The First Real Night...

Hola Familia y Amigos,
We have arrived! We are in Cusco, Peru (which is amazing), but more importantly, we have achieved that glorious, idyllic state that all travelers know and love! We flew into Lima yesterday and we were lucky enough to avoid any serious problems (i.e. sitting next to some crazy talker or not getting our bags). Upon first glance (outside of the airport) Lima looks to be a crazy, dirty, unsafe to drive (and walk) city, but as we continued on our journey to the hostel, it improved tremendously. We stayed in an area known as Miraflores, which is located up the street from the Pacific Ocean (healing any home sickness we incurred during the 20 hours of travel). After checking in and cleaning up, we went out to explore. One might imagine, that on a Tuesday night at 9:30, there would be little going on; FALSE! On the contrary....Miraflores is a happening place. We ate dinner in a little restaurant in the alley by our hotel and chatted with a guy from Montreal, a great first night.

This Morning (Wednesday) we got up and cruised around Miraflores a little more then headed back to the aeropuerto, for yet another flight. We arrived in Cusco around 2:30 and have been lovin´ it ever since. Cusco is a wonderful city fulled with vibrant colors, beautiful old buildings, and lovely people. Plaza de Armas is the main square, which the city seems to revolve around. After walking around the city for a few hours we relaxed in a local coffee shop called Cappuccino for some coca tea. From here we headed back to out hostel for some good home cooking- rice, veggies and chicken with a peanut sauce....not bad for $3.50 US. So at this point, it is 12:24am and we have been celebrating our new Swedish friends 21st birthday. LIFE IS GREAT! We are both so happy to be here, it is indescribable! We are going on a trek to the Sacred Valley tomorrow, so we will let you know how that goes.

For know, it is time to continue celebrating to a song we all know and love "Paradise City" because that is were we are! Hope all is well in the states, we will continue to keep you all up to date. Also, for those we told about the amazing global phone we purchased specifically for this trip...it does not work in South America!!!! We are soooooooo done with Verizon! Ok, that is all for now, bye!

Special notes for people:

Marie- Glad to hear you are using the car and loving it...se vende, cuanto cuesta?

Dad- Thanks for the news about the earthquake in Chile, we do not know if it will affect our travels at this point, but it is possible.

Daniel- we saw a man on the street today cleaning his feet with a carbonated beverage, you may have some competition.

Adios!