Peru

Having the summer off for the first time since undergrad proved to have it's advantages (which certainly goes without saying). But one of the best advantages was the time it allowed me to travel beyond the restricted "two weeks" I used to get when working full time. Right in the middle of a trip to Florida I hoped on a plane with my friend Lauren and went to visit my sister in Peru for a week. She was volunteering in Lima for six weeks and I was going to take advantage of having a free tour guide :) Out of the 8 days there we spent 5 in Lima, 2 in Cusco and 1 in the mystical ancient Incan ruins of Machu Picchu. Glorious!

Culture shock is all I can say about my feelings upon arriving in Peru in the wee hours of the morning on July 7th. The streets of Lima near the airport were quiet, dark, deserted aside from them occasional streetside fire with a lone attendant. The store fronts were barred, locked and chained yet beautifully covered in signs and lettering that would become the texture to our trip. It was frighteningly fascinating. These first streets we encountered were a photographers dream, my dream, but the sights could only be captured by my memory for this was an area you didn't dare venture to with such equipment in tow. We would have to settle for the picturesque (and safe) neighborhood my sister lived in just one block from the coast, Miraflores.

Our Spanish was quite bad when we arrived but certainly improved. I was surprised at how much you could learn by just immersing yourself in an environment for one short week. They write about it in books but I never understood before. The language never became fully discernible. It was more of a chatter around us everywhere we went. Musical, like an orchestra, blending with the sounds of the city and I was an observer from my spot on the map in my hands.






Cusco, Peru...





The Journey to Ollantaytambo...











Machu Picchu, Peru...