In the last 4 days we have spent more than 40 hours on buses, including three of the last 5 nights. Though Joey, Lindsay and I are now officially ready to stop moving, (Matt spent his time in Lima working on a freelance story for Freedom Magazine) we did manage to see some AMAZING sites including:

1. The Nazca Lines: An amazing set of lines, shapes and animal figures carved into the barren stone earth, the Nazca Lines were created more than 1000 years ago by the Nazca people. Lots of theories exist as to what these lines are for, but the most plausable suggest that these animals and shapes were meant to be walked around in a sort of prayerful meditation to the Gods in request for rainfall. The shapes are huge and best seen by air, so Joey, Lindsay and I took a four seater airplane ride over the pampa to see them. VERY COOL.

2. Arequipa: This ranks in the top 2 of Joey and my favorite South American cities that we have seen so far(the other being Cuenca). It is absolutely beautiful with great weather, huge volcanos towering above it on all sides, and lots of neat stuff to see and do. One of the things we visited was the Santa Catalina Monastery. This place was built for cloistered Dominican nuns on September 10 1579 (exactly 400 years, to the day, before my birthday). At one point more than 200 nuns and between 200 and 800 servants lived here. The place is stunning, and walking around you can almost feel the spirits of the nuns around you.

3. Cuzco: We are now in Cuzco, the “naval” of the Incan empire in the 1500s. We are glad to be aclimitized as this city sits at 3320 meters above sea level. It is from this place that we will visit Maccu Pichu and many of the other Incan ruins. We will be here for about four days before heading down to Bolivia. By bus.