6

...so we are going to camp like in Boundary WAters in the 20 degree weather. I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The last time we went to Boundary Waters it was so cold I couldn´t sleep. But these Peruvians know what to do, man. The sleeping bag they gave me, which I am convinced was last used by Michael MOrin, or some other gross sweaty man, was very warm and I was toasty warm all night. Those three guys cooked us an awesome meal of Chicken and rice. We also had soup to start and desert. There was coffee and tea all the time.
Anyways, the reason we travelled all the way to Tres Cruces was to camp and get up at 4am to watch the Sun Rise. We were at the tippity top of the highest mountain, 13,500 feet, and we were able to see the sunrise with no obstructions. So the stars were incredible as well. Right out my tent I could see Venus very clearly. There was no moon, and the sky was DARK. Anyways, I got up at 4am, to a man asking if I wanted coffee. I said mas tarde which means later, and I said it in my sleep so I think I am getting better at Spanish. Then finally I rolled out of bed and the sky was still black, but the horizon started to show signs of the sun rise. We sat outside our tents for 2 hours and watched it rise. It was amazing. The color spectrum was incredible and when the sun finally came up, it looked like it came out in the middle of the clouds. I forgot to mention we were above the clouds, so they were below us. It appeared as if the sun popped up somewhere between us and the horizon. It was so awesome. Then we had a fruit breakfast and more coffee.
Our bus got stuck in the mud.
It took two hours and everybody pushing and collecting rocks and pushing and yelling and Spanish and English yelling, but we finally got it out. That was kind of fun, I felt like I helped. Boy were we stuck. One of the kids on the tour was the mastermind of getting it out, because he does that for fun. Mudding and stuff.
Anyways, after all that, we got back on the bus and made our way back down the mountain. We stopped at the entrance of Tres Cruces and hiked down 3000 feet. It took 3 hours to hike and it was amazing. We were in the jungle, like with a guy in front of us using a machete to cut the vines down so we could get through. The trail hadn´t been used in a while. In some spots, we had to hold on to the rocks, or fall all the way down. That was really difficult and strenuous. I loved it. Then we got back to the bus and lunch was waiting, chicken with peppers and french fries and tea. YUM. I was so hungry.
Then we got in the bus and made our way back to Cuzco. It took 6 hours this time because we didn´t stop. But we gave the rest of our bread away, often throwing it out the window because the bus didn´t stop. The kids went running for it.
When we got back to Cuzco, I took the hottest longest shower of my life and we had trout for dinner. The food here is AWESOME. That was yesterday...