Nazca, Huacachina, and Paracas

So I did the Nazca lines. That was fun. Paid almost 100 dollars for a 25 minute flight in a 4 seater plane....feeling nauseous the whole time. It was difficult to get a good picture....but I tried. The same day I was off to Huacachina...an oasis in the desert. Super cool place...but really tiny. I did sandboarding and a dune buggy tour which was awesome. You go so fast on the sandboard...it's actually really scary and dangerous but...oh well! After a couple days there, I did a tour of the Islas Ballestas in Paracas. It's supposed to be the "Poor Man's Galapagos". Saw some seals and penguins...also tons of birds. The same day I was off to Lima. I was supposed to stay for a week...but I ended up staying way longer because of food poisoning once again. This time I had a 3 day stint in the Peruvian hospital.... that was fun! But thankfully I am alive now. I will write more with pics and updates about Lima later.

Four seater plane to fly over Nazca lines.

Me in the plane!

Can you see the monkey?

View from the plane!

I believe this one is the parrot..

Some more lines. Hard  to get good pics!

Huacachina...oasis in the desert!

Me and my friend Ben in the dune buggy.

Flying through the desert.

Desertland.

Ready to sandboard!

Dune buggy!

Getting ready to hold on to this small plank of wood and slide down some dunes!!

Excited/so scared...

This small Peruvian man is all that is between me and possible death down the dunes...

Flying down the dune!
 

Sunset!

Me with the whole oasis in the background.

Some man feeding the pelicans...for money of course!

Paracas!

Islas Ballestas

There were a ton of little penguins and sea lions...you just can't see them.

Another pic...

Seals!!!

So many birds flying over!!

Cusco and Machu Picchu

So finally made it out of Arequipa! Took a bus to Cusco where a Quechua woman got on and was chopping meat to sell...only in South America. Saw the sights in Cusco for a couple of days and then booked my trek to Machu Picchu. I decided to do a 2 day, 1 night tour because of time constraints and my foot. So the first morning took a van/shuttle bus for 7 hours to the Hidroelectrica Station outside of Aguas Calientes (the town where Machu Picchu is). We hiked or almost 3 hours in the rain until we reached our hostel at Aguas Calientes. Woke up at 4 AM the next morning and hiked up to Machu Pichhu for almost 2 hours. Got there in time for the sunrise. It was incredible! Walked around Machu Picchu for a few hours and made the trek back down to Aguas Calientes. I met a German friend, Eduard, and we didn't realize we were on the 12:30 train back to the Hidroelectrica Station. Long story short, our train left, we couldn't get on the next one, so we had to hike the 3 hours to the Hidroelectrica Station...as you can only walk or take the train. Long story short....got to the station...our bus left us. We are now 7 hours away from Cusco with no way back. So me and Eduard...angry and tired...hitchhiked with a man the whole way. We told him we didn't have much money, but in true South American fashion, the man pulled up to an ATM in Cusco and made us pay him. Annoying but at least we made it back. Spent the night in Cusco and went back to Arequipa for a day. I didn't leave, however, without trying both alpaca and....cuy. Alpaca was really good.....cuy....not so much. Took one bite and couldn't take anymore. If you don't know what it is...google it. It's a delicacy in Peru. After Arequipa I went on to Nasca for the lines and Huacachina...the desert oasis for sandboarding.

Shot of Plaza de Armas in Arequipa.

Me in front of the fountain in Cusco.

Cusco at night.

On the trail to Aguas Calientes.

Eduard my German friend! Obviously excited about the rainy hike...

Coming into Aguas Calientes.

Hiking up the Incan trail at 6 AM to Machu Picchu.

Made it!

Sunrise at Machu Picchu...notice the mist!

Another shot of the sunrise.

There I am!

Me and Eduard!

Mountains that Machu Picchu is settled in.

You just can't take a bad picture!

Edwin (my Colombian friend), me, and Eduard.

Mother and baby llama.

Some more ruins...

So incredible!

Walking down from the ruins back from Aguas Calientes..amazing view!

Cuy....can you guess what it is?

Atacama Desert, Arequipa, and Bad Luck

I had a really great time in the Atacama Desert. Did a 3 hour bike ride over to a little mountain called Quitor. Then I proceeded to hike up this mountain in my TOMS to watch the sunset. It was amazing! I met a Chilean man who worked at the mountain who said I could just follow him down a "mas rapido" way. So I figured...why not. I immediately regretted this decision as I was climbing down huge rocks and basically trying not to die sliding down this mountain. I was clutching this little Chilean man's hand so tight in fear of my life....but somehow we made it! I then to a night bus to Arica...which is  a small town at the Chilean/Peruvian border. I arrived in Arica and there was a time change...so it was now 4 AM. I then piled into a colectivo with a girl from California who I met, and three other random Peruvians. The colectivo driver takes you through the border to the city of Tacna, in Peru. So in the colectivo, the driver had already taken our passports and filled out all of our border crossing papers, which was nice. He then drove 50 kilometers over the speed limit to get us to Tacna as fast as possible...always fun. From Tacna I took a 7 hour bus to Arequipa. I then arrived at my couchsurfer Fernando's house. We have had a great time these past few days...got traditional Peruvian food, saw the sights, and everything. The fun stopped Friday when I fell down two stairs and hurt my foot. It seemed to be ok....until I woke up at 7 AM yesterday and couldn't walk. My foot was extremely swollen so Fernando took me to the clinic/hospital. They did x-rays and thankfully it is just a sprain...but it still spoiled my plans to go to Cusco and hike the Incan trail. Meanwhile for the past three days I have seem to come down with some sort of stomach bug...maybe parasite. My stomach has never been so bad in my life. So if I am not better by tomorrow, I'm going back to the clinic to get checked for parasites. FUN WEEK! Hopefully I am better and can leave to Cusco on Thursday. We will see! I am so grateful to Fernando, and Johannes and Marcela...two people couchsurfing with Fernando as well. Fernando has been making me ice packs for my foot, and even made me homemade chicken soup....he goes to the store for me and puts on movies and everything. I pretty much lucked out with the best couchsurfing host in history! Johannes is from Austria....he is like my Austrian nurse. Marcela is Colombian but she lives in Orlando! So it's been fun reminiscing about various American things with her. But I am going to use this time to apply for grad school and try to figure out my life. I can say that Peru is my favorite country yet, despite what happened to me. For now here are some pics from the Atacama Desert and from Arequipa, Peru.

On the way from Salta to the Atacama Desert.

Some of the Salt Flats on the way to Atacama.

On the way up Quitor.

Volcanoes in the distance.

Cross at the top of Quitor.

Right before the sunset.

It was really windy....

Climbing down the mountain and seeing the sunset.

Chilean man who drug me down the mountain.

In Arequipa...cloudy but nice.

Lookout point in Arequipa.

An eagle...freaking out on my arm.

Me and Johannesburg...

Johannesburg and Fernando...my great couchsurfing friends/nurses!

Traditional Peruvian dish that Fernando made...potatoes, guacamole, tuna, and tomatoes and onions.

Me and Marcela! My new friend in Orlando.

My sad foot....oh and Inca Kola.