Reflections

Hey everybody,

Well, as my time in Spain and Peru nears its end, all I can think about is how fast the time went, and how I'm so lucky to have seen some of the things I have- some amazing historical places, and some not so historical ones (but still really cool!)-and to have met and visited some really great people- Nati's family and her niece Seila and her friends, as well as Cristina and her family and John and his pals in Spain, and Ricardo, Blanca and her family and coworkers, and Iris and her family, as well as the people at Promypes, in Peru. Not to mention Heather, who I've shared a lot of laughs and good times with, and her friends who came to visit us in Peru. I still can't believe the 7 months I've been gone is almost up!

So let's see... I guess the best way to end this "trip blog" would be to post (or maybe re-post?) some of my favorite pictures from the trip, both from Spain and Peru (see the recent posts for all the Machu Picchu-y goodness). So here goes! Thanks so much for reading, and feel free to let me know if you have any questions, or want to know more about the trip! Love you guys! Hope you're getting ready for a great Christmas and a Happy 2010! (2010?! Holy crap!! Haha!)

Tetas de Liérganes, northern Spain

Madrid!

Tommy and I at the Parque del Retiro in Madrid

Fountain Park, Lima

Lima Coastline

Crazy cloud in Segovia, Spain

Coffee Day in Satipo

Little lake in Huancavelica

Me at the Parque de la Identidad Wanka in Huancayo

Plaza de Armas, Huancayo

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

Gaudi's Parc Guell

Ah, Spanish food... we shall meet again!! And in bigger quantities!! LOL

Cristina, Fran and I in Barcelona

Ah, the Mediterranean!

Luna! So precious!

Me and the Raqueros in Santander

Coast of Santander

Me at the park behind the University of Cantabria

More Cantabrian coastline

Beautiful house in Santillana del Mar

Ah, Santander- hopefully I will see you again!

Co-op in Satipo (gotta love the moto-taxis)

Monkey!

I love Peruvian plants.

Amazing Roman aqueduct in Segovia

I'm gonna miss avocados that are as big as Brandon's head lol!

Amazing Peruvian waterfalls

Cute little ducklings in Satipo! We had chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and turkeys lol!

Adorable Brandon and Lucero

Beautiful church in Segovia

View of the Alcázar in Segovia (inside a monastery)-ah, I love Spain!

My Segovian family: Pilar, Luis, and the kids Miguel and Irene- they were so great!

Torre Torre, outside Huancayo

Sunset from my Segovian bedroom...where I both started, and will end, my blog :)

Thanks so much again for reading!

Love,

Rach

Machu Picchu- Day Two

Hey all!

Well, here are my pictures/adventures from our second day at Machu Picchu- after a delicious dinner and a relatively light sleep, we four adventurers woke up at 4am to eat breakfast and get in line in time for the 5am bus, in order to get tickets to climb the mountain Wayna Picchu (or "Young Mountain")- Wayna Picchu is the mountain from all those famous Machu Picchu pictures, like you see in National Geographic- cool, huh?

So we took the bus about 20 minutes up to the site, and explored all the amazing ruins with Nélida (our guide) and she explained about different Incan rulers, and the buildings and mountains- it was a good thing we were able to take lots of photos the day before, because the second day it was sooo cloudy! Crazy clouds, too- like the second they would clear up, more would come- I've never seen anything like it!

Some foggy ruins

Temple of the Four Windows

Apparently this was a magical rock- place your hands over it to receive the sun's power!

Awesome terraces!

Getting ready for the next big climb!

So at 10am we were scheduled to climb up the mountain- definitely the second hardest climb (after that 2-hour all uphill hike the previous day!)- it was entirely stairs, and almost entirely uphill (except, of course, the coming-back part lol) it was really great, though, especially that feeling of accomplishment when we all reached the top! The whole climb took a little less than two hours, and we tried to get some good pictures along the way- afterward, when we got back to the park's entrance, we all decided to save money on the trip back down, and we hiked another hour or so downhill on a path with TONS of stairs...by the time we got to sit down for lunch, our calves were burning! It was a great hike, though. So we all reflected on what a great trip we had over lunch, relaxed a bit, and then collected our things for the train station.

See the little people climbing up and up? Yeah... it was a pretty hard climb lol!

A view from the mountainside

Made it up, just in time for more fog haha!

Part of Wayna Picchu, and the ruins are in the background to the left- SO cool!

Yay! I made it all the way back down!

We had a really nice 3-hour ride back to Cuzco-reminisced and all that- and were SO tired when we got back, we all went straight to bed! The next day we caught our flight (really short, compared to the 9-12 hour flights I've had!) back to Lima, where we celebrated and said goodbye to Michelle that night and Amy on Monday, and Heather and I headed back to Huancayo....what a fast but amazing trip! It was so nice to meet Heather's friends, and no one had any major problems or accidents on the trip, which we were all thrilled about haha!

Another church in Cuzco

The flowers in Peru are amazing!

...especially the roses, I think.

A little celebratory Pisco Sour in Lima...

...aaand one more cuy for the road haha! This was Amy's first time trying it, and her facial expression was hilarious!!

Anyway, if there's anything I left out, or if you want to know more details, let me know!

Love,

Rach :)