I went to south america alone

Day 7 and 8: Chivay and the Colca Canyon We arrived to Chivay after a 5 hour bus ride from Arequipa. We will spend 2 nights here. It is beautiful, a quieter feel, small markets, Peruvians in traditional bright costumes. On the way we gained a ton of elevation, passing over 5000m. We all bought coco leaves to chew, which is supposed to really help with the elevation, and is what the locals use. A lot of people got sick to their stomach, an effect of the elevation, but I felt fine. The markets here are cheap and I've been cutting down on costs by making avocado tomato sandwiches for each meal instead of so many restaurants. The hotel is the nicest so far, although very cold. A lot of the girls have been sleeping in down jackets and fleeces. It gets pretty warm here during the day but really cold at night. I haven't proven to be a good canadian, walking around shivering and complaining.  The second day we went to Colca canyon, famous for spotting condors. A large vulture w...

Day 5 Brief summary: visited small tower to see the Unesco world heritage site of the Nazca line, visited a museum of maria reiche, protecter of the lines. All quite interesting. Saw a mummy (it was gross), Went for a lovely swim, took a nap, got on overnight bus. Day 6 We arrived in Arequipa from Nasca last night on an overnight bus where I slept on and off for 10 hours. I had a dream all my teeth fell out and mia and her mom tried to help me pick them all up. Even then the dentist wasn't open till monday so I couldn't get any help and had no teeth. I woke up so relieved to feel my teeth. Remember to be thankful for them everyday. Arequipe is a lovely and looks like Europe to me with old cathedrals and buildings. Home to about 1.5 million. I spent a few hours wandering about on the cobblestone roads and looking at the beautiful volcanoes and mountains surrounding the town while soaking up the sun at 2,400M. Opted out of a trip to visit a different mummy. Later...

Day 4 Well i am almost too tired to write this. It's been an action packed day. I will summarize it quickly. 8am boat tour to ballistas islands in Paracas. Saw penguins, sea lions and beautiful islands. At first it seemed like there was going to be 5 or 6 sea lions visible sun tanning. Then right near the end of the 2 hour tour we pulled up to a rocky beach that must've had over 100 of them, and they were loud.  As we left, our boat's motor kicked out and we became stranded. All the other tourist boats went by us as other people waved at us either sympathetically or mockingly, not sure. Eventually (half hour later of rocking on the sea) our driver, who had seemed like he was doing arts and crafts with the available supplies, got it up and running. Next was a wine tour, which was hot, kind of interesting, and we got to try wine.  More importantly was the dine buggying and sandboarding. Crazy roller coaster through the desert. Not sure it would make safe...

Day 3 Mid day we did a 4 hour bus ride from Lima to Paracas, where we stay for 1 night. The bus ride was through a desert like area but right by the ocean, quite good scenery and I wished we coul've stopped and looked out the window. The public greyhound like buses here are very nice, and I was served a delicious vegetarian meal of rice and beans and a good sauce, a piece of cake and an unidentifiable but good green glob. I got to get to know lots of the people on my tour a little better on the bus, and talked about important things like donald trump and whether hannah montanna or the suite life of zack and cody is better. I also spend 10-20% of my time trying to convince people that Canadians are very different from americans and that Canada wants to build a wall to separate us from America. A very tall wall, believe me we build the best walls. Upon arrival we went for dinner where I managed to order a vegan pizza and was provided free alcohol. I spend the other 80...

Trip day 2 Last night when I arrived I was told by the front desk that I was going to have my own room that night, before I began sharing a room with someone for my tour. I presumed I would then be moving rooms today. However I was awoken at 7am by a blonde girl standing near the foot of my bed in what I thought was my hotel room, with a giant backpack on. So apparently this was now a shared room. It actually turned out very well for me because seeing as the tour didn't start until tonight, I don't know what I would've done all day by myself. Me and Molly from London, England explored near the ocean in the of the cultural district of barranca, which I believe is a district of Lima.  It seems vegetarian here will prove to be quite difficult. Although, repeating sin carne and pointing at things has gotten me surprisingly far. I ordered a vegetable "tortilla" for lunch, which turned out to be an omelette, which was fine by me.  I was unaware Lima was ...

Vancouver to Houston to Lima I woke up this morning at 4:15 am in an air BNB house which the owners had turned into a hotel, renting out 5 rooms and 3 couches in chinatown. Now, en route to Lima that feels like a long time ago. It turns out the second leg of my trip, which I thought was a 4 hour flight, is a 6 hour flight and I messed up the time zones. Unlike Canadian airlines everything was done in both English and Spanish presumably because we are flying to Lima. The lady beside me is from Lima and has a 3 month old baby. Très meses si. Although she speaks no english and I speak virtually no spanish, I think we have formed a bond. First I held her baby when she put her stuff in the overhead and went to the bathroom, then I borrowed her pen, next I picked up her babies toys off the ground, and get this, she gave me her baby carrots. I will be landing after 10 hours of flying in about 35 minutes. After watching Liam Neeson's daughter in taken get a taxi to a h...