Machu Picchu!

The week after finals ended a small group of us took a trip to Peru to visit Machu Picchu. It was a short but amazing trip. We flew into Cusco and spent the afternoon adjusting to the altitude. The next morning we woke up early to take the train to Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu). Our third day in Peru we rolled out of bed at 3:30 am in order to get in line for the bus that would take us to the entrance of Machu Picchu. I have never been so excited as during the 20 minute bus ride around hairpin turns and up the mountain. A little after 6am we stumbled into the ruins, which were more breathtaking in real life than in all the pictures I have seen. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon exploring the ruins, taking pictures, and wondering about how the Incas built their houses and what their life's were like. The views were amazing and the mountains surrounding the site were absolutely breath-taking. It was an amazing trip and far exceeded my expectations, I only wish we had spent more time in Cusco!!!

Train to Machu Picchu:

Aguas Calientes:


Peruvian Pisco sour!


Machu Picchu!!!









Sunrise!















Flight home over the Andes:

Sandboarding Photos

Thanks to Rachel and our guide for these photos!

Skiing in July!

Last week a few of us went for a quick day trip into the mountains to go skiing/snowboarding. Although it was a small mountain with only a few trails open we had a great time and an adventure trying to figure out the weird combination lift/t-bar that brought us to the top of the trails.

San Pedro

We spent our final group trip of the semester in the driest desert in the world, the Atacama desert in Northern Chile. This was my first visit to a desert and I was amazed by how colorful it was! Our trip mostly consisted of driving to different parts of the desert usually on unpaved roads, relaxing, shopping in the town of San Pedro, eating GREAT food, and SANDBOARDING!!

Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death)

Sunset in Valle de la Luna:Salar de Atacama (basically a huge reserve of salt flats, also a flamingo reserve)





We even had a chance to see snow!

Ojos de Salar: freezing cold lakes in the middle of no where that myself and few other brave souls jumped into.
We happened to be in San Pedro during the festival of San Pedro: