I spent the night of 20 October on the plane to Peru. By my own rating scale for international flights, Delta scored very poorly. They never handed out any hot towels. On the morning of the 21st, I met Fiona in the Peru airport and we headed outside. My roommate from college, Luis, was there to meet us with his girlfriend, Karem. It was five o'clock in the morning and they went above and beyond the call of duty.
Fiona and I hung out with Luis and Karem for a few days. They are the best hosts and I highly recommend them if you are ever in the area. We went to the movies, hung out in the fashionable mall area and went on a nice city tour. Fiona and I also joined the South American Explorers Club and visited a church and a museum.
Last Monday, we took the bus up to Huaraz. It was an eight hour bus ride and cost about $15, but it was worth it. The bus was very clean, they served lunch, we watched two movies and even played bingo. I can handle this first class travel.
We are now at 10,000 feet above sea level and are spending a few days to acclimatize. Yesterday we went on a four hour walk into the hills for practice. Today we bought lots of food and are getting our things together for a walk in the mountains.
Tomorrow we will take a bus to Yungay and then another one east to a little town that starts with a V. Then we have planned four days of walking in the mountains. We will walk almost thirty miles and cross a really high mountain pass. I hope it goes well. It should be fun.
I have spent six of the last twelve months in Nepal and India, so I find myself comparing Peru to those countries. By Indian standards, Peru is quite rich, so far as I have seen. I have been impressed with how well the transportation works. Also, Lima is a reasonably clean city with some very nice areas.
I'll let you all know how the walk goes next week.
Internet access is well under two dollars an hour and not too uncommon, so feel free to e-mail me all you want.
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