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Cerro de Pasco, Pasco, Peru

Dear avid constituent, convenient follower, and fortuitous web browswer:what a treat that you've stumbled upon this little memoir of three buddies biking in the andes.  for today marks the 2 week anniversary of our arrival and  thus I believe a special two week recap is in order.  Right now i'm in the bunk of a dingy, cheap and quaint little hostal, with warming appendages, a passing fever, and a steady rain outside.  bottomline, i'm gonna be here awhile recapping highs, los, dos, don'ts best of the best, worst of the worst and, of course, the rabbit trails of anecdotes and overall hogwash that are bound to unfold (i speak on a personal level, but I'll also take liberties to speak for my comrades at times).  So, if that's the kind of sugar that flares up your cavities then crack a cold one, pop open the pickle jar and read on, my friend.  If you're more of a peas and carrots kind of guy or gal, then sadly your time with us might end here, cuz this edition of the three amigos is all about the sweets (and yes, i will painfully stretch this metaphor until my creativity runs dry or I surmise you've grown nauseas of it; which in an ideal cyber world will coincide perfectly).  One last caveat, there may be repeats in here from previous posts on the part of brian. if so, then it's well worth reading twice and consider it as enjoyable as double dipping in the Heluva Good without getting caught.  without further adieu:most fun portion of riding - (sugar type: fudgesickle on a warm day - slippery and messy)Descending the fairly steep, muddy, and mostly rockless trail for about 4 miles the morning after camping in the cloud mist forest on the otherwise arid coast.  The fresh layer of night drizzle and morning mist made it a relative slip-n-slide for our bikes.  You know how when you're a kid and it's pouring outside and you've got a soccer game or a backyard football game going, as a general rule of thumb you can tell which kid had the most fun by who comes in the muddiest and most mom-forsaken come laundry day. If this holds any truth, than we three travelers were jumping out of our britches with glee.  there are, of course, exceptions to the rule; ie. the kid who didn't want to play in the first place, got suckered into going outside, did his darndest to miss every tackle and drop every catch (so as to stay off the ground) and then just before going in gets thrown to the ground and 3/4 suffocated from the inevitable hair-raising, chaos ensuing shout, "PILE ON!!!)  In that case, muddiness indicates quite the opposite of fun. on that particular morning I think  Brian and Steve may have fit this category.  Fortunate for them, our full  fenders reduced most of the muck to our bikes and lower legs.  Furtherly fortunate, the rangers did not ambush us with an "Apila en !!!" shout upon our arrival at the ranger station.other most fun rides:  any down hill, use brakes only when necessary and let gravity do it's job; the first 4 or so hours of our massive, rocky and turbulent descent from our first pass, fun ending right around when we were pegged with rocks by the local hilltribe youth (girls, no less).  this next section falls under the overall sweets category of warheads, or sour patch kids for you old timers. this representing the bittersweetness of our trip so far.most rewarding rides: our insane 11 hour ascent to Pamparomas our first day in the mountains and staying at some 9,000 ft, and during the whole ascent having no idea how far it actually was with having such specifics as "it's far" and "about two hours by bike"... about 8 hours later we were at this little hamlet tucked on the side of the mountain and it felt incredible.  that first day of climbing we were naively ambitious with full heads of steam.  Now that we know what a climb in the andes is like it's a lot more psychologically draining.  for this reason, these climbs can be considered the black licorice of rides; you know they're gonna be awful, but you try it anyway, thinking they've finally improved taste or you've finally grown accustomed.  waking up the next morning to summit the beast at around 14,400 ft was infinitely more exhausting and that much more rewarding.  the eleven hour day prior, coupled with the high altitude set us at a much slower pace and so camping at altitude that night was necessary.  the other most rewarding ride (THE most at a personal level) was the last 2 days.  Now's as good a time as any to get into this one.  I'm sure brian has already done of bit of expounding on the day, but remember that each story has 2 thousand sides or so to it.  mine just so happens to reprensent the thousandth most entertaining version...who knew that when you plan a bike trip during the onset of rainy season, you just might get a bit of rain.  You can see what I'm getting at.  in the mountain region (which we're currently in, everyday, without fail just around noon or so, the  rains set in.  depending what region you're in, they can last about an hour or two, or they can last all night.  the flipside is that every morning is rainless (not a great pattern for a crew that has trouble getting the ball rolling in the morning.  Likewise, who knew that riding in cycling sandals paired with wool socks would do what seems like nothing to keep your feet warm (right now, my dad's saying "i told you so").  when we reached the entrance to Huascaran National park two days ago, we were soggy from rain and already at a substantial elevation (4,000+ meters, maybe 13,500ft).  luckily our friendly ranger friend, Edgar, let us stay in the dry but cold barracks type place.  The next morning we started our epic climb early to we don't know how many meters early so as to try to beat rain.  the altitude kept us at a nice slow rate, as well as the onset of rain and the ensuing mucky stream of a road.  when we reached what we thought was the top of the pass (still not really sure where that was) the weather had turned from a stingy sleet to a very wet snow.  we had summited (so we thought) just before noon and we looked forward to what we thought would be a downhill descent, especially as steve wasn't feeling well.  we did have a short down hill but as time wore on we found ourselves climbing again.  my feet were numb at this point and the decision was made to set up camp in a mossy grassed pasture down off the road.  it was early yet, not even 2, but the group morale had been spent and the unknown road ahead left us tucking tail for the tent.  just as we got the tent up and were all wet and uncomfortable inside it started snowing again, a heavy wet snow that was gone before morning.  Inside the tent starts what was one of the worst nights, grumpiest following mornings, and most desperate half days i've ever lived.  I found my body impossible to warm. shedding the soggy and saturated items for the few remaining dry ones, i curled up in my bag helplessly rubbing my pallid feet together.  mind you it's 2 in the afternoon and all you can do is lay there thinking how cold you are, seperated with the short lived distraction of sell kicking your butt in cards.  afternoon slowly turned to night, and now although your brain is trying to send signals to your body, somehow the cold and the altitude transform that message into a bouncy ball left richocheting off the hall-less walls of your head.  "rub your feet, rub your feet rubyourfeetrubyourfeet.." you think a thousand times before something rises in you making you do it.  this is true of every task... get the advil, check the time, check your pulse, get plastic bags... Eventually i wrap my feet in grocery bags and overtime it seems to help. It is a while before I am cognizant of the fact that my apparently imprisoned   heart is trying feverishly to squeeze through the jail cell of my ribcage. somehow the constant up tempo rhythm is not disturbing, but rather a metronome for thoughts and nonsensical songs:  "eat-a-piece-of-bread" and "estoy un bobo boy" play on repeat for who knows how long, sometimes syncopating with the heartbeats, sometimes in time.  your heart is racing too fast to sleep and you're still too cold so you do what every boy does awake at night...  (get your head of the gutter!!!) you dream about the plethora of ways you will heroically defeat the bad guys intent to sabotage your tent or plunder your bikes.  just before you get to the most realistic scenario, there is a freaking dog outside your tent in the middle of the andes (these dogs here are like nothing you've ever seen, they can smell a gringo from miles away and will hire a taxi if they must, just to get to where they can hound you).  and now after all my dreaming of being a hero and springing from the tent as i dropkick one villain and hogtie the other with my bike lock, all i can think is that the dreams never accounted for a dog.  they're too unpredictable, can't reason with them.  so i lay still and hope he doesn't start tearing into our tent.  at best. he'll pee on my feet and get a little circulation going (since my travelmates won't).  ah, but lucky for that mutt a female voice whistles him away.  and then i start to think about the glacier high above us, and how if the earth's core temp were to increase rapidly on this night, how we'd be washed away in it's watershed; this doesn't seem so bad.  yes, quick and effortless... then  a "crack and crumble" actually resound from the massive sheet.  I was just kidding, i tell the mountain.  i don't want it that way.  then i start to think about what i'll tell you people, yes you reader, don't look so surprised, I think of you more often than you might imagine.  Yes, I know what i'll tell you, you who think "why would you put yourself through this for vacation, for fun?"  oh i already know what i'll tell you, yes the thoughts are coming slow but they've been engrained there so they'll come.  I'll tell you what a successful and influential man once told (and taught) me, "fun is overrated" ... or was it "your feelings are overrated"... i know he said something about both and that was the general attitude towards both. "when i signed up for this trip there was a ton i didn't know (i'd never been on a bike tour), but i knew it wasn't all going to be gravy.  the fun times have been here and many more will come this trip, but it's these times of adversity and downright misery that help me to assess where i am as a person, and hopefully grow in areas of need."  yes, it sounds so good, they'll love it.  i love it, they will too.  won't they? surely my worried mother will take comfort in that.  right?  but now to make it true even if there is no "they" (you) to convey it too.  all i want to do now is have it be morning so i can get off this freaking mountain! "check your heartbeat" has been playing on the radio for an undetermined amount of time.  Only when prompted by the remixed version featuring brian sell with "you alright brett?" perfectly placed at the end of the chorus do i snap out of it for enough time to check my pulse.  102 bpm for a resting heart rate is quite fast for a man my age, let alone any man. (toput that in perspective, i took my pulse days later after descending to low altitude and my resting hr was 52 bpm).  hmmm... is it the cold, the altitude, that piece of bread i ate that had a tinge of gasoline marinade (i was hungry, it was at the top of the bag, the crumbly goat cheese was a tolerable chaser and it was never actually touching the gasoline; relax).  alright, assess the situation.  is there a need to descend immediately? (asks dr.brian).  let's wait just a bit, i just took some blood thinners.  In the meantime, the bikes have foung their way into the tent now, obviouosly upset about being left out in the cold, they are upside down and competing for space in the sleeping bag.  these are the types of miniature dreams that come and go.  if you know me when i get sick you'll say, "yes, very normal for that one.  a bit of a kook when something throws off his system", which is undeniably true as in the past i've seen such things as my roommate transform intot the devil himself and a cool washed cloth placed on my head grow teeth and try to eat me (just to name a couple).  so, bikes trying to snag some blankey?  no biggie, in fact, undertandable.  but this last thing, the sleep apnia type occurrences seemingly every 10 seconds or so... this is intolerable.  i am awake, i am breathing, taking deep breaths, one, two, then i am asleep... i must've been asleep, why else would i be waking up breathless? it's like everytime i begin to fall asleep, my lungs also fall asleep and i stop breathing.  I hear stephen breathing, congested but steady.  the boy's been sleeping since this afternoon (altitude pill=drowsiness).  but how come his body remembers how to breath but mine doesn't.  morning comes, i think i slept a little.  i just want to lay there and do nothing, and would've had i not be encouraged by the guys.  the mountain does this, it sucks things out of you.  the first noticeable thing it steals is your lungs.  I fancy myself to be a bit of an athlete, but the andes don't give two craps about national championships and mile times. it'll physically humiliate you; a mile time up here is liable to end in the 20 - 30 minute ranger or with you passed out unconscious.  but it sucks so much more from you too; you'll get to be where you don't even know what the word champion means let alone what nation you hail from.  It sucks your motivation so that every task takes at least 4 times what it should.  and that's with a travel companion to help you along, "i'll race you to see who can get their sleeping  bag in the stuff sack first..." "k, go" ten minutes later one person is in their sleeping bag and the other is still thinking above moving their arm to grab the stuff sack.  most dangerously, the mountain sucks your will to live.  I'm serious. you know how the life is sucked out of harry potter when those apparition creatures come close?  (most of you probably don't, but those who do are really digging the analogy). or the trance that Froto Baggins undergoes when gripped by the ring?  where do you think these people got these ideas?  i'll tell you, directly from high altitude travelers.  today, as we walked an unridable portion of steep upward road, brian up ahead b/c he was feeling well, me and steve bringing up the rear, i stopped to have a break along the rocks.  and as the sun peeked out for the first time in a couple days, i lay back on the rubble and let the warmth seep into the front of me, while behind me, simultaneously i could feel the will to keep walking seeping out of me into the cool dank cracks of the rock and into the mountain.  before i knew it steve was gone and up ahead, out of sight, i could feel myself closing me eyes and being okay with just laying there, for however long.  had it not been  for the sun absorbing into my black rain pants and giving the sensation of my legs on fire i think i would have stayed there.  but as it was, i rallied myself with the song "you got-ta get up, you got-ta get up, you... until i finally got up and kept walking.  See that's why every harry potter and froto has a ron weasley or sam wise the brave to help him along.  so that when you're down and out they slap you around a bit and get you on track, or even carry you if they have to.  fortunately for me, today i had not only a ron weasley but also a sam wise.  i won't say who's who.  (right now, you're asking does the similar flaming hair give it away. or on the flipside, is it the close relation of keeblers to hobbits?)  also fortunately for me, i was slapped when i needed to and carried at other times.  the lowest low of the day came for me after having pushed my fully loaded bike for at least two hours up a mostly unrideable path with some unruly vertabrae shrieking from behind and threatening to cripple the dynasty, then finding out at the top, that we'd gone the wrong way and would need to go back down. at this point, i'm actually doing okay, i mean sure the initial thought is death, but as a bird enthusiast, maybe it was the exotic ducks skimming the glacial lake nearby that allowed me to shake that frigid news off, like the beading water on their feathers.  but after a turbulent dissent, a further aroused vertabrae, and the vague omission from a passing mountain woman that our destination town was simply "muy lejos de" (very far), I did not heed the words of that afore mentioned wise man who said "seperate how you act from how you feel".  i felt like crap, so i chucked my bike down and layed next to it like a piece of crap.  but, to some credit i did seperate my actions from feelings; i felt like giving up and just sitting on  the mountain until whenever, but i also had some faint desire to get off the mountain under my own bike power, and so i ate the first little bit of food since a tangerine early that morning (altitude also steals appetite).  Then steve hit me with an advil, sell slapped me in the face (metaphorically) and also carried me (taking about 10 pounds out of my panniers and shifting the weight to his).  somehow the combination worked and i was riding with new life, slowly, but with purpose.  we climbed and climbed and for the first time it felt like we were going somewhere.  little by the little the peaks that had looked so jagged and severe, now had a beauty to them. and i knew we would make it out of the park today.  as we veered along the edge of the mountains, crisscrossing from one side of the ridge to the other, somehow we just kept climbing and climbing until FINALLY!!!! "a paved road ahead!!!"  pop the champagne, we will live.  actually, no champagne. just a dry bed, please.  we snake our way down the rain slicked road for an incredible downhill of switchbacks for miles after freezing and fantastically effortless miles until we reach our destination town and our current dingy but dry dwelling, with very friendly hosts.(the mountains are too many candy types to cover; black licorice, sour patch kids, everlasting gobstopper - they last forever, you're never done with them, all you can do is take a break.  fun facts about sell: (candy type- hot tamales) : he's the most warm blooded creature i've ever known.  in freezing snowy weather, when steve and i are both huddled together trying to conserve heat, brian is peeling off the layers like he's got ants in his pants (which i actually did one day during a nap alongside the road). for example, the miserable night that i've just rambled at length about:  after already wearing his untended down jacket, brian took off his fleece (leaving his upper body bare) and offered it to me.  Now, even delirious with altitude sickness and cold, any couthed citizen of the world still has the sense to undergo the civilized formality of favor refusal-offer-refusal-offer-reluctant acceptance.  thinking he was just being nice, i was insistent that he keep his fleece, until i saw him give up and put it off to the side.  then i said to myself, "my god, somehow he's actually hot!" "give me that fleece, i'll put it to use."  later that day, up on the top of a mountain, i stumbled upon brian chilling his bunyons in a glacial lake, just for fun.  best bike accessory purchased for trip:  Marathon tires - without these tires we would've been changing flats within the first 15 minutes after leaving our hostal in Lima, unavoidably cruising over an abundance of glass, miscellaneous trash, metal and other usually tire kryptonite substances. (tootsie pop - thick candy shell, protecting a gooey, delicious innertube center).fun facts about steve (prank butterscotch hard candy, that actually taste like garlic... or foot):  i think as a survival technique, his feet have the uncanny ability to imitate decaying carrion, thus keeping away any reputable earthly creature.  the problem is that the whole trip we've been followed religiously by a growing band of vultures and we've already told you about the problematic dogs.   best meal:  hmmm, a toughy, but i'm pretty sure i speak for the group when i say the pasta bolognese dish served to us by our half crazed and half drunk dinner hosts in huarmey.  the amount of food and the relative quality we'd seen compared to the rest of our trip, for the same modest budget was astounding.  a direct quote from my travel companions, "i'm pretty sure this is the best pasta dish i've ever had... like anywhere".  other companion, with mouth full of meat sauce and bread, "yeah, me too".  now, i have a very italian brother-in-law who makes a mean italian anything dish and a father who prides himself on his bolognese in particular, so i could never be so bold as to make such outlandish and whimsical claims like my travelmates.  but i will say, that situationally (and you all know what i'm talking about when i talk about the situational gratification and pure enjoyment of food - if you don't then you haven't been hungry enough in recent memory to experience such a thing and i suggest fasting for a day or going on a hike with little to no food, possibly getting lost, and then eating the first thing you see when found again and you'll know what  i mean); anyway, situationally, this was up there with one of the best pasta dishes i've ever had. i'm not sure the night had to end with our humble host looking at me as though he wanted to use me in his next delicious bolognese sauce, but hey, that's the way things go sometimes when you eat and run with a semi-bilingual, semi-crazy, fully-drunk, 95% amicable and 5% creepy kinda guy who spoke like a peruvian daffy duck, if you can imagine.  worst meal:  hmm, another toughy, harder than the best meal category.  probably different for all of us.  whichever meal gave us the doubled over, coming out the under - treatment of a lifetime.  for me, i think it was the lukewarm, bland soup that the other two rejected out of hand. for the first two and half weeks of the trip i was food hero, a vegetable hero, really.  the other two avoiding anything that may be suspect; ie. unwashed or washed in contaminated water.   well, you know what, in contrast to the sugary theme of this post i rather enjoy my greens.  so for those first weeks as my wary travelpals unlovingly nudged their tomatoes and limejuice cleansed lettuce to the fringes of the plate, half dangling on the porcelain precipice before the floor, i was always there to scoop the poor little fellers up and give them a proper home in my stomach.  the ironic thing was that they were the ones getting sick while I felt as strong as a waterbuffalo.  even funnier, i would douse my meals with whatever local fire they could conjure to spice up a meal, and still, other than getting quite sweaty, nothing.  well, i learned that you play with fire enough and you get burned.  but i also learned that you play with fire enough and you get callouses which is part of the reason i'm chowing all this stuff in the first place, i gotta get ready for thailand in a couple months.  training begins now.worst collective group meal would have to be the 2 or 3 days in the mountains when we subsisted off of cookie packages and dry cereal.  (and gasoline bread with goat cheese).  believe it or not we got sick of cookies.best night in a peruvian jail:  okay, only night, so far.  but it wasn't as random as some of you might think.  and although steve might like you to believe we were dragged there and held prisoners (to increase his badboy image for the ladies), in truth, the plan to stay at a peruvian jail was premeditated.  sure, hatched earlier that day from a fellow wise and gentle bike traveler we met en route on his four month journey from argentina to his home in el salvador.  he did it all the time as a way to save some moolah.  we were just quick learners.  i really think it was the only option in town though as far as "tourist accomodations" go.  sure our mattresses were riddled with little bed bug connect-the-dot artisans who kept me entertained with different images for the next week or so, and sure the place smelled a bit like urine.  but atleast we had mattresses, and a place  to  urinate (no biggie actually), but we probably had our safest night there over the entire trip.  no one was getting to us or our bikes.  and the guards there were actually really cool with it, agreeing to us staying there within seconds of me asking.  the one dude even sat and talked with us for like half an hour, then watched us play cards for another hour.  i think he was also taking video of us on his camera phone to show to his buddies or put on youtube, keyword search: "stupid american bicycling gringos".  like anyone who spends some time in the slammer, we had some issues:  first off, brian took to character a little too daniel daye lewis, if you know what i mean.  like, it's fine if you wanna put out a little mochismo vibe while your in there, maybe do some pushups, situps or something; you know, let the other fellas know you're not to be messed with.  but when he tried to trade steve two cigarrettes for his bike tires we knew he'd gone too far;  and certainly when he shanked me on my way to brush my teeth.  luckily, i'd been doing a little jailcell workout i like to call "the tyson 15" (oh, just a little something i picked up from mike back when we used to spar together and the subsequent minor terms we served) and so luckily the razor sharp knife that brian had fashioned from a scrap of a half-nudy poster and a bike spoke crumbled upon impact on my abs.   now, our fourth roommate was a different situation altogether. yes, Emilyy was there first, apparently for years, and so she should get first dibs on beds.  i can even understand her hogging the covers, being so scandalously clad and all, but i thought her petite body size made her a great candidate to sleep on the floor, or atleast double up with the other smallest person, brian.  so when she insisted on the biggest unbunked bed, i had to refuse, even if the other guys were too scared to say anything. i mean, she was two-dimensional for God's sake. yeah, so the half-nudy poster brian tried to kill me with, was our fourth roommate, Emily.  but don't worry hannah, i made brian build a virtual great wall of china of bike panniers between his bed and the poster so they wouldn't tempt each other.  and believe me, that wivestale about a picture capturing a moment and preserving beauty, not true.  years and years of sun and probably smoking had done to her skin complexion what it does to every other man and woman on the planet. but hey, i'm sure it's hard to look glamorous in a jailhouse, and out of the four of us she probably had second place locked down.alright this is already way too long and too late. it's gotta go up.  maybe more best of the bests and worst of the worsts later.peace, love and noogiesword to ya mutha!actually word to my mother...mom, this is in response to your understandable overworried motherly blogpost whenever that was... other mom's may read as well, but I wouldn't dare be so forward as to directly state these words to you.ahem,oh mommy dearest,you worry like a fiery and picante curryquick to ignite and burn with mighty furyyou worry like a wort under the knifeor like a woman who's agreed to be billy's wife (my brother)you worry so well others simply can't competethey mutter"oh hell! her worrying's elite"you worry all night and worry all daywhen offspring are sick, injured, or away,so, since it grieves me to see you in such dismal dismay,i wanted to tell you, "mom, RELAX... we're friggin' A-Okay." ma, you worry so much that you don't have ulcers, ulcers have you.you worry so much that you should legally change your name from Eileen to Eiworry.you worry so much that... k, i know i'm getting relentless, but for what it's worth...RELAX.  Now, i know that inorder to re-lax, this implies that you've ever "laxed" in the first place which I would never be so hasty to presuppose you've ever done (since the time you gave childbirth, that is).  so, first... lax. then when you get that good ole' fashioned craving to worry (which may only take 10-12 seconds after laxing), then you can worry (just a little, like less than a minute) then you must force yourself to lax again and thus you can finally experience this re-laxing that everyone keeps raving about.  I think you'll find that as addictive as worrying is, relaxing can be just as, if not more than, addictive.  trust me, i'm relaxing in bed right next to a sleeping steve, after worrying just moments ago whether or not his putrid gas would suffocate me in the night.  what made me able to relax was seeing him climb into his full zip mummy sleeping bag.(although, now that i mention it, i do spy a crucially unzipped 8-10 inch portion that i may have to devise a covert operation to rectify... no pun intended.)  anyway, the point is that you can relax a little now cuz i've sent you this message to gaurantee that all is well.  so, no need to devise any covert operations, k?plus,i'm not sure if you knew this, but me and steve have pretty kick "A" beards right now.  nothing and no one stand a chance against these things.  sometimes, i'm even afraid of my own beard.  i woke up 3 nights ago to my beard holding a plastic airplane knife to my throat, demanding that i first wash him; second, give him my pastry money for the next day; and third, call chuck norris' beard to schedule a title match.  the thing's unpredictable.  yeah, you laugh and say, "i've seen your beard and it's nothing to write home about..." well, guess again.  because i've just dedicated a full paragrah to writing home about my beard.  and the people here respect it.  they see the scruffy, scraggly and partially barren sides and think, "dios mio!  that beard is battle-scarred.  like a dog that comes out of a fight tattered and wearing the medallions of a victor" (trust me we've seen a lot of dogs like this).  how do you think we beat altitude sickness? beards. How do you think we beat explosive diahhrea? beards.  how do you think we beat the Andes and poor spanish comprehension and perpetually dirty underwear and even tamed steve's smelly feet?  beards, beards, beards, and beards... and actually a little help from Axe body spray on that last one, our beards did not want to go near them. but the point is they could've defeated his stinky feet. plus, chicks dig 'em. it's a wonder sell's even made it this long on the trip, or has a girlfriend, or is allowed to be our friend with that sorry excuse of a beard.so the real point is, mom, next time your worried, just think of our manly beards that you'll be able to gawk at in a few short weeks and you will feel a million times better.  heck, it may even make you wanna relax.k. lub ya. bye.the bearded one(actually, one of the bearded ones)(actually, the less beardy of the bearded ones)one of the bearded twops. i was thinking while riding today that planning a trip over thanksgiving to a country that doesn't celebrate thanksgiving was a massive oversight.  so, what are the odds we can have a second thanksgiving upon our arrival back in the states?  or a celebration of the returning prodigal son? or however you wanna work in some turkey, tatters, corn, gravy, cranberry sauce, the other oohs and ahhs, triptophane, an alotted time to lay on the dining room floor and fathom the collective food volume and gluttony managed to squeeze into a human body, and, of course, dad's interjections that he's "just not sure the potatoes were made with love", that will be fine with me.  other parents, i know you're children want the same (minus the personal dysfunctional family ingredients and plus your own).oh yeah,paz, amor, and the soup d'(d's for diahrea) d'jure
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Cerro de Pasco, Pasco, Peru

day 20             32 miles    Today was a day of all up hill.  We started the day kind of early but we still didn't arrive in Cerro De Pasco till 3:30.  We climbed just about 80 miles in the last day!  It was another pretty uneventful day of riding but it was a beautiful canyon that we rode through.  We had good weather too, well actually we have had good weather ever since we left the national park.  When we did arrive in Cerro de Pasco a festival was going on to celebrate the 60th anniversity of the city.  People were all over the place and hostels were filled up.  We ended up finding one by the bus terminal which is really nice actually and we are watching some movie in english right now, it doesn't get better.  We just got back from the celebration where they were having a competition of dancing and music.  It was packed with people and it was really interesting and loud.  THe only problem was brett got pickpocketed when we were going in.  The good thing about it was it was his fake wallet that he specifically took just for this occasion.  Next time we are going to karote chop anyone who tries anything with us.  We also watched some tag team pickpocketing in action which made us decide to leave quickly.  One guy was giving another guy hand symbols and i actually witnessed the guy take something out of someones back pocket.  When we decided to leave we went to dinner and we ended up getting our routine meal of fried rice.  Now we are all in bed getting ready for another day on the road tomorrow.  We only have 5 more days of riding left till we arrive back in Lima.  Then we are off to Cuzco and Machu Pichu and maybe even Arequipa to visit one of Bretts friends for a day or two.  Peace, Love, and english speaking movies
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258929308/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258929308/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258929308/tpod.html Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:36:28 -0500 PERU- into the andes by bike

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Huariaca, Pasco, Peru

day 19   43 miles    We got shot at today by Brett's rear wheel once we finally got on our bikes after 3 hours of getting stuff together and finding a place for breakfast (since our cafe of choice wasn't open).  We didn't leave the hostel till 9 and then a few minutes later brett's rear tube blew up.  Steve and I thought it was a gun shot and we were a bit freaked out especially when we saw brett looking down.  That goodness it was just his tire!  It couldn't have happened at a worse spot though.  We were still in downtown huanuco so while he was fixing it people were gathering around watching and asking questions.  What was even worse were the knatts that were feasting on us.  We ended up having to put on our pants for the 15 minutes it took to fix the flat just because of the stinkin bugs.  As Hannah can attest, I HATE bugs!!!  It was a pretty terrible way to start the day thats for sure!     But once we finally started riding it was a great day.  There was nothing to exciting just good riding.  What helped out was we are all feeling good for once!  Its always a good day when we all feel good.  Mrs. Crompton, you can sleep again!  We were expecting it to be a much harder day since we are climbing from 1900 meters to 4300 meters in two days but it was really nice actually.  We had plenty of flat sections and a few downhills which made the day go by really fast.  The awesome tailwind that was pushing us up the canyon helped out also.  It was all paved and it should be paved the rest of the trip!  According to Brett the most exciting part of the day was a big pebble in the middle of the road.  It was a magical rock supposively, you'll have to ask him about it.  He even took a picture of it as you can see, the only picture of the day.      We arrived in huariaca surprised that me made it around 3:30.  We expected to get here after 5 but it sure was a nice surprise to get here.  While Brett was inside a hostel asking the price Steve and I got to witness a fight.  It was a weak fight, kind of like a hockey fight, they just held onto eachothers shirts and tugged but it was enough to give steve an excuse to hide in the room the rest of the day.  We found a really nice hostel for only 25 soles.  There is only 2 beds but we have our own bathroom and one of the beds is a queen size.  Brett may have angered the owners alittle because at first they told him 25 and then when he went to pay they said 35.  Ofcourse he didn't allow that, maybe in the begining of the trip we  would have fell for it but not anymore.  Then the bike situation didn't help either.  At first they told us we could bring them up to the room then some guy came around and said we couldn't so now they are in the storage room which wouldn't be a problem but we have some work to do to the bikes.  We can't complain though, for 25 soles its definetly the best deal we have had all trip.  We even have peruvian cable to watch and steve can even watch his laguna beach in english!!!  He's in heaven.  tomorrow we have 1500 meters accumilative to get to Cerro de Pasco according to the Cook's (the canadians) spreadsheet they sent us.  We have been religiously reading that and it most definetly helps with our planning of the days.  So much easier than when we were on the coast.  Its only a 30 mile ride so hopefully we get there somewhat early and we can find another grocery store  to fill up on snacks and cookies again.  Thats my favorite part of the cities, they have decent size grocery stores that you can find just about anything i need for riding, i.e: many different kinds of cookies.edit:  So last night ended up being pretty exciting.  Brett and I went for a walk around the town and we ended up playing a little volleyball with the locals.  We ended up getting our butts kicked by a bunch of girls.  We were holding back ofcourse!  After the game we were then surrounded by kids and all they wanted to hear was michael jackson songs,haha.  So brett and I sang enough micheal jackson to last us the rest of our life.  Not saying we knew many, just beat!  It was a fun night and it was topped off with some steak fried rice that we barely could finish because we got so much!  Thats our new staple by the way, arroz chaufa, so good.Peace, love, and peruvian cookies 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258686215/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258686215/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258686215/tpod.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:49:41 -0500 PERU- into the andes by bike

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Huánuco, Huanuco, Peru

Yesterday was a  tough day with lots of climbing involved.  The riding was great and the road was perfectly paved but by the end of the day we were just ready to be in a bed.  We ended up doing somewhere around 60 miles to get to the small town of chavinilla which we had one heck of a time finding a hostel.  Once we finally did find one it was dark and the only room they had was a two bed cubicle.  10 soles was all it was worth especially since the towlets were just holes in the ground!  But  we survived the night sort of.  Brett had terrible pains in his stomach all night long and finally had to use the hole in the ground which we were all trying to avoid.  It was a tough morning for him and we didn't get out till around 930 after waking up at 6.  Once we did start riding it was slow going and we only did 4.5 miles in 2 1/2 hours not because of the climb but because of how sick brett was.  But we kept pushing  because all we wanted to do was spend another night in that stinkin hostel.  We finally made the pass that lead us to Huanuco but we still had a long 25-30 mile downhill ahead of us to town which is at 1900 meters.  Thats a bit of a relief since we have been well about that for the last week.  It was a good downhill but every bump made brett feel even worse.  The only problem with it was it was pretty dang muddy, i had to take my rear wheel off twice just to clear the mud from my fenders so i could ride again.  After 30 miles of downhill i made it into town before brett and steve so i could find a hostel for the night and the two sick birds didn't have to worry about roaming around the city looking for a hostel.  That can really suck when you are tired, and it really sucks when you are sick.  But we are all feeling better tonight especially after our burgers for dinner.  The burgers are a bit different here, they usually come with a fried egg on top.  Its really good, the states should catch on to the fad!  Tomorrow we are taking the day off and maybe finding a hostel with a hot shower instead of this one.  We only have two beds here also, so three would be nice.  I am voting for another pizza night, i don't think it will be two hard to convince the others either!  Peace, love, and days off
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258680648/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258680648/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258680648/tpod.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:11:51 -0500 PERU- into the andes by bike

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Huallanca, Huanuco, Peru

Day 14-15   We are most definetly in the andes!!!  The riding has been tough and the scenary has been amazing even if its been cloudy ever since we entered the national park.  Steve and Brett both were feeling the affects of altitude the last two days so they weren't able to enjoy it as much as i have.  I loved just about every section even with the rain and snow.  Yesterday when we left Carpa we started climbing and, climbing we ended up doing pretty much the rest of the day.  The area was absolutely amazing, some high peaks would peak out of the clouds every once and awhile and the low clouds actually made for a good look.  Once we made it over the first pass, which it was snowing at the top of, we kept riding until around 2.  This area was mainly downhill until we started climbing up to the next pass.  We didn't make it long on the second climb though until we decided to start setting up camp.  We got it up just in time to jump inside the tent before the snow began.  Our spot was pretty amazing though, once it stopped snowing we could see a glacier from inside our tent.  We were able to hear it cracking throughout the day and night. It ended up being a pretty long day in the tent though but we passed the time with napping and playing pregunds (or something like that, one of bretts card games).  Steve mainly napped and i think he slept from 3 to the next morning.  For Brett and I it was a bit more of a restless night sleep.      But the morning did come and off we went again into the foggy abyss.  Brett was really feeling it today and taking the wrong turn up a pass did not help the situation.  We ended up turning up the wrong pass thinking it was the one we were waiting for the last two days but once we got up and over it we found out we were wrong.  Soooo, we ended up riding this pass twice, great fun.  But it did lead us to a beautiful lake with a glacier looming over it.  This was definetly a low part for all of us especially seeing the climb we had ahead of us in the right direction.  The rest of the day after the wrong pass we followed a ridge line all the way to the correct pass.  The ridge was amazing with peaks all around us and valleys that didn't end.  Even Brett in his weak stage commented on how awesome it was.  And to top off the great riding along the ridge we had a downhill to the pass that we were expecting all day.  Its not often that you get to ride downhill to a pass!  To make things even better we came upon some great pavement that lead us all the way to the town we are in now, huancallo.  It was a long switchbacking decent all on pavement for something like 6 or 7 miles.  Maybe more, we didn't pay attention to our computers.  It winded down a great canyon with plenty of views and even some blue sky and sun which is the first we saw since Huaraz!  When we got into town the first thing on our agenda was food, we haven't had anything substantial for the entire day so we were ready for some trout.  The best lunch we have had all trip, or maybe it was just the situation.  But tonight we are staying in a hostel/resteraunt for 10 soles each and loving every second of it out of the cold and rain!Peace, Love, and pista
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258679562/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258679562/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258679562/tpod.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:07:01 -0500 PERU- into the andes by bike

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Carpa, Ancash, Peru

Day 13    hace muy muy frio!!!  Today started off inocent enough with lovely weather and easy enough riding but mother nature had some nasty stuff to throw at us.  Immediatly when we turned off the main road to start heading into the national park things started to change.  It rained the  entire time we were on the dirt road that led to the entrance of the park.  The road was beautiful though and i must say i enjoyed most of the days riding even if it was raining and cold.  I didn't enjoy the road surface that much though.  We had to push our bikes up one or two of the small inclines just because there was too much loose gravel and water.  The road would have been fine if it wasn't for the rain i think.  So It did suck but the scenary made up for it.  It felt like we were in Scotland today.  We have been in many countries so far this trip which we were joking about today.  Some parts of the desert reminded us of Morrocco (sand dunes), other parts, Afghanistan (the desert mountain scenary looks just like the pictures you see from there).  Today i felt like i was in Jackson, WY riding in the snake river canyon again with its stark steep mountain sides (the river canyon from huaraz).  Brett said he felt like he was in new zealand again on the dirt road today because of the scenary and sheep.  Its been one heck of a trip and we have been in all kinds of climates and countrys!     Tonight we are staying at the park entrance in one of the buildings for free.  Its pretty sweet but there is only one bed so me might have to fight over it.  Brett and Steve are already asleep and its only 5:45, both of them are snoring.  Atleast they stopped complaining about how cold they are!  Once again we are staying above 4000 meters(about 12,000 ft i think), its 4100 right here and tomorrow we are riding a pass that tops 4700 meters.  We have plans of waking up early (like 5-5:30 because its always nice in the morning till around 2 or 3 o'clock then it begins to rain usually.  So we are going to try and get most of our riding in from now on in the morning.  We will see how it goes though!Peace, Love, and llevor (maybe thats how you spell it)                 rain
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258149009/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258149009/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258149009/tpod.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:57:13 -0500 PERU- into the andes by bike

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Pamparomas, Ancash, Peru

day 8     What a day!!!  We woke up and got out of the jail by 6 but we didn't arrive to where we are now till 5:30, needless to say it was a long day.  We averaged 5 mph all day long and only went 34 total miles in 11 hours today.  Right off the bat we started climbing and we were all in a good mood because the scenery and the area was really unbelievable beautiful but after about 4 hours at 5 miles an hour we started getting tired and hungry.  We just kept going and going and everyone we asked how far this town was told us 2 hours by bicycle. Now i know to take this kind of advice with a grain of salt so i didn't pay much attention to it but it was kind of funny because the first person who told us that probably couldn't even have driven a car here within 2 hours.  Then the last person who told us atleast 2 hours was not even an hour away, and she told us 2 hours was by car!  But it was beautiful and we did have fun.  We all had our moments of pure hatred for our bicycles but then there were times when we looked back down the valley and we forgot about the pain we were in.  It was a good hard long day that hopefully will get us ready for the next two or three weeks of mountains.  Tonight we are in Pomparomas and we are staying at the church of David Johnston.  He is from Canada? and we met him in the begining of the day when he was driving down the mountain while we were riding up.  He invited us to stay the night with him and two other americans, Andy and Katelyn.  They are very nice and Andy lived in Allentown for the summer so we talked to him about the area.  He loves Yoccos too and he actually has some friends that we all graduated high school with.  It was a bit of a concidence that we met him in such a small town!  Its been fun talking to them and we just got back from dinner at one of the local resteraunts.  It looks like a bike shop out the door cause we are cleaning our bikes, lubing the chain so they can get even worse tomorrow and brett might have a flat that we can't find the puncture in the tube.  So tomorrow the bike shop might be open bright and early to fix that.  We still have about 4,ooo feet of climbing yet to get up and over the 13000 ft pass then hopefully we will be in Yungay for the night.  Well after climbing 9000 ft on a sometimes rough dirt road, without any sort of substational downhill all day, i think its time for bed.Peace, love, and antipisto
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258149731/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258149731/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258149731/tpod.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:03:42 -0500 PERU- into the andes by bike

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Huaraz, Peru

Day 9-10-11     Wow, the last 2 days have been rough to say the least.  Day  9 started like day 8 ended and we climbed all day again for a stinkin 20 miles.  We finally reached the pass at around 5:15 so we had no choice but camp up on the pass for the night, at a mere 4400 meters!!!  It was a beautiful night overlooking the cordillera blancas and the sunset was amazing. The only problem was we really weren't ready for that altitude, atleast not for camping.  It was a restless night but we survived and the next morning was when we started feeling it.  We were out of breath from doing the simplest things!  But the next day promised to be all downhill, which it was, but...  The road was absolutely terrible!  We averaged 6 mph for the entire 20 mile downhill!  Instead of taking breaks because our legs were tired we were taking breaks because our hands were tired and our rims were getting hot.  It was probably the roughest road we have been on, it was beautiful to say the least and we did have fun for a good part of it,  But there was the times when we just wanted to throw our bikes off the side of the road into the vast abyst.  I never thought i would get sick of a downhill but yesterday i did especially after some kids decided to throw rocks at us when we were riding by.  But at the end of the dirt road we were greeted with a nice surprise, a nice smooth paved road with plenty of downhill still ahead of us.  Thats bicycle touring for ya, lots of emotional ups and downs.  It was nearly 2 miles long with lots of switchbacks and long straight sections to pick up speed, it was amazing!  Once we finally made it down we still had another 40 miles to get to our destination of Huaraz which is where we are now.  But the first thing in our agenda was to get some lunch and inca cola which we are addicted to now.  We sampled the famed trucha (trout) of this area and it was very good after you get past the part where you get the entire fish on your plate.  Steve and I never experienced that before.  After lunch we had to get back on the road, which was paved, and ride a fast 40 miles to get to Huaraz before dark.  It was tough with lots of little ups and downs that really tired us out especially after the last few days.  But we made it just in time and here we are staying at jos places.  It's a really nice place with a big grassy area in the middle and we got our own room for 45 soles.  Last night we needed a change from the usually chicken, rice, and potatos meals we've been having for lunch and dinner for the last week now so we splurged and got ourselves a pizza each.  It was definetly the most expensive meal we have had so far but it was well worth it!  TOday i think the game plan is to do as much laying around as possible and finally take a  break after 9 days straight of riding.  Oh and this morning we ate our breakfasts of pastries to the sights and sounds of the killing and butchering of chickens, good start to the day and what a way to help with your appetite.Peace, love, and beds, mmmm beds 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258148431/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258148431/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1258148431/tpod.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:46:24 -0500 PERU- into the andes by bike

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Moro, Ancash, Peru

Day 7      42 miles   We are spending the night in Peruvian jail. Today started off really nicely for all of us though.  Brett went to the ruins with a put put taxi driver for the morning and steve and I veged around until he returned.  Brett had a great time since the driver spoke english and gave him a 3 hour tour of the ruins.  He hung out and joked around with all the peruvians at the ruins and all and all had a good time.  steve and I on the other hand woke up around 9, went online for a half hour then got the much needed rest we needed.  We didn't leave the town till around 1:30 and pushed on to were we are now, Moro.  Along the way we ran into another touring cyclist who is riding from patagonia to el salvador, his home country.  His name was Marcella.  The day was pretty good and we turned towards the mountains finally.  One of the last towns we rode through today was celebrating some sort of holiday and everybody was in a festive mood drinking lots and lots and dancing all over the place.  We sampled some chica which is the local drink given to us by one of the many very short old ladies roaming around the town.  There seemed to be different groups of people all dressed up in bright colors and costumes, dancing and playing music.  It was one heck of a site.  We stayed for a good while until we decided to ride on to the next small town with the light dwindling.  The road was terrible, just as bad as the one we rode a few days ago but we made it Moro and here we are.  There is no hostel here so we asked at the police station if we could stay with them for the night and they agreed.  So now we are spending the night in peruvian jail by our own choice!  Tomorrow is going to be an early morning because we accidently told them we are leaving bright and early at 6 am.  But thats ok, we have a long day of climbing into the mountains on a pretty bad dirt road ahead of us.Peace, love and peruvian jail
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1257776608/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1257776608/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hannahandbrian/8/1257776608/tpod.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:27:05 -0500 PERU- into the andes by bike

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Casma, Ancash, Peru

day 6       54 milesHello friends,we three young men have learned a many things thus far on this eye opening adventure (and we're not even a week in yet!).  I'll mention a few of these lessons in sufficient depth later, but for now I'll focus a few sentences on a lesson learned late late last night.  Dogs have played somewhat of a interesting role in our time here so far.  As Brian rightly noted days ago, "the dogs here have their own agendas".  Most of them don't really belong to anybody.  they navigate the bustling streets with places to go, people to see, and feces to leave (thankfully we all  have full fenders/mud guards on our bikes).  today after arriving to our destination town for the day, Casma, steve witnessed a dog gang fight between three dogs, one of which was jumped by the other two when he came swagging his flea ridden tail into their part of town.  Needless to say, the dogs are a force to be reckoned with down here, just as much as the speeding trucks and the tourist seeking hustlers.  And so last night, at 4 in the morning when one dog was singing his doggy blues to the town of huarmey from right outside our hostal window, it was difficult to know how to react.  1) you can't really be mad at the owner (as steve most certainly was, "i am going to kill that dog's owner!") because that dog most likely does not have an owner.  2) it's even kind of hard to be mad at that dog (at least later in the day when you've cooled down a bit) for the same reason that that dog doesn't have an owner and has probably lived a hard canine life of searching for food and being kicked by shop owners.  but, at 4 in the morning it's so easy to hate that dog.  I considered resorting to a tactic i used in college to deal with rowdy crows perched outside my window in the morning, but decided that even though most peruvians would not understand the obscenities i shouting, i didn't want to risk the chance of drawing more attention to the only gringos in town (plus, I'm a college graduate now and way more mature than that).  the real lesson i learned last night relates to a billy collins poem i love so much. it's entitled, "another reason I don't keep a gun in the house".  as i lay there last night i couldn't help but think that besides the fact that it's illegal to bring firearms into another country, and besides the fact that any situation where i would need a gun would almost certainly be  magnified and more troubled by the fact that i had brought a gun, this was just one more great reason not to bring a gun to peru.  because if i had, something most certainly would've died or wounded, or at the very least scared last night.  so, after we had a group anger venting session in the morning we cooked our eggs (only one broke during our travels the day before), ate our rock hard peruvian donuts, and realized our water purifier was broken.  luckily we had a back up purifier whose effectiveness had been untested to this point, resulting in us glancing around at each other as if to say, "drink up buddy and let me know how you're bowels are feeling".  so good thus far, and even better  news we got our other purifier working again. so we hit the road, and on the way out of town weren't surprised to see that our hospitable extremely inebriated hosts from the night before had not risen to  greet the day yet.  which was a bit of a relief to me (they were fun but crazy).  time on the road today was relatively uneventful.  some gradual uphills that look flat but are most certainly not and absolutely kill your morale, but also some unbelievable down hills; one almost 4 miles long (you don't know how awesome that is on 50-60 mile ride through the desert).  we were also fortunate to have a pretty killer tailwind later in the afternoon that helped us along up until we hit town where he changed teams and was playing against us, traitor.  we had some great stretches that ran close to the coastline, with it's more than occassional beautifully treacherous seaside cliffs and thrashing waves.  it's hard to explain the beauty of a desert.  there's times when the wind rippled dunes and surrounding barren mountains have such a modest beauty, so plain and unadorned.  and other times those same settings look ugly and banal.  these are usually the times when you're most tired, most hot, most hungry and all you can think is, "get me the hell out of the desert.  why would anyone choose to live here?"  after getting settled in to our hostal today - (we cut hostal searching time in half b/c Sell has learned the essential words for conveying the need for a room for one night, for three guys at the cheapest price (mas economico), oh and a place for the bikes.  I ask at one place, brian asks at the place across the street and steve stands guard at the bikes, looking mean and huge with beard and mandatory no-helmet (he looks more BA with no helmet)-  we had a nice veg out time in the room.  we've developed a bit of a routine:  unload the bikes, lock the bikes, take off restricting bike shorts, use bathroom and veg.  veg time usually consists of 1) napping 2)journaling 3)watching american movies in spanish (if we have a tv) 4) commenting on how much steve's feet reek and 5) mining the rock hard nose gems that the dry dry desert helps deposit throughout the day.  today, after telling steve to keep them off the path to the door because i was concerned about stubbing my toe on one on the way to the bathroom, he hurled one outside the window the size a baseball and twice as hard only to hear shattering glass and crying peruvian babies.  downed a few peruvian hambergueasas for dinner and talked to Peter the Peruvian tuk tuk driver for a while.  he practiced his english and we practiced our spanish.  we may hire him to take us to the local ruins in the morning.  sorry it was such a longee, i was gonna recap some personal highlights from the prior 4 or 5 days but will save it for another day.hope all is well on the homefront or wherever ye may be.peace, love and chaffagethe three gringos, i mean amigos    
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