So i have been in Huarez, the mountain town of almost 100,000 people (but you wouldnt guess it if you were just walking around town) for 4 or 5 days now i think. the german i met actually turned abou to be an isreali, although his accent sounded quite german, and he didnt like being told so. to adjust to the altitude he and his friend and alli (the somewhat insane aussie) and i headed up to another ¨must see¨ in the guide books, Laguna 69. we took a 2 hour taxi ride that left at 6am and got to the trail head at 8:30 (a timid taxi driver made the ride take longer) and hit the trail. we walked past a sign that said it was 8 km up to the lake, whoa. and of course the aussie, living in her own little world, says, ¨oh 8 km is nothing,¨ even at more than 3000 meters, with one day to acclimatize. so we begin, and the first bit is flat and easy, and then we have to go over a ridge. that took some time for me and one of the isrealis (who i still think of as german) but the other one and the alli cruised up. then another flat bit and another steeper ridge, which took almost an hour to get over. i finally set eyes on the lake 3.5 hours after we started, and its supposed to be a 2.5 hour hike. it was beautiful though, bright teal blue water surounded by snow capped peaks. (pictures will come when i have a faster computer.) at that point i had a pretty bad headache. alli went swimming in the glacial lake, and when she got out it started to snow for a few minutes, followed by intense sunshine that made me take my jacket off. i found out from a guide that we were at 4600 meters. thats 700 feet higher than mt. rainier, for those of you who didnt know, and twice the hight of the highest mountain on the east coast. we had started the journy at 3800 meters so we had an incline of 800 meters, or 2600 feet. walking down resulted in more headaches and nausea, that only resided with some tylenol that i took at the bottom. that night me and some guys from the hostel made a great pasta marinera meet sauce, which i also had for lunch the next day.

the day after that was a relaxing one, in which i managed to watch 3 movies with 3 sets of different people. dinner that night was a delicious spagettie shrimp alfredo, which i also made, but cost more than going out would have if i had wanted chinses or peruvian food, which i didnt. that day i also met alli´s friend who is half malaysian and half australian, as they were preparing for the 4 day santa cruz trek, which i decided to pass on, since the laguna 69 was pure hell, and they would not have donkeys, and thus would be carrying their 30 pound packs on their backs the whole time. screw that, to this day im still not fully acclimtized, or way out of shape, cause i find myself breathless after 3 flights of stairs.

yesterday i went mountain biking with a british girl, a british woman, and a wierd guy from seattle, who didnt tell us what he did, just that he had been travelling for the last 2 years. we were supposed to get a bus ride to the top of the trail but the bus driver was apparently an ass hole and dropped us off a 40 minute uphill ride from the trail. the ride down was a blast though, but i have to say the best part was being chased by rabbid dogs and having to yell and throw rocks at them to keep from contracting rabbies myself.

today has been very tranquilo, and i booked by trek to machupicchu for november 24, where ill meet the british girl from the bike ride, if all goes to plan. tonight im headed to lima and then to ica, a small town in the sand dunes where you can go sandboarding, which i plan to do a lot. all in all, i have enjoyed hanging out in this town, and i have met some pretty cool people in the hostel here. trekkers going to peru, you´ve got to check this place out.