Coca Leaf Tea at 4900 m

The Colca Canyon was awesome, but I´m sure some of the enthusiasm comes from the litres of Coca Leaf Tea we were given and the Coca leaves we were told to chew - it is the recommended remedy for altitude sickness, and going up to 4900 m calls for a few glasses. On our trip, we travelled with a Scottish and Swedish couple and had a great time drinking (yet again) some Pisco Sours in the hot springs was great. On the second day, we got up early, too early to even talk about, and drove to one of the best viewpoints in the canyon - Cruz del Condor. Here, you wait for the Condors to come out of the canyon and circle up to the viewpoint - there were about 12 at one point right overhead and these things are beautiful, and huge! If I can ever get some of our pics on CD, I´ll put some on the blog. We then travelled through the canyon and stopped in some traditional villages on our way back to Arequipa. We were pleased to find out when we returned that the strikesdemonstrationsroadblocks were over, so this makes the rest of our travels a bit more secure.
This morning, at the ungodly hour of 4:00am, we headed to the airport and arrived in Cusco, another amazing town. Tomorrow, we are taking the train up to Machu Picchu for a night - one of the highlights of the trip.
When we return, my (Brie) trip will be close to its end, and Zach will be heading to Bolivia. Hopefully by then, I can add some pics.
Hope all is well in Canada...

Peru - Interesting Country

Peru is an amazing place, until you are stopped 14 hours into a 16 hour bus ride at a roadblock/protest! Lima was a blast, but like Bogota, pollution from the cars and busses on the roads was overwhelming at times. We went outside of Lima to checkout Pachacamac, a ruin site that predates the Incas by 1000 years. The landscape down the coast of Peru was not at all what we expected - sand dunes, harsh rock faces, mountains - much like some places in the Middle East. We managed to meet up with some friends ( the nurses) in Lima for a night out at a crazy gringo bar for some Pisco sours ( the local drink) with a rockin´Peruvian band that only belted out classic 80s and 90s rock ( tonnes of G n R).
The next day, we departed on this crazy bus ride, and of course, the higher class bus was sold out, so space was tight to say the least. It was an overnight ride, and as I eluded to before, we ran into some trouble. Peru is in a state of termoil right now with protests, demonstrations and roadblocks all over the country. Anyway, our bus was caught at the beginning of a roadblock, and 12 hours later in the dark, out busdriver did some offroading driving and managed to get us to Arequipa, where we ran into some more blockades (giant rocks and debris on the roads along with fires) but eventually managed to get into the city - quite the experience.
So, due to these and other complications, we are changing our itinerary - no more Puno and Lake Titicaca. Around this area are even more roadblocks, some where they hold the vehicles for up to two days, and lat me tell you, 12 hours was enough for this crew! Tomorrow, we are traveling into Colca Canyon (like the grand canyon) for two days, then flying into Cuzco and on to Machu Picchu.
Hopefully, I can finally figure out how to get some pics onto the blog in Cuzco and I can add some spice to the stories.
Although we have run into some interesting situations, the trip has been a blast so far, and I´m sure there will be many more stories to come.

Adios Colombia

We just have about 2 minutes in the Bogota airport to update... we^re on our way to Lima. Colombia has been great, when we are in Lima, I^ll update the blog. Cartagena was hotter than I had ever expected, and the wedding was crazy!! Thanks to Andrew for the opportunity, and thanks to the Canadian crew who made the week unforgettable.

On our way!!

So, here we are... our flight leaves from Toronto in about 5 and a half hours and we're still getting the last few items ready - there's nothing like leaving things until the last minute and working under pressure. Faggion - you're awesome for driving us to Pearson at 4:00am!

** WARNING : The previous statement is null and void if, for some mysterious reason (Hess + Beers = Faggion at his best) Marc doesn't show to drive us**

Just checked the forecast for Cartagena: Highs of 33 0 F and lows of 26 0 F for the rest of the week, maybe we just won't ever come back...