Primera Noche en Peru

Buenas noches! Ignas and I are all tucked in bed and ready for a good night's sleep, especially after a long day of traveling. It took us 3 planes to get here in Arequipa. By the time we got to our hotel, it was dark so we haven't seen much yet. We're sippin on Arequipena as I write this. Ahh vacation high is sitting in. Either that or soroche is slowly taking over (no obvious symptoms yet)...

Taca Airlines is awesome. We pretty much had first class leg room during our first flight because we had the row right behind first class. They served us a meal on both of our flights, which were pretty good for airplane food. Each seat has their own screen with several movies and TV shows to choose from. Maybe other airlines have the same features but I've never seen it before.

Everyone has been very nice to us. We could really use more practice with the Spanish though. Many people don't bother trying to speak English with us. They just speak slowly and use a lot of hand movements, which is perfect except for when we have to reply haha.

We are both very excited for tomorrow. The manager of the hotel told us a lot about the city and we are definitely starting early.

With that said, buenas noches! Here is a picture of me and Ignas at the Lima airport.

Adios!

The day has finally arrived and Ignas and I are at LAX right now waiting for our plane to start boarding. I think at the moment, we are more tired than excited but hopefully we get some rest on the flight.

Less Than A Week Until Peru

Fight On Trojans! The gangsta trojan grandma on the right always cracks me up.

It's been a while since we updated but we've been in a frenzy learning Spanish (me), doing research on Peru (him), and cheering on the USC Trojans in football (both of us). With October being in the thick of the football season, it was hard for us (mostly him :P) to think about anything else. Game days are almost fully dedicated to the Trojans (with tailgating on campus or finding a cool place to catch the game, watching the 3.5 hour game, being drunk, celebrating when they win, mourning when they lose) and since we only see each other on the weekends, Peru progress has been slow.

Mind Snacks was THE best iPhone app that helped me
with basic vocabulary and verbs.

On the other hand, I've been really proud of my progress with Spanish! I went to the library and checked out several books to help me learn, including fun children's' activity books! I also downloaded Spanish audiobooks for my car and my shower/workout playlists. I spent several nights playing every Spanish iPhone app until I fell asleep with my phone in my face. Livemocha has been really fun too. It's a website that allows you to converse with other language learners around the world, in addition to having traditional lessons. Native Spanish speakers who were learning English were the best to chat with since we would help each other and many that I chatted with were from South America. I think I know enough for our trip but Ignas always points out my horrendous Spanish accent (or rather, the complete lack of).

The red section is the size of Costa Rica - tiny compared to all of Peru. Taken from a nifty website: www.ifitweremyhome.com

Planning Peru has honestly been overwhelming because its gigantic compared to Costa Rica and Hawaii, where Ignas and I took our previous major trips. We knew that visiting Machu Picchu was a must but other than that, the possibilities were endless. Peru is extremely varied and has almost every type of climate. There's the desert coastline, the Amazon jungle, the Andes, culture, history, ruins, museums, beaches, wildlife, food... and we would see it all if we could but we don't want to spend too much time traveling from place to place. The first way we narrowed our options was by choosing to stick to Southern Peru.

I put up a makeshift calendar on my bedroom wall when Ignas visited last weekend. As of today, this is still what it looks like. Needless to say, it'll be a very interesting and surprising trip.

With Southern Peru in mind, we are considering Lima, Cusco, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu, and the Colca Canyon. How and when are we going to do all of this? We still don't know. We want to get enough in to embrace the best of what the country has to offer but we also want enough time to explore and trek off the beaten path.

My new 24" suitcase vs. my standard carry on. 

With less than a week before we depart, we are in the process of finalizing our itinerary and figuring out what to pack. I decided to buy a new suitcase since I anticipate to pack bulkier clothing. The low's in Cusco and Arequipa have been in the 40s (F) and the high's at 70F. Brr! I spent forever looking for the perfect one and I finally found this cute black/purple one that was very functional and had a lot of compartments. I knew Ignas wouldn't like it though. In fact, this is what he had to say when I sent him this picture: "That looks terrible. You'll probably be stopped from leaving Peru because they'll think you killed some exotic endangered purple leopard and made luggage out of it." That's my boyfriend <3

At this time next week, we'll be taking off from our layover in Costa Rica! :D Oh and check out the new Instagram gallery in the sidebar! I'm hoping to upload a few pictures on the trip and Instagram is so much easier to work with than the Blogger app on my phone. Follow us! :)

The Kalalau Trail

The Kalalau Trail... The experience is one that I will never, ever forget. It just so happens that the Kalalau Trail was the second hike I had every done in my life (that I can remember). The views are breath-taking and simply indescribable. I would definitely say that the Kalalau Trail is a bucket-list-worthy type of deal where you are rewarded with the most incredible views in the world. At the end of the 11-mile Kalalau Trail is Kalalau Beach where people camp for the night. Since we only had one day left in Kauai, we hiked half of the Kalalau trail to Hanakapiai Falls and then turned around for a total of 13 miles.

In terms of physical fitness level required, I wouldn't say more than average is needed, though you obviously have to be able to hike 11 miles before the sun goes down if you want to get to the finish line at Kalalau Beach. The actual trail isn't too strenuous. It's just plain dangerous haha. Sheer cliffs with long drops, very narrow paths (at several points, you could only put one foot in front of the other), loose rocks and pebbles, slippery logs, etc. I almost lost my boyfriend twice because he lost his footing and fell!

The trail is also very intimate, which I really liked. We probably saw a handful of other people during the duration of our hike. Most of the time, it really felt like it was just the two of us out there. At Hanakapiai Falls, it was me, Ignas, and nature in the purest state I've seen it. The trail was so overgrown that I felt like we were just forging our own (someone had left pink ribbon markers but still, the trail was invisible). At the falls, there was not a single sign of civilization. Just spiders, frogs (both alive and dead), and the waterfall, which was absolutely beautiful. Since the waterfall was so tall, we couldn't get a good picture but check this one out that I found online.

Yup, gorgeous. From Alexo Photography: http://www.alexo-photography.com/Best_of/Best_of_Foto_Hawaii_ALLE.html

By the end of the day, I was deliriously exhausted. A warning: as much as you might be tempted to wash off at the neighboring Tunnels Beach, don't. The waves there are mean and I was so physically fatigued that one of the waves picked me up and slammed me on the sand, lower back first and my head on the ricochet. I was completely immobilized and I thought I would die when the next wave came but my Superman Ignas saved me. He literally saw me in distress, ran to me, picked me up and carried me away. <3 Looking back, it was romantic but at the time, he was convinced that I had suffered a concussion and I threw up shortly after...

The Kalalau Trail left me feeling very humbled and blessed. I felt so fortunate to have seen such untouched natural beauty and thankful to have been able to revel in all of it in solitude. I would definitely recommend some sort of training prior to taking on the trail and make sure to bring enough water! The Kalalau Trail is a MUST and it's free (unless you pay the permit fee to camp at Kalalau Beach).

Click here to see more pictures from our Kalalau Trail trek.

Dramatic Landscapes

Future destinations perhaps?

My Bad Side

Ignas refuses to believe that I have a bad side but alas, it's a night-and-day difference. So when I stumbled upon one of my favorite blogger's recent posts about bad sides, I had to read it and of course, she describes it perfect (and hilariously).

Check out The Everywhereist. Her blog is never ending entertainment.

Pachacamac... Not this time

I had read about Pachacamac in a few of the books I got from the library and I was immediately interested because of its historical significance and its pyramids. After reading a little but more and seeing a few pictures, however, I'm not sure if it's worth the visit on our short trip.

Taken from TripAdvisor. Very austere looking...

I don't know if Machu Picchu is spoiling me but the Pachacamac seems so... ordinary. Similar to the Nazca Lines, I'm sure Pachacamac would be awesome to see but I'm not sold on trying to fit in into our itinerary.