July 5, we woke up early again (it seems to have been the theme of this trip) to go on the Sacred Valley Tour, which we had booked before setting off on our four-day hike. The tour was on a bus for the most part, with stops at a few overlooks to take pictures, a few markets- Joe and Robin got left behind at one because they showed up 20 minutes late- thankfully, they took a cab and caught up with us at the next stop- and some ruins. Our tour guide was really disappointing after what felt like weeks with Jair-Roger-Julio amazingness. A lot of the ruins were slightly anticlimactic after seeing so many cool ones on the Inca trail, but we at least discovered that Jair had done his job and taught us well. We knew every single answer to the questions the guide asked us and probably could have given the tour ourselves. We were also still excruciatingly sore, so the news that we would have to climb all over MORE ancient ruins and up MORE stairs didn't exactly make us happy. I got a lot of presents for the family, however, so I think overall it was a worthwhile experience. I did spend far too much money, but that seems to be the story of my life lately.
After we got back to Cusco, Anne and I headed back to the hostel to get ready while Robin, Lis, and Joe ran out for some more last-minute shopping. We all went to dinner a little later at a little pizzeria on the main square, and then met up with our Inca Trail group in the main plaza. We waited for Jair for about a half an hour since he swore he would be there, but eventually gave up. Our group was composed of the five BC kids, Paul and Adam from England, Randy, Melissa, and Laura from Miami, and Michael from Georgia. Basically it was my favorite people from our original group, which I was really happy about. We went to this tiny little bar called Km 0, which had live music and good drinks and even some dancing towards the end. Anne, Robin and I stayed there pretty late with everyone even after Lis and Joe left, and it was a lot of fun. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone finally, but we did since (surprise!) we were getting up early again the next morning.
After far too little sleep, we woke up the next morning and hopped on a plane to Lima. We were picked up at the airport by our hostel (they gave us a secret password and everything) and then chilled in the common area of the hostel for a few hours while they got our room ready. After everyone was finally showered and ready to go, we went out in search of food. We walked down to the beach and found a mall-type building, and finally decided on Chili's, which was probably the most exciting thing that had happened to me all day. Not only did they give us fountain soda, but it had ice in it. My cheeseburger actually tasted like a cheeseburger and had toppings other than ham and egg on it, and my french fries tasted like french fries. Also, the waitress divided our check for us and accepted credit cards. For those of you still living in the states- you don't know how good you have it. I was in heaven. Afterwards, to make things even better, we walked around and I smelled cinnamon buns, which I haven't smelled or eaten since being home. Of course, I bought one of those too, after battling a group of fashionably dressed, cell-phone chattering, latte-drinking, obnoxious eight year olds for my spot in line.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, we found a balcony that overlooked the beach, so I got to just chill there and listen to the waves for maybe a half hour, which I hadn't realized how much I missed until I was there. Basically that felt like the best few hours of my life.
We walked back to the hostel and watched a movie before going to bed early to ONCE AGAIN get up early.
The next morning, we had breakfast and left for the airport to fly home. It was kind of an all-day process but fairly easy and uneventful, and we were home by 8. It was good to be back even though I hated leaving Peru and probably could have stayed longer. I had some dinner and talked to my family/Josh/Lauren to let them know I was still alive, unpacked a bit, and went to bed.
On Wednesday morning, the girls came over to use the washing machines/dryers in preparation for leaving. I packed up a bunch of my stuff and brought it over to Catherine's, where I'll be living once my rent ends on the 15th. I got to say goodbye to Catherine, who was leaving that afternoon, and then met back up with the girls. We went to lunch at a little cafe called Helena near their house, and Anne treated me in exchange for me packing her stuff up for her. Apparently, she hates packing as much as Lauren does and heard how quickly/efficiently I pack. I basically packed everything she owned in her two suitcases, kept them both under the weight limit, and arranged it so she doesn't even need her second carry-on anymore. Since I got a free lunch and she was thrilled about only having to haul around three bags instead of four, it worked out perfectly. Then I made apple pie for the girls as a goodbye present, which their terrible oven burned but we managed to save. I went home to change, and then what remained of our BsAs crew (Me, Joe, the girls, Emily, and Ben) met up for dinner at Cielito Lindo. We had a good dinner, briefly tried to get into Sugar before midnight, when the cover charge kicks in, but gave up and went back to the girls' for pie and ice cream instead. After that, Joe and I headed home and went to sleep.
July 9 was Joe, Anne, Lis, and Robin's last day in Buenos Aires. I spent the morning packing Joe's stuff- he promised to buy me Modena in exchange and then never did, that jerk- and then went over to the girls' to hang out with them one last time. We did fun things like empty their entire toiletry collection into my backpack since they didn't want to bring them home, condense Robin's six carry-ons to two, and eat all of their remaining food. I said goodbye to them and then came back to say goodbye to Joe. After I sent them all off to the airport, I went grocery shopping, made/ate dinner, talked to Josh, ordered Modena and watched a movie, and went to bed.
Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday/today I have had the apartment to myself. I've been using the time to clean/cook/pack/move stuff over to Catherine and Emily's. I've also been wandering the city a fair bit, updating my blog, watching movies, answering emails, and stealing facebook albums to show all of you, loyal readers.
Here's the deal with pictures of my adventures over the last six months:
I have been stealing facebook albums from all 22 of my close friends here one by one and uploading them to snapfish. This involves downloading each picture individually to my computer and then uploading them individually to my account. It is time consuming and boring and that's why it has taken me a full six months to get it together. If you want to see them, here's what you have to do: You have to comment/facebook message me/call me/email me with your email address. Then you have to make a snapfish account if you don't already have one, using the same email. It's free and supereasy and they don't send you spam.
I'll keep adding pictures as my friends post them- Peru pics are now up! Enjoy!
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