machu picchu

when we landed in peru in january, we knew it would it be march before sarah, justin and i took off on this trip. per usual, time plays magic tricks, and the weekend for machu picchu finally arrived!

the trip to mp requires traveling to ollantaytambo, followed by a train ride to aquas calientes, staying the night (for most people), awaking early the next morning and hoping on a bus to travel up to the site.

we took a private van with our wonderful tour guide yenny saturday afternoon through the sacred valley towards ollantaytambo. we wandered the streets, enjoyed some snacks and hoped on the train to aquas calientes. once in aquas calientes, we checked into rupa wasi, ate dinner, enjoyed drinks at the tree house (fantastic!), and fell asleep to the downpours.

we woke up at 5am, ate breakfast, and headed to catch the 6:00am bus to mp. we were hoping we’d be lucky and see the sunrise, but the rainy season had other plans for us. check out the slide show below with some of my favorites.

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2.27 – world’s most dangerous road

on monday morning we woke up and headed to meet our bike tour group to ride the world’s most dangerous road. it’s real name is the north yungas road and connects la paz to coroico. it was built in the 30s and is roughly 65km long. it was christened the world’s most dangerous road after a study in 1995 and it is estimated that 200-300 people died on the road each year when it was in use.

it’s a beautiful route that begins at an elevation of 4,600m+ with snow capped mountains and descends to less than 1,500m in humid coroico. oh, and the drop-offs, next to the single-lane road without guard rails, are only 450-600m. adding to the fun is the loose gravel and rain.

waiting to start

so excited

first overlook. we actually road along the left side, not the winding road you see.

beautiful bolivian mountains

it's a long way down

just amazing

san pedro waterfall

sweet buff and orange vest

finished off the day with dinner, beer, and monkeys

2.26 – copacabana – la paz

i didn’t capture as many photos on sunday. we slept in, went for a short run on the lakeshore, grabbed breakfast, snacks for the next bus leg, a few souvenirs and headed on to la paz.

relaxing at los olas post run

tough morning

see ya los olas. you were wonderful!

taking in copa before we headed out

and of course, more popcorn

we took tour peru for this leg as well, although the bus wasn’t as stellar as the previous. we did get to cross the lake for during this trip. everyone on the bus de-boards, the bus is loaded onto a boat, we on another.

there's our bus

we had, what we thought, was an unfounded fear the boat would stop on the way over. nope. totally founded. it did.

we arrived in la paz around 5 or so, beat on the door to the bus driver to let us out at our hotel (it took a while for us to get to the door after other passengers got off). checked into to the wonderful hotel rosoria, grabbed some dinner and wine at la comedie, and hit the sack. death road the next day!

*i went with larger images this time. verdict?

2.26 – puno – copacabana, bolivia

we woke up to a beautiful sunrise. the dinner the night before and the sunrise redeemed puno…but we were still happy to head on out of the lakeside peruvian town. checked out of the hotel and jumped in a 3-wheeled taxi for a short trip to the bus stop. (more yellowy lighting and smelliness.) the people watching here was utterly fantastic. from our american man (had to be from flordia) in his orange shorts, orange tee-shirt, neon green nike pegasus, golf socks, and orange nascar hat to the vagabonds, it was quite the site.

as sweet of a ride as it looks

the trip from puno to copacabana requires a little extra time for the border crossing. tour peru was great and the whole bus was taken care of in less than an hour. 

welcome to bolivia

where they kindly took americans money

a welcomed sign

we arrived into copa shortly after the border crossing, checked into our hotel, grabbed some coffee and jumped on one of the most rickety boats i’ve ever been on for a 2 hour boat ride to the Isla del Sol. maybe we didn’t choose the right tour company, maybe it was too much to do in an afternoon, but this little journey was kind of a buzz kill. by the time we got across we only had an hour before we had to jump back on the ferry for a 1.5 hour trip back to copa. at least it was a pretty day.

i ran away when she asked for a bolivano, sarah was kinder than i

hey pretty lady

hey erin

beautiful day

this little treat was a tasty find

dinner, sunsets and much needed sleep in the cozy turtle. 

turtle

the view from the room is the sunset view below

outside the door

good night copacabana

2.25 – cusco – puno

it’s the rainy season in peru and sure enough, the road trip started off soggy. we grabbed our rain jackets, hailed a cab, and headed to the cusco terminal terrestre to catch our 8:30am bus to puno.

e: i look like a tourist. s: i can see 5 name brands right now.

terminal terrestre kind of smells like the animal carcass section at market san pedro. this might be because of the rain and all the people…nevertheless, we were thrilled to get our call for the bus and head outside. “door 2, platform 5!” called the driver. reminded me a bit of harry potter but no one around had any clue was i was talking about.

terminal terrestre

the rain made it easy to sleep for a few hours along the trek to puno. when i woke up, i was amazed by the views of the peruvian countryside. fields with animals grazing and snow capped mountains dotted in the distance. stunning.

along the way to puno

our plan when we arrived in puno was to go to the floating islands. apparently they’re a bit touristy, but we figured for $7.00, we might as well check them out. julica, the stop before puno, had other plans for us. there was a parade running through the center of town stalling our progression to puno. if being in the bus for 5+ hours and getting stuck in a parade weren’t enough to make you want some fresh air, the children behind us began vomiting. awesome.

we finally made it to puno 1.5 hours late. the hotel arranged a cab to pick us up at the bus station in puno, and to my joyous surprise, he was there waiting for us despite our late arrival. (this is peru now, so i don’t believe messages come through to let the random taxi know we’re going to be late.) we got to our hotel and immediately changed and headed to get some dinner. we had only eaten crackers, apples, hard candies, and almonds all day so we didn’t mind one bit showing up at 5:00pm for dinner at mojsa, even if we were the only ones in the restaurant.

mojsa is ranked #1 out of 31 restaurants in puno and it lived up to the trip advisor reviews. absolutely wonderful drinks and food.

tasty sangria

peru has led to a revival of chicken eating for erin

peppers stuffed with beef and nuts with spinach and potato

we took in the view and the parade from our perch at the restaurant before heading to get drinks at kamizaraky rock pub and getting caught up in the friday night festivities.

plaza de armas

parade

cozy pub

i should have bought a can of shaving cream

road trip

partner in crime and i are taking off towards bolivia tomorrow. cusco -> puno -> copacabana -> la paz -> cusco. have a fantastic weekend!

cheers

Rules of Engagement

Amendment:

Apparently iMessage and Facetime will work because they run off WiFi. The options just might be expanding. Hurray.

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I’m sure most of you are aware of the hefty international rates that apply to phones…regardless, I thought I’d toss this little post up. The phone won’t really be an option at $2.49/minute and while I can receive texts at the normal rate, sending rates increase quite a bit. Thus, internet, Skype, and snail mail are in. If we’re close enough that we would communicate via one of these mediums, and you would like my Skype username or address in Cusco, send me a little note. I’ll be reaching out for some addresses myself.

Hope the holidays are going wonderfully for you all!

chicago the trip

in other news. the weekend itself in chicago was wonderful. temps between upper 50s and upper 70s/low 80s. clear skies. little to no wind. and my parents came! it was a really nice weekend. the hotel was less than a mile from grant park and the transportation system was easy to navigate. a few of my favorites to sum up the weekend:

mom and myself on the navy pier taking in the skyline

this was pretty stunning at night when lit up.

architectural tour.

batman.

night lights.

signs of fall.

family photo!

thanks chicago. i enjoyed you.

Sleep

I would like to lay on this rock and have the following views again.

St. Simons

It’s been a long time since I’ve been on this! And of course, little to no text but here are a few photos!