Pictures

So I was going to go back through and add relavent pictures to the blogs, but it's taking too long. So I won't.

. . . maybe later.

But probably not.

Cheers.

Weird Phases

Sorry for the weird phase there. I'm doing much better now. No more crying over shirt sizes.

But today I realized that I have entered ANOTHER weird phase of my travels. Let me tell you about it.

With my free, bonus day, I went to Cuzco's best Inca ruins. I know I'm at a weird phase in my travels when I can go to what used to be the richest, most luxurioulsy decorated Inca ruins that are integrated into the structure of a beautiful huge church, and be most impressed by the BATHROOMS!

Oh my gosh, I would have paid the entrance fee just to use that bathrooms, if I had known about them in advance.

First of all, it was FREE to use the bathrooms. AND each stall has it's own toilet paper. I didn't have to carry my own roll around with me OR buy some by it the square OR take some from the communal roll before entering the stall, which always runs the risk of a) taking too much and looking like you're about to do some disgusting business, or b) taking too little and . . . running into a problem. AND the doors closed. All the way! I didn't have to try and hold the door shut with one foot while using the other one to balance. THEN the toilet flushed AUTOMATICALLY. And there was SOAP and HOT WATER and AUTOMATIC sinks that WORKED! It felt like a real sink, not like a toddler druling on me! I probabaly spent 5 minutes washing my hands, just because I could. And then I dried them in the hot air blower things, that actually blew hot air!

The ruins were nice too, but, wow, those bathrooms. . .



(Also, side note, you know our world has come to a weird phase when you can't afford to enter a church. That just doesn't seem right.)

Turns Out I'm A Liar

I am still ready to come home.
But I leave on the 18th. Not on the 17th.
I get home on the 19th. Not on the 18th.

Time For Me To Come Home

I think it's time for me to come home.
Actually, I'm quite sure of it.

I know this becuase:
a) I've run out of money
b) My flight is tomorrow
c) Yesterday AND today when I was trying to buy something for my little bro, I almost started crying because I couldn't figure out which size to get. (Don't ask me why I almost started crying. Believe me, it surprised me too.)

So I'm quite glad to be coming home tomorrow. Even though what I mean by that is leaving for home tomorrow. I'll be home the day after.

I'm in one of my autistic moods today. What I mean by that (for those of you who haven't heard me use that phrase), is that I don't make eye contact, I don't feel like talking to people, and I feel like staying in bed and reading all day.

I tried to kick myself out of it this morning, walked around, couldn't find where I wanted to go, got tired, and went back to my hostal. Then I stayed there for a bit. Then I took a nap. Then I said, "Lila, this is your last day in South America, go do something." But I really, really, really didn't feel like doing anything. Especially in Cuzco where people keep telling me to buy stuff. But, after remembering all the people yelling at me about relaxing masages, I forced myself out of bed, walked to the town square, and followed the first person that yelled at me about relaxation.

It was an awesome massage. Especially for 25 soles (about $8.50).

I thought that after I would feel rejuvinated and ready to go do stuff, but I don't. I tried to go shopping again, and, like I said before, almost started crying 'cause I couldn't choose a size for my not-so-little-little-brother. (Result: All of the VERY FEW gifts are things that don't have to fit correctly. Like sweat bands).

And then I gave up on shopping. I don't want to do anymore. Thought that counts, right? So if you feel like I should have got you something, know I probably thought about it. . . and then gave up. Does that make you feel better?

Bleh. I feel sick. I may have been a little too adventerous with my food and drink yesterday. (Pink, frothy, home brewed corn beer??? Guine Pig??? What was I thinking?). Oh how I long for honey nut cheerios and mac & cheese (not together). But right now, honestly, any food sounds gross.

So now I don't know what to do. I feel like I was adventerous enough yesterday to carry over to today. I ruined many tourists' pictures. I tried to feel bad about it, but it didn't work.

Let me tell you what happened.

Background: Peru is a Catholic country that likes to party. Not "party" in the sense of nightly drunken debauchary, but more in the sense of every Catholic saint is deserving of a parade with dancers and everyone drinking beer (normal beer, not pink corn beer).

I followed music to find the celebration in the middle of some random street and sat down to watch. The dances were really intersing. There were a couple different ones - some were all ladies in bright colors, others were me in masks that honestly kind of really scared me who would whip each other to demonstrate force (weirdest thing I've seen in my life), and so on. I sat on the curb and watched, and asked the people next to me what was going on. The people next to me came and went, and eventually I was sitting next to a whole bunch of the non-scary dancers. We talked for awhile, and then the parade moved into a plaze a couple streets away. I was in charge of carrying all the non-scary dancers' drinks.

When we got to the plaza, and the non-scary dancers had finished their performance, they all came and sat with me. So there was I - jeans & gross, smelly t-shirt - in the middle of all the dancers in their beautiful, intricately beaded costumes (which I spilled soda on). When their dinner got passed out, they made sure I got some too. And same with the drinks. When the tourists tried to get a picture of all of them, I could see them looking at me with a "what the heck is she doing their" look on their face.

Made me laugh.

I might join the dancers again tonight. If I don't go to sleep first. Maybe I'll just go for a little bit. . . but I really want to go to sleep. And I feel like my head might explode. Wow, feeling sick sucks.

We'll see.

Okay, that's it for now. This is probably my last blog entry. . . that's probably a lie.

I'll see you soon.

Lots of love.

Bye.

Question

If you saw me right now, you might ask this question:

"Lila, why are you carrying a dead guine pig around in a bag?"

And this is what I would say:

"Because I got it for lunch, discovered that whoever said it tasted like chicken either is an idiot or has only had really disgusting chicken, got a to-go bag because I didn't want to insult them, AND NOW I CAN'T FIND A TRASH CAN!!!!"


Seriously, probably the most disgusting thing I've had in my life.

It had a claw.

All The Good Stuff

So I realized on the train from Aguas Cailentes to some unpronounceable city that I totally forgot to write all the good stuff. I must have left a very bad impression of Machu Picchu, which would be entirely incorrect.

So here I am, to correct myself.

Even though the climb almost killed me, I am so proud of myself for doing it. I would have NEVER thought I could have done it, and I did it. So that definitely ends on a posivie note.

Also, it turns out that the climb to Wanya Picchu wasn't all that spectacular because it was really ridiculously foggy and you couldn't even see Machu Picchu.

And it supposedly started to rain and thunder right after I left and continued for the rest of the afternoon (I had beautiful weather).

On top of that, Machu Picchu in itself is absolutely breathtaking. I kept going through my pictures again and agian on the train ride, not able to believe I actually went there. It's. . . amazing. So intricately constructed. They didn't use anything to hold the rocks together because they carved them to fit together perfectly. And there are llamas everywhere. I love llamas!!

Oh! I realized that I didn't even write about getting to Machu Picchu, which, in itself, was quite an adventure. I got to Cuzco in the wee hours of the morning, when it got light I went and found a hostal. Then after sitting in the hostal for 5 minutes waiting for the owner to clean out a room for me, I decided that I didn't want to be in Cuzco. I wanted to go to Machu Picchu, and I wanted to go right then. Because I would have been REALLY disappointed if I ran out of time to go.

So, even though the only train had already left, I figured I would just start heading in that direction and see what happened.

But then I realized that my camera had been stolen, and I went and sat in the plaza and went through all my stuff. A little boy came and sat with me and tried to make me feel better. He was cute. Maybe 7 years old. He told me about a city between here and Machu Picchu that was really beautiful. In return, I bought an overpriced llama finger puppet from him. (Those of you who know me know how much of a sacrifice that was for me because I hate spending money on useless things and I really, really hate puppets).

Then I got a taxi to a bus station, a bus to Urubamba, and a shared cumbi to that unpronounceable city. A total of 11 soles, or about $3.75. Then from there, I went to the train station. There was a train leaving in 1/2 and hour for Aguas Caientes (train is the only way to get there). It was the most expensive type of train. There were three types, but the one I would have prefered (half the price)was booked for the next two days. So I thought "just suck it up" and I bought the ticket. I considered getting one back for the following the evening, but ultimately got one for two days from then in the morning.

The train was SO NICE. In my traveling, I'm used to ripped fabric seats. But these were huge leather ones. The food was that tiny kind of food that looks super expensive. Really good too! And the windows were HUGE! I saw the other trains, and their windows were tiny. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO beautiful; I was thankful for the huge windows.

You know in the beginning of the movie George of The Jungle when they show the whole jungle? It looks like that. Amazing.

So I went into Aguas Caientes, and you know the Machu Picchu story from there.

Another good thing: how often do you get the excuse to sleep 19 hours straight??

This morning I got back on my ridiculously nice train with men that get manicures and 12 year olds that wear more make up that I've worn in my whole life (accumulatively), and I rode to the unpronounceable city. From there, I got a ride to Urubamba with a nice Dutch family that had hired a car. From there I got a bus to the tiny city the little boy told me about.

And that's where I am now. A city of 900 people in the middle of nowhere. There aren't any resturants, are 2 hostals, and are really cute kids. I flew kites with them.

I know that I've written a lot of "bad" things, but I want to emphasize that I've really have had a great trip.

And despite (almost) getting roofied, almost killing myself on the mountain, and getting my camera & $100 stollen, I'd say BY FAR the worst, most frustraiting and disappointing thing that's happened to me is the horrid watch tan that I've acquired.

And when a watch tan is the worst thing that I'm most upset about, I'd say it's been a pretty good trip.

Lots of love.

Maddness

After much debate, discussion, and research, I have come to a very educated and important conclusion:

The Incas were crazy.

Then after what I did yesterday, I've discovered something else:

I'm worse than they were.

To demonstrate why, let me tell you a story. I have to admit up front that I'm a little disappointed about my limited time and my limited ability with word manipulation, because I feel like I won't be able to paint a very accurate represention of my near death (don't worry parents, I'm okay now) experience. But let's give it a go, shall we?


Now to start off, I would like you to think back to 8/12/10 around 10:00pm. What were you doing? Maybe watching tv? Eating? Checking your facebook? Normal night stuff, right? Want to guess what I was doing? I'll tell you: Getting out of bed to start my day. "But Lila," you must be thinking, "You're time difference isn't that much. What time was it for you?"

It was 2:00am.

There's a hike that you can do to watch Machu Picchu at sunrise from the big hill behind it. I heard that it was worth it, so I decided to do it. I know I'm a lot slower than the average bear, so I left an hour early to give myself extra time.

I walked a long way in the pitch black (thank you for the headlight!!!) until I got to the entrance to the gate to Machu Picchu at the bottom of the hill. Where I realized I forgot my ticket. And also learned that they don't even open the gates to start the hike unitl 4:45. So I walked (hiked!) back to my hostal, got my ticket, and returned. It was now about 4:30 already.

When the gates opened and they started letting people in, I started what I thought would be a nice hike to the top.

No.

Chris, Kerry (save his ankle), or Stuart would have been completely fine.

I was a different story.

I had to stop often to catch my breath. And not in a "oh, I just jogged around the track, so I need to catch my breath" type of way, but more in a "Holy Crap! This must be what an asthma-attack-feels-lile-I-can't-breathe" type of way.

After awhile, I was in the back. Which I didn't really mind because a) there weren't THAT many people climbing, b) I liked going at my own pace, and c) I liked being able to turn off my flashlight during my breaks and be in pitch black. That's kind of cool.

Can I just say that THANK GOD that it was dark, because if it had been light enough for me to see what was in front of me, there's no way in heaven, hell, or opposite land that I even would have CONSIDERED doing what I did. No fricken' way.

I really can't describe it better than to say that it's by far the hardest and stupidest thing I've ever done. I keep thinking that I would have topped myself and leave it like that (applying to 24 colleges, climbing the highest mountain in Ghana when I was really wickedly sick - TWICE, climbing the Great Wall in China when I was super sick. . . .), but no! This tops it all.

Oh! AND I have a theory. You know those guys who climb Mt. Everest without oxygen? I reckon that they just forgot it. Because I did that stupidly huge mountain without water. I heard that you couldn't bring food or disposible water bottles into Machu Pichu, so I didn't bring any. Turns out you can.

And when I got to the top - FINALLY - just before 6, I was met not with the sunrise over Machu Picchu, but with a line to get into Machu Pichu.

Needless to say, I was confused. But that's what happens when you don't do your homework.

So I joined the others in the line. Some of them were fellow hikers, others were getting off the busses that were just arriving.

The first 400 people in like got to do the hike to Wayna Picchu, which is what I thought I just climbed. When the guy came around and asked me if I wanted to go at 7 or 10, I said 7 (I wanted to get it over with), the person next to me said 10 and he stamped their ticket and moved on.

I was a little concerned about not getting a stamp, but I figured it was noting. Maybe only 10:00 people got stamps.

So I entered Machu Picchu and explored as I made my way over to the entrance to the Wayan Pichu climb (just so you know, I'm spelling that completely wrong). I shot up a quick prayer. "If I'm supposed to go, let me get in. If I'm not, let me need a stamp."

Well, turns out I needed a stamp. After waiting in line for a half out and making friends with a lot of people in the line, there were cries of outrage (seriously!) when I got turned away.

But I knew it was for the best.

I don't know why, but I still found a deserted corner and cried for 5 minutes. It was uncharacteristic of me, but I was tired.

So instead of climbing another stupidly big mountain, I explored Machu Pichu, which was really, really cool. I could tell you more about it, but I'm running out of time and you can look at it online. I want to tell you more about the story specific to me.

Around 11:00, I decided that it was time for me to go home. "What? So early?" You forget that a) I had been there for 5 hours already, b) I had no food, c) I had climbed a giant mountain, and d) I was scared of passing out.

So I made my way to the riduculously expensive and long bus ride down the hill. While sitting on the bus, I reflected on what a blessing it was that I didn't get my ticket stamped. If I had, honestly, something bad might have happened. It's a dangerous trail, and I wasn't up to facing it. I most likely would have had to be air lifted out, which, as cool as it would have been, would have also been expensive and inconvenient.

So I went home at 11:00. Got food from the first place I saw (I ate alpaca), and went to my hostal. I was in bed before 1:00 and didn't get out until my alarm woke me up at 8:20am this morning.

Wow.

Now really quickly, I'm going to see if there's a picture of what I climbed. Then I have to go.

Nope, can't find one. They probably do that on purpose for some werid reason. But try looking up the hike from Aguas Caientes to Machu Picchu.

Love you!!!

My Wish For You

I hope you weren't hoping to see any pictures.
Because my camera just got jacked.

Be Safe

That's what people keep telling me: Be Safe.
Well, you'll be happy to know that it's exactly what I'm doing.
If I could describe my actions at this exact moment, it would be being safe.

My bus got into Cuzco at 5:30 this morning, so now I'm hanging out in the bus station until it gets light. It just doesn't seem like a very inteligent idea to be wandering a city by myself in the wee, dark hours of the morning.

So I'll write a little about my past travels.

I mentioned Adam & Aaron in my last blog. They are the guys from England that can eat ridiculously a lot. We ended up hitting it off and hung out a lot in Arica. We attempted surfing, climbed a mountain, bought/cooked/ate an octopus, and played Uno. Then we met some other people at the hostal around our age - Brodie and Leigh - and the 5 of us have been traveling together for about the past 10 days.

It's a really fun dynamic, because we all speak English but very different versions of it. In any sort of debate, I'm always different from Adam & Aaron, and Brodie and Leigh (Australians) tend to switch sides depending on the argument.

Words that we don't agree on: tomatoes, pedifiles, vitamins, herbs, chips/crisps/hot-crisps/french-fries, and the list goes on.

They make fun of me a lot for being American because of how America butchers the English language, terrorizes the rest of the world, and dumbs everything down.

They're favorite example is what they call "Spagetti Balinaise" (spelling it wrong) and what we call "Spagetti with meat sauce." This is the debate that gave them the idea that we just name things after exactly what they are (sidewalk, walkie talkie, etc.). So they would often say, "I´m going to go put on my soles with leather (shoes) and then we can go.! Or something similar.

The sun is up, and I want to find a hostal so I can go to sleep, so I'm going to just write a bit more about my travels. I'll divide it up by location:

Arica to Arequipa
This involves crossing the Chile/Peru border, and our journey there couldn't have been more of a misadventure. Got to the bus station 2 minutes late and spend 15 minutes looking for our bus, until we realized that we weren't taking a bus. We were taking a taxi to Tacao and then a bus from there. So we found a taxi and squeezed all 5 of us AND our giant back packs into a very small taxi. But while we were driving the boot/trunk (another word we can't agree on) kept opening. So the driver had to do something to make it close really well. Which broke it. And we couldn't get our stuff out. So then at the border to go through customs, we had to fold down the back seats to pull out our stuff, but we couldn't get it back in. So for the remainder of the ride we had all 5 of us, plus the driver, plus ALL our stuff with us in the cab. Then we caught a 6 hour 3 hour bus ride. Does that not make sense to you? Trust me, we felt the same way. When we got to Arequipa, the hostal we wanted was full, so the taxi driver brought us to another random one he probably got comission for. Which brings us to the next chapter.

Arequipa

Arequipa can be best described in chart format. . .

Bad Things In Arequipa	Why It Wasn't That Bad
My drink got roofied	It was while we were out, which is always fun, PLUS my friends saw the roofie action happen, so I obviously didn't drink it. And it was a fun night, so worth losing the 9 soles ($3) on a drink
My bed could more accurately be described as a torture device	I got to share a room with Adam & Aaron, and I love sharing rooms. So it was worth it. Plus it I positioned myself at just the right position, it was only mildly horrible.
Aaron almost died	That's a complete overstatement, and it was while we were white water rafting, so it was totally worth it. I did accidently push him out once, which I fel bad about. But I pulled him in twice, so I feel like I came out on the up side.
The showers were freezing and the toilets worked only when they felt like it	. . . Conversation piece?
$100 USD got stollen from my bag	It was in the same pocket as my passport, and THAT was still there. Thank goodness.
Hostal owner was a creeper prone to offering masages and very overly touchy feely. With just me. Who later facebooked me (for the record, I didn't give him my facebook AND I scribbled out my name from the registration book) telling me he loved me.	I got to get closer with Aaron, Adam, Brodie, and Leigh because we made a rule that I couldn't go anywhere alone. Plus I got an ugly necklace that I was later able to give away to a little girl who loved it.

(me and adam)

Arequipa to Puno
bus

Puno & Lake Titicaca
Puno is a city on the edge of Lake Titicaca, which is a huge island on the border of Peru and Bolivia. We spent some time in Puno, then went out onto the lake to visit the floating islands (man-made islands constructed out of boyant reeds that whole communities actually live on) then we came home and went to sleep early. The next morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn and boarded a boat to bring us to an island in the middle of the lake. By middle, I mean 4ish hour boat ride. And by large, I mean a huge mountain. Let me quickly mention that at this altitude (3,800m), getting onto my top bunk got me out of breath. And now we were climbing a HUGE mountain WITH our packs. I thought I might die. But I loved it. Even when I was slightly worried that my lungs might explode, I wouldn't have traided the experience for anything. It was awesome and beautiful and gave me a real sense of accomplishment.

So we stayed there for 2 days. I, like an idiot, decided to climb to the top of the mountain and almsot died again. But the view was sooooo worth it. I could see the mountains in Bolivia and the coast of Peru. . . it was really beautiful. Plua, again, I got that sense of accomplishment.

So we boated back yesterday afternoon.

Puno to Cuzco
After making sure that the four of them had tickets for Bolivia (I'm the only one that speaks spanish), I bought my ticket for Cuzco. I wasn't on the bus for more than 30 seconds before it exited the parking lot. How often do busses leave EARLY? Anyways, since it was an overnight bus and I was saving money on accomidations, I splurged and went for a VIP seat that is bigger and leans back farther. Splurging here meaning $10 USD instead of $7 USD. What I wasn't prepared for, though, was how COLD it was. I'm used to having people packed together like sardines, and that creates a lot of body heat. But here I had a lot of space. So I froze for about an hour. . . and then we pulled into a bus terminal. I ran (literally) off the bus and over to the storage compartment, asking a guy if I could get something out of my bag. I pulled out a LOT of clothes. When I was done, I had a pile almost as big as my bag. I must have looked rather silly. Back on the bus, after I had put everything on, I was wearing 5 socks (not 5 pairs, actually 5), leg warmers, 2 pairs of pants, tank top, long sleve shirt, t-shirt, sweatshirt, llama sweatshirt (the last two items with the hoods on), scarf, gloves, a jacket over my legs, and a sweater over the rest of my body. I slept excellently.

Okay, my fingers are tired, the sun is out, and I want to take a nap.

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things That You Should Know

About Bolivia Visas
If you are from Australia, they're free
If you are from England, they're free
If you are from New Zeland, they're free
If you are from anywhere in South America, they're free
If you are from a European country, they're free
If you are from the United States, they're $200
. . . God bless America.

About Bolivia
There are massive road blockades, strikes, and bus dynamiting right now.

About Me
I've decided not to go to Bolivia.

About All You Can Eat Breakfasts
If you are a 19/20 something year old boy,
And you are there at the all you can eat breakfast,
And you eat consistently from when it opens at 8 to when it closes at 11,
And you do this everyday that you stay at the hostal,
And you take from the food that they put as far away from you as possible,
You can expect dirty looks and eventually to be cut off.

About Aaron & Adam
They learned this first hand.

That's it for now. Onto Peru!!

LOTS OF LOVE!!!

Strange Day

Can I tell you briefly about my day?

Okay, cool. Thanks.

So this morning I woke up and there was a delicious breakfast of bread and fruit waiting for me (I love this hostal).

Then I started talking with the boys from England. They were planning on going to the beach and asked if I wanted to join. I said yes. We were going to try to find a place to go surfing, which sounded like fun. Especially since they were at about the same skill level as me, and that's rare to find.

Anyways, we walked for a long time looking for a place to surf with the intention of going back to the hostal, grabbing gear, and returning. But nothing turned up. So instead we decided to go visit the church that was designed by the same guy as did the Eifel tower. It was unimpressive.

BUT there were hoards of people doing ZUMBA in the plaza, so we joined them for a bit. Well, Adam and I did. Aaron hung behind, and when we returned to him, he was surrounded by a fan club of 12 year old girls.

We kept walking, found a fish market and looked around (Adam likes fish markets), bought an octopus, and started going home.

BUT on the way home, we got abducted by school children and brought to their school. We were celeberties. They took pictures, gave us gifts, asked for our autographs/e-mails/facebooks, and asked if we knew Justin Bieber.

We said that Adam was friends with him.

When they finally let us go, we came home to our hostal, got in bathing suits, grabbed a board and headed to the beach.

Messed around on the beach a bit, came home, showered, went to the market for veggies, cooked and ate the octopus, and tried to go to salsa. It wasn't opened.

The end.

Weird.

Today I finished a 26 hour bus ride. It actually wasn't that bad, and I got to see a lot of the country. Plus I sat by a baby. That makes everything better.

Before I left, I went to the supermarket to get some food. I was planning on copying my dad's backpacking skills and getting peanut butter and bread. The peanut butter was in the foreign foods section.

Can I say really quickly that I think Chileans are missing out on a great opportunity. They have great peanuts. And they have great bread. . . You would think SOMEONE would have put it together by now. But no.

Anyways, the only peanut butter they had was Planters. It's like Skippy. 1 part peanuts, 2 parts sugar. Personally, I think that's gross. So I opted for the Nutella. If I'm going to have sugar, I REALLY want to have sugar. PLUS it had more protein (which was my goal) and less calories than the fake-ish peanut butter.

So I bought a huge bag of carrots (full size, giant, Chilean carrots), a loaf a bread larger than my head, and a jar of nutella. Life is good.

So I made it here in one piece, which is nice. We stopped for like 45 minutes at 3am in the middle of nowhere and I thought we might be getting robbed. We weren't. So that was good news.

I am now experiences a very weird hostal situation. I'll demonstrate it for you: "blah blah mate, blah mate mate, bee, mate blah, something else y'know mate, throw another shrimp on the barbie." (Oh my gosh! I just realized that barbie is BBQ!)

Yep, it's me and about 638 Australians and 2 giant Swiss swisters. I think I come up to their elbows.

Oh my gosh, two more just walked in. Australians, that is. Not giant Swiss sisters.

"bee," by the way, is "beer."

Peace!