Lima Part 2

After our trip of a lifetime to Machu Picchu Amy, Michelle, Rachel and I flew back to Lima. It´s amazing that it can take literally days by bus to get from Lima to Cusco but hop on a plane and in an hour you can be back in Peru´s capital. It just goes to show how crazy the Andes Mountain Range is. So anyway, to avoid going stir crazy on a bus back to Lima we found a cheap flight and hopped on. And you should be proud, all four of us girls packed so little for our two week vacation that we didn´t have to check a thing... until Michelle decided that she wanted to take her walking stick home from Machu Picchu. She needed to check her stick.

Michelle´s stick riding along on the baggage claim belt. What kind of person checks a stick anyway!?!

And so we commenced our last night in Lima. Hello Pisco Sours! Fabulous!

My brilliant Peru roomie, Rachel, has a degree in Spanish Translations. So we decided to quiz her on American English slang. Here´s her translation for ¨pop, lock and drop it,¨ a must know for anyone travelling outside of the country. Rachel´s translation, ¨pop, cerrar y bajar.¨ Good enough for me!

And a Spanish toast, ¨¡Arriba. Abajo. Al centro. Adentro!¨ While it was me who taught this toast to Amy and Michelle, I think it is me who is screwing it up in the video. I guess one pisco sour is my limit. Who knew.

Michelle leaving for her flight at 4:30am. Good times, good times.

Luckily, Amy got to stick around for another day. So what did we do? We tackled the infamous cuy of course.

Dead cuy! I showed this picture to my co-workers and the rodent was so big, they were convinced we were fed dead dog. Oh boy.

We ordered half a cuy to split between the three of us. I´m so glad they left the head on our half. Yum!

This is my all time favorite video. I just can´t believe I forgot that this website won´t let me flip it into portrait. So I apologize that the video´s sideways. Anyway, enjoy Amy´s expression while she´s cutting into her first piece of guinea pig. Priceless!

After our cuy experience we went out to eat at a real restaurant and then got ready to send Amy on her way to Chicago. It was so hard to see her leave!

And so ended our vacation. Such a great time. So many life long memories. I´m looking forward to seeing Michelle, Amy and everyone else again one week from today when I head home. Miss you guys bunches! See you soon!

Merry Christmas from Lima!

Lima Part 1

Amy´s here! Oh so fabulous... and the weird thing is that is seems so natural to have her here. Forget that we´re on a different continent and it took her an entire day to get here. It´s like she just hopped on the metro to visit me.

Amy and me in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima.

So our first day is Lima we started out at the fancy Larcomar, a mall built in to the side of a cliff along the Pacific Ocean. This is pretty much the first time I´ve seen Christmas decorations and heard Christmas music. Love it! Although, I am kind of in the twighlight zone and still stuck in July so the decorations and music do seem a bit inappropriate. Either way I celebrated with a Chai Tea Latte, my signature drink of course that I miss dearly...

Me and my starbuck. Ahh... it was so nice to get two best friends back in one day - Amy and my Chai.

After the mall we went to go see some real Peruvian culture and took a tour of pre-Incan ruins that are located in the middle of the city.

Rachel, Amy and me in front of the Huaca Pucllana ruins, which date back to 400 AD.

More ruins.

Waiting for Michelle´s flight to get in we headed over to the Barranco neighborhood. I´ve never been there before but absolutely love it. It´s super cute with tons of cafes, restaurants, bars and cobbled streets. My favorite.

Amy, me and Rach having dinner before Michelle´s flight.

Michelle got in around 11pm. We went back to our lovely hostel, slept and then got up early for our 6 to 8 hour ride to Nasca. Between the flight and the bus, poor Michelle spent the first two days of her vacation travelling. Bad planning on my part. Oops!

Amy and Michelle on our never ending bus ride to Nasca!

Next time in Nasca...

Itinerario

This is the month I have been waiting for... my girls are coming down to see me!!! That´s right, in three short days Rachel, my American roomie since October, and I will be heading into Lima to pick up my besties, Amy and Michelle, at the airport. Crazy times are sure to ensue. I can´t wait! Here are the plans:

Tuesday November 24 - Lima
Rachel and Heather head into Lima

Wednesday November 25 - Lima
Pick up Amy at the airport and celebrate her 28th birthday! Pisco Sour anyone?

Thursday November 26 - Lima
Pick up Michelle at the airport and celebrate Thanksgiving by carving potatoes into the shape of a turkey.

Friday November 27 - Lima/Nazca
Sand boarding... thank you Michelle and Dan for forcing me to break my face snow boarding maybe now I can take it up a notch and do it on sand.

Saturday November 28 - Nazca/Arequipa
Check out crazy Nazca lines (Isn´t there a drawing of a large naked man in the sand? I would like to see that please.)/Travel day

Sunday November 29 - Arequipa/Puno
Lake Titicaca... um, best name ever.

Monday November 30 - Puno
More Lake Titicaca Island Action... apparently we need to bribe locals with fruit. Bring on the oranges.

Tuesday December 1 - Puno/Cuzco

Wednesday December 2 - Cuzco

Thursday December 3 - Cuzco

Friday December 4 - Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
Try not to fall off cliff.

Saturday December 5 - Machu Picchu
AMAZING!!!

Sunday December 6 - Cuzco/Lima

Monday December 7 - Lima
Michelle flies back to Chicago... Tear tear

Tuesday December 8 - Lima
Amy flies back to Chicago... Tear tear
Rachel and Heather go back to Huancayo... but only for 12 days! Sweet!

The plan is to update the blog every few days again so check back often... you know how I love those comments.

Cheers!