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Goodness! I suppose I am a little bit behind in relating the events of my trip. So I will do my best to make up some ground. My family and I arrived in Lima, Peru on the 30th of December. This is my first time to South America so I honestly had no idea what to expect. Lima is a very large city and in the dark is kindof scary or shall I say sketchy upon first arrival. In reality, it is a city in search of an identity with an incredibly rich past and things which are quite amazing such as: a neighborhood situated within an olive grove, seaside cliffs buzzing with parasailors, and a monastery with dark and amazing secrets and fantastic moorish architecture. Overall Lima is a city in which you do have to watch your back but has excellent ceviche and very helpful dog loving people. If you are looking for an off the beaten path new years celebration Lima is a pretty good place for that as well.
From Lima we flew to Cusco, a place I have to admit I have always wanted to see and it has lived up to its hype. Most of the architecture is adobe brick with Spanish tile rooves and wooden doors and windows. Most homes you will find two ceramic bulls situated between a cross sitting atop the roof. The bulls representing mother earth from the Incan religion and the cross representing Catholicism. Everything here is a blend of the two. The painting of the last supper in the cathedral has Jesus and his disciples sitting in front of a meal of guinea pig "cui" and chicha an Incan corn beer. In the city center you will find a lot buildings built upon the original Incan foundations and walls. It is really quite beautiful. The elvation here is 10,900 feet so that takes a little getting used to. The coca tea helps a lot, but drinking too much of it does not. More than two cups and it will clean you out.
After two days in Cusco my parents, Michelle, and I split from Matthew and Ian and took the Hiram Bingham train to Aguas Caliente and Machu Picchu. It was a train ride unlike any other I have or maybe ever will be on. The scenery was amazing. Peru has a genuineness to it unlike most places I have ever been. The hills and mountains are painted light cool greens, salmon, purple, and aqua. Below them is a raging torrent of a river with adobe farms, of course with alpaca, but also beautiful fields of corn (yellow flowers), potatoes, and quinua (purple flowers). This more arid landscape of Cusco transitioned to the the cloud forest which surrounds Machu Picchu with its shear cliffs covered in bromiliads, orchids, tulip trees and much much more tropical vegetation which I cannot name. Overhead flocks of blue green parrots fill the cky at times. I wonçt go into detail about Machu Picchu since I am hiking there, but it was my first sight of it that made me decide to hike there and go with Matthew and Ian on their excursion, also the rainbow that graced it from the sun altar. I have muc more to say but time is up.
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