Our last days...
Chilling in Cusco

Finally, on our last day we had downtime. We had nothing that we absolutely had to see and decided to stay in town, so we slept in until 8 am. Ah, vacation.

Walking down the street of our hostel.

We stayed in San Blas, a convenient neighborhood on top of a hill with lovely views and quiet, narrow streets.

Our favorite drawings by a local artist at the contemporary museum.
There was also a convention on climate change which was intriguing to me since I just taught two units on climate this past year.

Hanging out in the center of town in Plaza de Armas.

We read, journaled and wrote postcards until the sun went down and it turned cold. Then we went to an amazing restaurant, Ciciollina, recommended by my friend, Natalie. Anyone visitng Cusco should definitely go (more than once)! Finally a purely relaxing day and a lovely way to end our stay in Cusco. A day and a half exploring Cusco was fine. It was a bit larger than expected, and a little too touristy but very pleasant nonetheless.

Lima: 12 hours in transit

En route back to the states, Shinae, Andrew and I had a 12 hour layover in Lima so we decided to taxi into the city center and explore some more.

City center.

After going through some sketchy parts, we arrived at the city center which was decent looking.

Hanging out in the public park with locals.

We spent most of our day chilling here watching families hang out on this Saturday. It was actually nice to get out of touristy Cusco get a glimpse of everyday life. We even stumbled upon a gastronomica (food) festival! We kept eating and eating (fried yuccas, rice pudding, flan, corn nuts, churros).

French fries anyone?

One of the joys of traveling is that you just never know what you are going to see... potatoes being transported out of a taxi to a chain fast food restaurant similar to McDonalds because that's how they roll in Peru.

We were really glad to go into a different part of Lima. We got a broader aspect of Lima and Peru and normal city life. We were pleasantly surprised that we enjoyed Lima this much.

Home?

My backpack that traveled around Peru with me.
I even got my sleeping back to fit in there too!

I returned home to Brooklyn, but I had only lived here for a little over a month so it didn't quite feel like home yet. So, I was a little confused as to where I was returning "home" to. I was starting a new job yet again. I have to stop doing this (the new job, not traveling). Work has been a little insane, which is why week 2 of Peru is 4 months late.

I don't think we will forget the Peruvian cities, towns and countryside nor the skies, waters and mountains and the wonderful people. What more could we want?

Of course the never ending question - what next? As normal, I usually decide a month or so before taking off. What I do know is that I will NOT be working next summer. I need a break from this insane teaching. Sharlene and I would love to do a 10 year reunion in Copenhagen, explore more of Europe and Morroco. I would also love to go back to South America and peruse Argentina and Patagonia. We shall see. Until next summer ...

Shinae, Andrew, Sharlene and I took on Peru!
It was awesome to travel with you guys!!! Thanks for the good times!