Saturday - FREE DAY! I relaxed by myself for a while in the morning until lunch, then decided to get out for a bit. I stopped by Totta (a yummy cake place 5 feet from my house... dangerous) and picked up two slices on my way to Mitch's house. We ate our cake in the park on swings like little kids, then decided to go exploring. We walked around for about an hour, then decided to take a taxi to Mercado Molino. Though this place was a little sketch, its awesomeness was worth it. We bought 4 (NEW!) movies for about $4, which was really exciting. I thought about Sketchy and how many movies she could buy here... jaja. Gold mine. :)
Sunday - MACHU PICCHU (which means "Old Mountain" in Quechua). Prior to this trip, one of my goals was to visit all 50 states before I die. On top of that, I've decided I'd also like to visit all 7 wonders of the world (there are several lists, but I'm referring to the one with the pyramids, the Great Wall, etc.). I'm proud to say I can now cross one off the list! Despite the fact it was a super tourist trap because of the 100th anniversary of the "scientific" discovery, the scenery was unlike anything I've ever seen. The Incas built this city around 1300A.D. and it was discovered (by white people) in 1911. A man named Hiram Bingham from Yale found this motherload of ancient history and brought back thousands of artifacts to the States. They were just returned to Peru this year...
Today - Parque de la Papa (The Potato Park). Sound exciting? I'm sure it doesn't. The part about actual potato farming wasn't the most interesting thing I've ever heard, but having ALPACA for lunch was definitely interesting... I've discovered that I'm not gastronomically adventurous when it comes to meat, though the alpaca wasn't too bad. After that, however, we went on an EXTREME hike. I'm sorry to keep mentioning the altitude, but this was 15,000 feet above sea level! That's almost 3 miles, which puts Denver, "the mile high city," to shame. Needless to say, I was extremely winded after 4 hours with minimal oxygen. But the exercise was nice for once!
I'll admit that I wasn't totally in love with Peru when I first got here, but like Mexico, it's definitely started to grow on me. I guess you could say I'm definitely starting to feel "cultured." :)
"Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light, yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night? None can fathom..." - Indescribable, Chris Tomlin
