Peru: Days 1/2 (writing this post-fact due to crappy wifi)

Yesterday we arrived in Lima (July 3), after what felt like the shortest plane journey ever. Our connections in El Salvador and Costa Rica were easy and immediate, and we slept most of the time in air. We have John to thank for this, as he did the planning and scheduling, and so far has done an amazing job of it! We arrived in the dirty, sprawling slums of Lima around 3pm on Saturday (we are 2 hours ahead of California here), and made our way to our gorgeous boutique hotel and some exploring. I have to say that on our way there, we drove past the scariest beaches ever-they were honestly something from a nightmare. With pure dirt and rock cliffs, the whole thing was an expanse of uninterrupted brown, with humongous dirty waves rolling in under the solid gray sky (there is a 1,000 foot cloud cover in Lima!). The highway ran right between the cliffs and water and looked ready to be consumed by the cliffs at any moment. Needless to say, LIma wasn't my favourite, but still interesting! We explored a little and ended up buying bits and pieces of dinner (empanadas!) from a local grocery store that I can only liken to a South American "Whole Foods". In other words: clean, beautiful, and expensive...and with a cafe and free samples. We had lattes and dessert afterwards, and a woman brought us free sample glasses of wine. Excellent! Also, we tried the best flan ever, rice pudding, and my new personal favourite: mazamorra! It is a purple corn that is sweetened and boiled into basically applesauce thickness. And it is so addictingly delicious.

Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast, then went back to the airport to catch our flight to Cuzco. Cuzco is at an elevation of 10,000 feet, so we were wary of altitude sickness. In fact, one of my friends came here a few years ago and was so sick from the thin air, that she was literally lying in the streets puking (and has the picture to prove it!)! So as soon as the plane doors opened and the air came in, we felt a difference! I can only describe it as cold and thin. I started breathing harder and my pulse quickened immediately. We walked slowly to our ride (a great guy named Norman, who Nolan has an intense man-crush on), and made our way through the tiny cobblestone streets. It is very beautiful here. And hot during the day (but freezing at night)! We got to our hotel and immediately sat down for some coca tea (made from the coca plant...like cocaine, haha), which supposedly helps calm you and helps with the altitude sickness. So far, it's worked great! We went exploring (slowly), and found a great lunch spot, got some ice cream in the plaza, and then Nolan and I watched a skit with some locals and explored the shops. We went for dinner later, and had some deliciously rich hot chocolate, and then more rice pudding and tasty mazamorra.

Nolan has been seriously practicing his Spanish here, and I think it's really good for me to refresh my memory as I tend to forget when I don't use it all the time.

Now we are laying in bed, retiring a bit early so that we are rested for horseback riding and hiking tomorrow! Nobody has gotten really sick yet, but I am still breathing hard even as I lay here. Hasta manana!

(written on a note 2 days ago, so everything here will be behind as I catch up)