Photos! 2 month mark

I've been down in Peru for almost 5 months now and as I suspected, time is flying by. I've been up in the mountains for about 2 months and here are a few of the pictures I've accumulated.

This is a pic of me and the boys doing a little pregaming. Since we're all on the Peace Corps salary, pregaming is even more essential to saving money before hitting the town.

Here is one of the cacti that decorate the area up here. Once, when jumping from a rock wall I became intimately acquainted with one of these. Not fun. This cactus is not to be confused with the “San Pedro cactus” – which has hallucinogenic properties. San Pedro, you boil in water and drink like tea, and depending on the strength, you’ll hallucinate for 6 to 12 hours. Shaman (witch doctors) are still prevalent through the mountains of Peru and the San Pedro is one of their ‘medicines’. Pretty sweet, huh?

Here are some nice photos of the area.

That brown spot in the field is a house. Pretty sweet real estate.

Night out - this is one of our favorite watering holes, Trece Bruhos (13 Owls). You can usually be assured of two things at this place, some cheesy American music and other gringos. Downstairs is a Peruvian club. These two bars make for a perfect combination - a taste of home upstairs, but downstairs you can emerse yourself with Peruvians, salsa dancing, and getting hit on by "gringo hunters" who think I have money...and I keep up the facade until the morning...he-he.

My homeboy Frank and I - just two heterosexual guys hanging out in a bathtub. What?

Laguna 69: check out that blue water. This lake is surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains, which you can't see because it's a little cloudy.

Don't know what the elevation is, but I'm guessing it's around 4,300 meters (a little higher than 13,000 feet) . You start out around 2,800 meters, drive for about 1 hour and a half, winding up the mountain, then hike for another 2 and a half hours through a valley that was a glacier thousands of years ago.

That's my buddy, Ryan, the volunteer who lives closest to me from a different group. We tried fishing for about 30 minutes, but then we figured the elevation is probably too high for fish. The fish were probably in there laughing at us...

Look at these exhibitionists! Right out in the middle of town. Have they no shame?

The site of animals procreating in the streets is all too common. Witnessing these acts of love are still funny to me though.