Peru was the second country I ever visited, and was a year after I visited Costa Rica. When I went I had the stereotypical idea of Peru being hot and humid simply because it was in South America. I went to Lima in July of 1998 and even though it had lots of palm trees and tropical plants, the weather was quite cool. I had always wanted to go to Peru for several reasons. The ancient ruins was what interested me the most, just about everyone knows about the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. There are also the Nazca lines which are ancient drawings made out in the desert, and they are so huge to see them properly you need to fly over them in a plane. Even better about Peru was that the eastern part is the Amazon, and since I love the outdoors, to me the Amazon is the ultimate adventure. The first two pictures are of Machu Picchu. What is strange to me is that when I arrived to Machu Picchu I had a feeling of accomplishment like I had completed one of my life's biggest goals. At the time it was almost as if I didn't need to travel anymore because I had seen what mattered the most. Looking back, Machu Picchu was just a small step towards a much bigger goal.

The Incas worshiped the mountains and believed the gods lived high up in them. Machu Picchu was built as high as possible in order to get closer to the gods. At other times they would climb high into the mountains and summit certain peaks to make human sacrifices. On the left is a picture of how they divided the mountain into large steps. On the right is a picture of the Andes mountains in a different part of Peru.

On the upper left is a picture that shows some houses along the Amazon River in the city of Iquitos. I had a great time there and it was my favorite part of Peru. I went swimming in the river, did a lot of hiking and went out and stayed in some hammocks in the rainforest. The last picture is one of me when I was 17 years old holding a sloth. When I went to the rocky beach area it was pretty cool, around 60 degrees or so, enough to need a sweater. After you go east and cross the Andes mountains you'll be in the Amazon which is of course, hot and sticky all year around.

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