Hey Everyone,

Made it safely into the airport in Lima, where Nina picked me up. Its always so great to see an old friend.

The trip started right away, because the taxi ride back to the hostel was exciting to say the least. The drivers here go very fast. I eventually just felt like closing my eyes, so I would stop worrying. Lima is not that great though just another city, but the hostel we stayed at was decent.

We flew to Cuzco yesterday & it is a stunning city with its mountain setting. It is the most beautiful city I have EVER seen, every where you go is a picture waiting to be taken. The flight to Cuzco, while only 1:15 long, showed more scenery than all the other flights I have been on combined. The flight allows you to see the birds eye view of the Andean Mountains.

We are starting our five day hiking trip to Machu Picchu tomorrow at 4am.
The Inca trail was booked so we are doing the alternate trail which has more nature including some time in the jungle. We prefer doing things by ourselves, but this type of hiking tour is only something they allow you to do with a licensed guide here. We are also going to stay near Machu Picchu one more night & day than the rest of the tour since they didn´t seem to leave a lot of time for this. We will have an English guide for this so that will be great & everything is included.

Believe it or not it is actually cold here right now. It is averaging 60 to 70 degrees during the day and last night was down to 50, maybe even a little below that.

The language is difficult since we both know no Spanish, we find ourselves using lots of hand signals. I have learned a few words already, but not that much.

As far as it being dangerous here I had talked to several people who had been here & told me not to worry so much about it. So far they are right. Being here a few days has eased some of my fears about the people and such. So far people have been nothing but friendly to us.

Also on a side note all of my pictures from Japan & Thailand of the last trip are online. Most are without commentary but I was unable to get that done before leaving.

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Peace & Love