1 Ford Fiesta, 2 Intoxicating Islands and 3000 Captivating Kilometers

Wow.

This past week in New Zealand has been an absolute whirlwind of infinite excitement!

Instead of boring you with all the stories and whatnot, I am going to write a brief list of highlights...

- Driving stickshift on the lefthand side of the road.. Crazy!

- Blackwater Rafting in a subterranean river marvelling at Glow-worms lighting up the ceiling.

- Plenty of Wine Tastings

- Bungy Jumping the Second Highest Jump in the WORLD.. over 440 Feet into a canyon.. no hands.. head first!

- Camping DIRECTLY under a VERY active Railroad Viaduct

- Visiting the Longest-Named Place in the world

- Having limited radio and only 4 awful CDs: Best of Tears for Fears, Best Irish Drinking Songs (volume 3), Best of Moby and Gregorian Chants to the music of the Beatles

- Camping on a completely gorgeous and deserted beach

- Driving through a Rainforest to get to a Glacier

- Getting our car to pony-up to 170 km/hr

- Not getting a speeding ticket (although Dan can't say the same)

- Taking our poor car off road to camp in the river bed of a gorgeous valley with spectacular views

-... and plenty of debauchery inbetween!

We slept in a Chillean Park this Morning

Yep.

Flight into Santiago at 5 am. Hostel check in at 2 pm.

Homeless.

Forgive Me Father, For I Have Sinned..

Yep.

First of all, please forgive me for the following.. my grammar just so happens to be lacking at the moment. Running on no sleep whilst composing my accounts of this evening at 7 am.. I am simply trying to stay awake for the free breakfast at our hostel.. one must take advantage of the eggs (huevos) as they are really hard to come by in my neck of the woods..

Our fast and furious night in Lima was filled (to the brim) with restaurants, bars and MANY crazy/insane locals... One minute I thought we were going to have to fight these guys, the next- we were like best buds.. stories for another time and place though, of course.

Around 2am, after countless Pisco Sours, we venture into the largest of all the casinos in Lima.

Casino Royale, AKA The Deathstar.

Feeling quite saucy, I belly up to the roulette table and pony-up 400 soles (aka mucho american dollars) and put it ALL on Black.

Bad move.

Poor form.

The ball spins round and I anxiously await it´s arrival.

Red 27.

Damn...

So, now, I am over 100 U.S. dollars down. Should I stop??

Yes.

Do I??

No.

Immediately, I saunter on over to the balckjack table (Dad, I know you can appreciate this)..

I sit, with large audience, and continue to gamble for the next three hours..

Long story short- I left that poor, poor casino high and dry..

Winning back the 400 I lost and walking out the door OVER 500 soles ahead.

Vegas, here I come baby..

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle..

And now, back to civilization.

After navigating through over 50k of dense Peruvian Jungle and Cloud Forrests for the past few days- we've decided to take it easy in Cuzco today.. maybe even get a massaje or two.

The Inca Trail is a vast road comprised of slick, lichen-ridden boulders complete with massive amounts of altitude change.

Sitting here, even now, my calves and quads continue to echo with the incessant pain of thousands of ancient stairs.

The rain was relentless. The altitude sometimes hovered around 14,000'. "Dead Woman´s Pass" was a nightmare, as you could imagine. Additionally, with our track-record of withstanding extreme backpacking conditions- we were prepared for ANYTHING and, therefore, brought WAY too much with us. Our packs were around 20kg- which just so happens to be the Legal Limit for the Porters who carried other people's packs... can you say badass??

That being said, the Inca Trail was THE highlight of our trip so far!! Aside from the adverse conditions, the trail really wasn't that hard and the Inca Ruins (six separate sites) we visited along the way were truly a treat.

Again, conditions aside, this was the most luxurious camping we have ever experienced. Pancakes and porridge in the morning, afternoon tea (complete with fresh popcorn), and gourmet lunches and dinners that would make even Wolfgang Puck a very jealous and sad man.

Our guide, Rubens, was a very interesting individual- and, for the sake of keeping this site clean, I will spare details.. lets just say that he´s had more than a fair share of coca leaves in his day.

Our group was so much fun! There were fourteen of us from Canada, UK, USA and Holland.. we all got along very well and I´m sure that we´ll stay in touch for years to come.. and always remember that certain special train ride home.

Needless to say, Machu Picchu was somewhat of a spiritual experience- There´s a reason why it's one of the world wonders. Machu Picchu really was one of the most beautiful cities I´ve ever seen. So stunning, in fact, it gave me the chills..

As for tonight, partying at the Loki Hostel, yet again. We just cannot seem to escape this place.. too much fun. Tomorrow, we fly back to Lima at 7 am, stay there for a night, then fly to Santiago and stay there for a night. Then its off to New Zealand, baby!

South America has been a blast but there´s a whole other world we´ve yet to visit......