Goodnight

My computer never fully charged today... probably because I'm too impatient to stay off of it for more than 45 min (I stayed at home all day- the earthquake just shook me up! ahha.ha.ha.). In all seriousness, I have been very lazy today. I was just really tired, and wanted to rest up before this long trip ahead of me. I have to leave the apartment at 3:30am to catch my flight! AAHH that is unpleasant. So I will be going to bed, soon. I leave at 5:49am and arrive in Cusco at 7:14am. My hostel is going to pick me up, then I'll go get ready for my first adventure- white water rafting! Yes, I just made this decision a few hours ago. I had played around with the idea, and today wrote many companies to see if I could join a tour, and as none of them wrote me back till 6:30pm I started to REALLY want to go. Someone said "yeah just meet us at the office" - so for $33 I have a trip to the Urubamba River planned, will be on the river for 2.5 hours, get lunch, visit a camping site, then head back to Cusco by 5pm. I am SO excited. I'll have the evening in Cusco, then leave at 7:52am on Wednesday to head to Aguas Calientes. I get there around noon, will check into my hotel and just hang out and do some hiking during the afternoon. On Thursday, I'll get up at 4:15am (gah), eat breakfast, then get in line for a bus up to MP around 5am. From there I'll be able to watch the sunrise and hang out. My plan is to hike Wayna Picchu- I am terrified as I am scared of heights and there are apparently many cliffs with LONG drops (the kind you die from), but oh well! I have to do it. If I can join in a group tour at the main part of MP, I probably will (price depending). Although I enjoy exploring on my own, I also enjoy the information I could never learn just looking at the ruins by myself. I have the entire day to live it up, so it should be fine to spend a few hours learning.

I plan on taking the walk down from MP back to AG. Then I'll catch my train back to Cusco. I have all that night and the first half of Friday to explore Cusco, so I'll do that then. I fly back to Lima at 3:30pm on Friday.

Another twist in my plans is I think I'm goin to squeeze in a trip to Puno and Lake Titicaca. Why the heck not? I did the math on bus tickets, tours, and hostels, and I can make out with about $300 ($400 max). The money it would cost to get back down here would be 4 times that (or more), so I think I'm going to do it. Jason and his medical friends were going to the jungle next weekend, and I was going to join, but it's too dangerous because the natives "protesting" and killing police officers (by jabbing spears in their necks... yikes). So that trip is canceled, but it got me itching to go somewhere else while I'm here... THUS- Lake Titicaca. I kind of need to finalize these plans tonight if I want to buy the bus tickets and everything, but I could go Saturday afternoon, spend Sunday in Arequipa (which has been highly recommended to me), go to Puno on Monday and spend the afternoon there, take a day tour of Lake Titicaca and Taquile island on Tuesday, then take a 1/2 day tour of the Uros floating islands on Wednesday, catch bus back to Arequipa at 3pm on Wednesday, then overnight it to Lima and arrive back here at 12:30pm Thursday. I leave Peru for good that Friday, so I am sad about not spending more tme in Lima... but I've done most of what I want to do in Lima, I'll have 2 more days to do stuff (which really, is plenty), and if I do stay here for that whole time, I will be back sitting in the apartment listening to cars honk. Sooo I think I'm going to do it!

Either way- I'm so so excited for this trip to Cusco. Wish me luck. I'll post if able from an internet cafe to let people know I'm alive. Please feel free to write me an email any time at ksrola@gmail.com. I enjoy writing all this stuff, but I have no idea who even reads this blog, and well- I always enjoy hearing from my friends :)

Ten cuidado!