Sacred Valley

After leaving Hotel Sol, we went straight to Aguas Caliente where we are now. We arrived last night. Nothing will compare to that hotel room again. Just nothing. It was my splurge once night. So back to hostel life it is. We are staying atvAngie's hostel in Aguas Caliente after arriving in the backpackers train last night. (Expedition)  it was dark, so we didn't see the Sacred Mountains till the morning. The wait was well worth it. My window opens to a MASSIVE mountain face. Like just massive all around you. Nestled inside of God's country while they watch over you. Silently and majestically . Tomorrow is Macchu Picchu!!!!! Omg omg omg. We have to be up at 3:30 am to successfully catch the sunrise and the 5 am bus. Insane. I cannot wait . I am just honoured to be here and I thank the universe for leading me in this direction. I feel free. And it is beautiful in so many ways. From the land , to the people, to the mystery, to the spiritual guidance. This is by far one of the  most amazing journeys one can take. This whole planet is. It's much bigger than what surrounds us. There is so much more than our cars, homes, jobs, city, town, and stress factors. Life is out there, it's grabbing by the balls and just living it that makes the difference. Talk after Macchu Picchu. What whaaaattt! 

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Wellllll helloooooo my beloved missed faithful followers. We took the bus from Arequipa to Puno. It was absolutely beautiful. Buses are the way to go around here by far. So much to see with eyes open wide.

Puno was a bit of hunt for service. Cheap service. I miss the Nazca Inn days where Mickey was waiting for us with our names, and our whole travel package ready at a discount. Puno was unsafe feeling, and felt like Gringo Alley was the only safe place at night. It was awesome though. The best part about Lake Titicaca was the bus ride into it. According to the word of other travellers, the floating islands were a sham. That there is no possible way that these people live there. Lol . They work hard at making it look like they work hard. The children are made to look like their cooking all day. Taquile Island is said to be beautiful though. We missed the very slow moving boat tour. We ended up going to bed because we spent the night rain dancing on the rooftop invoking lightning in a massive storm. So effing worth it. Alex confirmed the travellers feedback. Thank god because I was so disappointed in myself until i heard that. Lol When we tried to leave , the front door guy locked us in and demanded more money. Lmao we had a bus to catch, and the lady"mujer" at the front desk. She said we were good. Word of advice, always get people to give you a signed receipt. Lesson learned. There weren't easily findable volunteer options in this town ;) .

From Puno we continued on to Cusco. Here we stayed at the Pirwa Backpackers Farmiliar. The people were friendly, accommodating, and the price was great! The place was clean and convenient and I recommend it to anyone. 25 soles per person. We stayed here for the morning bus arrival sleep. Plus 2 nights sleep. I'll just say it right now. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE CUSCO !!! It is so amazing. There is crime sure, but just be smart and the beautiful people here will jump right out to you . We had lunch at Paddy's Pub. Shopped some market. And got a flyer for The Muse Bar. Our favourite female band from Spain ( that we saw and loved in Huacachina ) happened to be playing! It was amazing. The coziest place where we drank Pisco sours and listened to the band. All the tables had crayons and blank paper. So you could colour while you interacted with the band playing . This is one of my favourite nights. This is the second place I jumped on the mic. Such good feedback. Wow. I gave the girls who played the picture I drew. And we danced all night. I had a dance off. It was amazing!!! Ryan, Alex and I had the time of our lives that night. Memorable forever. The DJ was absolutely amazing. Peruvian bass dubbed me up yo. Lol if anyone gets that hahah. AMAZING. Big up the Muse fo life . We had a great dinner the next night and the following day ate from an amazing French Crepe nook. Then we got a nice scarf for the bones to be carried in and a white candle to burn for them.

From Cusco we took a collectivo(10soles) best deal so far. A distraught man tried to pull the bus over with a giant shank. Haha in a very bad area. It was menacing let me tell you. But all the driver had to do was accelerate and leave the man in the rear view,......lol but still. Menacing none the less. We arrived in Ollantaytambo the night of the 24th. ( Oilytaytambo ...ppaaaahhhhhh ) this was the one of the ' must stay ' hostel nights. The Hotel Sol is un-be-lievable!!! We had a terrace over the Urabamba river. Looking straight at the ruins! It was so so so nice I never wanted to leave. To river ran so loud. And the mountains were giant gods jutting from every direction!!! The beauty of the descent intothe sacred  Valley is once again....Indescribable in words. We free climbed the ruins with no harnesses to its most jutting points. Only after when we came down did we realize that we were definitely not allowed on the 'danger parts' of the mountain ruin face. After this this they attempted to lead us down a blocked path. Lol needless to say we declined this option using the language barrier and zipped down the ruin to the bottom as quick as we could as not to pay some sort of under the table fine.

New ting a Gwan lol

 Aw Caroline. Don't be sad. Being spiritually and mentally free is a wonderful thing. I and everyone deserves that . I have passed through Nazca. We stayed with Alfredo's brother Mickey. He was waiting there for us , package in hand lmao. He was so amazing. Gotta love the cartel links. They ALWAYS know what's going on. Haha which is surprisingly comforting when your struggling. His place was comfortable and homely. He had a family and a dog who had a puppy who I fell in love with.  He was so small, clumsy and cute. Here we met 2  girls named Lisa and Martina who were amazing. Our new Port Credit friend we Met in Huacachina was waiting in the cab already! I was in udder shock. He has been the third amigo ever since.

In Nazca, we were honoured with the true experience of seeing pre Incan tombs that were 1100 years old. Their chambers were excavated at an archaeological dig site called Chauchilla. They were buried with their families and their offering to the gods and afterlife survival and they had looooong dreads and some were buried with babies. There were SOOOOO many bones scattered over as far as he eye can see., amongst mineral rich mountains. Yes tonnes of gold under them. Arturo our amazing tour guide let us take 1100 year old human bones with us!! So now I am carefully carrying around a human skull piece and a femur. Ryan has a baby's scull and adult armbone.  Originally i had intended for them to come home with us and have the best souvenirs you can ever imagine. Their story's would live on through us. Their journey would be a part of our journey. And they would never die. Only be a legend till the end of my time, and my next generation ( very loosely said while wiping sweat off my brow)  But upon much thought and pondering options i cannot predict, i would feel absolutely rotten from the core and universally cursed if those bones were to ever be stuck at a border crossing with customs. The Ecuadorian, then Galapagos ( strictest ), El Salvadorian, or Canadian (who would be the chillest ) most likely) so I have made a final decision to take them on our journey and leave them at Macchu Picchu . I will have a prayer for them before I offer them to the gods; as close to heaven as they ever could've even imagined to go. It is there I will set them free and their story will live on in my mind ( and this blog haha) knowing they weren't left at some awful government run power junkie border crossing with agents that could give a fuck about the universal balance of spituality and karma.  After doing this we went to an Ancient pottery making seminar. I loved it! Ryan and Alex were like "um cooooollll, yeeeaaahhhh, mmmmmhmmmm ( eye roll) " . The techniques were so amazing and natural I held a shiny in tact bowl that was 2000 years old. Andre was great. Then guess what me n Ryan did in a private Cessna?! Yeah I said it! Cessss- naaaaa.  The Nazca Lines !!!!!! ( so many inside jokes about those with all the other travellers as you can imagine ;) ;)  ) The alien precision of these amazingly large masterpieces was unreal. The view of the desert mountains and vast landscape from the little plane was incredible. Permanent smile. Bucket list= check.  The pilots dip and spin as to see them better. We hit an air pocket and smashed our heads during a left down spin. All I could do was laugh so hard and hold my stomach which was in my throat. AMAZINGGG !!! It was sad to say goodbye to Mickey's hostel house of Nazcarinha ( pitcher : one 26er of Nazca rum, freshly squeezed passion fruit , crunchy gooey seeds and all, freshly squeezed Nazca farmed limes ) happy hours of good energy and drunken laughs. But on to Arequipa we went.

This was a 10 hour bus ride down the Peruvian southern coast. Let me tell you there is no other coastline quite like this in the world. It was so so diverse. And so beautiful I coulln't sit still. So trigger happy on the cam. As all of these landscapes I pass through are not even explainable through words or even pictures. They are SO HUgE and SO VAsT I feel like I am in God's country. The BC feeling times a million . This bus ride was 11 hours. But Cruz Del Sur is a palace compared to any bus line I have ever been on, If I wasn't so security conscious, it would be perfect lol.  We stayed at Le Foyer hostel when we arrived at 1am. We tried to get into the Wild Rover where our other friends were, but they were full! The 4 of us were like stray dogs at the door with all our stuff , peering through security to the fun we could hear. " like please sir , all we ask is a small corner, just one drink por favor" he was like "ummmm no " lol after experiencing the 'party hostel' for the 2 next days we were happy to be back at Le Foyer after the Colca Canyon. They treat you like the drunken kids that filter through that place daily. I am an adult, and demand respect and freedom to make my own decisions dammit . Lmao but from here we went to the Colca Canyon . It was so beautiful I cannot describe it in words. We opted out of the 2 day trek because I got hit the worst case of altitude sickness ever. That shit is NO JOkE. Haha so sadly enough we had to opt out of the trek and do a tour instead . But by fluke we spent the night in Chivay. A stepping stone into the Canyon. There are little to no tourists here. At all. They were in traditional Peruvian attire, working their asses off. A true farm hamlet nestled in the canyon. It's as deep as the Grand Canyon but not as wide or red layered with shale obvi. We got to experience the town, the people, the extraordinary children who had not been tainted by knowledge of what the Americans did to these people, the people who were aware of this and glared at us, and the people just like us who were just existing peacefully. Knowing deeper that people are not their colour or racial history. We ate at a wood burning fireplace  restaurant, where the best food we had so far was. I tried El Paca! I feel guilty, but i don't regret it. I had to get down with the customs of the people hosting us. here we saw an enchanting flute band and authentic dancing that displayed the deeply dark, and sinister past of the Chivay people. It was soooo eerie and cool. This fluke was just what I needed. No-one gets to do that. A market full of traditionally dressed farm women and men. Weighing coca leaves for tea ( which helps the altitude at which they live in most of this country)  the Canyon was INSANE! Again no words of the size and majestic beauty. The terraces are still in use and farmed on. They are endless. Plateaued across , miles upon miles, of untouched peaks and river. It is here we witnessed the rare endangered Andean condor. With a wingspan of like 3 metres. Give or take depending on the age.  I even got 2 on film . Soaring high in their kingdom of heaven. Guarding giant nests on mountain tops. Searching for rodents to feed their young. Wow! Just wow! An honour.  We had the best ceviche you could even imagine in Arequipa before leaving obviously...Wow 

I am currently on the bus to Puno and Lake Titicaca. The drive was once again spectacular. Not even sure if I will even hop a plane till I switch countries now. It truly is all the rage guys. And ya know I know whaddup. ;-P  so trust when I say this is no greyhound . Tonight we will stay in Puno to tour the Lake tmrw and witness the people who live on the Bolivian border on islands completely made of floating reeds. The huts, the tools, the boats, the furniture, all reeds! Cuh-razyyy. I love you all so much and Caroline thanks for the info genius did not even tell me, but found a way to bitch about. Pffftttt. Ur the only person who commented so far. So keep it up. I was so happy to see someone commented and cared lmao. Love you xoxoxoxo talk soon. peace . Love n happiness to all. 

*** dogs as crews like homeward bound***

Finally got somewhere safe to iPad .

Uunnnnnhhkayyy. So i have had Internet troubles as Chandi told you. And pulling this thing out is ris-kaayyyyy. Lol I have passed through Lima, and went to Paracas. A beach town on the West coast.  There I cruised the Ballestas Islands and went to Paracas National Reserva Park.mthe beauty of this country and all of it's hidden gems are truly shockingly beautiful. Saw a sea lion ripping a giant bird apart while all of his bitches yelled really loud. Lmao it was amazing . Nature at its rawest. Can't wait to get to the Galapagos and swim with some Snoop Lions. Hahaha

I then travelled straight to Huacachina in the province of Ica. It's a desert Oasis. Holy effing beautiful !!! You are able to volunteer pretty much anywhere you stay. But this doesn't always occur. Because everyone needs their space, and the volunteer dorms are for 8-10 ppl. We stayed at Hostel Soler in Paracas. Thanks to our friend Alfredo. Kokopelli hostel is where it's at though. Right on the beach and always jammin. I got onstage and performed a freestyle reggae rap with them. It brought the house down. Haha (tootin the ol horn) . The Oasis is where I extreme dunebuggy'd and sand boarded. Jesus H Christ!!! ( no idea what the h stands for) I have done some very terrifying things in my lifetime. No deets. Walked around the cn tower on a see through 5 foot platform. And this day was by far the scariest day of my entire life!!! I will never be right again. I thought 100% I was dead at least 100 times. Sheeeeer terrrrooorrrr. I was a laughing stock. Picture the Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland x like 7 and add a psychotic driver and broken seatbelts and a completely open loose vehicle . Hahah I pretty much cried. These dunes were incredible!!!! Like the size of the Rocky Mountains . And endless desert with sand you could sleep in its so soft and Kushy. Needless to say this was Ryan's favourite day. The Oasis was SOoooo beautiful. That's when it clicked where I actually was.

I am currently in Nazca and awaiting 2 tours to Chauchilla cemetery, Incan Gold extraction, Pottery making, and the Nazca lines!!!!! Thanks to Mickey, Alfredo's brother. I am scared of the thought of this plane, lol but I can survive anything after the sandboarding/ dunebuggy trip. Juuuuuustttt a day of ABSoLuTe TErRoRRRR. I will check in again soon. Lots of love all y'all. And yes I am fine. More than fine. .... I am FReE. And that is a feeling that is bringing tears to my eyes as we speak. Xoxo

Where is she?

This is Chand again on Cess' blog...
I saw a comment from her but am wondering where she is now because we haven't heard from her.
In her last email she was frustrated with the internet and likely her browser was all in Spanish making it difficult to navigate and operate on the web!
Cess if you're reading this, write, let us know whats up/you're ok!
So you said in your blog comment that you were in Lima so I'm going to put up a photo of Lima for this post :)