This is What Dreams Are Made Of

We're here in Cusco, Peru, and today it is finally not cold, but sunny!! The last time we wrote it was about sandboarding in Huacachina... After there we went on a day tour of Islas Ballestas and Paracas, I guess we already covered that. After that we got to Lima! We stayed there for around 3 days and took in some awesome Peru culture by going to see 2 very cultural movies: The Hangover 2, and X-Men: First Class. They were in English and they were awesome. Lima is very much like Toronto. Big and urban and not so cultural, or at least the parts we saw weren't. After Lima we took our bus ride to Cusco! We spent one night there, and then went on a tour to Pisac and Ollantaytambo and saw some beautiful ruins. We ended up in Aguas Calientes late that night.

The next morning we were up bright and early, you can even ask the roosters that were crowing, and got on a bus to Machu Picchu. It was pouring rain. Of course it was, it was Canada day! What else should we have expected?! It was, however, incredible and absolutely breath-taking. Because it was so cold the clouds and fog was set so low in the mountains and were rolling through all morning, the view was just awesome, in the real meaning of the word. We had set up our tour of Machu Picchu with an agency, and they told us that our tickets back to Ollantatambo, and then onto Cusco, would be given to us by our tour guide at Machu Picchu. Our tour guide had no clue what we were talking about when we asked. Needless to say we were a bit worried. After we got back from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes we called our tour agency and eventually we got our train tickets back, after a very difficult conversation because neither Elizabeth nor Taija know complete conversational Spanish, and the tour company knew even less English. It was a long day, but in the end, worth it.

We got back into Cusco around 10, after a harrowing bus ride where the fog was so intense you couldn't see anything, but did the driver slow down? No, of course not! And these roads aren't straight... The road into Cusco goes back and forth along a mountain side. Anyways, we catch a taxi and get it to drop us off at our hostel. Or as close to our hostel as he could. After 178 stairs we reached our destination, and passed out in bed. We had booked this hostel before hand and were expecting much more than it gave us, so after two nights we moved to a new hostel, Hostel Inca Wasi, right on the Plaza de Armas, the central hub in Cusco. The view is incredible, and even more incredible is the fact that down the street is a McDonalds and a KFC. In the Sacred Valley... that's got to be against like, some major inca rules. We are within the last remaining walls (other than Machu Picchu) actually built by the Inca people, that weren't destroyed by the Spanish. Clearly we are getting awesome history lessons down here. Much more than we ever learned in grade 12. Anyways, we caved and had chicken nuggets last night, and they were so good.

Today we went to an Artisan Market full of handicrafts, and it was incredible. The alpaca wool is super soft and super warm. We have sweaters and socks and leg warmers and touques so far, as we're preparing for what we have heard about the freezing temperatures of Bolivia. You would think two girls from Regina, Saskatchewan would be able to handle the cold, but not without a winter jacket!

We have flights booked to Bolivia on Thursday, because the last we had heard the land border crossings were still closed because of this whole Canada wanting to open mines in Peru and Peruvians not wanting that to happen and protesting and rioting thing that's been going on since the first week of June. Until then we're just floating around Cusco checking out the sights and taking it easy and acclimatizing to the altitude which is also breath taking. And stupid. There is less oxygen in the air, and so less oxygen in our blood, and so our bodies don't like that and it's like we've gained 300 pounds when walking uphill. But each day is better, and today is almost normal again so you do acclimatize, it just takes time.

Well we think that's about all. We're boring right now, we can't think of any adventures that we haven't shared with you, though we're sure the stories will come once we get home, or even later.

Much love to all,

Taija and Elizabeth

We're back!! We left off talking about the Nazca lines, so that's where we'll pick up. We went out to the airport and booked a flight in a small, 4 person plane. Just two pilots, Taija, and Elizabeth. It was super cool and we were super excited about it. We saw around 13 of the Nazca lines, they are HUGE!! They may not look like it from the air or in the pictures we will one day post, but each line you see is like the width of a road... They're super crazy huge and super crazy accurate... The lines are perfectly straight, perfectly aligned to one another, and they did them over 2000 years ago without being able to see the whole picture. It's baffling. By the sounds of it the Inca people had a strong belief in Aliens... There's a line called the astronaut that looks like ET. He's waving, and our tour guide pointed out to us, is he saying hello or goodbye to people in the sky? Remember, this is before airplanes. They weren't even discovered until like the 1920's or so... Anyways, they were, as mentioned, super cool. If you don't know what the Nazca lines are, watch the last Indiana Jones movie... They fly over them at the beginning. Or google image them. That works too.

After our flight we walked around some handicraft shops and had a hotdog for lunch. That was the best hotdog we've ever tasted. It tasted just like a hotdog should. That may sound weird, but everything tastes weird. Even the Coca Cola. We went back to our hostel and tried updating you guys, but we just weren't into it. We ended up chatting with some Americans on their honeymoon who just came from the dentist for a cleaning. They were getting fillings done that night for $35 soles a piece... That's around $12 a filling. Holy. Cow.

We left the next day for Ice/Huacachina, a desert oasis. It was beautiful and sandy. Our bus got in and we have been taking Cruz del Sur, because they're safer and more reliable, anyways, our bus got in a some tour guide asked if we had a tour booked and we said no so he went with us in a taxi to our hostel to make sure we got there safe (Ica is known for petty theft since a major earthquake in 2007). We booked a Sand Buggy/Sand Boarding tour for dusk that night, at 4. The sun sets super early. It's winter, remember? Anyways, the dune buggy pìcked us up at our hostel (which was gorgeous, more on that later), and drove into the desert, on the dunes, hence dune buggy. It was incredible. The sights were absolutely beautiful and the ride was like the best roller coaster we have ever been on. We were driving like we were in a hollywood movie... Going over bumps and not touching the ground, drifting in the sand, and literally flying off hills. Awesome. The sand boarding was pretty cool too. Except for one fact. When you go snowboarding and you get snow on you it brushes off, or eventually melts and dries. Not sand. It gets EVERYWHERE and it stays EVERYWHERE. We were blowing our noses and getting sand. There was sand stuck in Elizabeth's braces and between Taija's teeth, and we tried to concentrate on keeping our mouths shut, but some of those hills were pretty high. Oh, if you don't know, sandboarding is like snow boarding, except on sand dunes. You also have a choice of laying on your stomach to go down instead of going on your feet, which is what we mostly did. Taija tried it on her feet once but it's harder than it looks and she face planted into the sand.

Our hostel that night was more of a resort than a hostel. When you first walk in it's open with a courtyard with a rabbit hutch and a giant TURTLE walking around!! There's a restaurant/bar to the right, and then a pool up a flight of stairs, all outside. The rooms are on the left, and were nice with air conditioning. It is no longer cold here, we're back in the desert instead of mountains, so it was warm. Our shower was big and provided HOT water (yay!!) We only stayed one night because the next morning at 6:30 we left on a tour of Islas Ballestas and Paracas. We saw pelicans, boobys (heehee, they're birds you morons....), red footed cormorants, sea lions, Humboldt penguins (they were so little and cute), and we saw flamingoes!!! They were pretty far away though. They don't let people get close to them anymore because it scares them away and the birds migrate and don't come back for years.

For lunch we went to this little seafood place. When we got there they showed us the catch of the day close up on a platter. There was crab, squid, shrimp, scallops, sole, rock fish, sea fox, and a few others that we can't remember. We each ordered a mixed platter, and it was so good. There was so much food we couldn't finish it. After that we took a bus to Lima, and here we are in our hostel, Point Lima. It's nice here, relaxing, normal kind of atmosphere. People speak english, and we're surrounded by people either drinking beer for breakfast or just continuing the party from last night. Plans for today include the beach... More to come later.

Taija and Elizabeth

We know it has been a while since we had a chance to write but we didn't get the chance to in Chivay. There is, however, much to say so if you don't have much time don't begin reading because this could take you all day . Where to start where to start... Hmmm... Well there are a few general things that we feel we should talk about. The first being the stoplights. Or I guess lack there of.. the drivers are all just nuts!! They speed down the road and honk at intersections to inform pedestrians and other drivers that they are coming. They don't stop, even if there is a stop sign.
Our ride from Arequipa to Chivay was ok... We were at the very front by the doors, we we got stepped over quite a few times. At that point we decided Elizabeth would pick the next seats. She didn't do much better on the next bus. Anyways, once we got to Chivay (pronounced Chi-Bye) we got a taxi to our hostal, Hostel Rumi Wasi. It sounded so nice in the book, with a courtyard and friendly owners. The owners were super friendly. But it was pretty much a hostel on a farm. A farm full of guinea pigs. That weren't there the next day. That we're pretty sure were supper that night for the family that runs the hostel. Awesome.
Oh, we forgot. At the bus station in Arequipa before we left for Chivay we made a friend. With a Korean boy. He was a little creepy to say the least. He said Canada was beautiful and that we were beautiful. And then we got up and left.
Anyways, once we were all settled in in Chivay we went out for supper to this beautiful restaurant. We both had the same thing, alpaca "steak" ( it was pretty thin) with a super good super strong oregano cream sauce. It came with rice, and cooked beans and cauliflower and tomatoes, and french fries. Super yummy. We were, however, the only ones in there at the time. Which we thought was because they eat at different times then us, but when we went outside there was a huge gathering around the Plaza, the centre of the town. There was like a parade with donkeys and taxis and people in traditional clothing, all carrying coca plants. They all walked around the Plaza, and people representing different areas of Peru were introduced, and they all placed their coca in two huge piles. We're not sure what they did with it, because all the people started leaving and we went back to our hostel for our first VERY cold night in Chivay. The next morning Taija went to shower only to find out that hot water was not something that our hostel provided. Our room was so cold our only thoughts were to get out of it as soon as possible. We walked to the centre of town, and there was some other festival going on... all the school children were marching around the same plaza... We're not sure exactly what, but we know it was an anniversary of some sort. We walked around some handicraft booths and then walked to the hot springs. It was a long and hot walk. When we got there we got oiur bathing suits on and went into pool number one, which wasn't that hot but was in direct sunlight, so we were pretty warm. We think they sent us to the gringo pool, because they were pointing all the locals to a different pool, and the only people that followed us were foreigners like us. After a while we went to a different pool, where Elizabeth sat in the shade. This pool was MUCH warmer. After a while we got out, took a taxi back to town, and found a place to eat lunch. We had pesto spaghetti, it was soooooo good. We then walked to the bus station to get our tickets out the next day, and then back to our hostel. Once we got back to our hostel we realized how sunburnt Elizabeth was. After reading the label on our Diamox bottle we realized it makes you photosensitive... i.e. makes your skin burn that much more. To put it into perspective, Taija even got a sun burn. That rarely happens. Elizabeth napped, while Taija looked around at the handicrafts some more. That night we both slept for 12 hours. Sun is a crazy thing. Two lessons learned: First, no matter how cold it is, put on sunscreen. Number two, always, always read the side effects of the drugs you are taking and take precautions against them, or you will pay for your decision later.
Yesterday we left Chivay on a bus back to Arequipa. This bus was sketchy. They loaded baby alpacas on with our luggage and the entire bus smelled like livestock. It was gross. And reinforced Taijas perception of farms. Gross. Awful. Our first class bus from Arequipa to Nazca, however, was much better. It wa soooooooo comfortable. Our seats were like lazy boy recliners. We had call buttons for the attendants on the bus, like on an airplane, but so much better. We got served chicken and rice and YUMMY purple potatoes.
We got into Nazca last night/early this morning, and we went to our hostal and passed out in our beds. This morning we got up and went to the airport and took a flight over the Nazca lines!!! They were super awesome!! We're tired now and don't feel like writing anymore so we're done this one. It is no where near as long as we had planned, we have a whole list of things to cover, but we will save them for some time when we feel like being on a computer.

Buenos Tardes!!

Taija and Elizabeth

Transportation picked us up from our hostel, there were 6 of us from our hostel and we made a few more stops at other hostels and picked up another 4 people, so there were 10 of us in total. And it was freaking fantastic because we all spoke English fluently, the French people from Quebec, the guys from Germany, the guy from Brazil, and two more from Alaska. The view of the ride there was beautiful with views of El Misti, and Chachani... Yup, they're volcanoes. Freaking awesome. Those are the only words... We have now officially seen volcanoes in REAL LIFE. Taija is a little disappointed that they are not active. So is Elizabeth.

Back to white water rafting. They made us strip down to our skivies and gave us wetsuits, which p.s. are super hard to get on and even harder to get off. Elizabeth had to sit down and have some guy pull her wet suit off her legs because they were stuck around her ankles. Also on a side note from Taija, if you plan on puttinga wet suit on, don't put lotion on before hand... it makes it very difficult. Anyways, after the wetsuit we got bright yellow jackets and then bright orange life jackets. After we got water shoes or sandals and helmets. We were so sexy and ready to go out partying. Then they put on a little demo on the different strokes, and Taija was the demo girl. She could not figure out the difference between forward and backward, but thankfully when we were rafting she got it cased. We were in a blue boat and we were in the middle on either side. As mentioned, Elizabeth fell in before the rapids, but everyone made it through safe and sound during the actual rapids part. Towards the end our guide made us paddle against the current and into a waterfall so that we all got soaked. Taija was pretty dry until then, Elizabeth not so much, but we all ended up pretty much the same. Along the way our guide pointed out a few things to us, there was a heart in the rocks that he told the girls he had done last night just for us. Then he also pointed out Eucalyptus trees. He also asked if we could see the koala bears in the trees. Taija got overly excited because she thought that they were real. Not so much.

Last night after we showered off the Rio Chili water (which we did end up swallowing... :S) we did laundry and went for supper with Heather and Laura. It was great chatting with the girls about school, university, and how we all have BA's, but have no idea what we're going to do when we get home. We love how everyones future is up in the air, not just ours.

Breakfast at our Home Sweet Home Hostal both this morning and yesterday morning was mm mm good! Breakfast was served on the roof with Chachani and El Misti in the background, with the sun rising behind them. We tried to take pictures, but it just doesn't do it justice. They actually served us. We got a crepe pancake thing that was soooooo good, buns, and scrambled eggs that are the best eggs we've ever tasted. Sorry mom's/Emily. Taija ate lot's of buns, and the strawberry jam was AMAZING, with real big strawberries, HA, be jealous Christopher!! To drink we had mango juice and tea. After breakfast we went back to our room to pack, and assess our adventure wounds from yesterday. Taija's hand got smacked between our raft and a rock, so her finger is cut and her wrist kind of sore. Elizabeth has a bruise/bump on her feet from hanging on for dear life after she fell out (that wasn't going to happen again). All in all, we're pretty good though. Looking forward to some hot springs in Chivay tomorrow though.

This morning we also took our first video, of us putting on our backpacks while sitting on our beds, and then trying to stand up... quite funny, and we will post it when we get home and have an internet connection that is from the 21st century

Just a note on the beautiful people of Peru. They are so friendly and so nice and accommodating. Before we left all we heard were horror stories, and not that it's not out there, but we were prepared for people trying to steal from us and rip us off left right and centre, but even the taxi driver this morning gave us our 3 soles change, which is like a dollar, I don't think that happens in Canada. Our hostal organized our entire rafting trip for us, we paid there. They book bus rides, they called us our taxi this morning, and asked where we were going and if we needed any information, or to book a tour. It's fantastic. Everyone here is so helpful, even the people on the street. You walk by someone and it's Buenos Dias, Buenos Tardes, Buenos Noches, the people are just friendly, to say the least.

Surprisingly, we haven't bought anything yet. Nothing. Don't worry Devan, Taija has not forgotten about you, you will get a jersey as long as we can find one, we look everywhere we go. And before we left we felt that all our time travelling from place to place would be a waste of time, but the bus rides aren't really bus rides. They're like tours along the country side. It's where we've gotten the most beautiful pictures of the landscape, and from the people we've talked to, it only gets better. And still, a week in and no bugs yet. Apparently we won't see them unless we go into the jungle.

The weather is beautiful, as usual. We wish we would have packed more hot weather clothing instead of cold weather, although apparently Bolivia is freeeeeeeezing, so we'll see how we feel when we get to that country. At the current moment we're sitting in our bus station staring out a window at the Andes Mountains. and let us tell you, we have the Rockies, many times. They are no where close to these mountains. These are bigger and more pink and orange and brown and grey. It's like you can see all the layers of the world before they turned into mountains. And we know they're made from rock or sand or whatever, but they don't really look like rock. Or sand. They look like clay, really kind of dusty but solid... which sounds weird but there isn't really another way to describe it.

Also, we haven't really seen any animals out of the ordinary, except for the abundance of stray dogs that walk around everywhere. We passed horses and cows in fields and felt like we were in Saskatchewan again. We saw goats, and on our way here we passed a truck full of pigs, not like the big trucks that haul animals in Canada... it was like a pick up truck with pigs in the back.

One thing to note though, is that Chile was super dirty, like with pollution and smog and trash on the ground, and every building was covered in some type of graffiti or vandalised in some way. It's a bit better in Peru, not so much vandalism, but still a lot of littering. On the way here the amount of litter that we saw in the desert was astounding, we mean, we can't imagine seeing that much litter in Banff.

Taija is having some side effects to our Acetazolamide (Diamox), which is better known as our altitude meds... Increases the production of red blood cells yada yada... Anyways, her hands are tingling. And at least we hope that that's a side effect... Only a few more days on it this time though, so if it goes away after that we'll know for sure. Also, today was Mefloquine Monday. Yay anti-malarials!! No parasites for us... not that we've even seen a mosquito since Canada. Although Elizabeth seemed to find the only three mosquitoes in Toronto. Side note: mefloquine disolves very fast and leaves a very long lasting really horrible taste in your mouth. Elizabeth's got stuck to the roof of her mouth this morning and she spit it out... and drooled down the front of her shirt... Thank God for Tide to Go!

Taija misses milk. We may have to resort to having an ice cream. And that's not just an excuse to have ice cream, she really misses milk. Like, every five minutes she says she misses milk. And our phones. Still going through Blackberry withdrawal. Although having a camera in your hand does occupy the empty space until you try to text someone on it.

They serve Coke in the largest bottles we have ever seen, like 4 litres we swear. And don't ask for a coke, you have to ask for a Coca Cola, or they look at you funny and have no idea what you're talking about.

If there's anything you guys are wondering about that we're not mentioning, totally ask us because it might just be something we've forgotten (like a lot of stuff) or stuff we don't even think of mentioning. Thanks for all your thoughts, we enjoy reading them.

About things we've forgotten... On our way from Santiago to Arica, our 30 hour bus ride, we stopped for lunch and we decided to have empanadas. Yum... Well, there were two kinds, Pino, and Marisco. Now, we don't really speak spanish, so we just ordered one of each, Taija got the Pino, and Elizabeth got the Marisco. The Pino was good, beef and onions, the Marisco, not so much... seafood, mussels, etc. Now, Elizabeth likes seafood but this was not good in the least. Not to mention that both of them had like, a quarter of a hard boiled egg in them, and a black olive, pit still in. Now in theory the egg may have been good. But they warmed them up in the microwave so the egg was nasty. We've been eating Queso Empanadas since... queso meaning cheese. Cheese feels safe. And tasty.

We are both tired of dressing like boys and if we were to do this again, that would not happen again. There would be jeans, skinny jeans, skirts, and dresses in abundance. And screw cargo pants, we're sticking with Lulu's. We thought that stuff would stick to them, like plants and sutff, but there's none of that around to stick to them. Maybe in the jungle, so maybe a pair of jeans would work there. We are so out of place in our hostels because everyone is dressed so nicely. Also, Elizabeth misses a bigger mirror, so she can see what she looks like below her neck. One week in and we think we're doing ok with what we miss though. Our goal is to bring home everything we brought. Except for the Steripen because it's stupid and sucks and doesn't work. And bottled water is CHEAP. Like, $1 CAD for 3.2 litres. Cheap.

Weird things to mention, it's dry down here and our skin hates us. And we can't crack our knuckles at all... which is annoying to no end. Elizabeth's hair loves this weather, while Taija's not so much. That's ok, braids work wonders!

We don't carry our big backpacks like, anywhere, and we're seriously thinking that it would have been easier to bring a suitcase with wheels. You buy your bus ticket and they store your luggage in a locked area while you walk around. Even when we check out of our hostels in the morning they ask us if we want to store our luggage until we leave. Sigh. Stuff we wish we knew. We really hate dressing like boys, did we mention that? We are looking forward to buying Alpaca sweaters and scarves and socks though. We're sure they'll come to good use in Bolivia... and Regina. Also, we plan on seeing Harry Potter in La Paz, it's totally an awesome way to explore different cultures. We heard it's only $3 to see a movie and get popcorn. And the movies are in English, with Spanish subtitles because with new releases they don't have enough time to dub spanish over top before they come out.

White water rafting was so much fun, we can't wait for our next big adrenaline rush, whatever it may be.

We think that's all for now... We're going to go get some ice cream and wait for our bus. Until next time, love to all.

Taija and Elizabeth.

This afternoon we went white water rafting on Rio Chile. It was so much fun we can't even believe it! Elizabeth fell in the water. Before we even hit any rapids... No one else fell in at all, in either group. Everything was fine though, she got right back in the raft and we went along our merry way. We concurred 4.5 class rapids... not too sure where that is on the scale, if someone could comment and let us know what they go up to that would be super awesome!

Speaking of super awesome, our white water rafting cost us $160. That sounds pretty awesome. Even better when you hear that was for both of us, not per person. And once more even more awesome when you find out that that's in PEN, not CAD... so divide by 3 and it's just over $50 for the two of us. Craziness is what that is. Although we've been finding it hard to break $100 bills here, which is kind of weird to us because that's jsut over $30 CAD. It's pretty awesome though.

Tonight we went for supper with some other girls from Canada who are staying in the same hostel as us. We found a little pizza/italian place and we had some pasta, the first real food we've had since we got here. It was ok, but the sangria we drank with it was better.

We also did laundry for the first time today, after rafting and before supper... That likely won't happen again. Not worth the effort when it costs around a dollar Canadian to get it done for us... But it was an adventure and in Elizabeth's words "we had to do it once". Sure we did.

Tomorrow we leave for Chivay where we will spend a couple nights. We plan on going to some hot springs and maybe a star show at an observatory. We'll keep you posted when we can!!

We're sleepy and right now we just want to crawl into bed. Us crazy party animals that we are at home, not much has changed even though the continent has... Buenas Noches!!

Love to all

Taija and Elizabeth