On the 20th, I took the night bus over to Huaraz. Judith and I met up with Michelle and Francis, and also met other backpackers that Judith had met - Gina from Ireland, Indrin, and Marshall. The bus was soooo nice! We went with a company called Linea. The seats were cushy, there was plenty of leg room, and there was a meal and a drink on board!! Yeah, it was a backpackers bus paradise...aaahhh. Slept all the way, and got to Huaraz around 6:30am.

Judith and I got a 3 bed dormitory with private bath at Casa de Jaime - a cute hostel, but very popular with Israelis and loud in the mornings. Um...very loud! We wake up to people horking up loogies and pots with boiling water whistling. It seems like a lot of the people in the hostel wake up at like 6 am, and love to make noise :[

We decided that we were going to do a day hike - to Willkawain, an Incan site. We were both sooo convinced that our guidebooks (I have Footprints, she has Lonely Planet) said, take a right at the first dirt road after Hotel Huascaran...so we did that. We hiked uphill for 2 hours as the books had said, asking locals all the way on our hike, which were the roads to take. Then it turned into 3 hours..so we were questioning it...We eventually gave up, since it seemed like nothing was around the corner. We went down a different way, a short cut, and where the dirt road met the highway, we saw a blue marked sign that said Willkawain with an arrow pointing up. Doh!!! Well, it was a good 16-18km? hike, with nice scenery.

We checked our guidebooks in the evening, and found that both...yes, both guidebooks say take the 2nd right! And mine said look for the blue sign..hehe. Well, we saw a postcard of the ruins the next day, so it looks like we really didnt miss much!

We had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant near the hostel. The food was really good! We hung out for a while at the restaurant..we were the only people there. Two little girls came in, playing. Once was chasing the other. One of them hid behind my chair, and started singing...how cute...not really, because after she stopped singing, she was begging us for money! Just sticking her hands out at us, and not leaving us alone. We were trying to ignore her, and we just kept talking to each other, and laughing about the situation. Then she took Judiths water bottle, and wouldnt give it back. She stuck it in her mouth (the top part). At that point, Judith was like...she can have it! She was still begging, with both hands out in front of us. So then we started doing the same. We put one hand out to the girl, and one hand out to each other. The we started playing a game, where you have your hand over or under another persons, and slap the hands. The little girl caught on fast, and it was actually quite entertaining. Seemed like she was having fun as well! After the game was over, she went back to begging. She eventually left, with Judiths water bottle in hand.

A few minutes later, we were approached by another begging child...at that point we were like...lets pay the bill and leave!

On the 21st, we met up with Holmes, an adventure guide, to do a canyoning trip. It was really fun! We abseiled down 5 freezing cold glacier-fed waterfalls! On all of the abseils, everyone gets wet. The first 2 were pretty easy. The 3rd one, we all got drenched. After the 3rd one, I decided to put my top around my waist, as it was freezing (had a bikini on). The 4th waterfall was high -- 20 meters. I went down, slipped a few times, and got totally drenched!! When I got to the bottom, I did not realize that a boob was hanging out..oops..wardrobe malfunction! hehe. The last waterfall was higher than the 4th. You put your feet below a ledge, and then the guides lower you really, really fast! You get completely soaked because you go straight down the waterfall path.

This morning, we were planning to get up at 4:45am to do a dayhike to Laguna 69 in the Hauscaran National Park. The alarm rang, and neither Judith or I wanted to get out of bed, so we were like..screw it! Sleep in! Only to awake at 6 to a guy horking a loogie in the hallway...yuck.

So today, were going to hike up to the Mirador..doesnt look too bad as we can see it from the Plaza de Armas. Im taking the night bus to Lima, and tomorrow morning, will see if I can catch flight to Cusco as I am 2 days behind schedule now!!