Princess Status Checked

Step 1: Get to Peru

After almost 4 months of trying to save up, it was time for the trip of a lifetime! Kerri, Lauren and myself were off to Peru for 13 days! We started in the Amazon in Puerto Maldonado then to Cuzco then hiked the Inca Trail into Machu Picchu... words cannot describe how amazing it all was!

While planning this trip I knew it would require me to check my princess status. Normally, I would say I am a rolly suitcase kind of gal that enjoys staying in hotels that have a bar. But this trip would push me to my limits and really make me step outside my comfort zone. It was a good thing that I didn't know ahead of time that my bathroom would be downgraded to peeing in a hole. 

All of this fit into my borrowed backpack! At the airport it checked in at 11.5 kilos (25lbs)!

We left on Saturday, March 31. First it was a 3 hour bus ride to Mexico City. From there we were on a craptastict 5.5 hour plane ride to Lima. The plane didn't even have places for us to plug in our headphones, but the guy said no worries just move somewhere that has them... I opted to stay in our three seats and read some very expensive English magazines - I may have spent $20 for 3 of them! 

                          

After we arrived in Lima we had a 6.5 hour layover - at first this didn't sound to bad, I was thinking find somewhere to eat, have a few drinks - no big deal! NO PRINCESS STATUS EVEN AT THE AIRPORT! We couldn't even get through security until 2 or 3 hours before our flight. That would explain all the people sleeping in the hallways. AND there was not even a bar at this airport! 

Quick check of the email so we could find out what to do when we landed in the Jungle... notice the people sleeping in the hallway outside the internet cafe

So we tried to exchange some pesos for soles or dollars for soles or was is pesos for dollars? Either way I ended up getting screwed out of $50 USD - lesson learned: do math before handing over 1 of 3 currencies! 

Soles

1st Peruvian Beers!

Finally at one of the 7/11 gas station stores we purchased some beers and had a few before we could go through security. After waiting for what seemed forever we finally got through security and found some chairs to nap in. Who knew it could get so cold in a Peruvian airport! We finally boarded the plane and were off to Cuzco! 

Before we even taxied out of the runway area I looked over and Lauren and Kerri were already sleeping so I thought, what the heck and I closed my eyes too. I was for sure sleeping before take off too! We got to Cuzco and we didn't get off the plane, we just waited for the exchange of passengers and then we were off to Puerto Maldonado. Kerri was raving at how beautiful it was when we flew in to Cuzco, so I decided to try to keep my eyes open long enough to understand what she was talking about. It was pretty, but as soon as we hit the cloud coverage I was out!

After almost 24 hours of travel we're there!

Talk about a temperature change when we landed in Puerto Maldonado! You could instantly feel your clothes stick to your sides as the humidity clung to your skin. I LOVED IT!! All I could hear in the back of my head was, "YOUR IN THE JUNGLE BABY!!" 

On our way to the river boat that takes us to our bungalow