Beautiful Nightmare?

Last time I left, I said that I was going on an excursion and my trip to Peru.  Well, let me just say that this will probably be a realllllllyy long blog post haha.  It will be a good story though, I'll promise you that! =)

Last weekend, on Friday after classes, our group met at the university to leave for our excursion to go up into the mountains.  It was an overnight excursion so we had to pack our book bags full with all our overnight things.  It was kind of a long drive, but I sat next to Katie Wencl, who always keeps me entertained, and plus we also made a few stops so the drive didn't seem so long.  On the way, the view was absolutely gorgeous!  It was also a little bit scary seeing how high we were and I will say that South American drivers are a little crazy haha.  Sometimes it just seemed that we were so close to the edge.  I kept praying that nothing would happen to us haha. 

Katie and me

For our few stops, we would look at different types of plants and animals that you would only find up in the mountains and only in Chile.  We also made a stop at a church with a cemetery.  Before our final destination, we took a walk through a little town up in the mountains called Socoroma.  It was kind of like a ghost town.  There were no people around.  Our professor said that the people are gone to work on their farms and would return later at night, and some people return only on weekends. When we finally arrived in the town, Putre, we decided who was going to stay in what hotel.  We had to have 8 in one and 8 in the other.  I ended up staying in La Paloma.  It was a decent place.  After deciding who was staying where, everyone joined at my hotel for dinner.  We had alpaca meat, rice, potatoes, peas, and carrots.  One thing I have noticed here, also when I went to Ecuador two years ago, that in South America they like to eat their vegetables cold.  It doesn't really bother me, but some people in the group don't like it.  The meal was really delicious and I think it was my actual first "dinner" since I've been here.  Usually at my home in Arica, I only eat pan (bread) for dinner.  It was nice to change it up a bit.  After eating, we all put on extra warm clothes and went to bed.  I shared my room with Katie Wencl.  We had two beds, but we ended up sharing one because it was so cold up there in the mountains.

The next morning we all gathered at 8 to eat breakfast.  We had the usual... bread haha.  We all loaded up the bus and headed off to Lago (Lake) Chungara.  On our way there, we were able to stop to see and take some pictures with llamas.  There is one main llama that is the favorite, Lolly, who stays by the police building, and all the tourists like to go and feed her bread and cookies.  It was funny, because when we came to stop, all the llamas came right up to our bus and were waiting for us to come out.  They sometimes sneezed or spit on our group.  It was pretty hilarious.. probably because it didn't happen to me ;) 

We arrived at Lago Chungara and it was beautiful!  Not only was the lake pretty, but right next to it is Parinacota Volcano.  Everyone loved taking pictures of the place.  Afterwards, we headed to the hot springs in the mountains.  They were really hot, but it felt good because we were all freezing up in the mountains.  I did get a little dizzy when we were done.  I laid down for a while and it made me feel much better!  We all ate lunch and headed home.  It was a long, cold trip.. I enjoyed it though.  When I got home I just unpacked my things, and repacked because I was leaving for Peru the next morning.  Which finally leads us to the greatest story of all!!.. =)

Sunday morning, I got up and got ready to meet my group:  Janae, Katie, and Liz.  We all gathered at Liz's house and took a taxi from there to the terminal.  We arrived there and didn't really see any other students there.  We weren't totally sure what to do except for to get a taxi to take us to Tacna, Peru.  Janae went and asked a lady and she said that it is the terminal next door.  We walked outside and couldn't really see the terminal.  We stood around trying to figure out what to do and a guy called us over.  He asked us if we wanted to go to Tacna and we said yes.  He said that he would take us for $50!  We knew this wasn't right and stood there trying to figure what we were going to do.  When we were talking I happened to turn my head over and saw a guy ("an angel"), about our age, shaking his finger and head at us telling us no.  I told the girls about the guy and we walked away.  A little bit later, our angel came over to us and asked us what we were wanting to do.  We told him that we wanted to go to Tacna.  Our angel said he would help us out.  So, he walked us over to the terminal next door, got us a taxi, and made sure it was safe and cheap.  He helped us out big time! 

When we arrived in Tacna, we met a security guard, who also helped us out.  He told us that there is a lot of fake money in Peru and helped us determine what was real and what wasn't.  We found some of our friends and decided to go eat lunch before we got on our bus.  Katie W. and I shared a huge plate of chicken, rice, and papas fritas (french fries).  It was finally time for us to leave and we all boarded the bus.  I believe it was a 6 hour bus ride to Arequipa.  When we arrived, we got a taxi to take us to our hostel.  We stayed at Misti House.  The room that we stayed in had only bunk beds.. we were pretty sure we didn't sign up for that room, but they insisted that we did.  We also had to share a public bathroom.  It kind of grossed me out haha.  After getting settled in our room, we decided to go walk around downtown.  We ended up only looking for places to eat.. we were hungry after all.  We ended up going into this pizza place, where Katie and I shared lasagna and Janae and Liz shared a pizza.  The food actually wasn't that great and knew we would not go back there again.  We went back to our hostel and eventually went to bed.  When we woke up, I found out that the hot water didn't turn on till 8.  So, Katie and I sat around for a while waiting for the hot water.  When we went to go shower, tons of people already had been in.  We had hot water at first, but all the sudden it turned freezing cold.  The owner said that too many people showered and used up all the hot water.  If people wanted to shower, they had to wait a half hour or so for the hot water to come back on.  Once we were all ready, we checked out, and headed to a little diner for breakfast.  We all ordered the "American Breakfast."  Which consisted of eggs with ham and cheese, bread, mixed fruit, and choice of tea or coffee.  The food was really good and was our first actual "breakfast."  We only receive bread for breakfast at our homes in Arica.  When we were done eating, we decided to go shopping.  Liz, Janae, and Katie were buying tons of things already, but me, the little money saver that I am, just watched them and helped them out when they couldn't decide on things.  Finally at the end though, I did see some bracelets that I really liked and ended up buying them.  After that, we wanted to explore something in Arequipa.  We saw this big cathedral and ended up getting a tour of it.  It had an amazing view from the top of it.  When we left, we ran into a waiter and he convinced us to go eat at the restaurant that he worked at.  It also had an amazing view.  We sat outside and of course took tons of pictures...

Liz had been wanting to try guinea pig, since its really known here.  Well.. she ordered it.  They brought it out so we could take pictures of it.  When we were done, they took it back into the kitchen to cut off its head and its hands.  She actually liked it!  I was too scared to try it, but the other girls thought that it was pretty good too. 

Afterwards, we had to go back to the terminal to get on our bus to head to Cuzco.  We showed up really earlier and were ready to go.  They finally called for people to show their tickets, so I went up and handed them mine and Katie's.  They crossed off Katie's name on the list and then looked at my ticket.  The guy told me that I was not on the list.  A lady eventually came over and said that I have the wrong ticket.  That it is actually for tomorrow.  They noticed that Katie's was wrong too.  Katie turned around and told Janae what happened and they had the wrong ones too.  Katie and I were freaking out, because at first we thought that we were going to miss Machu Picchu.  When we thought about it though, we would get to Cuzco early in the morning and would be able to catch our train to go to Machu Picchu.  Earlier when we were waiting for our bus, we met these girls that were from Iowa State.  They gave us the name of the hotel that they stayed at the night before and told us that it was a pretty good hotel.  After we calmed down, we got a taxi and headed to the hotel.  We arrived and asked the guy if he had any rooms open.  He said he only had a honeymoon suite and just one regular room.  Since Janae, was the one who ordered our tickets, she apologized and let Katie and I have the honeymoon suite.  The room was huge and was just what we needed after finding out that we had the wrong tickets.  We all really wanted to do something fun to get our minds off of things, so we had the owner of the hotel get us a taxi to go downtown.  We stopped at this little diner and ordered ice cream!  That was definitely what we needed to make us feel better. 

Me and Katie

The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, showered, and packed up all our things.  We had a lot of time, because our bus didn't leave till 9:00 at night.  We ended up going to the Santuarios Andinos UCSM Museum.  Unfortunately, the place didn't allow photography, so no photos. =(   The place was really cool though.  We first watched a 20 minute film and was guided through the museum.  It had artifacts and objects belonging to the Inca Period (550 years old) on display (mom you would of loved it).  They even had a frozen body, Juanita, on display.  She was a sacrifice to the gods and her body ended up freezing because she was in the mountains.  They believed that she was royalty, because she wore red.  Her body still contained all her organs and even still had her brain.  They were able to tell that she ate meat and some other things as her last meal.  It was really cool.  For the rest of the day, we just shopped and ate haha.  We went to the terminal early though, because we wanted to make sure our tickets were correct.  We found out that we would be able to leave on the earlier bus, which was only a half hour earlier, for $30 extra.  The worker said that we would get bigger chairs and an extra snack.  She also said that, there would be no need to upgrade, because our bus should arrive on time and not to worry.  We listened to her and kept our old tickets.  We slept most of the night, even though it was really uncomfortable and cold.  We woke up at 5:30 and tried to start getting ready since we would have no time because we had to go straight to the train station.  Our train boarded at 7:12 and left at 7:42.  Our bus was supposed to get in at 6:00 and it would be a half hour drive to the train station.  It was starting to push 6:00 and Janae finally asked when we would arrive.  The lady said that we had 30 more minutes.  We were really starting to get worried.  Our bus didn't arrive till 7:40ish.  We ran right off the bus and asked the first taxi driver that we saw to go straight to the train station.  We arrived too late, our train was gone.  When we walked up to the teller, a guy that was from our bus was standing there.  He asked us if we were supposed to be on the train too.  The teller told us that if we leave now we might be able to catch the train in Ollantaytambo.  We rushed right back to the taxi and we let the guy come along with us.  Our taxi driver was flying.. we were driving so fast, but I really didn't care.  I just wanted to go to Machu Picchu.  On the way there, we talked with the guy.  He was actually 21 years old and was from Massachusetts studying in Santiago, Chile.  He was a really nice guy.  We finally arrive coming in to Ollantaytambo, and we could see the train.  We all starting cheering.  Now, we just had to get to the train station before it left.  Our taxi driver was trying to drive as fast as he could through the city, but it can't be that easy.. can it?  Police were everywhere, driving really slow.  I guess the president was in town and there was extra police there.  We finally pull up to the road and our taxi driver told us that we needed to run.  We all jump out of the car, grab our bags, and start to run.  All of the sudden I hear people yelling at us.  I turn and look and its the police.  Katie turns back and says, "El tren, el tren!"  They were like, "OH!  GOO!!"  So we continue to run and some how we get into the front of the line.  The people working just quickly glance at our tickets and let us go through the gate.  We continue to run until we found the part of the train where we would get on.  We were so out of breath.  The rest of our group had such surprised looks on their faces.  It was definitely a movie moment.  It was the craziest thing that has ever happened. 

We finally got to Machu Picchu.  We seriously thought our nightmare was over and we could just sit back and relax.  It was time to split up in our groups again.  Katie had to go to the bathroom, so Janae and I waited outside while Liz went with her.  The whole crowd eventually disappeared and headed to go to Machu Picchu.  Janae and I finally went into the bathroom to find the girls, because they were taking too long.  When we were done, we walked out and tried to find the entrance.  We finally ran into a huge group of people and saw one of our friends, Emily.  She told us that we need to go get a Machu Picchu ticket.  We got in line and found out that it was the line to get bus tickets to go up the mountain.  Katie really wanted to hike up the mountain, so when we got up to the front of the line we told the lady that we were wanting to walk and if we needed anything more.  The lady told us no.  So, we started walking and enjoying our time.  20 minutes later, we finally run into the "actual" entrance to hike up the mountain.  The security guard asked us if we were wanting to walk and if we had good, strong legs because it was about a 1 hour hike.  We finally got through and started to hike up.  Man, it was hard!  We kept on having to take breaks, with the altitude and everything, it just made it even harder.  It was a great view though and we were completely enjoying it.  We would occasionally meet people heading down the hill.. I was starting to figure out why people go down, not up haha.  We kept asking people, "how much longer?!"  We finally ended up running into these two ladies.  We started to converse with them and we asked them how much longer.  She said that we had 20 more minutes.  She also said that we should probably hurry, that they close the gate at 2.  We were shocked!  We had no idea that it closed at 2.  We looked at our clocks and it was 1:15!  So, we started running and walking as fast as we could, trying to take no breaks.  It got to the point where we needed one and sat for a while.  When we got up to start walking, Janae had a muscle spasm.  Katie and I were thinking, "you can't be serious!"  We were wanting to hurry so bad, we did not want to miss Machu Picchu.  Liz stayed with Janae and Katie and I tried to hurry as fast as we could to at least get to the entrance.  We were trying to run up the stairs and then all of the sudden I slipped and fell.  I fell down probably 3 or 4 stairs, trying to catch myself to stop.  I sat there in so much pain.  My thigh was throbbing and hurt really bad.  Katie kept asking me if I broke anything.  After sitting for a while, I tried to get up.  I was going to see Machu Picchu, no matter what! lol  I tried putting pressure on my leg, but it was too much pain.  Knowing that I could miss Machu Picchu, gave me the strength to try to continue.. I only had 10 more minutes left.  Through all the pain, I finally made it up.  It took us almost 2 hours!  Katie and I literally were wanting to cry with excitement that we made it up.  Janae and Liz made it up shortly after we did.  We walked up to the entrance and the lady asked for our tickets.  Katie handed her our train ticket and the lady said no, your Machu Picchu ticket.  Katie said, "This is not our ticket?"  The lady said, "No, you need a Machu Picchu ticket."  I said, "The lady told us down there that we didn't need anything!"  The lady said that it was probably just a miscommunication and if one of us heads down the mountain now and buys us tickets that we would probably be able to make it.  We needed to hurry though, because the ticket office closed at 2:00.  Liz and Janae decided that they would go down and buy the tickets.  I looked at my clock and it was 1:40.  Katie and I could not believe what was happening.  After all what we went through to get here, we just couldn't believe it that we might not see Machu Picchu.  Katie and I waited for a half hour, almost about to give up.  We were starving at this point and decided to share a hot dog and ice cream.  It did make us feel a little bit better.. amazing what food can do haha.  Both of us just kept staring at the buses coming up the mountain, hoping that they would be on the bus.  It was never them.  Katie and I really started to believe that they were not going to come back up.. that it was too late.  An hour had passed and we were so close to giving up, when all of the sudden we saw Janae and Liz get off the bus.  Katie and I ran to them and Liz held up the tickets and Katie and I screamed and ran to them and hugged them.  We were so excited.  All the people turned and stared at us, asking what was going on.  It turned out the bus takes 20-25 minutes just to go down or up the mountain AND that the ticket office really didn't close till 2:30.  Plus the fact, that the ticket office was in the middle of no where.  Oh well, we got the tickets.  We ran to the entrance and the people that worked there that knew our story kept making jokes with us.  We entered Machu Picchu and let me tell you it was amazing!!!!!  One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  It was crazy to think that people actually made it.  The view was just incredible. 

At the end, before we left, I looked down at my leg and my thigh had swollen like a balloon.  It was huge! haha  I had tons of bruises and wasn't really able to walk.  I'm doing ok now though.  It is getting better.  Our train didn't leave till 9:30, so we had a lot of time at Machu Picchu.  The actual park closed at 5:00, so we went and shopped and got some food.  We ate at this place where I got Mexican food.  I was so excited, because I had been craving it.  I got chicken enchiladas!  They were delicious!  After we were done eating, we sat and talked for a while, when all of the sudden the electricity went out!  It went out 3 times.  We believe that it was because of all the festivities that were going on.  Later on, we got on our train and headed to our hostel in Ollantaytambo.  Our hostel was actually owned by Quechua people.  They gave us the best breakfast in the morning and we all had hot showers.  We definitely enjoyed our stay there.  We needed to get to Cuzco where our bus left.  We found a taxi that would take us there.  On our way out our taxi driver told us that they were not letting anymore people in and eventually weren't going to let people out.  All because of the president being in town.  It was a good thing that we left when we did or else we would of been stuck there. 

When we arrived in Cuzco, we decided we wanted to to go the Chocolate Museum.  The place actually let people come in (on appt) and learn how they make chocolate and make their own flavors.  It would of been really cool to do that.  Before I left, I did buy a candy bar.  I still have not tried it yet, but I'm excited to eat it.  I'm sure it will be delicious! 

After that, there really isn't anything else interesting to tell.  Just that we rode a bus back home, nothing too much more to say.  I think this is long enough, so I'm going to stop here.  I hope you enjoyed my long, crazy story.  It was definitely an experience.  I'm glad everything worked out and I can look back at it and laugh.  Until my next update.. Chauuuuuu!!! =D