Sage Blogs

**I am posting this late because of crazy travels and bad WiFi** We are now in Lima! The rest of our time in Cusco was nice. We went out to a couple of chill, nice bars for Annika's birthday and got fancy drinks. And we got Indian food. Which I know is crazy because we are in Peru, but it was actually so good. And what is even crazier is that it was an Indian and Mexican restaurant where one side of the restaurant was for Indian food and the other side was for Mexican. We returned another night and got the Mexican food, and it was so good! A bit wacky but hey! that's traveling.  On Friday night we went to the Cusco observatory to learn about constellations in the Southern hemisphere and about Incan astronomy. So cool! The Inca were really so advanced in so many ways and really had an interesting perspective on a lot of things. The constellations that they imagined were so different from anything I would have thought up. Honestly, I think if I would have been looking at stars du...

Okay! A lot of things have happened since my last blog post. We spent the week in Urubamba which is in the Sacred Valley, and it was really nice. We did a hike from our AirBnB and we also did a longer one from Moray to Maras. In Moray there is a super cool archeological feature of the spiraling terraced field. This was used for agriculture and now it is just for education purposes. We walked from there through the town of Maras to the Maras Salt Mines. It was about 6 miles and a pretty cool walk. We walked through fields and desert. There are tours that take you to the different locations, but it was fun to walk it and get to explore more of the area and take in the awesome views. So that was on Friday, our last day in Urubamba. And then on Saturday we woke up bright and early to take a taxi to Ollantaytambo which is the town that you leave from in order to get to Machu Picchu. We met our guide, Jose Tito, and got on the train. The train technically goes all the way to Aguas Calientes ...

Hello! Peru has been really good but busy so far. The rest of our time in Arequipa was nice. We all had to work/ study so the days were full with that and during my breaks from classes we would go walk around and run errands. On Wednesday of that week we left Arequipa at 3:30am on a mini tour bus to visit Colca Canyon. I was not really expecting much but Colca Canyon was stunning. The terraced hills were so crazy to see because I had learned about that in high school. Farmers in the past used terraces so that they could farm on hills and so that the area was more resilient to earthquakes! Our tour was cool because we got to stop in some really unique towns and places. Our Colca Canyon stop included a short hike and then getting to watch the Andean Condors fly directly above us. UNREAL!! The Andean Condor is the largest bird that is able to fly. It is generally 1 meter tall and has a 3-meter (10 feet) wingspan. They were so big but glided so effortlessly. We got really lucky because it ...

I am in Peru with my friends!!!! I had a really nice time in Iquique, very simple. I worked all day and then walked along the beach during my midday breaks. It was nice. On Friday I got picked up at 5am to go to the Iquique airport for my first flight to Santiago. Then I hung out in the airport lounge and ate some tasty food. My second flight was from Santiago to Lima. The lounge in Lima was not as good but they had some fruit and dessert. My flight to Arequipa from Lima got a bit delayed but nothing horrible. Then I got to Arequipa and took an Uber to the AirBnB to meet my friends! It ended up being about 19 hours of travel but so worth it. We all talked for a while, and it was really nice.  On Saturday we got up and went to this super cute cafe called Oso (which means bear in Spanish). Then we went to Santa Catalina Monastery which has been around since 1579. It used to house 500 people and girls would go there at age 12 to be students first and then eventually become nuns. It wa...

Hello! I am currently in Iquique which is in Northern Chile. This is my last stop before heading to Peru! This past week I was in Santiago and then I spent the weekend in San Pedro de Atacama. In Santiago I really did not do too much. I lucked out and had a full apartment to myself so I enjoyed the space and I also enjoyed big city restaurants. I got Indian food one night and brought it back to the apartment and ate it while watching TV. I also got Taco Bell!! I was feel nervous after my last Taco Bell experience in Costa Rica but this Taco Bell was so excellent. I got a bean burrito (literally called bean burrito not burrito de frijoles), some small, fried cheese empanadas, and french fries covered in cheese. It was all so delicious. Different from Taco Bell at home but still good.  Also in Santiago I visited the Museum of Fine Arts. It was nice! My favorite exhibit was a room filled with nightstands. Each nightstand was different and had a different lamp on it as well as differen...