle of the tour of the cathedral, we were all falling asleep in the pews. We went back to the hotel and chilled for a little bit, before we decided to go find something to eat. It was someone’s bright idea to walk all the way back to where we were before. It was about a 20 minute walk, uphill, barely able to breathe. We found this Chinese restaurant up the road. It was nice. I honestly thought I was going to pass out. Everyone was walking so fast, I could barely keep up. Paul offered to walk with me later after he saw I was having some difficulties. We sat down at the restaurant and played UNO until our food came. It was good. Just like Peruanos, but not as much. We made it back to the hotel after some adventures with Jamel.
I chilled in the lobby and talked with some people I hadn’t really taken some time to get to know them. It was nice. I decided to go back to my room and I passed out.
The next morning was Machu Picchu! They woke us up at 5:30 am. We had to catch the bus at 6:40 am to take us to the train station. It took us awhile to all get on the buses, but we did and made it in time. The train ride was only supposed to take 3ish hours, but it turned into a 4.5 hour ride. The scenery was beautiful, but nothing like what we were about to see. After the train, we got on more buses and drove up the mountain. We stopped at a buffet restaurant for lunch and waiting until about 1:30pm to start hiking. We started off to Machu Picchu and I honestly was speechless when we arrived at the top. It was breath-taking. It was beautiful. The pictures I took don’t do justice. Standing there looking down on the ruins, I realized how blessed I truly am to be able to visit all these places.
We split up into 3 groups and ended up taking a 4 hour tour of the place. It was cool to learn about all the history of the place, but I really wanted time to just explore on my own. We were some of the last people to leave the park. We got to stamp our passports so now I have a stamp proving that I went to Machu Picchu. We took the train back down, but only halfway. We had to get on MORE buses and drive down back to Cusco. It was a horribly bumpy ride. We hadn’t eaten since lunch so we were all starving. They took us to this pizzeria. It was delicious after not eating for so long. I think that was the first time that I experience a real late Argentinean meal. We didn’t eat until 11:15pm. Our table scarffed our food down and went back to the hotel to sleep.
We got to sleep in the next morning and visit the market before we had to check out to go back to Lima. We went to the market a lot while we were in Peru. Made me not want to buy anything else without bartering for the price. We landed in Lima and they took us to this mall. None of us wanted to buy anything because we all came from buying cheap stuff at the markets. We exchanged our Secret Santa gifts in this park, which was fun. And we headed off to Chili’s for dinner and Starbucks before we headed back to the buses. Our flight from Lima to Rosario didn’t leave until 1:25 am so we chilled in the airport and watched a couple TV shows before it was time to board. I was hoping to sleep while on the plane, but I couldn’t. So I stayed up until about 4 am. Then right when I was about to sleep, the sun came up. Boy was that bright! We landed around 7 am and waited for the bus. We got stuck on the short bus again. I was upset because I didn’t think that I was going to sleep, but praise the Lord I did. I ended up falling asleep on Paul’s shoulder the whole 3 hour trip. That was some good sleep!
We arrived at the UAP around 10:30 am. We had to wait another 30 minutes for the bus to arrive. We got our luggage and some stuff figured out for our Christmas vacation, ran to start our laundry and shower. Friday was mostly spent unpacking and packing again for Bariloche, where I am now.
Peru was an adventure. It was an awesome experience. I’ll keep you guys updated on my Christmas vacation!
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