Machu Picchu!

Happy Christmas from Peru! We got back from our amazing trip to Machu Picchu just in time for Christmas :) But first, Machu Picchu....

We spent Sunday getting ready for the trip buying supplies and snacks and packing. Around 4:30 am we got picked up by a bus that took us 2 hours away to Mollepata where we ate breakfast and began our trek. The whole day ran about 9-5 with a lunch about half way. The first day of hiking was pretty tough since I'm not very experienced but we got through it. It was hot when we started, then it started to rain, and by the time we got to camp which was 3850 meters above sea level it was freezing cold. We had a few beers and some dinner by candlelight (no electricity!) and passed out in our freezing cold tents.


The next day we woke up at 5am, had breakfast, and packed our things to start the hardest part of our 5 day trek. We headed out at 7am and hiked up a mountain called Umantay, next to Apu Salkantay which is a tall snow capped mountain. After about 2 hours of huffing and puffing uphill (and maybe thinking about calling it quits), we made it to the highest point of the trek, 4600 meters above sea level. It was absolutely beautiful up there with amazing views of the snow capped mountains. Some of our group saw an avalanche on the Salkantay mountain, but I only heard it. At the top here, we had a little ceremony where we offered rocks and coca leaves to "Pachamama" (mother earth). Then we started our long, long descent down the mountain towards our lunch spot. It was foggy/misty and started pouring rain and didn't stop until we reached our resting point. Everyone was soaked to the bone and freezing. After a much appreciated hot lunch we continued towards our camp. It took another 3-4 hours to get there but it was beautiful and mind-blowing. In the morning we had been in winter-like conditions, and a few hours later we were hiking through the jungle. There were tons of trees and plants and waterfalls and great views of the river below. The downhill was hurting our knees but we finally made it to our camp which was WARM---an amazing feeling after freezing our butts off the night before and all that morning. We had dinner as usual...soup followed by rice and meat and tea...then fell asleep in our tents.

The next day was our friend Caroline's 23rd birthday and our wonderful cooks made her a birthday cake for breakfast. We started our hike early in the morning again through the jungle, over rivers and past waterfalls. We were all grateful to spend some of our hike on a flat road since our legs were so sore from the up & down the day before. We got to cross a river in a cable car which was exciting...until it broke while one of the guys was in it! Nobody got hurt and we were able to fix it and get everyone across, but it was a little scary. As if that wasn't enough, we encountered a huge rock slide shortly after and had to cross it! It was a little unstable so I was a little freaked out but we all made it across! Later we stopped for lunch at a place that had a nice little store where we were able to buy flip flops (so tired of wearing our hiking boots all the time, even at camp) and fresh dry socks. Then, we got on a bus that took us to our next camping place in Santa Teresa. After setting up our own tents, we put on our bathing suits and headed to the hot springs. After 3 days of hiking, these hot springs were the very best thing in the world. The hot water felt amazing on our sore bods. We spent a few hours in them relaxing, then goofing around with my waterproof camera. Before we left we were able to take a SHOWER, which was the highlight of my day for sure. That night we had our usual dinner and then the staff built an awesome bonfire. We sat around it, had a few drinks and danced a little bit. It was an awesome way to celebrate Caroline's birthday. However, in our drunken stupors we left some of our clothes outside of the tent to get rained on all night. Not exactly fun to wake up to, but oh well!

Hot springs!

Fun with my underwater camera :)

On Thursday we were lucky enough to get to sleep in until 7am! We were excited to take a bus for the first half of our trek, but there had been a big rock slide (yet again) so we had to walk. We had to cross the river in another cable car, which broke AGAIN. But, a little Peruvian man was able to climb out and fix it so we got across. After about an hour of walking some of us opted to hop in a bus and take it to our next lunch spot. The views on the bus were awesome and the man drove like a maniac, but we were all pumped about having a break. We had a little bit of lunch and then had to wait for the rest of our group. There was an empty train on the tracks because they weren't running that day, so we broke into one of the cars and took a little nap while we waited. After lunch, we walked along the train tracks towards Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain where Machu Picchu is. It was another long day and once it started raining I was pretty much over walking. We finally made it to our HOSTEL where we were able to shower and relax for a little while. Never have I ever been so excited to be indoors, in a bed, with a hot shower. Putting on scented lotion was the best feeling ever. We got to have dinner at a decent restaurant and then bought some snacks for the following day. We were all asleep in our BEDS by 10:00pm because wake up the next day was at 4am.

So, at 4:00am we got up, packed our things, and started our final trek to Machu Picchu! I was tired and groggy and the weather was crappy again, so hiking up hundreds of stairs was the last thing I wanted to be doing. We got to the site a little after 6:00am and had a 2 hour guided tour. As excited as I was to be there and to see one of the 7 Wonders of the World, it was raining, freezing, and I was exhausted...so the tour was a little bit miserable.

So thrilled!

After the tour, all anybody wanted was some hot coffee and to warm up a little bit, so that's what we did. We had all paid to hike Huaynapicchu, which is a tall, steep mountain behind Machu Picchu that has amazing views, but I was being a debby downer and wasn't feeling it. BUT, my friends were all doing it and gave me some much needed encouragement. So at 10:00 we started our hike up this mountain. Words cannot describe the intensity of this hike. It wasn't that it was very difficult, but it was so insanely steep and the rocks were wet and slippery that I was scared out of my mind, so my nerves were fried. There were some parts that you had to hold onto a rope otherwise you would have fallen off the cliff that was 1 foot away from you. We took our time, but finally made it to the top and found our friends. We hung out up there on a big rock for a while taking pictures and messing around. We found a great spot for a group picture with a view of the ruins.

Then it came time for the hike down. I knew it was going to be scary because I saw the way up, but I was definitely not prepared for the first bit of it. It was so steep and slippery that I crab walked my way down the first part of it. I'm fairly certain that if I hadn't been on all 4s that I would have either fallen off and died, or had a heart attack and died. But, the kind Aussie/Kiwi/British guys behind me kept encouraging me so I finally made it and got my cool Huaynapicchu stamp on my passport (got a Machu Picchu one too!). I was all set after this, but Maggie & Caroline wanted to go to the watch tower where the "postcard views" of the ruins are so I forced myself to tag along and I am so glad I did. The rain had stopped and the sun came out and the views were literally breathtaking. We got tons of great pictures (on Caroline's camera because mine died by then) and sat there just taking it all in for a while. It was very much worth the extra pain in my legs, glutes, and feet! Then the 3 of us hiked back down the stairs (my least favorite part of the day) and found a restaurant in which I consumed an entire pizza and a good amount of rum as a reward for surviving all 5 days! Then all of us got on the train to come home. We were in the same car as some of the cool people we had met on the mountain so we shared our rum and yelled across the train car like the obnoxious Americans that we are. It was great fun. We finally got home around 10:00 to our amazing Arcopata house with hot showers and big cozy beds.

Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip. It was so challenging both physically and mentally, so I'm incredibly proud of myself for getting through it without too much complaint (well, until the last day). I love every single person that was on the trip with me. Those are 5 days I will never forget. Machu Picchu is a sight to be seen and I can't wait to show it to Ben, Jerry, Deb and whoever else visits me! But maybe we won't do the Salkantay trip next time...

I tried uploading a bunch of pictures and after 24 hours it still didn't work, so I will do that later!

"My teacher is the best"

I'm starting to fail at keeping up with this blog! After this week I swear I'll be better.

This past week was my last week of TEFL! I taught my own class every day from 8:00-9:00am. It went really well every single day! I only had 1 student the first day which was rough, but the rest of the week I had 3. They were a great group and I wish they were still mine! I taught them comparatives, superlatives, adverbs of frequency, some vocabulary, and played jeopardy at the end of the week. It was a blast. The goal of teaching ESL is getting the students to speak in full sentences, and one of the highlights of the week was my student Milagros producing the sentence "My teacher is the best". It was awesome. I actually was lucky enough to see her out several times at the bars this weekend and she was so excited to see me every time. I love teaching!

In between lesson planning, writing a professional development paper, and putting together my portfolio we did manage to have some fun this week and finally hiked Viva, a BIG mountain that says "Viva El Peru" on it. It's a pretty steep, rocky hike, but it was amazing. There was sadly a decent amount of trash on the way up so we got a bag and started cleaning some of it up. A little deposit in the Bank of Karma if you will. We decided to bring a trash bag every time we hike now. Anyway, the view was amazing. I got to watch a plane take off from the tiny Cusco Airport which was really cool. Of the 30 pictures I took on the hike, at least half are of the dogs that were wandering the mountain. Some of them were so freaking cute. My obsession with the street dogs is becoming a problem. I want to save them all!

Friday was the big day, our last day of TEFL. After teaching, we had class for a bit and then had to finish up some work. Then it was time to celebrate! We had a few drinks at the house to unwind and then met our whole class and our instructor at a bar/restaurant called Muse. The food was delicious and the drinks were obviously flowing. We eventually moved to one of our usual bars, instructor included, to dance the night away. Eventually we met up with our housemates and friends from the other house. Lots of fun and dancing, and I even got to see the sunrise over the mountains! It was amazing.

Saturday was a recovery day, but we still had enough energy to hike up to Cristo Blanco and take some awesome pictures. At 8:00 that night we had our TEFL party at Maximo. Free drinks, free food, and a little ceremony where they hand us our certificates. I got some GREAT news at the party...the director of Maximo came up to Maggie and I and told us that he wants to talk with us next week about working there! So it looks like we have jobs! And we found a place to live in an apartment with other teachers because 2 of them are moving out. Everything is falling into place...yay! After the party we went to the bars to cause the usual ruckus. More dancing on the bar & such. We only stayed out until 5am this time (seriously, who am i?) and got our faces painted!! It was fantastic! Slept for a few hours and then woke up to run errands and get ready for our trek to Machu Picchu that starts in 5 hours! Ahh! It's going to be amazing. There are 8 of us from my TEFL class going. Will take LOTS and lots of pictures :)

Hope everyone has a good week and is getting ready for Christmas! Wish I could celebrate with all my friends & family! Love<3

PS. I'll add pictures to this post when I get back, the internet is too slow today.

JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!

Oh what a weekend I have had since my last post! I hardly slept Thursday night because I had a paper due and had to teach in the morning. So, I was up until 1am, slept until 4:30, finished my lesson, then slept again from 5:30-7. My lesson on Friday went well. Afterwards a few of us grabbed lunch at our favorite vegetarian place where you get soup, 2 veggie dishes, salad bar, and tea for 4.5 soles (which is about $2)...ridiculous. On the way home in the afternoon my housemate Maggie suggested grabbing a bottle of rum so we could have a little toast to our crazy week being over. Of course that turned into us and 2 other girls in the house sitting around at 4pm killing the bottle of rum. Yes, we got drunk, but we also had some really amazing conversations about some crazy stuff. It blows my mind how you can form such strong bonds with people you know for only a few weeks. By next week 2 of these girls will be back in the States but we´ve all already planned to visit once we´re all home. Anyway, we went over to the San Pedro house later that night and had some rooftop cocktails. We eventually went to the bar, and on our way to another bar we got caught in a downpour, so I hopped in a cab with 2 of my housemates and called it a night.

Saturday was a lazy day again on the couch watching Lost and stuff. We went and paid for our Machu Picchu trip (shout out to Mom & Terry for being the BEST parents and paying for my trip as my Christmas present---amazing!) Then we went to a bar called Paddy´s Pub to watch the Real Madrid/Barca soccer game. 6 of us crowded around one table and ordered so much food and so many beers that there was no room on the table. Nachos, wontons, curry, quesadillas. So.Much.Food. It was amazing to have some good old fashioned bar food though. Then it was home to shower & back out again. My housemate Caroline wanted to check out a live Cuban Salsa band so we did that for a while. They were great and the salsa dancers were phenomenal. We ended up calling it an early night and coming home to just sit around and chill while one housemate played the guitar. It was a solid night.

Sunday was the highlite of the weekend. We had been talking about bungee jumping for a while and we were planning on doing it this weekend. Waking up hungover though, I wasn´t so sure if I´d join. But, our friend called and was buying tickets so I told him to buy me one, and then I had no choice. We took 2 taxis about 20 minutes outside the city and pulled up to this little spot right between 2 mountains. There was a tiny little cage hanging in the sky on some cables that ran from one mountain to the other. Obviously now is when I started shitting myself. We signed our lives away on a release form and did some stretches and ran 2 laps to warm up. One of the guys went first and I was getting so nervous so I jumped up and went second. They strap you into 2 harnesses, some leg contraptions, put a thing around your neck. Then, they attach you to the bungee and you get into the tiny yellow cage, and up up up you go. I was holding on for dear life, forcing the Peruvian man operating the thing to talk to me so I didn´t panic. He told me what to do, I asked him a million questions, and finally we were at the top and he was telling me to step out onto the platform and lean forward. So I did. And then I stood there for AT LEAST 6 minutes telling him not to let go yet. HA! But finally I was ready, and he counted to 3, and off I went. The only thing I remember is screaming until I lost my voice, then getting jerked back up in the air and holding onto the harness for dear life. Got a little whiplash & was seeing stars, but absolutely nothing can describe the feeling of realizing "holy balls, I just jumped off a platform 122 meters in the air". When I finally got to the ground and stood up, my legs were shaking uncontrollably and all the guys were laughing at me, but whatever, I did it! Hugs and high fives all around! I couldn´t have asked for a better group of people to share that experience with. We all took a bunch of pictures and cheered each other on and hugged and laughed and it was just amazing. We obviously felt on top of the world after that, and in need of a beer. So we went to our former housemate´s hostel up the street, had some beers and played some pool. Then it was time to go home for dinner and to write my lesson for today.

The crew, Pre jump!

Suiting up/trying not to piss myself

Flyinggg!

We did it!! Rockin our free t-shirts

Post Jump

The lesson didn´t go as well as I hoped. I only had 1 student show up so all of the pair/group work I had planned went down the drain and I had to improvise a little. I don´t think I did the best job as I wasn´t on my A-game after waking up to no hot water (aka no shower) and no coffee. But it was just Day 1 and the week can only get better from here.

Love & miss everyone, especially around Christmas time! Will add pics later today :)

Muggings & falafal!

As of tomorrow, I officially only have one more week of TEFL! It absolutely flew by. This week has gotten a little crazy with all the work, but it will be worth it in the end when I can send out my actual certificate with my CV (resume) and get myself a job! Love it!

Let's see, last time I posted was about my first Cusco nightlife experience. Naturally that turned into us going out every night, or at least staying in with a few beers and some card games. Friday night was another night on the town bar-hopping. I naturally was one of the last ones out at the bar and ended up waking home with my housemate around 3am and...dun dun dun...I got mugged! Yes, mugged. Stumbling up the street, a little Peruvian man jumped out of his car, snatched my purse off my shoulders, hopped back in the car and drove away! Needless to say I was a little shaken up, but thank God I was with the one housemate who is a guy! I can only imagine what would've happened if I had been alone or with another girl. But I got home safe, and they only got my debit card & chapstick...no money. So HA!
Saturday I woke up with a University of Delaware hangover and spent most of the day recovering on the couch with my housemates watching Lost on DVD. That turned into drinking beers and more sitting on the couch all night. How could I forget! I went to a Peruvian soccer game!

Sunday was homework day.
Monday I taught a lesson on vocabulary and did really well :-) We ended up going out again that night because we knew this week would be a tough one. My housemates Maggie, Thorin & I ended up staying out a littttle later than planned and ended up at this really funky bar called Mama Africa

Housemate got his face painted! haaa

Tuesday I was exhausted, but 3 of my housemates, Caroline, Michael, and Thor wanted to go on a hike so I couldn't resist. We headed up to Cristo Blanco (again) and even though it started raining the boys pushed us on. An adorable psychotic little pitbull mix led us the whole way which was obviously the highlite for me. The city was beautiful at night so I was really glad we decided to keep going. On the walk down we ended up finding a little ledge overlooking a school and the whole city and sitting there shooting the shit with a little vodka. I'm absolutely loving hanging out with people from other countries or even other parts of the US and getting to know them. I feel like I've lived such a sheltered life on the East Coast and I'm finally opening up my mind to the rest of the world. It's awesome.

Jesus

Caroline & I

Thorin & Michael

Our guide dog :-)

This week I had to observe 3 one hour classes, teach 2 mini lessons, and write a 3-5 page paper plus 3 lesson plans...and almost all of it is due tomorrow! Lots and lots of work but after 4 years of partying too hard I've finally figured out the perfect balance of work & fun. Hence why I've been in front of the computer for 8 hours writing, and writing, and lesson planning, and writing some more. BOO.

Thank God tomorrow is the weekend! We're either going white water rafting or bungee jumping on Saturday. I'm pretty pumped. We're also booking our trip to Machu Picchu tomorrow! There's 10 of us from my TEFL class going together which is going to be absolutely amazing. We have such a fun, funny group of people. We're not doing the Inka Trail, I'm saving that for when Ben comes. We're doing an alternative route called Salkantay. Horses carry our stuff the whole way and we have a guide and a few cooks. We'll be sleeping in tents for 3 of the nights and a hostel on the 4th. We get to go in some hot springs and see some other cool stuff along the way. We scheduled it for Dec 19th-23rd, so it's my Christmas present to myself! Afterwards most of us are going to stay in Cusco through the holidays so we'll celebrate together in our own little Peruvian way!

Off to get some sleep before my lesson tomorrow. Love & miss everyone!

"Don't worry, I have money in my shoes"

I survived my first night OUT in Cusco. And I did it big. I had only been out for a few beers here or there, so when everybody in my TEFL class AND my house wanted to drink and go dancing, I knew it was time. After dinner, most of my housemates and I walked to another "family house" in San Pedro (a few blocks away) and we had a little pregame on their 4th floor roof overlooking the city. It was awesome until it started raining and we had to go inside. The coolest part about it was the group of people we had there: Canadians, Australians, British, Russian, Dutch, and us Americans. So many accents! And everyone is absolutely awesome and fun and just down to have a good time. Eventually, some of us made our way to the Plaza de Armas where most of the bars/clubs are. On the way there, our newest housemate Thorin, who's from the Yukon, was super protective and didn't want us to be farther than 5 feet apart. It was funny but sweet. He also came out with the best quote of the night: "You guys, don't worry. If anything happens I have a lot of money in my shoes". It was hilarious. Anyway, shit got crazy when we got to the Plaza. A pack of about 7-10 Peruvian guys swarmed our group trying to get us to go to the club they work for, handing us tons and tons of free drink tickets. I mean one of our guys got 7 for one bar alone. Ridiculous. So we finally make it into InkaTeam and find our classmate Andrea salsa dancing the night away with a tiny little Peruvian who could mooovve. We got our free drinks and started dancing around, and eventually moved next door to Mythology. There was a bigger tourist crowd here. I had my first dancing on the bar experience, which was fun until the bartender poured a shot in my mouth. It tasted like ass, and it was time to get back on solid ground. I made friends with a little Israeli chick and danced around with her a bunch. We bounced around to a few other clubs/bars and eventually ended up back at InkaTeam. None of us paid for a drink all night because of all the free drink tickets and we literally never stopped dancing. Naturally, by 1 or 1:30 my brain told me it was time to leave because I've lived in Delaware for 4 years and the bars close at 12:45. But, have no fear, I stayed out until around 3 AND even stayed up to watch a movie when we got home because I was too drunk to sleep. The sun was up when I went to bed. Needless to say, I slept for a better part of the day. I feel great now and am ready to do it again tonight! I'll post pictures once my housemate e-mails them to me!