Alpacan Sweaters

If you were wondering if we survived the ¨World´s Most Dangerous Road¨ from the last blog, you can now relax--we are fine. Just one flat tire was about the only complication. Don´t worry Mom, I was at least 6 feet from the cliff when the tire went flat. After La Paz, we went to Copacabana which is a small city on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Within an hour of arriving, we had found a sailboat rental area. These sailboats were one of a kind for sure. There was only one sail, no jib but still a wooden mast and boom. Sure enough, we decided that for about 8 bucks a person, we couldn´t resist this adventure. So we woke up at 5:00 in the morning and went down to the shore and sailed off to the ¨Isla Del Sol¨ or the Island of the Sun. This trek only took us a while on the way there because of bad head winds, but we recovered by spending the night on the island. On the way back, it only took us about 3 and a half hours because the once head wind, worked in our favour.

The sunset from the "Isla Del Sol"

After this adventure, we took off for Cuzco, Peru on another freezing cold, overnight bus where we connected to a train to Aguas Calientes which is at the base of Machu Picchu. If you have seen pictures of Machu Picchu, you probably think it is neat, but we are witnesses to the fact that it is way better than it looks from the pictures. It is much bigger than you would think from those indications. Thank goodness we loved it, because they make you pay an absolutely ridiculous price to enter. We also had a chance to hike the giant mountain called ¨Waynu Picchu¨that you see in the background of this picture amidst the clouds.
From here, we were only able to get tickets for a first class train that only took us half way to Cuzco. We were pretty choked at first but we reluctantly accepted to take these tickets because there is no other way of getting away from Aguas Calientes except this train. Needless to say, our scruffy faces and dirty, stinky clothes and backpacks did not necessarily fit the norm for first class. However, we were pleasantly surprised with the most ridiculous entertainment which included a man with a mask and a stuffed llama around his neck dancing around followed by a modeling show to techno dance music. What a riot.
Skipping ahead, we are now back in Cuzco where we will be here until Sunday evening. Yesterday, we all bought sweaters that come from Alpacan fur which are ridiculously awesome to say the least. Anyways, from Cuzco, we will take another overnight bus (probably freezing cold again) to a city called Arequipa where there are huge volcanos and the biggest canyon in the world. It is more than twice the size of the Grand Canyon.
That´s about it. Here are some pics as promised.
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