I'm back!!

Peru was awesome! The Andes were incredible! Machu Picchu was spectactular! I'll, of course, do a way more thorough trip report, but here are the details in brief:

Friday, Aug 27: Arrive in Lima. Tired, happy.

Saturday: Transfer to Cusco (old capital of Inca empire, altitude 11,000 ft). Wander around the Plaza de Armas, enjoy our fabulous hotel, see Incan walls, still standing as the foundations to lots of buildings (awesome engineers!).

Sunday: In the morning, head to the Pisac market, go on massive shopping spree.

In the afternoon, head to the Temple of the Sun (now a Chruch), the Spanish cathedral, and the ruins of Sacsaywaman(pronounced scarily close to "Sexy Women"), , and Tambo Machay. I ate alpaca for dinner, yum!

Monday: White water rafting. No digital pictures from me, but I have some great film ones to post later.

Tuesday: 4 a.m., start heading out to KM 82, the beginning of the Inca Trail. Hike 4+ miles, up 1000 feet, and Jen is too sick to continue. End up camped out in a random village to escort Jen down. Everyone else goes up.

Wednesday: Hike back the way we came, end up tracking down Karen's hotel in Urbumba. It has a ranch, tennis court, spa, pool. You know, all the necessities of life. We have a two-story bungalow to ourselves.

Thursday: Karen, Jen and I head to Machu Picchu the easy way - by train. Beautiful ride suddenly makes me a little sad about not doing the trail. Guess I'll have to go back to Peru.

Friday: Another gosh-darned early morning, as Jen, Karen and I hike back up the end part of the Inca trail toward the Sun Gate to meet the rest of the group as the come off the trail. Success! Have pizza for dinner, because it appears to be the only type of resteraunt in the whole town. Also find out a hurricane is bearing down on my mom's house (follow-up: the eye passed barely to the north of her, she still doesn't have electricity).

Saturday: Back to Machu Picchu to climb Huayna Picchu (tall mountain in background of all the pictures). Yet another beautiful view.

Sunday: Fly back to Lima. Sad to leave enormous Andes. Wander around town, see cathedral, president's house, Congress, and Inquisition Museum. Have dinner on the Pacific ocean. Yummy!

Monday: Come home. Even more sad. Passed through Panama. Happy dogs. Dinner at Mely's. Decide to skip work on Tuesday. Geesh, I'm such a slacker.