Hello from Peru

It´s late Sunday afternoon and I wanted to catch all of you up on the trip to Peru I´m taking with my mother. It´s been unbelievably beautiful here, but we´ve done so much hiking, walking, eating, and even rafting that I´m dead tired.

Wednesday--we were in Miami and didn´t do much. Simply took a boat ride around the rich islands in the bay. We had a 1 a.m. flight that night to Lima.

Thursday and Friday--we hit the ground running in Peru. There are 12 of us on the tour, mostly older married couples, as I had anticipated. We saw lots of ancient sites in the city including old Incan pyramids and visited an Gregorian monestary and its catacombs. Friday night I actually ventured out to a gay bar and met some nice new friends. More on that another time.

Saturday--we flew from Lima (which is at sea level) to Cuzco, which is 11,000 feet. I´m pretty in shape, but I can tell you that you get tired more easily, and sometimes even lightheaded. We drove down from Cuzco to the Sacred Valley and Urabamba River (a lower elevation of 9,000 feet) where we visited the ancient Incan ruins of Pisac. It was a hellish hike, but really wonderful. We visited a llama farm where we also saw alpacas and vicunyas. Of course they made us drink lots of coca tea, which is supposed to help you adjust to elevation.

Sunday--we are still in the Sacred Valley which is really amazing. Our old monestary hotel has flowers blooming everywhere, even though Peru is entering its winter season. Today we visited another Incan site, the only one where the Incans actually defeated the Spanish. The name is too long and I don´t remember. Maybe Oyatollamba? Something like that. Then we did a rafting trip down the Urabamba River. Mom and I rode in front and we were completely drenched. But eating a huge picnic lunch after made it all worthwhile. After the picnic we visited a famous ceramics studio, but the highlight for me was petting the marmoset named Bellaluci.

Tomorrow is our first day at Machu Picchu.