Well I'm back from Peru, with a lot of motivation and some amazing new experiences under my belt. We stayed in a more remote part of Peru just outside of the city of Puno its called Manazo. Manazo was amazing. These people are the most hardworking people I have ever encountered. They just got electricity and I took nice icy showers there (more like I washed my hair in the sink).
We made some good friends there, and felt very welcomed by the people (we even gave a martial arts demo in the middle of a big bull ring!)
We also visited the Nazca lines and went up above them in a little five person plane so we could see them whole, Tony's mom refused, she said the first time was the last time and that she was fine watching from the ground this time. I admit, I might have gotten sick if we were up there for another half hour since the pilot turned the plane over so we could face the gound to take pics of the lines.
I also got to meet Tony's family memebers in Peru, his sister and her family, his brother, and grandparents, who are these adorable little Quechua couple. We plan to go live for a month or so in Arequipa where they live.
One of the other biggest things and most amazing was the trip to Machu Picchu, the ledgendary lost city of the Inca empire. We hiked and explored for three or so hours, but only after Tony proposed! It was amazing and I had no idea he would do it, even after he made his mom climb to the highest part (besides Winu Picchu) to take pictures of us against the backdrop of the city.
We tried to climb Winu Picchu later, but they only allow 400 people up a day, and by the time we could hike over to that part, 400 people had already been up, so it was blocked off. Oh well, next time we will sleep at Aguas Calientes, at the base, and hike up before sunrise.
