Sightseeing in Lima

How I´m Living: Pobre!

See for yourself. Bunks that are 3 high. 9 beds in a tiny room. UGH. Thank goodness I had my buds Carrie and Caleigh there with me!
I was originally only going to stay in Lima for a night or two, but Lima has a way of not letting you leave...so I ended up staying a week! I spent the first few days sight seeing around the city.

The coast of LimaLarco Mar mall on the waterfront The aptly named Parque del Amor

Miraflores, the area of Lima where I stayed. Very ritzy! Parque Kennedy in Miraflores, right next to my hostel. Even the McDonald´s in Miraflores is fancy, it´s crazy! This was the McCafe in McDonald´s that served patries, desserts and expresso!This sign cracked me up because all anyone does in Peru is BEEP. You could be crossing the street a mile ahead of a car. BEEP. The light almost turned green. BEEP. It´s out of control. Somebody had to say "silencio" even if noone listens to it!
The main plaza, Plaza de ArmasPresidential Palace
The Monestario de San Francisco. I went on a very cool tour here. It has a huge, old library with books dating back to the Spanish Inquisition. But it´s main tourist attraction are the large catacombs containing the remains of more than 17,000 people. It was pretty creepy. Unfortunately, we weren´t allowed to take pictures anywhere inside...The old CathedralHere lies the remains of Francisco Pizarro!Lucky for you, I was allowed to take pictures in the MUCH smaller catacombs of the Cathedral...Little coffins, I´m guessing for children.
The Museum of the Inquisition. Displayed in the building that was actually the headquarters for the Spanish inquisition in Peru.
You could walk down where the dungeons were...

They also had a room that showed the different torture techniques used to "convert" the prisoners...



While I was in Lima, it also happened to be the festival of the Señor de los Milagros. A huge religious festival and parade where everyone wears purple! (although you can´t tell from this picture). There were people who walk down the streets during this festival on their knees (to represent a position of prayer). Yes, this means there knees were getting completely cut up and bloody. Others, less fanatical walk without shoes...

Creepy underground tunnels and a drunk dog...

I decided to spend my last day in Huaraz visiting the ruins of Chavin de Huantar (pre-inca culture around 900B.C), a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its expanse of underground tunnels and sacrifice rooms.

We began the tour at Laguna Llanganuco, one of the galcier-fed lakes around Huaraz. The locals here were dressed up in traditional clothes and parading around baby lambs and alpacas to try to get tourists to pay to hold them and take a picture with them. You would be suprised how many people get suckered into this... Sarah, on the other hand, just sneaks a picture when no one is looking. But what is going on here? Is she biting the lamb??We also stopped in the town of Chavin, which is the most charming little Andean mountain town. Seriously, these pictures almost look fake!I didn´t know skies could be ths clear until I came to the Andes!OK. Now on to the ruins of Chavin de Huantar. An original carving of a head that guards the temple.Alter.Heading down into the underground labyrinths. That was my guide on the left. Probably the worst guide I have had so far on my trip. She seemed miserable the whole time and didn´t really tell us that much...boo.Spooky...Huge totem pole-like carvings in the tunnels.When I was leaving I came upon what, at first, seemed like a dead puppy. Upon further inspection, I realized he was just passed out from a long night of boozing.

I will catch up...

OK. I know I am way behind on the blog. And I know that readership has been suffering! But I am volunteering in Pisco, which was hit by a 7.9 earthquake the day I arrived in South America. What I am trying to say is that I am busy most of the day clearing rubble and trying to get people moved out of the refugee camps. There is really limited access to phone and internet...but don´t give up on me! There are really great things to be posted, such as me swimming with the sea lions off the coast of Lima, and eventually pictures of the work I am doing here in Pisco! Keep Reading!!!

Oh, you can check out some of what is going on at www.hodr.org!

Hardest. Hike. Of. My. Life.

...but so worth the nausea and the worst headache I have ever had! Man, that altitude can get to you. Continuing in the Cordilleras , my two Canadian buddies (Carrie and Kaleigh) and I decided to hike up to Laguna 69, all the way up at 4800 meters in the Cordillera Blancas. This has to be the MOST beautiful place I have seen so far on my trip. And although it was an extremely hard (for me at least) 6 hour hike, it was definately worth it. And I guess it was also good practice for the 4 day, 3 night Inca Trail Trek to Machu Pichu that I have coming up!

Starting out nice and easy. In this picture there are some Israeli guys that started off the trek with us... and they were smoking cigarrettes the whole beginning of the hike! Ummm, enough said. Then, at the first turn, they proceeded to go the wrong way and ended up on the wrong side of the river. Needless to say, only two of the 4 actually made it to the top...On a big rock. With a weird tree with flaky red bark that reminded me of falafel. Up, up up...And up some more...this is right about when the nausea and intense headache started kicking in.Tadaaaaaa! Laguna 69, the bluest lake I have ever seen! So worth the hard work!!

Relaxing before the long hike down. We had packed a cute little lunch for ourselves, but my stomach hurt too much so I just had crackers. Boo.

After much debate among ourselves and the two Israelis who eventually made it up, we decided that the water was probably ok to drink. This is me going for it! I mean, how could water this pretty make you sick?