Holas del Norte! Tierra del Sol!

Heeeey everyone! Well I'm in Piura right now and it is HOT! I love it. Just sitting on the couch or in front of the computer you feel like you are working out because there is sweat dripping down your face--it's really cute. Ok--A lot has happened since I last wrote (jeje I always say I'm going to get better at this blog thing but it never happens) and so here's a quick update. First Kim arrived! Yes, my lovely sister from the states has been traveling in SA these past few months and so when she crossed the border from Ecuador to Peru I made her head straight for my house in Arequipa (a long two days spent in bus :/ sorry Kim). It was great getting to see her as we haven't been together since May at our cousin Phil´s wedding and we are having a blast together. The first few days we spent in Arequipa hanging out with my family. My sister who lives in Sweden came for the month of January with her husband Jesper and her baby Nati and so the house was packed! The seven regulars, the three from Sweden and Kim made eleven. It was quite the sight at meal times, my dad really enjoyed it though as he always said "que bonita es la mesa llena" (how beautiful is the table when its full). Cathy (my sister from Sweden) and her family are awesome and it was a lot of fun having them there. The month flew by, Nati had her baptism and we had the baptism party (jeje) which was blast with a bunch of family, friends, good food and chatter. We went to the beach, hung out in the city, went for movies, cake and cafe and then just relaxed at home. Hmm, what else? Well just after Kim was getting settled in Arequipa we packed our backpacks and took off for Cusco where we walked the difficult but amazing Inca Trail to the stunning ruins of Machu Picchu. I have pictures that I will post (which is very lucky because the same day I downloaded my pictures I got my camera pick pocked out of my purse--thats another story in itself though, but I guess the fact that I have my pictures something to be thankful of because the same thing happened to my friend from Brasil and he doesn't have his) The pictures however will not do the trip justice because the real beauty is the journey getting there --the grueling hike, bonding with our awesome group of Kim, I and 16 Argentinians (whom we couldn't really understand day one because of their strong accent and rapid paced speech but by the end of the trip who were like family), telling jokes and getting them with card tricks (thanks for teaching me dad), learning to play dice (an argentian game), eating amazing food even though we were "camping", getting through day number two (the hardest day) and reaching the peak at 4200 meters and not holding in the shout of joy after looking back at all the bazillion stairs it took to climb to get there (one thing I don't understand is that Peruvians are pretty short but some of these stairs were hard for me to climb and I'm huge. Why the stairs were made so tall I don't know nor understand), having to descend continuously 3000 steps to a campsite (I will be happy if I never see stairs again in my life), getting poured on day part of day three and day four and then arriving. Sigh...that first look at Machu is breathtaking, you can't really imagine how a group of people can build something so majestic, so high up, so many years ago and how it is still standing strong today. It truly was incredible. We took our tour of the ruins, explored a bit on out own and then I set off to climb the near by peak of Huayna Picchu with some friends. The view from up there was wow, there is not a word for it. You have a 360' view of the stunning scenery-Machu Picchu, the terraces, the mountains, the river Urubamba, the rainbowed Inca flag on the top of Machu Picchu mountian, everything. It´s amazing and well worth the horrible climb to get there. We were short on time and so we did the normal 60 minute hike in 40 minutes and arrived sweating and out of breath but it was fun all the same. The decent was killer though and took almost the same amount of time as you are climbing a step, narrow stairway the winds down the mountain and have a rope to hold onto on one side and a nice huge drop off the side of the cliff on the other which makes it little bit scary at times and difficult for people like Corti (Argentinean) who have a problem with heights. After Machu Picchu we spent a few days in Cusco, learned how to weave some wicked bracelets from a señora in a market, visited the Sacred Valley on horseback and we out for a night with some people from out group (Cusco is rumored to have some of the best discos in Peru :) jeje) . From Cusco we went back to my house, said our said goodbyes and gave our last hugs to Cathy, Jespy and little Nati and saw them off on there plane back to Europe, I gave my goodbye to a good friend that had to go back to Brasil (miss you Vitor), and to my sister Susy who was also leaving for Brasil and is going to spend this month in his house on a short-term Rotary exchange (que suerte for the month of Carnaval and the beach the lazy bum). A few days after resting up Kim and I took off again this time for Camana. Camana was really good except for the whole getting robbed by four bajitos part. The first day they were having a concert on the beach and so I went and I was standing waiting for Kim and one little guy (not young, just short) stuck his hand in my pocket so I looked to see what was going on, others bumped me, and I guess another stuck his hand in my purse and got my camera because the next thing I know it I Kim was asking me what happened and I was left speechless and cameraless. Guess I learned a lesson though, not to walk around with valuable stuff in a crowd...but it still doesn't get me my camera back :( Bueno, the rest of Camana was great, we stayed in a hostel on the beach for about 2.50 each, I met up with some of my friends that live there, went out, ran into our friends from the Inca Trail and went out dancing for Nacho´s birthday and had tea in their tent on the beach ( in a two person tent with three guys, two girls and three big backpacks, a basket and a stove is quite the squeeze but it works). We spent the following day on the beach in the sun (the ocean in the south is freezing), went into town and spent the night at a friends place, ate fresh ceviche from the market and spent the afternoon at a camp out on the beach playing volleyball with some of my friends. Very fun. From Camana we went straight to Lima which was craazy. It didn´t really feel like I was in Peru at all except for the fact that everything was in Spanish. Lima is a ginormous city with about a third of Peru's population and just like every big city and unlike all the cities I have been to here so far there are huge building, highways, traffic, noise (lots of noise). I saw my first, second, third and fourth McDonald's in almost sixth months (one thing I do not miss from the states) and I had my first thing charged to me in dollars (our hostel) which was weird since everything here is in soles. Kimmy and I splurged and went for the hostel in the plaza in Miraflores, more or less like the Manhattan of Lima. I was happy with this choice because this part of Lima is really clean and I felt really comfortable, it was like I was walking around in NY again (Tocaya I miss you!!). Spent the day exploring Miraflores, went to the waterfront and watched the surfers, etc. The following day we went and explored downtown Lima which was a lot more hectic and huge. Went to a museum, the plaza, walked around with a frenchie from our hostel and that was about it. Took off for the north that night and after a pleasant 12 hour bus ride which involved a lot of sleeping on my part, we arrived in the sweltering heat of Piura to Kevin and Tia Marcia awaiting us in the terminal. That was yesterday morning and since then we have been spoiled to a delicious lunch of ceviche, chicharron de mariscos and arroz con mariscos, later to refreshing cremoladas (slushies) to fight off the heat and an afternoon exploring the town, the universities and a few other fun sights. Tía Marcia just pulled out a Torta de Piña that she, Kim and I made and it smells great, can´t wait to eat it. Piura is beautiful and being one who loves the heat it is a perfect spot for me. I'm learning to play the quena, which is a type of flute (Kev is patiently teaching my unmusically talented self a song a day) and so that's pretty cool. Today we went out for ice cream...sigh...ice cream, lo maximo. The ice cream here is awesome, every city the texture changes, flavors change a bit too but all are riquísimos (delicious) and it's fun trying them all out. Saludos to everyone! I miss you all tons and tons!! Love you!! Write more soon...we´re headed to the beach so I should have some fun stuff to write about!!Court