Tango tango

So with my extensive dance experience (lolz not really) I obviously signed up for  tango night with IES.

A bunch of chicas meet at IES and we went to Milonga en La Catedral del Tango. A milonga has a few different meanings:

1. It's a type of tango music
2. It's a type of tango dance
3. It's a tango dance party

My favorite definition, though, is tango dance party. Obviously!

Milongas originated in Buenos Aires.

During a milonga, three to five songs are played in a row followed by a short musical break to give dancers a chance to find new partners. Dancers who attend milongas are called milongueros or milongueras.

The term milonga also refers to a distinct style of tango. Milonga is a faster-paced and less complex form of tango. Milonga can also refer to a musical genre.

We took a bus there from IES to the Milonga in Villa Crespo and automatically went to the bar and got a few bottles of wine :) We needed to loosen up before our tango class!

In our class there were a lots of people on the dance floor of a dimly lot club and we learned simple, fundamental steps while rotating partners every few minutes.

It was so hard for me to allow my partners to lead 100% because in my dance experience I'm in total control of my body. But in tango, you have to let your body go and have your partner put it where it needs to go.

I danced with tons of partners from experienced to beginners, Brazilians to porteños, old to young, creepy pony trail to suave cuts. I was enjoying the diversity.

After the class you were able to dance around, changing partners during the breaks like I said above.

I had a great time but my back started hurting after a while from keeping the posture. It's very similar to ballet posture which made it not as bad because I was used to it.

I have to say, though, I definitely mastered the 8 step plus some... click here to check it out!

The IES group left but a handful of us stayed a bit longer to drink wine and dance. We all had such a great time and I can't wait to take more classes. Maybe samba next? Who knows :)

PS. The old people were freaking adorable. My husband better be down for some tango when we're 70.

Las Cataratas de Iguazu

17 hours.

Yes, 17 hours.

We bought a bus ticket from BA to Iguazu, packed up our supplies, and Jessie, Lean and I headed out on Thursday afternoon after class. The bus ride really wasn't bad. However, our bus was about 45 minutes late which worried us a little because usually the long distance buses are on time.

We met a girl from New York named Ola who is traveling around South America for a month. She got fired from her job, her boyfriend broke up with her and she got evicted from her apartment... all in less than a month!!!

So what did she do? She applied and go unemployment, booked a plane ticket and started traveling. Side note -- Ola knows maybe 5 words in Spanish. That's it!! That's a brave girl right there if you ask me.

Finally our bus came and we got on board. For this trip I only had two backpacks... on on my front and one on my back. Suitcases are too difficult to carry around when traveling like I do here.

We had dinner, a cold and hot meal with wine... lots of wine. The steward was kind of coming on to us... asking if, ya know, he could marry us and all. Instead of marriage, I just asked for tons of wine.

I slept pretty well but you can only sleep so well with cama (bed)... which isn't exactly a bed but more like an awesome recliner.

We arrived to Iguazu around noon. We got some milanesa for lunch then went to Tres Fronteras which is a viewpoint from Argentina where both Brazil and Paraguay are visible. We went right at sunset which was the most beautiful time to go!

Hey look! Brazil!

Monument at Tres Fronteras

 Viewpoint from Argentina; Paraguay on the left and Brazil on the right

We got snacks and food for Saturday's hike through the Iguazu park.

The park was amazing!!!! We took a cab, which our hostel booked for us, to the park. It was only 50 pesos each (Ola, Leah, Jessie and me).

Iguazu is also often compared with Southern Africa's Victoria Falls which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe Iguazu is wider, but because it is split into about 275 discrete falls and large islands, Victoria is the largest curtain of water in the world.

Iguazu currently has the second-greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, after Niagara, with an average rate of 61,660 cu ft.

First we took a boat down the river and we got so close to the waterfalls that we were soaked! Luckily we wore our bathing suits! They gave us big waterproof bags to put our things in during the ride. We didn't go directly under the falls because that would have definitely crushed us with the power of the water. We got damn close though.

There are different hikes you can do including the lower sector, the upper sector and Devil's Throat.  

Lower sector

Upper sector

Devil's Throat

Long story short: Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!"(which, at 165 feet, the Niagara falls are a third shorter).

The park was amazing -- one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.

To get to Devil's Throat, we had to take a free in-park train up and walk along a massive bridge over the a large source of the waterfalls. 

The power from the falls was actually a bit scary. I couldn't imagine someone ever surviving a jump from Devil's Throat. The force was magnificent.

Instead of taking the train back down the falls, we took an ecological tour down the river. However, right when we got on the boat it started to rain... lame. There were three French guys on the boat with us all working in Brazil. They were good company for the ride.

We all had life vests and the guys and I also had ponchos. Leah made a funny saying that the Frenchies looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame... LOLZ. Jokes on jokes.

Well, our backpacks, everything inside our backpacks and our sneakers got soaked... but we saw some awesome wildlife! We saw toucans (one I named Toucan Dan) and a monkey!

It was a great, great day :)

That night we went to a nice restaurant and got some free Brazillian drinks called Caipirinhas. They kinda tasted like Pisco Sours (the Peruvian national drink). Tons of lime in em! We all ordered all different things like fish, steak, gnocci, salad and rice and vegetables. Soo yummy!

That night we all sat outside and enjoyed (a lot) of fernet and cokes and wine... even yummier! Paul, a guy from France that we met, Misha, a guy from Montreal, Ola, and other people from IES that stayed in the same hostel as us all hung out outside drinking and having fun.

Paul was traveling around then ran out of money in Iguazu so he decided to volunteer at the hostel for 40 pesos a day... aka nothing. He knew some English but not much. He seemed super into me but I wasn't into it. He was cute... but that's about it. Steven is better :)

We got pretty drunk then most of us went to bed, it was just Ola, Paul, Misha, Mindee and me left so we took a walk around town... the town was literally deserted from elections that day. We had a whole dog pack following us though. They were awesome and so friendly.

Then we got back to the hostel and decided to jump in the pool... and play Marco Polo (ironic because we were staying in the Marco Polo hostel). It was a great time but it was so late so Mindee and I headed to bed.

The next day we were going to go to the animal reserve but we thought hanging out in the pool and drinking fernet and coke and beer sounded better... and that's exactly what we did. An Australian and two Argentines joined us which was fun.

Then our bus was at 3pm. We got back to BA around 8:30 and I showed up just in time for my 9am Spanish class... go me...

Iguazu was amazing... next weekend is my last traveling weekend and I'm heading to Calafate! Studying abroad is seriously the coolest thing ever :)

Weekend in and around Buenos Aires

It's Mommom's last few days in Buenos Aires so we had to make it special! My week was just so busy with work and school that I barely had time for her. This weekend made up for it though.

Friday I had work and a makeup class until 6, traveled to the other side of the city to the apartment, and started drinking wine. It was great!! Sheridan, Sam, Mindee and probably some other girls came over for a pasta and salad dinner and wine.

Having this apartment is actually so nice. We can have people over at our homestays but it's very, very rare. And we usually only have people stop by briefly. But this apartment is in the center of Palermo SoHo, the coolest, hippest part of Buenos Aires with tons of bars and restaurants. We can have people over whenever we want. We don't have to spend a fortune on a bar to hang out. And if we don't feel like going out, we don't have to and we can still hang at the apartment. Whenever I'm too tired to go out, it means a night alone for me. But I didn't go to any bars late this weekend but I was still always surrounded by friends in the apartment drinking wine and watching movies.

Basically, I wish I had this apartment for the rest of my stay here. It'd be pretty sick.

However, Mommom is leaving tomorrow evening, and I'm gonna have to go back to my homestay... I guess I'm a bit bitter about it. My host mom is cool and is a great cook but it sucks being alone all the time at home. It was so nice to be able to invite people over without feeling scowled.

Sorry, back to my awesome weekend.

The girls went out Friday night after our dinner, wine and Dirty Dancing: Havanna Nights sesh. I was exhausted from the week so I just went to bed.

Saturday we got up, had an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs with rice, yogurt and granola, toast and tea. Then we found out there was going to be a big club rugby playoff match between Hindu and Sic in San Isidro... I've always wanted to go to a rugby game!!!

So we got ready and met Sam, Sheridan, Chloe, Jessie, Jenna and Juan P at the Retiro train station to take the train into the suburb of San Isidro.

The trains are weird here because you don't actually pay for them. I didn't even see a place to pay for the train! You just get on and off at your stop... I don't mind free transportation.

We walked a few blocks... Mommom practically crawled half of the way but not to worry, we got there.

The game cost AR$60 and it was awesome!! It was such a good match and I got to finally learn about the sport.

Poor Sheridan was a little sleepy.

Mommom and I!

Sheridan, Sam, Juan P and I watching the game!

Oh yeah, and a guy ripped his shorts and had to change 'em. Not complaining. I had fun taking pictures objectifying  men. Sorry not sorry.

There were some crazy fans there too!

That night we had another wine and girls night-- having our own apartment in Palermo SoHo, the collest part of BA, really had its perks. We walked around a few blocks until we found a restaurant we liked.

We found one and all sat down and automatically ordered 3 bottles of the house wine. All of a sudden, I looked up at the TV and it looked like the stadium we went to that day for rugby and the jerseys were also similar. All of a sudden, Jessie's face popped up on the TV!! We were all on TV and we didn't even know we were filmed!!

We also pretended it was Mommom's birthday so our mozo brought her a huge piece of tiramisu- like cake to share with us and we each got a glass of champagne! Great night with the ladies!

We went back to the apartment got into our jammies and had a sleepover. Sheridan and Sam with me in the bed, Mindee on the couch with Mommom and Carla on the floor with some cushions... lo siento, chica. Christina went out with hombre.

Sunday was a day for Buenos Aires Ciudad. We all got up and went to Magdalena's Party for the best brunch in Buenos Aires. We had omlettes and breakfast burritos with Mimosas and Bloody Marys! We sat outside on the patio and had a great time.

After a great, filling brunch, we were about to head out the door to take a taxi to the San Telmo fair (a market I haven't gotten to yet) when who other than Christina rang our intercom!! She told us she was going to come to brunch with us but we haven't heard from her since last night when she went to see hombre. 

And alas, when I went out to the balcony and called her name, she responded... wearing the same clothes as last night-- that's my girl!

So since we had 5 people and the taxi could only fit 4, Sam, Sheridan and Christina took the bus and said they'd meet us at the Starbucks there.

Now unfortunately I was too nervous to bring my smartphone out to a neighborhood I wasn't familiar so I have no pictures to show you. But honestly, Recoleta fair is better. The San Telmo fair had a lot of antique goods which were cool to look at, but I really wouldn't want to buy. 

It was a beautiful area but Mommom got tired quickly and I really wanted to show her Recoleta since it was her last day so we headed out. 

The taxi driver headed down Av. Libertador and dropped us right off at the fair. On the way we passed Casa Rosada (where Cristina, the president, works) and a few other big BA hot spots. 

Mommom LOVED the Recoleta fair. She was throwing pesos to the merchants like it was Monopoly money (which in reality, it basically is).

She got a really beautiful white blouse, a handmade South America map puzzle for Monkey (my cousin, her other grandaughter), a boomerang for Jay (her son, my uncle) to play with Monkey and a leather flower hair band for her friend. 

It was already after 6pm and we had to get home to pack our things. 

Mommom packed her things and luckily had a lot of extra room that I could send some of my gifts home with her. I got really excited the next day when she sent me an email while I was in class saying she got her suitcase closed-- SCORE!!

Christina came over to get her stuff and I was going to go back on the bus to Recoleta with her since we live so close to drop off my clothes and stuff. We were about to eat and ended up having a lot of extra food so she stayed for dinner. We even popped open one of the wine bottles that we got at the awesome bodega (winery) from Mendoza.

Sam stopped by a bit later to get her things but obviously had to have a glass of wine; that basically turned into a rule: if you step into the Young/Maxwell apartment, grab yourself a wine glass and start pouring... and fill up everyone else's glasses as well.

Sam left and I got the last of my things together. About 20 minutes later when we were about to head out for the bus to Recoleta, I got a message from Sam saying to be careful tonight because she almost got violently mugged four women on her way home... one was pregnant!

More on that on another post.

So Christina and I were really freaked out so decided to take a cab. Sam is fine, it was just a really scary experience for her.

Update: Mommom's flight landed saftely in Philadelphia and she's home safe and sound :)

Last day in Mendoza

Today we got up (with no hangovers!) and ate another awesome breakfast... This time with dulce de leche crepes!

Then we explored around Parque de San Martin. Which is like 10 blocks from our hostel next to Plaza Independencia so Mommom and I took a cab.

Mommom really can't walk far so she chilled on a park bench on this beautiful afternoon while we took a walk around the pond.

Then we stopped at a cafe and got some sandwiches. Now were at the hostel relaxing until our bus back to Buenos Aires at 8.

We all had a great long weekend in Mendoza :)

The Andes: Mendoza style

We got up early and had a bangin breakfast at the hostel... Best breakfast I've had in South America! There were hard boiled eggs, cereal, oranges, coffee, tea, orange juice, pastries and cut up tomatoes. They also had eggs you could fry up but we didn't have time before our 7:30am pickup.

We 5 and another 4 from our hostel got picked up in a van which then picked up a bunch of different people from other hostels... No Australian man today :(

We took a drive to the Andes and saw the Monumento Natural Puente del Inca. It is a natural bridge with beautiful colors from the minerals in the water that runs under it. There was tons of artisan tables but they weren't about to bargain with us so we didn't buy anything. Mommom was having trouble breathing at that attitude so didn't walk much.

We then stopped at a small cafe and had some café! We were dragging so it was definitely necessary.

We then saw the tallest Andes mountain, snowy mountain tops and a Volcano. Then we drove all the way to the Chilean border. We were so close! It was just over the mountain (or 3 kilometers through a tunnel under the mountain).

^^ CHILE ^^

Don't tell anyone but I'm still gonna scratch Chile off my scratch map... I was to close not to!

On the way back we stored at the same cafe we stopped at earlier and got empanadas! Yum yum!

We got back to the hostel, showered, and got ready for another wine hour. This time, our New Zealand roommates, Nina and Adeline, joined us! They're doing a gap year in Argentina teaching English. They taught at a bratty private primary school in BA last semester and are teaching high schoolers and adults this semester.

Mommom, Christina and I also met our new roommate to our 6 person room: a HUGE rugby player from the UK.

It was so funny. He was in the bunk above Mommom's bunk when we came in, Mommom sat down on her bunk pointed up to him without him seeing and asked, "normal?" Yes, Mommom, this is extremely normal in a hostel room of more than 3 people.

We made our pasta while the other girls got takeout pizza. We finished wine night and broke out our own bottle of wine. Then the girls got out a huge bottle of Gray Goose and this green melon flavored liquor called Midori. Now that was a hostel party.

We played never have I ever and let's just say I learned a lot about my grandma and she learned a lot about me... We were all just so open and so drunk and passing around hot pictures of men we've had sex with and objecting them... It was great. It was so fun swapping stories and taking pictures with Nina's Polaroid camera.

It was a perfect night with friends and alcohol... That's all I gotta say.

Wine and olive oil

We went on a wine and olive oil tour today! Obviously we had to since Mendoza is Argentina's best wine country! We went to two different wineries and a small olive oil factory.

The first winery was a very small family one. We did the tour of the factory and tried a Malbec and a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Syrah. They taught us about the colors of the wine (Malbec is ruby red while the others are more purple and the wine should never be brownish or orangey) and how to smell it.

Mommom and I really liked the Malbec and Carbernet so we those for ourselves and gifts. We couldn't find that wine anywhere else since the family doesn't export their wine.

We met a really hot Australian who was traveling around South America by himself... Mommom was into it and wanted me to go in for the attack. We made conversation but that was about it. His eyes were beautiful but honestly, Steve's are even bluer :)

Then we went to a bigger winery which I didn't like as much. It was holding a bunch of other tours and wasn't as family-oriented. The building was very modern looking with white walks, black trim, and tons of big windows. In this factory, they have great metal, temperature-controlled tubs for the wine to ferment in but the last winery had pools that were temperature controlled by pipes with cool water from the Mendoza river. The smaller winery also had their wine in barrels in a wine cellar gated off where the big winery had their barreled wine displayed behind glad for tourists.

There we tried a Malbec and a Cabernet Sauvignon. We liked the other place better so we didn't buy a bottle.

We then went to a small olive oil factory. The tour was brief but the taste testing was awesome!

We tried extra virgin, unfiltered extra virgin (more flavor but less clear because they don't filter out the olive pulp), garlic, bail, Rosemary and oregano olive oil and some olive pastes. They were all so good and we got those for gifts as well.

After we got home we ran our to get snacks, dinner and water for tomorrow from a grocery store. Then it was wine hour! Free wine for an hour at the hostel! We shared two bottles and had a great time swapping stories. We also ate the rest of our pizza we had for lunch and dulce de leche with banana on crackers for dinner. Oh! I forgot! While we were out for lunch, we stopped at a cool Indie/Bohemian store and Sam and I got awesome pants and wore them for wine tasting.

Bad news, when I was opening the door to put yogurt in the fridge for the next day, the fridge tipped and a half a handle of cheap Vodka shattered all over the floor at my feet and pants. It smelled terrible and I had to clean up all the glass and cheap Vodka with a mop...

I wrote a little note to the owner... RIP. 

Long weekend in Mendoza

After class on Thursday I rushed home to pick up Mommom, called a cab and we headed to the Retiro bus terminal.

It was a really nice bus. We got cama (bed) seats which were AR$560 per ticket. About US$160 round trip. That included a cold and hot dinner, breakfast and drinks (including wine!).

Christina was on an earlier bus but Sam and Sheridan got the two seats behind me and Mommom. It really wasn't a bad ride because the seats were so comfy I honestly slept most of the 14-hour trip.

We got to Mendoza at around 10am and got taxis to our hostel... This was probably the crappiest hostel I've stayed in... And I've stayed in over 10 different hostels so far. It was called Hostel Mendoza Lodging or something like that.

It was dirty and everything was broken like the shower head and the beds. Luckily we were changing to a good hostel tomorrow (Hostel Independencia).

We walked down Av. San Martín into different shops and cafes. We had lunch at this outdoor cafe and got burgers.. They were huge! After we sat there for a while with our half eaten burgers, a dirty woman came up to us who was trying to sell us stickers earlier in our meal asking if she could take our extra food for her and her sister... Sure! We're done with them. We even gave her a bag from a pharmacy I got bug itch creme from.

Her hands were so dirty and she had some spit on the sides of her mouth but what was it to us to say she couldn't eat what would be thrown away anyway. Then she went around to other tables and asked the same thing.

I am so fortunate.

Mommom was really having a tough time walking. She has really gotten worse than I remember her being. I don't think she knew how bad her breathing, knees and hips were until this trip cause she hadn't walked that far in years.

The girls had a reservation for sunset horseback riding and an asado but obviously Mommom couldn't do that so I just stayed in our hostel with her and watched Prison Break. It's ok, I went horseback riding in Colonia, Uruguay.

I really wish I could have gone though. At around 12:30am the girls come back and Christina got sick from too much wine... That's my kind of asado! They told me how much fun they had and how they all galloped so much, even Christina who has never ridden a horse in her life! Jealous! Oh well. It was AR$400 I didn't have to spend. And honestly it was money I didn't even have! I brought less money than I thought so I have to really keep an eye on that.

Mommom visits!

My Mommom is visiting me in Argentina! She's 80 years old and has never left the country! I'm super pumped to hang out with her and stay with her in a condo she rented in Palermo SoHo.

Last couple days I've had class so she has been at the condo watching Spanish TV to learn the language (which she says is really helping) and getting food. Next week after our trip to Mendoza, we'll be able to do more touristy things together.

She's really trying at the language. But mainly she just repeats "Qué es eso" and "Qué es la palabra..."

Her favorite is "Qué es eso."

She's been good. Only talked about politics a few times but she understands when I'm sick of it now. Plus I'm not afraid to tell her right off the bat when I want to change the subject.

Soft love to grandmothers, tough love to travel partners.

Mommom, Christina, Sheridan, Sam and I are going to Mendoza this weekend! We changed our plans from Cordoba and Oktoberfest because it just got way too complicated. There were no hostels available in the actual town, only in the city of Cordoba which means we'd have to take the bus there. And it's not an all day event like we thought, only at night. Also, it was freaking expensive.

Además, WINE>BEER.

En route to Buenos Aires

We got up at 5 this morning and got the same taxi van/driver (all through the hostel) at 5:45. I feel that the taxi drivers in South America are so nice. They talk to you and want to get to know you.

We got dropped of at the Taca terminal, even though the Cusco airport is so small it's just one terminal for all the airlines.

We said thanks to our taxi driver and went to check in. It was a mess getting all 6 girls to collect their passports, tickets to Lima and to Buenos Aires, reciprocity fee for Argentina and visas. Mindee couldn't find the receipt for her reciprocity fee and the woman said she couldn't look it up which was false because I had mine looked up in Uruguay. But she finally find it in the bottom of her back pack.

Then we went through security. Christina, Sheridan and I went straight through but when Mindee walked by, a man that walked at the airport called her over and demanded her 3x4 inch customs paper she received over a week ago...

So she dug around in her bag and finally found it but he wasn't letting her pass because it had a small rip in it. The guy was apparently being a huge ass and making a big deal out if nothing and made Mindee cry. That's when Sam stepped in and started yelling at him in Spanish saying it's the same information and he was being a dickhead.

We saw them talking aggressively to each other and him slamming papers down on his desk of his worthless job.

He wrote "immigrations" on Mindee's ticket, told her in Lima she had to leave through security to pay for another paper then come back through security to make her flight...

I left my customs paper in my checked luggage so I really, really, really hope I don't get stopped cause I got lucky this time he didn't call me over. But poor Mindee is hot and tall with blonde hair and blue eyes and got called out... I say that's racial profiling.

So we got on our flight to Lima and I sat next to Christina. We pulled away from the gate then waited and waited. Finally they told us there was a technical problem with the plane so we had to go back to the gate.

Ok, no big deal. We have a two hour layover in Lima and we're flying the same airline. As long as this won't take two hours we'll be fine.

So they said everything was good and we pulled away from the gate again... And waited. Then they said there was still a problem and we might have to deboard (is that a word? Not sure).

So there was tons of confusion especially since our group was scattered all over the plane. A lot of people on the plane had only a layover in Lima and had their final destination somewhere else so before we could deboard, they had to cluster all the people that were going to the same city and put them in different flights.

All the information we were getting from "what passengers heard" and nothing from the captain so we really didn't know what was really going on.

Luckily, the guy sitting next to me through all this was Peruvian and I got to practice my Spanish. I'm definitely getting a lot better with my conversational Spanish. I have to make a point to find a language partner and read Spanish books when I go back to the states to keep it up.

Sam and Sheridan talked to the flight workers and waved for us to get off the flight.

So we got out of our seats and got in line to deboard. Mindee, Carla and Sam already got off because they were at the front of the plane but they wouldn't let the rest of us get off the plane.

There was a group of young girls with a primary school that were traveling around Peru. While waiting, I was talking to them in Spanish and they were so cute. They were asking my name, why I was in Peru and where I was from. One of them asked if Philadelphia was near Utah... Um, no.

Finally we got off the plane and they gave everyone a blank ticket with our names hand written on it.

We walked back into the terminal and Sam, Mindee and Carla were no where to be found. They probably got put on another flight.

About an hour later they had us line up on the same plane... wasn't too crazy about the idea of getting on a previously malfunctioning plane but whatever, we needed to get to Lima then Buenos Aires.

We got to BA but obviously missed our flight. So we we went to the check-in place to get the next available flight to Buenos Aires. Luckily on the way to check in we saw Sam, Mindee and Carla-- what luck!! However, the next flight wasn't until 10om... that was a good 8 or 9 hours away. So we complained a bit and the guy felt bad so he gave us VIP ACCESS AND FREE LUNCH! I usually don't complain but it was so worth it that time. The guy said our checked bags would still be going straight to BA.

So we found Carla and Mindee and told them we got VIP access. They said they'd go get Sam and get the same.

So Sheridan, Christina and I hung out in the VIP area and it was awesome. Free wifi, drinks, snacks, and sandwiches! About an hour later I got a call from Mindee over Viber. Apparently Sam was in baggage claim because when she checked back in, they told her she needed to get her suitcase from baggage claim then recheck it but Mindee and Carla didn't check any bags. The people were super rude to her in baggage claim and kept ignoring her when she asked when her bags were coming. She had to wait by the carousels for 2 hours before her bag finally came through because the workers kept saying her bag was on the next landing plane. But before she saw her bag she saw Sheridan and my bags so she grabbed them.

After she had all three bags, she had no way of contacting us so she was going to leave the bags in baggage claim with the workers so she could find us and we could get them. She didn't know we were already past security in VIP rooms.

But the workers wouldn't let her leave the bags unattended! She waited for us for another hour or so and finally said those weren't her bags and she just left (understandably).

Meanwhile, I was calling the Taca people in baggage claim with the VIP phone telling them to search for a poor girl in baggage claim with three suitcases. I was literally sick to my stomach knowing that Sam had been waiting with our bags for so long because they wouldn't let her leave.

We called back a few times but no sign of Sam. So I went back to customs to see if I could see her. Luckily, right when I got there I saw her turning the corner heading toward customs visibly upset.

Apparently the ticket the check in person gave her didn't work at immigrations so she had to go back and cut the line to get another boarding pass that worked. Then through security she was so distracted that she forgot to take off her belt and necklace and empty her water bottle so they stopped her and gave her a hard time. By this time she started crying out of stress and three different workers had to take her aside to calm her down. By this point, she was by herself for almost 4 hours through all this stress that was Taca's fault to begin with.

If they told Sheridan and I we had to get our bags we would have... even though it was Taca's fault that the bags didn't go straight to BA. There was no reason we would have had to go get our bags then recheck them.

So after calming Sam down a bit in the VIP lounge and getting free lunch and drinks, we headed to the Taca costumer service to tell them how much they suck and how incompetent their workers are. We also checked to make sure Sheridan and my bag was ready to go to Buenos Aires because we never actually saw them.

What came out of Sam's rant about how much Taca sucks, was $200 gift vouchers for Taca flights... great... Avianca and Taca are Peruvian airlines... probably won't be able to use those. But whatever, we got VIP treatment and got drunk off of free drinks.

Actually, the VIP treatment was freaking awesome. We all relaxed and had a great time eating their food and using their massage chairs, wifi and computers. It would have sucked to wait all that time with the "normal people" :)

We were having so much fun that we were actually kind of upset when we had to leave to catch our flight.

We got into BA around 6 (couldn't sleep a wink on the flight) and I didn't get home until 7:30am... I had a 9am Spanish class... are you fucking kidding me?

But alas, I am a great student and took a half hour nap, got up and headed to class. I was actually a zombie for the entire day but I had class until 7:30pm... worst day ever.

However, my Peruvian vacation was awesome and I wouldn't replace it for the world.

Machu Picchu

We got up today at 3:50am and got our backpacks together for our hike up Machu Picchu!

Carla was having more stomach troubles but this time from the other end... yuck.

We all ate bananas and bread and waited for Carla. It was already 5am and we had to get going! We finally pushed Carla out the door at 5:15am. It was drizzling so we had our train jackets and ponchos but eventually it got so warm we ditched the rain coats early on.

It was still dark but we were on our way from the valley to the top of the mountain.

There were buses that take people up to Machu Picchu but we decided to hike it... It was tough! It was mainly uneven rock stairs all the way up. The poor girls in my group were so sick so they left presents for the Inca gods to find later on the trail... TMI? Oh well, it was funny to me.

We were really splitting up while hiking up the mountain from the valley. Sam and I were always first and Mindee and Carla were last. Sam and I were just so anxious to see Machu Picchu that we were getting a little frustrated so we just went ahead and waited for them at the entrance.

But after about an hour, hour and a half we got to the entrance of the park. Right outside the entrance was so touristy. There was a restaurant playing club music (at 7am) and you had to pay a sol to use the bathroom.

It was still drizzling and cloudy and we were just praying for it to clear up. Seeing Machu Picchu for the first time was amazing. It's no wonder the Spanish conquerors never find it. It's high up and the ruins are surrounded by beautiful mountains.

It drizzled on and off basically all day but it was so warm we didn't even use our ponchos, we only used them to keep our backpacks dry.

We got to walk around all the ruins and see the sights, it was unfortunately cloudy so we couldn't see very far beyond the ruins but it was still beautiful.

We bought the ticket for Machu Picchu park entrance and entrance to hike Machu Picchu mountain so after a couple of hours exploring the ruins we headed over to the mountain a bit after 9.

However, we got a little distracted because THERE WERE LLAMAS EVERYWHERE! They were waking in the walkways and hanging out in the grass if the terraces eating.

So obviously, we had to take some selfies with the cute llamas. We were having was to much fun with it too... Especially Sam.

We got to Machu Picchu mountain at 10 and started up. We read on a blog that this mountain was less steep and less rocky than the other one... I could NOT imagine how anything could be rockier or steeper.

It was such a hard trail and it was straight up to 3,082 meters altitude. The trail had a lot of narrow steps with a rock wall on one side and a straight cliff on the other. Other parts were really jungley.

I just want to say, it was HARD. Everyone else was hanging back again so Sam and I went ahead. It took us an hour and 25 minutes with CONSTANT rock stairs to get to the top... My ass, thighs and calves are gonna kill me tomorrow. A lot of the stairs were really high and some were wobbly which really made us feel really great when we were 4 inches from falling of the cliff...

The people walking down were mostly great supporters telling us how much farther we had. But one group of guys, apparently just having Machu Picchu as a final hike for their week-long hike-fest of Peru, told us how hard and scary it got and how we had two hours left... Thanks guys.

We took lots of breaks in which we caught our breaths pretty quickly but then huffed and puffed by the next 20 stairs. The altitude didn't help one bit.

Finally, we saw a little hut at the top of the mountain surrounded by clouds.

WE MADE IT!

We were exhausted! We sat down on the bench with some of the other victors of that day. We meet a cute guy from California and another one from Barcelona. Oh how I miss their "th" accents in Spain...

About 10 minutes later Carla and Mindee finished the hike then Sheridan and Christina 2 minutes later. Once everyone was all there and got some snacks, we went over to the Machu Picchu mountain sign to take a celebratory group picture. It was unfortunately so cloudy that you could barely see anything. We were literally in the middle of the clouds. It was a good picture though.

We waited until noon then started back down. It only took us about an hour to get down and it was so much easier, just a but dangerous because of the slippery rocks.

But on the way down we heard a murderous scream ahead of us from a girl... Not a good sign. So we headed down to catch up to it and apparently a rock broke under a girl's foot and she fell off the trail. It was on a hill but luckily a tree caught her fall. It was actually her friend who screamed.

When we checked on them they were sitting in the stairs recuperating and the friend got so scared that she started crying.

I could not imagine. I'm not afraid of heights but some of that hike really freaked me out. It would have been terrifying to lose my step.

We meet so many people from all over the world on our way up and down. We meet people from Canada, USA, Spain, Belgium and China.

The visitors were also so diverse. There were school trips in Machu Picchu and also old couples. We were taking about that yesterday; we felt like you had to hike up to Machu Picchu to really deserve it. But after seeing all these old people, we realized there's no way they could have done that hike up from the valley and they've probably never been to Machu Picchu. It's great that they have the buses for those people, everyone else is just lazy.

Although, hiking all the way from the valley and Aguas Calientes to the peak of Machu Picchu Mountain was REALLY tough.

The clouds finally parted so we got some great shots of the ruins and the mountains. Then it was time to head back down to the valley to catch our Peru Rail back to Cuzco.

The trek down from Machu Picchu was definitely tough. Our legs were wobbly and my feet hurt so bad from walking down the stairs.

We were excited to see Aguas Calientes finally but it was 3 and we had to get our extra stuff we kept in the hostel and get a quick lunch. We headed for the train and stopped to get something to eat. We grabbed some burritos and ran to our train, luckily we got on just in time.

Man, my shoulders were so sore from carrying my backpack already. And the bug bites on my legs hurt! They definitely couldn't be mosquito bus because they're bright red, blotchy and painful. I'm hoping they go away soon. I think I got them in Cusco/Aguas Calientes.

Our amigo, Fabrizio wasn't on the train this time :/ the train was also so much more packed than going from Cusco to Aguas Calientes.

Sam and I sat together. We went through our phones and told stories of our pictures and videos... I found tons of funny and embarrassing photos and videos of me and my friends... Cough cough Lindsay Kendall.

Sorry not sorry.

I also learned that Sam takes way too many weird selfies. Well, not way too much, just enough.

We reserved the same Cusco hostel we stayed in before, took (cold) showers and packed up for our 5:45am taxi ride tomorrow morning for our flight to Lima then Buenos Aires.

I didn't go to bed until 10:15!!!! That's the latest I've gone to bed since Lima!

We were all just so exhausted and we knew we are gonna be so sore tomorrow.

Back to Buenos Aires! I loved Peru, definitely wouldn't want to live here, but is a great vacation spot... If you could call our trip a vacation.