Team Adventure

OK. It's been almost 6 months since I've posted. And since I still like to catch up on all my friends blogs, I figured I should attempt to keep up on mine. A lot of my summer was spent hanging out with a few awesome folks in my ward who like doing fun outdoorsy things like I do. So, we've done several activities that involve being outdoors, and being active. A couple of the best things in life...

Survivor Mud Run:

Prerace...

Nearing the end of the race. Have I ever told anyone how much I hate getting dirty. This was like facing one of my worst fears. Except for the fact that I signed up willingly. Didn't really think I'd get THIS muddy...

Post race. We all made it! Two people from the group lost shoes fairly early on during the race. Kudos to them for making it through. There was some rough terrain out there!

Yup. We're tough :)

 

Next, on to some biking on San Juan Island. No shoes were lost on this trip. We took the ferry to San Juan Island with our bikes, and biked around the entire island. So much fun, but actually a lot harder than we all anticipated. 30 miles didn't seem so long, but with the hills and mountain bikes, it made for a more difficult journey. Epic and awesome, nonetheless.

The crew after our lunch break in Roche Harbor.

At the sculpture park near Roche Harbor. And who's in the artwork, but us ourselves!

Such pretty scenery.

Sculpture park again.

Lime Kiln State Park

Alpaca farm! I was pretty excited about this having just been to Peru.

 

Up next: hike to Lake Serene...

Beautiful hike, lots of bugs, lots of fun :)

 

OK, and now on to our backpacking trip to Lake Minotaur. This was a blast. I had tons of fun, and I think everyone else did too. Beautiful views, scenery, and of course, lots of adventure!

We started our hike at dusk, so we got in after dark. Luckily for us it was a clear night with a full "blue" moon.

Don't want bears getting to our food!

Good morning. Props to Mariana for having an awesome tent that was lightweight and perfect for backpacking.

It was cold, OK?

Some day hiking.

Beautiful

Day hiking adventures. Dan almost lost a leg and got bowled over by a boulder, but survived to tell the tale. Thank goodness.

Someday, I hope to jump as awesome as Mariana.

 

 

The end of the hike! Super steep, but super fun!

 

 

 

Peru Parte 3: Cusco, Puno, Uros Islands, Lima

So, I guess it's time to finally finish blogging about my trip to Peru. I was kind of waiting for someone to comment on my amazing Machu Picchu post, but I guess it just wasn't good enough. Oh well. :) OK, not really. I'm just a slacker when it comes to blogging.
So, after leaving Macchu Picchu, we spent an afternoon in Cusco, enjoying some more ruins and the overall ambience of the town.

Becky and I taking in the ambience of Sacsayhuamán

The city of Cusco

Cusco was where we had our try at some alpaca...in layman terms, llama meat (don't worry, the weird food gets better later on). It was actually pretty good. Didn't taste much different from steak.

After having an afternoon in Cusco, we took a plane to Juliaca-and then drove to Puno. This was the highest elevation of the trip (12,421 ft according to Wiki. And let's be honest, Wikipedia is NEVER wrong :)), and I could definitely feel it. Puno is on the shores of Lake Titicaca, where the Uros Islands are located.

Lake Titicaca

So, before heading to the Uros Islands, we took a tour of a traditional farm/hut. We ate some of their cheese, toured their home and played with their llamas. I had to tell this one that I wasn't interested-he tried to make his move on me, but I held him off.

A hut (best caption of the series, I think).

This is what the indigenous people eat-boiled potatoes, goat cheese, and the clay-brown stuff you dip the cheese and potatoes in to the left in the picture. Apparently it's super healthy for you-it helps with ailments anywhere from GI issues to colds to altitude sickness. Personally, I didn't think it tasted that great: I'll stick with the acai berry. :)



Mmm...cheese.

Now for the Uros Islands...

 So, these islands are completely manmade, and almost everything is made from reeds. The ground is built on top of posts that are anchored so they don't float away, and covered with reeds...

...their homes are made of reeds...

...their boats...

...even their beds are made of reeds!

Not to mention the fact that they *eat* the reeds. I tasted it, and it didn't really taste.

So, one of the villagers pulled me and this man into her hut and just started dressing us. A little awkward, but the guy is from Argentina so that made everything OK, because I love Argentina :) This is the typical dress is of the reed islands. I made Rachel put clothes on, too.

It's interesting, because they do pretty much everything on these islands-the kids go to school on one of the bigger islands, and have to commute on one of their reed boats to get to school. Though, I think a lot of the students spend part of their day on the mainland for school, as well.

OK, next stop was Taquile Island.



We had to climb up this path to get to the main center of "town", which is no small feat at 12,500 feet elevation. It was a cool way to see the whole island, though.

It's a pretty interesting way of life-the island is less than 2.5 miles in size-so I would imagine all the people are pretty close. Talk about island fever, though. Also, not sure how I'd feel about tourists coming to see *them* as the tourist attraction. But I'm not complaining :) it was pretty cool. We had a traditional meal there, and walked around the island, and then head back to Puno for one more night.



Our final destination was back in Lima. We were disappointed to find out that our itinerary got changed to TWO more days in Lima, but we made the best of it, and actually had a really good time. We enjoyed sunsets off the coast of Miraflores...

I enjoyed speaking with the locals in Spanish (but let's be honest, when DON'T I love speaking Spanish?), and was actually referred to this GREAT restaurant in Lima that served authentic Peruvian cuisine, including Cuy!

So, this is cuy. Which is guinea pig. It's a delicassy here. It was a little disconcerting, given that the meat *actually* looks like the animal when it's served to you...but, when in Peru, do as the Peruvians do, right?

Huayncapapas

Our dining entertainment. It was so much fun and such a cool atmosphere!

So, they gave us complimentary post-meal liquor. Don't worry, we didn't drink it :) 

We saw the sights...

And finished our trip with gelato sundaes. The trip was so much fun! I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go! Great company, great sights, great language, great food. Where to next?