PERU!

So, sorry to keep you all hanging on a string. I apparently haven't updated since getting to Peru! Very sorry to all of you who were looking forward to updates.

Anyway, since I haven't updated in a while there's a ton to tell you guys! Firstly, I'm obviously not in Belize right now, despite that being the original plan. To mae a long story short my project director who approved of my going to Peru for 2 weeks before the UMap program, changed his mind and gave me some BS story about not having the funding or space for me to join the trip late. Doesn't matter that I was one of the 1st staff members to join onto the trip this winter, or that I was planning on flying in on the day that a fellow staff member was leaving (thus making bed spaces equal to what they were at the start of the project); Nope, instead I'm pretty sure Sam just didn't account for his funding correctly, and instead of owning up to his mistake he took his errors out on me by unwelcoming me to the project. Whatever, considering the organization of his past projects which I've been on, maybe staying in Peru was the better way to go. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was.

So yes, instead of just spending 2 weeks in Cuzco, I'm spending three and a half. SPent the 1st one mostly recovering from altitude sickeness (and food poisioning on Easton's part), followed by visits to 7 different archaeological sites:
Day 1 -The Qoricancha (the religious center of the Inka empire)
Day 2- Saqussaywaman (the main fortification of cuzco), Pukapukara (another fort), Q'enqo (a reigious waka with awesome carved stone that was used as a mummy resting place), and Tambomachay ( all sorts of cool water fountains and symbolic construction). We hiked between these sites and had an interesting night time walk on the way home; it got darker sooner than we thought, so we ended up climbing over Saqussaywaman for a second time in the pitch black.
Day 3- Moray (agricultural "experimentational" fields which are dug into valleys and are completely circular) and the Salinas (salt mines in the form of man made pools which have been in use since before the Inca).

After all those visits, we ran into a minor fall back and my camera got stolen with one of our back packs. Thus, I have no pictures from day 2 or 3 of the archaeological visits, but I still have pictures from the Qoricancha and the main square of Cuzco from my first couple days. It was weird how the theft happened too. We were eatting dinner and one second our bag was there and the next it wasn't. Somebody just very stealthly picked it up and walked away and nobody saw him... lame. And a minor set back. But these things happen. I wasn't going to let it ruin my trip.

So, after filing a police report that night, promising Easton that I was in fact totally OK and still wanted to be in Cuzco, and buying a metric ton of disposable cameras, we headed off on a two day tour of the sacred valley and Machu Picchu. Ended up visiting Pisaq (another fortress... and possibly a religious site for cripples and dwarves? I don't buy it.) and Ollantaytambo (Another temple site with big Wari-inspired rocks) before hopping on the train to Aguas Calientes which is right below Machu Picchu. Ended up making aquantaince with some other tour members (some poor 17yr old traveling alone, this crazy chinese guy, and 3 irish frat boys) and finally got to hostal around 11pm only to find out our tickets hadn't been purchased. This meant we had to wake up at 4 am in the morning to hike up to Machu Picch u in the dark so that we could buy our tickets when the 6 am line opened up (they only let so many people in the site). While the situation sounds extreme, it was actaully pretty cool to hike up the Inka pathway in the pitch dark and to be at the site as the sun rose. Simply beautiful experience. Ended up spending the whole day at the site,a nd even hiked up higher to HuayaPicchu (I have no idea how to spell that) and the condor mt. By far one of the collest sites I've ever been too; plus as the day got longer (we stayed till 4pm), the crowds really thinned out making for a much more enjoyable experience. Hell, our tour was even pretty informative and with Easton to suppliment what was being explain, I feel like I really got to undertsand the site. Ended up coming back to Cuzco that night on another train to Ollanytaytambo and a bus from there back to Cuzco.

Once back in Cuzco, we spent a few days bumming around. Visited the black markt in an unsuccessful attempt to find my camera again (admittedly a very dark and dirty side of Cuzco which I don't wish to revisit), went to a very cool traditional folk dance performance, found the main San Pedro market and wandered around for a while, went to see a movie at this crazy danish restaurant/lounge (wooo, for seeing blood diamond on the big screen), and just generally hung out in cuzco until last Sunday when we embarked on a 3 day rafting/camping trip down the Apurimac river which feeds into the Amazon River later on. By far one of the coolest experiences I've ever had! Got to go on level 3, 4, and 5 plus rapids, the food was great, the guides were amazing (especially ours who never took the easy path on the rapids). I didn't fall out of the boat once, and Easton only got thrown on the 2nd to last level 5 rapid (as did the rest of the people on his side of the boat.) They even let us swim the last level 2 rapid (which was intense but really fun!). Hell, i even really enjoyed the camping on the river bank and bonfires every night under a perfectly clear Andean sky... can't really beat that experience! Plus, we had some really nice pople in our group including this awesome British couple and some crazy Israelies (spelling?!?). So yeah, all in all a really good trip.

And that leaves me with 6 more days of funa nd adventure. I'm thinking of going paragliding off sa mt. near pisaq, but I want to give that one some more thought before I shell out the cash. I think I really might do it though. We're also thinking of going to see a local soccer game which could be cool, since the sport is really popular down here (duh!). Other than all that, things are up the air, but I'm sure we'll have a tons of fun.

Hope all is well back in the states. I ge back on the 19th (really late), but I'll be calling a bunch of you once I'm back. Miss you all lots and lots!

Till later!