Update

Hello Friends and Family,

Yes, I´m a bit behind on posting to my blog. You see... I was out in the wilderness hiking and camping to Machi Picchu for four days, and then I´ve just been on the go since then... plus, it takes forever to upload pictures and videos.

Anyway, I´ll give a quick update for now and then go back and post with more details and pictures.

I left for my 4 day trek on an alternative Inca Trail (the Salkantay trek) to Machu Picchu at 4AM on Friday June 20th. The scenery during the trek was breathtaking... literally... try doing the stairmaster for 8 hours at 12,000 feet with a 15 pound daypack on... what a workout, but totally worth it (as you´ll see when I post the pictures). We also visited two hot springs along the way, which substituted as a shower. And I have to mention the food... it was great! Very surprising for trekking food. Again, more pictures to come. (I´m thinking of renaming my blog to ¨Stefanie Eats Her Way Through Peru.¨ Haha...)

The group was six people - Carrie and Todd the Aussie - newlyweds from Ft. Lauderdale, Jenika - recent college grad from San Francisco, Uther - Brit who is getting his phd from Oxford, and Rene from Holland - also known affectionately as Dutchie. More about the group on my more detailed posts.

On the 4th day, we reached Machu Picchu by bus at 6AM. Truly an incredible site with a lot of history. The site has been well preserved because the Spanish didn´t find it... it was ¨discovered¨ in 1911. I´d say my most memorable moment at MP was sitting high above the site with the peaks of the other mountains at eyelevel. I sat quietly for a while and felt at peace with the gentle mountain breeze.

We took the train back to Cuzco that afternoon (June 23rd) and I spent June 24th exploring more of Cuzco. I love the neighborhood of San Blas... narrow, cobblestone streets, lots of cute restaurants, shops, bars, and cafes.

Then this morning I caught a bus to Puno - the main port city on Lake Titicaca. It was a luxury tour bus, so we stopped along the way at a few villages and sites.

Lake Titicaca is the highest lake in South America - 12,500 feet. Tomorrow morning I´m off to the floating islands. I´m going to spend the night there with a local family and return to Puno on Saturday. And then it´s off to Arequipa - Peru´s 2nd largest city, also known as the White City for it´s colonial buildings made of offwhite volcanic rock. I´ve heard great things about Arequipa from other travelers.

So that´s it for now. I´m going to work on some more detailed posts with pictures and then it´s off the bed.

Hasta luego mis amigos.