We survived our South American Excursion! Highly recommend a visit there. Fantastic history and ruins from the Inca, colonial buildings from the Spanish, amazing trekking, monasteries/churches from the 1500's... Maureen is a fantastic travel companion and it went incredibly smoothly considering it was our first international travel excursion together.
Night busses are a bit epic with oxygen deficit and overheating issues because the windows don't open. Cruz del Sur was by far the best bus option...
Met a climber/photographer at the Huaraz hostel of La Zarela (which caters to climbers) in the shadow of the Cordillera Blanca. He phrased it well when he said "It's hard to take a bad picture here.
