Peru

Hello, gals and a couple guys. This is Matt and I'm posting my first blog on this here page. I wanted to tell you all about my killer trip to Peru last week.

A few months ago the owner of the private school at which I work had a drawing. Students entered this drawing by doing well in school and earning a ticket. Seven students were drawn from the pot to take a trip to Peru just for winning that drawing. The owner then told me that I would be going as well because I'm the Spanish teacher and the photography teacher. I got skillz y'all, and it paid off in the form of an all expenses paid trip. Not to mention that I got paid for going at the same time. The owner as well as a female teacher went too.

After much hassle getting things planned, getting passports for the kids, and obtaining other pieces of information, we left on the 24th of April.

We flew into Lima at night and left for Puerto Maldonado in the morning, which was a short flight. Our guides picked us up at the airport, which is where our journey into the Amazon began. We then hopped on some boats and cruised up a river to a checkpoint. We started a two mile hike there on a muddy path.



After the hike, we hopped on some canoes and paddled our way through some jungle waters. That soon opened up to Sandoval Lake, which is where our lodge was. Below is a view from our lodge.



Our lodge had thatch roofs and screens instead of walls. It was amazing. We had guided tours all day. We saw tarantulas, enormous spiders, frogs, lizards, giant six foot otters, parrots, capuchin monkeys, and plenty of caiman (alligators). We went alligator spotting at night. You could see their eyes glow by shining a flashlight on them. It was spectacular. We loved the food, our guides, and just everything about it.





After leaving the Amazon, we took a flight to Cuzco and on to Urubamba or the Sacred Valley of the Incas, which is at about 10,000 feet or so above sea level. We spent a day at some ruins. One of the female students had been complaining off and on about a stomach ache. That night I got a phone call saying she wasn't doing well. I rushed to her room, and found her lying in bed just writhing in pain. I called the doctor who came and diagnosed her with appendicitis. The closest ambulance and hospital were in Cuzco, an hour and a half away. The doctor called them and we waited till about 330 am for it to get there. She left with the female teacher and was operated on at 8 am. Her appendix had ruptured but the surgery went well. She's just fine, but that was horrible timing.

We spent the next couple days at Machu Picchu. It was amazing. Here are some pictures of that as well as some other of my favorites that I took.



We ate some guinea pig. It wasn't too bad.






P.S. I didn't shave my facial hair the entire time and I looked like a child predator.