Im in Peru!

First off, I would like to say that you will have to excuse my typing because I havent exactly figured out the Spanish keyboards. I cant put apostrophes in so I hope it doesnt make it too hard to read and if something else comes up Ill try my best to figure it out! So heres a start of my trip!

After about 21 hours of traveling I finally got some sleep when I landed in Lima! I met up with most of the team, Ashley, Linda, Michelle, and Karen in Toronto and then Rob, Phil and Norm at the hotel in Lima! So after 6 hours of sleep (not enough after the long trip!) We headed out on a tour of Lima city! I saw the first catholic church here in Peru and the Fransican Monistary! I have plenty of pictures of them coming later, but I cant upload from my camera right now! We also got to see some of the beach, downtown Lima and some local ruins. After our tour we ventured off to some shops and malls to soak up the sun, and I actually got a bit of a sun burn but it seems to have cleared up! That night we packed everything up again because we left for Cusco at 630 am! In preparation for Cusco and the high altitudes I have been drinking TONS of water! Below is a picture from the day in Lima with the water bottles I collected throughout the day! I dont think I have ever been so concerned about the color of my pee! But it seems to be working well because so far I havent had any problems with the altitude.

SO! Yesterday we arrived in Cusco. I have been so tired and not successfully catching up on sleep from the long day of traveling that I slept the entire plane ride (only 50 minutes) but I dont even remember taking off. I did wake up just in time to take some awesome pictures of the mountains from the air! LOOK HOW AWESOME THIS IS! It doesnt even compare to the Rockies! At first I had no idea how there could be an airport with enough landing room for our plane, but the pilot banked AROUND a mountain to the point where I thought we were going to drop our of the sky and pulled us safely into Cusco! Check it out!

So yesterday was a free day around Cusco. I used more spanish yesterday than I have the whole trip. I have been designated the translator because I know the most spanish out of the 10 of us, even if it isnt all that great! But, Ive been holding my own and Im pretty happy with how well I understand others!

I like Cusco a lot more than Lima! Its less crowded and Americanized. We got to see a parade yesterday and GUINEA PIG. I didnt eat any, but I sure saw it. Poor things! Ill have more pictures when I can download from my camera! So far I am having a FANTASTIC time! I love it so much and I am so glad I get to be here! Hopefully more to come soon! We start the trail on Wednesday so I will try to update before then. Thanks for reading!