Cusco, while its fresh in my mind.

Lets talk about the Cusco trip.. where I might have slept a total of 5 hours... That is exaggerating, but not much



The cool thing about the trip was that my friend Polina actually came from the states to accompany me and see Machu Picchu. We have been good friends for a while and it was cool that she came by from that far. She took part in one of the coolest trips ive had (I dont have many)



So we got to Cusco on Friday, and immediately we decided to go to the market to get some food... even though our all knowledgable leader Marion told us to rest (we ignored her foolishly).

If you dont know, Cusco is a city that is roughly 3,350 M... lets divide that by 1600 and we got roughly 2 miles high... lets convert that to feet and wha!!? we are almost 11,000 feet up in the air... when Lima is sea level...



With all that said, i nearly fainted while eatin at the market.. and had to immediately go home to rest and turn a little in my bed because my stomach couldnt digest the cheese.. im sorry for my foolishness, Marion



Melvin, the other chill leader of CIEE, knows this man named Kike` who played 20 somethin different types of native instruments in front of us at a really cool place in cusco... it was spectacular, one of the best performances of music I could have listend to in 30 minutes or so. He also runs a completely donated school for andian children that we would visit the next day.



So the night was better, and i promised myself to not eat until lunch... but that didnt stop me from drinking a little... or... yeah, a little...

so that was done and we had some drinks and went outside just to see a drum circle playin some cool beats.. we sat around, some people played with them from our group, and enjoyed the atmosphere.. which was gettin better and better.. and it got better



note: most of the people there had dreadlocks.



so i was definitely into the music in cusco, until a cool girl from the bar place told us there would be a fusion band that would have some native instruments mixed with rock... WHAT!?! im there..



so we went upstairs to see like 10 people up on stage rockin out some tunes from america and i went nuts... there was an electric lead guitar, a small guitar from latinamerica, a saxophone, two andian flutists, a bass, singer, and a cajon (a box kinda) that did the beat... man they rocked.. it was me, Polina, samantha, matt, and tyler... and you could ttell we were totally feelin it



i have never rocked out to music like that.. it was one of the best vibes ive ever had...



next day, i slept maybe 4 hours and we were off to the donated school, which ill talk about later because i loved it so.. we also visited a huge white jesus statue openin its arms to cusco.. then nightlife.. i listened to a band that played ALL classic rock... some led zepplin, pink floyd, good doors, one strokes song, deep purple and maybe one more... but yeah it was sweet i was definitely into that... but we had to get some sleep... Machu Picchu tomorrow!!



note: the singer sounded just like the bands... impressive, which also happened in a pink floyd cover band i listened to (later i guess)



so next day, me and polina took an hour and half taxi to ollantaytambo, where the train would take us to machu picchu... let me tell you that this trip surpassed the mesa verde passage in Colorado when i went to Telluride from Durango.. it was magnificent.. and we talked some with our taxi, Alfredo, who loves canadian families ??? i didnt ask.



I have lets say, 180 pictures of my machu picchu trip, and machu picchu is as wonderful as they say, i mean its not just the remains of the people that is beautiful, it is the entire atmosphere.. can you imagine walking for 4 days without civilization to find a beautiful gathering of buildings on top of a mountain surrounded by mountains.. man, i was feelin it.. me, meghan, matt, and tonisha decided to walk up to the gate of the sun, an hour walk straight up the mountain to get to the place where the 4 day hike Inka Trail ends and its the first time you see machu picchu. spectacular, we even saw some hikers finish the trail.. which was really cool.. we took in the beauty and hiked down...



so gettin back to cusco, youd think id be tired right!? like completely exhausted bein in the sun all day a little burnt!? right!?!? NOOO... to ROOTS! where its almost all night reggae! sadly my bros could not make it, so it was me Zach, and John with two girls from Urubamba, i dunno John met them somewhere.. anyway we got there and I met these two girls (could be ladies) from Australia!! Hell yea, they were cool.. and there was a live band for a little while playin some killer drums with an Australian indigenous instrument called the didjeridu, and youd know it if you heard it.. so i was definitely feelin this place.. and i danced there until 4 am..which is a ice way to end the trip, even though i felt like dying the next day...

note: every place i went out to had more foreigners than locals.. and they were mostly backpackers.. a way different feel than anywhere else ive been to. there were some free spirits there, and it seemed like a blend from everywhere around the world.. and lots of dreadlocks.. there was a tv in Roots that was showin just extreme sports highlights always... and i think the lesbian population there outdid all other populations of sexual preference. the places were cool.

fact of my life: even though i was droolin i was so tired, i could not sleep in the bus to the airport or the airplane ride.. i am doomed to never be able to sleep in public.