the last post

May 15th
we arrived into cusco early at 8 am and made our way to the pariwana hostel in cusco. It is quite similar to the one in lima but a lot bigger. Because it was still early we couldnt check in yet so we decided to watch a movie, aka crash hard after a night with little sleep. Slept great and woke up and went to a awesome local market full of fresh harvests and best of all, live animals. There were the usual chickens, ducks, and rabbits but they also had cuy, which is guinea pig. Cuy is a very common meal in peru and people eat it like its not a big deal. After the market we went and did some shopping in another market that which had a really cool open air meat market. Having worked in a meat department, I found this really interesting while the girls did not really feel the same! We walked around the city for a while and discovered some great things there. Cusco is a beautiful city, with historic ruins and an amazing plaza. We came back to the hostel, ate, played cards and drank, and went out. Anya and Courtney were pretty tired so it was a guys night with sam and i. Had a really great time watching some live music and drinking lots of pisco sour´s.
May 16
Woke up and chilled out for the beginning part of the day but then hit the city. Walked all over and went into a lot of shops and restaurants. Still no cuy though, as it is about 20 dollars! We walked up this huge hill to go look at the ruins called ¨sexy woman´´. thats really not their name but it sure as hell sounds like it. We had to pay around 20 dollars to enter but a man came up to us and offered to get in cheap on horses through the back. Of course courtney and i wanted to because it was horses and it was cheaper. We took a 3 hour horse ride through some of the most beautiful country ever. Great horses although mine had a problem with eating other horses poop. Got off and looked at an old temple and then continued on to sexy woman. By the time we were there it got dark but the ruins were still amazing. 150 ton rocks made huge inkan walls which was part of a great city. Went back to the hostel, ate and drank, and went out together. One thing about cusco is that its quite touristy because of machu picchu. Therefore, being american makes for lots of attention and free drinks! Great time and after met this girl from pariwana and ended up talking culture until about 730 am. Great talk and really opened up my eyes to the world
May 17th
Woke up and chilled out for a while until we had to make our journey for the train to the city close to machu picchu. I was so scared because i feared we would miss the train because we were late after our bus gotted stopped by the cops. But we got to the station to find out that the time on our tickets were wrong by an hour. So we could all just chill and eat instead. We got on the train, full of backpackers, and played cards and chilled out. Got into Aguas Calientes around 10pm and went straight to buy tickets for the park. They cost around 20 dollars to enter machu picchu while the train cost 60 dollars round trip. Went to sleep right away becuase we would have to get up really early.
May 18th
Woke up at 4am to get our bus tickets to machu picchu. We had to get the counter by 430 so we could be the first ones to the park. We had planned to climb up the famous mountain wayana picchu, the mountain behind machu picchu. Everything worked out with our tickets and got to the park a little after 6. We entered and saw the ruins in the morning and made our trek up the mountain at 7. They only let up 400 people every day to climb it so thats why we had to get there early. We climbed the mountain, a really steep climb which took around an hour. Because the elevation is high, the climb was really difficult but completely worth it. Up on top of the mountain you could sit on rocks overlooking machu picchu and the high mountains. It was seriously the best view i have ever seen in my life! We hung out there and went down to see this great cave we had heard about. It was 45 minutes down to the cave, which was not very cool at all. Just a small cave with some ruins. We left the cave thinking we were close to machu picchu, but it turned out we had an hour uphill hike to get there. Being already exhausted from climbing the mountain, this hike was one of the hardest ever. The cave...not worth it haha. But we made it back up to machu picchu, chilled out for a while and then looked for a guide. Our guide Marcos was really knowledgeable about the site and everything about the culture that once was. I learned so very much about the site and was so happy we paid a little extra to learn about it. Machu Picchu is amazing. The views from it are the best in the world and the ruins are so well preserved, it is a must for all. We left the park around 230, exhausted and headed back for the city. We ate alpaca, which is a great lean meat and took a well deserved nap at the hostel. We got up around 8 to take our train back. The train ride was good, full of cards and reading. Got back into cusco at around 2am, when we found the first hostel and just passed out
May 19th
Woke up around 9 to get to the airport for our flight back to lima. Sam left earlier than us to go on a five day trip in Buenos Aires. Got into lima around 2pm, checked into pariwana there again, and chilled for a while. We ate and went shopping for our last things in south america and came back. From there we knew it was the end of our trip so we were all tired from all the traveling and lack of sleep. We watched a show called how i met your mother for around 5 hours. It was great just relaxing for a bit. We went to bed for some much deserved sleep.
May 20th
No alarm this morning so we slept in until 11. Got up and ate breakfast and read all after noon. Nothing much to write today, because thats pretty much what we did. It was great though. The girls left for their flight around 8pm. It is a strange feeling now to be all alone. But..I met some great people that night. I was sharing a room with a person from Israel, a guy from Brazil, and a couple from Argentina. We all talked for a while about culture and south america. Great conversations. Went to bed for he last time in south america.
May 21st
Slept in late and checked out and everything. Have been hanging out in Lima enjoying the culture and people watching in the park. Leave for my 10pm flight at 6pm and cant wait.

Leaving South America is going to be bitter sweet. I am so excited to be home with my family and friends but am going to miss it here in South America. I have learned so many things here and feel like I am a different person. I have learned to value those who are closest and to live in the moment. I have also learned so much about culture in general and maybe that america is not always the best that is out there. Its a whole big world out there, and its worth going out and seeing!
Hasta Luego, South America, its been real!