Futbol

In Lima on Sunday we found a soccer game...Alianza Lima versus Atletico Minero. Apparently Alianza is one of the better Peruvian premier league teams. So we tell the folks at our hotel that we are interested in trying to go to the game and they help us, but are concerned...they made us send a taxi driver to the stadium to purchase the tix ahead of time, and then as we were leaving, told me, "take no money, do not even wear a watch!" Apparently concerned that we would be robbed by the drunken mob. So we went and the crowd was indeed rowdy...the hardcore fan section separated from what appeared to be a family section (where they made sure we sat) by coils of razor wire. It was a fun time, a big upset, and we did not even get mugged. A perfect Sunday evening in Lima! (sorry no photos...if watches were off limits, we figured we should leave the camera at home).

Futbol

In Lima on Sunday we found a soccer game...Alianza Lima versus Atletico Minero. Apparently Alianza is one of the better Peruvian premier league teams. So we tell the folks at our hotel that we are interested in trying to go to the game and they help us, but are concerned...they made us send a taxi driver to the stadium to purchase the tix ahead of time, and then as we were leaving, told me, "take no money, do not even wear a watch!" Apparently concerned that we would be robbed by the drunken mob. So we went and the crowd was indeed rowdy...the hardcore fan section separated from what appeared to be a family section (where they made sure we sat) by coils of razor wire. It was a fun time, a big upset, and we did not even get mugged. A perfect Sunday evening in Lima! (sorry no photos...if watches were off limits, we figured we should leave the camera at home).

Made it!

Machu Picchu is on the mountain in the distance.

How we crossed a river...

Resting on the trail.

The journey to Machu Picchu

We just finished a four day mountain biking/hiking trip starting on the bikes outside of Cuzco and ending at Machu Picchu. We were accompanied by an American couple, an Australian, and our guide Percy. It was an "adventure alternative" to the classic Inca Trail hike that you can take to Machu Picchu. The bike was 90 kilometers of downhill zooming (starting at 14,000 foot elevation and ending at 4,000) through streams and down very bumpy dirt/rock roads (and around mountain rockslides), and we hiked about 27 kilometers between days 2 and 3. Day 3 was about 8 kilometers straight uphill (with backpacks). It was HARD. We are still aching, and I (Krista) am still scratching the estimated 150 bug bites I got on the hike, primarily while unadvisedly sitting in a swimsuit without any bug spray on my bottom at the hot springs at the end of day 2. This photo shows our departure, when we are fresh, cold, spry, and not itchy. Note our little friend who wanted in on the picture. Note also that its about 30 to 40 degrees out and she is in sandles. Hearty Andean folk!

Notice the latest fashion in jungle wear. Long pants tucked into knee high rubber boots, with bucket hats. We pretty much wore the same clothes every day and we were getting pretty stinky by the last day. The jungle was so humid we couldn´t wash our clothes because the clothes would have taken days and days to dry.

I´m not sure if you can see in the picture, but our guide loaned me his machete for the photo. In the picture, we are standing next to a single ficus tree. The branches grow outward, then downward, then back into the ground like a root.

Once or twice a day, we would take a two to three hour hike in the jungle to view wildlife. We would also usually take a boat ride on the river. One night we took a night walk to look for tarantulas (we found two). Another tarantula was hoping to follow us back to civilization... on our last day, we had our bags lined up to be loaded on the boat and a tarantula was hiding on Krista´s bag.

Krista and her first pirahna, caught with a stick and string. She almost tipped me, the guide, and herself out of the canoe when she yanked the fish out of the water and our guide yelled Pirahna!

On our way home after hiking in the jungle on a search for poison frogs, a very friendly wooley monkey jumped in our canoe. She was more than happy to sit on our laps as long as we fed her bananas and apples. The apples were definitely her food of choice.

In the jungle...

We just spent 5 days in the Amazon at a jungle lodge with the tarantulas, pirahnas & monkeys, up to our knees in mud & water. No power, but then again, it sounds like we would not have had power this week had we been at home anyway! At least in the Amazon there are less mosquitos. Seriously.

OK, looks like between me and the guys at the front desk, we can't figure out how to upload photos from my camera. You will have to wait to see the deadly pirahna I caught with my fishing rod made from a small tree branch in the jungle.

And they're off...

The the adventure begin!