Quick re-cap

I am sitting in Peurto Maldanado right now which is the gate way to the southern Amazon. It´s hot and humid and I´m just thankful to be only 250 meters above sea level. My altitude sickness did not subside and though I was fine during the Inca Trail (I think Coca Tea and Gatorade kept me alive), upon my return to Cusco, could not eat or drink anything. And it was SO COLD!!! I know it´s winter here but come on! Five layers.....toques for dinner. Honestly! Regardless, it was a great experience. The Inca Trek experience is in a separate and detailed post. They day after the trek we all went white water rafting down the Urabamba River. It was so cold that the safety kayakers hands were too cold to take pictures!! However, here´s what I´ve learned about Peru so far:

- My Spanish is improving but I have a tendancy to want to respond in French. Go figure
- It seems that near our hotel just above every store sold matteresses and people bought a lot of them
-There are stray dogs everywhere and all Aimey wants to do is go around giving them dog treats. It breaks her heart but I reminded her that a) she hasn´t had her rabies shot and b) as soon as she feeds them, she´ll have a following!
-Altitude sickness is the worst thing I have ever experienced!
-Our trekking groups was so fantastic. They included:
- six Irish folks who met doing charity walks for the Irish heart foundation and have since begun trekking all over the world
-a Welsh couple, one of whom is a teacher!
-a newly engaged couple from Denmark
-white water rafting is great fun but not when it{s Peruvian winter!

Memorable quotes so far:
1) Welsh Gemma on night 2 of the trek "the toilets here are proper toilets!"
Me: "So you mean, you can sit on them instead of squating?"
Welsh Gemma: " well, I still wouldn´t sit on them"

2) Danish Andres audio Spanish tapes "Relax. Listen to the music. Enjoy the words."

3) Aimey "Look, there´s blue sky!"
Irish Ann "Yes, but it´s not over Peru. It´s somewhere feckin´ else!"