Monday, March 2, 2009

its a small world after all....

for the last two and a half days we have been in cusco. its a really cool city. we were supposed to be couchsurfing with this nice guy named wilman but since i was not feeling well we decided for everyones sake we would go to a hostal. sister mouse went on a tour of the sacred valley yesterday, while i stayed in bed and tried to get rid of this migrain. today i feel much better though. since cusco is built into the side of the mountain we decided to go to the top and shop our way down. it was so much fun. we had no idea where we were going so we always took the direction of down. we stopped at a delicious cafe for lunch. popped into part of a catholic mass. and as darkness fell and we decided we should probably hail a cab and go back to our hostal, we looked up and low and behold...it was in front of us! it is a small world after all. and God does a good job of keeping an eye on us.

originally we were supposed to go up to machu picchu this morning but there was some kind of strike going on and the roads were closed. so we have a minor change of plans, we are going up early tomorrow and coming back late tomorrow night. our couch surfing host arranged everything for us and is picking us up at 6am. on wednesday we fly to puerto maldonado and prepare for our jungle adventure. there sure is a wide variety of things to do in this counrty!

Notes of importance so far:
1. with the exception of some nicer restaurants and shops nobody takes credit cards.
2. to make things more complicated, not everyone always accepts the national currency of Nueve Sols. sometimes they only take american dollars. so its hard to figure out how much sols you need and how much dollars.
3. everything here is incredibly cheap. you would not begin to believe how much you can get for 1 sol (0.31).
4. the peruvian people are very short. most dont come above my shoulder. and therefor my feet hang off the end of all the beds about a foot.
5. these have been the kindest most helpful people i have ever met. every single person we have met has bent over backwards to help us. peru wins the ¨nicest¨ award
6. cuy is on every menu. cuy is guinea pig. its named after the sound it makes (probably whiles its being roasted over an open fire..) still havent eaten it...not planning on it...
7. sister mouse loves her some llamas.
8. there is an unbelieveable amount of stuff to do in this country!
9. my spanish is getting a little better, however i wish i would have learned more before i came.
10. we miss and love you guys.

xoxo,
the (soon to be) queens of the jungle!

5 comments:

Kim said...

Ok, this is attempt number eight or nine to post. I just wanted you to know that just because I haven't been commenting TO you, I have been talking ABOUT you quite a bit (most recently to Scott). I can't wait to read about the jungle adventure! Living vicariously through both you and sister mouse has brought a breath of fresh air this cold, cold week at Purdue.

Father of Sister Mouse said...

n't wait to see your pictures and talk to you when you get back. Please call me when your back in IN and let me know your ok. Thanks! Love, Mom

Scott_A said...

Are you kidding me? You're not eating the cuy? I might go there just for that! They have this great little festival where the dress them up, put on a fashion show with awards, and then eat them... That seems like it'd be the perfect match for you City Mouse - fashion (from USA) and eating anything that moves (from China experiences) as you travel in yet another continent. Maybe you can bring some back...
:)

I'm glad you're feeling better - go enjoy the jungle!

Melody said...

Sooo, if not everyone takes Nueve sols...does that mean you can just carry around American dollars or do some people only take Nueve sols?

Guinea pigs are too cute to eat. That just seems wrong. Even more wrong than eating rabbit. I don't know why.

Father of Sister Mouse said...

Dearest Daughter, Mother saw that there was a mud slide somewhere in Peru would you please have Nicole mention that you are safe. Love Dad