Sorry for leaving you all hanging on the last entry of our international blog and wondering whether we made it back from Peru. It took us a little while to finish as we've been busy back in the US and also just didn't want to come to the realization that our international adventure was over.
The last week of our trip went by just as quickly as the rest of it all did. We continued life at high elevation by heading to Puno, Peru. Puno is most famous for being near Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is officially the highest navigable lake in the world and unofficially the most fun name of a lake to say.
 |
| The view from the roof our hotel in Puno |
We decided to explore the lake by taking a boat ride across part of it and then kayaking around some of the more undeveloped coast line. It was really cool to see how big the lake is and to paddle around. After our paddle we ate a traditional meal that was cooked underground in clay pots. On the boat ride back we got to stop at one of the floating island villages and see how the people live out there. We were told it was a "non touristy" floating village, but based on how quickly all the villagers pulled out their hand made tourist souvenirs, I don't think we were the first foreigners ever to set foot on the island.
 |
| Ashley making friends with the local kids |
 |
| Master kayaker |
 |
| Paddling along the shoreline |
 |
| Our kayaking group for the day |
 |
| The dream team, Bryce got booted to a single boat |
 |
| The view from our lunch spot |
 |
| Our lunch is under that mound of dirt, now dig, Ashley! |
 |
| Mmmmm, dirt. |
 |
| Reed island. We tried to get a soccer game going, but the field space was limited. |
 |
| This guy is the chief of the island |
She's having fun, this is just what she looks like when you point a camera at her
The next day after exploring Puno on foot for a little while we took a bus ride to Arequipa, which is the second largest city in Peru. We also got a pleasant surprise when our friends Pete and Christina ended up in Arequipa after being denied entry to Bolivia since they didn't have their yellow fever vaccines. Bolivia's loss was our gain as we got to hang out with our friends for a few more days.
We started our first day by doing a walking tour around the city and getting to see the sights. Arequipa had many old beautiful buildings and a great backdrop with the 20,000 foot volcanos behind the city.
The main square in Arequipa
Volcano Misti
On the tour we also learned about a great place to get drinks and watch the sunset, which did not disappoint. After our sunset drinks we headed to our next watering hole, which was a craft beer bar and also a gourmet chocolate shop. They had the best beer we've had anywhere on our international trip and delicious chocolate chip cookies.
View from our sunset drink location
Our vaccineless buddies were forced to hang out with us a little longer
Ashley watching over the city like a freaking superhero
A couple of the beers from the great selection at Chaqchao
The next day was a sad one as it was Ashley's last day with us in Peru. We did some last minute shopping and got one last pisco sour before Ashley had to catch her flight back home. It was awesome having her along with us and hope that she'll be back with us on another adventure in the future.
The last adventure of our trip was heading out to the Colca Canyon, which according to its advertisements is the deepest canyon in the world, but is in fact about 100 feet shy of the title. The bus ride out was quite an adventure in itself as we went up and over a 16,000 foot pass and made many stops to pick up every farmer and vendor along the way. It was incredibly beautiful going through the mountians and then dropping down towards the canyon.
Heading up over the pass
Heading into the town of Chivay
That baby llama rode in the luggage compartment.
We spent the next day exploring the canyon. Gina, Pete and Christina made the steep descent down into the canyon, and as I had gotten sick on the way there, just explored from around the rim.
Down in the canyon
A view down the very steep trail
The Sangalle Oasis at the bottom of Colca Canyon
Pete and Christina on the way back up
Gina made it back to the top!
The view from Cabanaconde
The next day was our last in Peru. We had an even more exciting bus ride back to Arequipa, as we hit another bus at the beginning of the journey and then the bus broke down towards the end of the journey.
We had one last amazing Peruvian dinner with Pete and Christina and made a trip back to our favorite beer bar. We went back to our hotel, packed up and got a couple hours of sleep before our alarms went off at 3:30 so we could catch our 5:45 am flight out of Arequipa.
It was a very long trip home as we had three flights and eight hours of layovers. The bright side was that we somehow lucked out and found first class tickets that were less than economy and particularly enjoyed the first class lounge in San Salvador.
After 24 hours of travel and our friend, Shashi, being a superstar and picking us up at the airport, we made it back to Woodacre. And after 135 days on the road our international trip was over.
We are incredibly grateful for the adventure and everything we got to see and do. We're also very excited about continuing our adventure this summer in the US and returning to life in the Bay Area once summer is over.
We'll probably post some pictures from the summer here at some point, but for now, the blog in this form is over. Thanks for reading, commenting, liking, sending us messages and thinking good thoughts.
All the best,
B and G
