leaving Peru..

We attempted to leave on Friday, but got to the airport and our flight did not leave until Saturday. oops- we must have had it written wrong on our itinerary. We took a cab back into Cuzco and found yet another place to stay. We could not stand the last hostel (full of lame Americans who only came to Peru to get drunk), so we headed back to the San Blas area of town. We found a nice hostel that served us Coca tea.
*coca tea is made by steeping coca leaves- a favorite of the natives and it is supposed to help with altitude adjustment. I absolutely love it.

Our last days in Cuzco were relaxing. In fact, we made guac from fresh ingredients we picked up at the market.

We spent some time in Lima on our way to Chile. We called Ana Maria, but she only sent us a taxi and did not meet us. We were very afraid when he came up to us asking for three white Americans. We made him call Ana Maria and because of the language barrier we had a hard time verifying that Ana Maria actually sent him for us. Finally he convinced us by showing Ana Marias number on his phone. Luckily our friend David came with us in the cab. Our driver, William drove us around Lima to the Plaza de Armas and Plaza de San Francisco. We took a tour of the catacombs- so cold and scary. All of the bones were arranged by the monks... so all of the skulls are together, and so on. We got some ceviche around the plaza and saw a large pile of donations for the victims of the earthquake. When we went to meet William in the place we had arranged, the street had closed. Fortunately we were able to find him on another road and made our flight on time.

GOODBYE PERU.
I think all three of us girls agree that the best part of Peru was the local Peruvians. From the beginning, Ana Maria was so welcoming and we adored them for the simplicity of their lives. Although we found ourselves close to poverty, the views of the Andes from Aguas Calientes, Cuzco and Machu Picchu (duh) were breathtaking. I loved the food. Everything was so cheap and very fresh- my favorite was the civiche was the best! Ceviche is paz (fish) and onions and lime and sweet potato!