Peruvian Venture: Phase Dos

We managed to make it to the next part of the adventure - Cuzco, the ancient Incan city in the high Andes. It´s a dramatic change from the past 2 weeks in the amazon. I pulled out my winter clothing for the first time and am so relieved that I brought poofy, my big down jacket. It´s a trip thinking that just yesterday we took a local river boat taxi near the amazon river, up to a nearby island to check out a kind of peruvian ¨zoo¨. I was glad to make it out of there without getting anything stolen from monkies (yes, they were running around freely and if yoúre not watching, they´ll snatch anything from your hands or in your pockets and run up the tress). We´ve managed to make it around ¨local style¨, walking through the little towns, and learning not to take the first taxi that approaches you since they´ll most likely charge you 5 times more than you need to pay. I´m simply amazed at just how dire conditions that most people in the jungle live in. Their houses are typically four slabs of wood (and concrete if you´re fancy) with roofs made of thatching from dried leaves of some sort. Most people hang out on the square most nights because they can´t afford indoor entertainment like television, which we all take for granted.

But I´m happy to be in a new place that doesn´t kill my lungs from all the soot and motorcar pollution. I can finally breathe and the mountain air is oh so refreshing.