Saturday 31 December 2011

Land of the Incas

Day 11- 17th December
After a 15 hour night bus, winding up mountain roads over passes above 4000m (it was very cold!) we arrived in Cusco.  I felt the effects of the altitude almost immediately and we decided to go straight to our hostel to sleep off the journey and begin to acclimatise to the altitude.  Sadly our hostel had declined somewhat since the rave reviews we read on the internet but it had a bed and a bathroom so we settled in for a nap.  We were staying in the San Blas area, full of steep cobbled streets and tiny alleyways crammed with shops of all kind - exactly how I had imagined Cusco to be.  In the evening we wandered down into the area around the main square, which is a beautiful, colonial style plaza with colonnades and a spectacular cathedral.  Cusco is full of lovely shops, selling textiles, paintings, carvings and jewellery, as well as tons of restaurants and bars.  We found a cosy restaurant to have a meal and a hot chocolate.  That was were the trouble started...
Cusco Cathedral


Day 12 - Day 14 (18th to 20th December)
Sadly Jon and I both got food poisoning, predictably I fared worse.  I spent the whole of the 18th in bed, while Jon was confined to wandering round Cusco finding internet cafes and pubs in which to spend his time.  We both felt a little better on the 19th and duly went along to pay the balance on our Inca Trail trek.  Unfortunately things went from bad to worse and I got sick again that night and spent the whole of the 20th in bed again!
These things happen and there's often very little you can do about them (we diligently drank only bottled water, no drinks with ice and only ate at reputable-looking restaurants), and having to spend a few more days in Cusco than we'd originally planned didn't seem like too much of a hardship.  The upsetting part is that it meant I was too unwell to do the Inca trail and Jon had to do it on his own.
For the next few days there are two blogs - mine and Jon's...


Jen:
Day 15 - 21st December
After bidding Jon a rather tearful goodbye (me, not him, obviously!) and waving him off on the 5:45 bus to the start of the trek I went back to bed for a bit to feel sorry for myself!  After a few hours of this I decided that would be a rubbish way to spend 3 days in Cusco and set off to explore the city.  Still feeling very weak after eating virtually nothing for 3 days my progress was slow but I managed to find myself a bed in a local hostel and tick several errands off my list, including arranging my transport to Machu Picchu for Christmas eve, where I would meet Jon and the rest of the group as they entered the site to explore it with them (so not doing the trek didn't work out too bad - I still got to enjoy the best bit with them without all the hard work getting there!)  I managed to eat some food and cheered myself up by buying a beautiful rug for our new flat.  Safely ensconced in the new, much nicer, hostel, I curled up on a sofa under a blanket and typed this entry listening to the rain hammer down on the roof above - very British!


Day 16 - 22nd December
Feeling better I set off on a day trip to the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  The Sacred Valley is a section of the valley that follows the Urubamba river from Pisac to Ollantaytambo and encompasses the heartland of the Inca Empire.  Its fertile soils are still extensively farmed and the locals claim they produce the best corn in the world!  Our first stop was the town of Pisac, where we saw a silver-making demonstration and had time to walk around the market.  The weather was a bit grey so I treated myself to a new jumper.  We then visited the Inca city of Pisac, which is carved into the mountain above the current town.  There was a large section of Inca terraces and we learnt that the Incas used these for agriculture but also for planting pleasure gardens and experimenting with cultivating new plants.  The Inca ruins themselves were a collection of stone-built dwellings and temples, with an extensive cemetery carved into the mountainside - sadly long since plundered by robbers.
the Sacred Valley
Pisac Inca terraces


After lunch we headed on to the town of Ollantaytambo, the starting point for the Inca Trail.  An impressive Inca citadel sits in the mountains above the town, reached by climbing some 300 steps up the steep terraces (it was a good job I was feeling stronger!)  The city was beautiful, with many buildings and large granaries carved into the mountains opposite, sitting next to the carved face of the main God of the time.  There was also a large sun temple at the top, made out of enormous 25 ton blocks of granite, which were mined over 8 kilometres away.  In order to get the granite across the Urubamba river to Ollantaytambo, the Incas diverted its flow, moved the stones, then set the river back on its original course.  There is evidence that the cities were never finished, some of the blocks still have the protrusions used for pulling them and slabs of granite have been found along the road leading from the quarry to the city.
Ollantaytambo






Ollantaytambo view







We ended the day with a weaving demonstration by the Chinchero people, an indigenous community that live in a high plateau above Cusco. 
On the bus home we were treated to many attempts from local entrepreneurs to sell us their wares - a CD of pictures of the places you've just been, locally produced aniseed spirit and, best of all, a Quechua man who played us the hits of the beetles and Abba on pan pipes, recorder and drum, all whilst standing up in the middle of the bus.  Sometimes it's a hoot being a tourist!




Day 17 - 23rd December
Today I made my way to Aguas Calientes.  I caught a combi taxi to Ollantaytambo, with 3 other Peruvian passengers, and then boarded the train to Aguas Calientes (also known as Machu Picchu town).  It was dark when I arrived and I had forgotten to bring a map, but a helpful Policeman pointed the way to my hostel.  Another shared dorm, but this time sadly with the addition of snoring Columbians!




Jon:
Day 15 - 21st December
After marching Jen up and down the streets of Cusco (rather slowly) we decided that there was no way she was going on a four day trek through the mountains which is about 42km in total and I don't know how much ascent! As no changes or refunds are possible I set off on the bus. First stop Ollantaytambo for a spot of breakfast and introductions to the group (14 people: 6 Brits, 6 Americans and 2 Swedes) who were all very friendly. Fortunately at this point I recovered my appetite in full. Then another couple of hours to the normal place to start the trail, at kilometre 82 as the full original path was from Cusco. After the entry process (including an unexpected passport stamp) we set off for the fairly gentle first day, which was not dissimilar to a ramble in Wales with added Inca sites (note to the Welsh tourist board - I'm sure that with a bit of marketing you could replace Inca sites with castles and make it an international 'must do'). One silver lining of Jen pulling out is that I was able to use her porter - I was going to be carrying all my own equipment - so the first day was pretty easy. Wilfredo, our guide, was excellent and the cooking was magnificent and nearly every meal has three courses. At the first night's camp we met all the porters and the cook and exchanged Quechua greetings, which I strongly suspect I rendered in to some incomprehensible gibberish. Beautiful views and (first night only) beers to purchase, not that they were really earned that night.
Trail head




Day 16 - 22nd December
If only every morning started with being woken with tea in a tent, although not perhaps at 5am. Still, given the punishing schedule that the porters go through you can see why early starts are required. Anyway - after yesterday's benign weather, the night had bought forth a deluge which continued all day really. Day two has a reputation for being the most challenging with an ascent to 4200m (about 2000m of climbing). At least the rain prevents overheating and good waterproofs make it perfectly tolerable. On this day the trail transitions from a track to proper Inca engineering and you see the effort that went in to producing endless flights of stone steps. A stop for 'second breakfast' allowed us to regroup before proceeding at our own pace for the rest of the day. The years of rowing training running up steps (and running at Portsdown where every session ended in a hill) proved useful and to be honest it wasn't too horrendous. Amazing views from just below the snow line were worth the climb. As soon as the high point of 'Dead Woman's Pass' was breached, the weather for the descent down to the camp site was much improved - even sunny. After the pass you leave civilisation and descend in to a lost-world-esque valley with lush foliage. Admittedly the fact that the path had become the river didn't make it any easier. The second night's camp site had even better views that the first and we indolent trekkers were desperately embarrassed by the provision of both afternoon tea and dinner, bringing the day's meal total to five!


the first pass


Second Night Campsite
Day 17 - 23rd December
This was the longest day and after a  slight paucity of Inca sites the day before, we had no such complaints today and toured several trail lodges, farms and temples as we went. The drive to build in the most inaccessible places was truly impressive. Another climb to the second pass, replete with more steep steps, was followed by a no less fatiguing descent. Once the trail levelled out though it was probably the most beautiful walk I have been on. The early rain cleared to give spectacular views of the cloud forested valleys with snow capped peaks on every side. After lunch at the third pass (and a talk on Incan mysticism by Wilfredo at an Inca temple/farm) comes the 'gringo-killer' a few kilometres of steep descent, which saps the calf muscles; good training though! Its almost a shame to descent back towards civilisation and the first glimpse of Aguas Calientes was actually rather unwelcome after the beauty and solitude of the higher mountains. I really must get out to do more of that sort of thing in the UK. After exploring a spectacular Incan site I entered the third camp and awaited the others who weren't quite as suicidal down hill.


Inca Temple Complex



Day 18 - 24th December
Jon and I were reunited at the entrance to Machu Picchu, after early morning starts - mine at 6:00 in a hostel, followed by a bus up the mountain, his at 4:00 for an early walk to the Sun Gate to get a good view of Machu Picchu in the early morning light!  Machu Picchu certainly deserves all the superlatives that it inspires, it really is magnificent, and much larger than either of us expected.  The setting is magical - nestled beneath towering tree-covered mountains in a lush valley, enclosed on all sides and miles from anywhere -it really does feel like a lost world, despite the number of tourists.  The site wasn't as busy as we had imagined it to be either, a blessing of visiting Peru in low season.  Our guide, Wilfredo, gave us a very interesting 2 hour tour of the site, explaining the purpose, symbolism and construction of some of the more important buildings.  We then had a few hours to explore on our own.  After a few rainy days the sun came out and we were able to walk around in sunshine and relax on some of the grassy terraces.  The views from every corner of the site are spectacular, both of the ruins and the surrounding valley and mountains.  Machu Picchu definitely exceeded our expectations and goes down as one of the highlights of all our travels.


Machu Picchu



Sun Temple


Temple of the Condor
After heading back into town for lunch we embarked on a very non-traditional Christmas Eve activity - sipping cocktails in the hot springs in the rain, surrounded by the sounds of the river and birds.  We then boarded the train back to Ollantaytambo and, finally, a bus back to Cusco.  Merry Christmas everyone!






Day 19 - 25th December
Feliz Navidad!  Last night Jon and I checked into the hostel that ate Christmas!  We decided to treat ourselves to somewhere a bit nicer as a Christmas present to each other, and this place is warm and cosy and is covered in Christmas decorations.  After a candlelit breakfast and a very welcome hot shower we skyped our parents to wish everyone a merry Christmas.  It's great that the technology exists to allow you to invade family Christmases from half way round the world!
We went to an English pub in Cusco for a 3 course Christmas dinner, complete with paper hats, turkey with all the trimmings and an interesting Peruvian take on the Christmas pudding.  We started talking to the two British girls at the table next to us and ended up spending the evening with them in the local Irish pub.  Not necessarily the most traditional of Christmases but a great day all the same.



Day 20 - 26th December
We spent a relaxing Boxing day exploring some of the sites of Cusco we had so far failed to see.  The Museo de Arte Precolombino is housed in a beautiful old Colonial house and contains a fantastic collection of 'primitive' art from the Peruvian pre-Inca civilisations.  There were incredibly detailed and well-preserved pots, plates, vases and jewellery from all regions of Peru dating from 1250BC to 1500AD.  Some of the pieces were startlingly beautiful and could easily have been made by modern sculptors.  It is easy to see where the modernists got the inspiration for their sculptures and paintings from, Picasso or Hepworth would be very proud to lay claim to some of the exhibits.  We also did a bit of shopping and Jon finally succumbed to the lure of an alpaca jumper.  A very tasty meal of Peruvian soup and alpaca steak rounded off the day nicely.  Tomorrow we're (finally) leaving Cusco behind, having managed to book ourselves a last-minute trip into the Amazon.  Time for another early night in preparation for yet another early morning...



Monday 19 December 2011

Sand, sand, sand


Day 7 - 13th December
Another pretty good overnight bus brought us back into Lima and we got straight on another to Ica, 4.5 hours south.  After what seemed like unending desert we arrived in Ica, which doesn't seem a particularly inspiring place, although our taxi driver told us there are a few wineries in the area.
We checked in to Hotel Bananas in nearby Huacachina, a small village consisting almost entirely of hostels, surrounding the shores of an oasis hidden amongst towering sand dunes.  It's a pretty impressive location and the hostel is rustic but has everything we need, including a pool and hammock terrace.
Huacachina Oasis 

Jon relaxing at Bananas Hostel








After some well-earned pool-side relaxing to soak away the bus journeys, we booked ourselves on a late afternoon buggy ride and sandboarding trip in the dunes above the town.  What a great trip!  We sped through the dunes in a buggy, clinging to the sides of hills and tumbling over near-vertical drops.  The sandboarding was great fun too - there's nothing quite like throwing yourself off the edge of a dune when you can't see the bottom.  The smaller ones we attempted standing up, snowboard style (needless to say Jon was better at this than me and persevered onto the larger slopes).  The big slopes we tackled face down on the board like a skeleton bob - so much more fun than repeatedly falling on your arse trying to do it the proper way!
with our sandboads

sunset in the desert
Back to the hotel to wash the incredible quantity of sand out of my ears and now for a beer...


Day 8 - 14th December
Today we devoted some more time to relaxing (it's a hard life!)  We hung around hostel, reading our books and drinking tea and then caught a taxi into the nearby town of Ica to see the museum.  It turns out the museum doesn't get a lot of visitors - we were the only ones there and they had to turn the lights on for us!  Still, the museum was interesting and gave us an insight into the local tribes and cultures in the Ica and Nasca valleys from 200BC to the Incas.  There was a very impressive collection of pots and other clay items, all well preserved in the sand, as well as some fantastic textiles dating back thousands of years.  The main draw, though, was the large collection of mummies, again fantastically preserved complete with funereal robes and hair.  There was also a rather alarming collection of deformed skulls - it seems it was a tradition in Nasca and Ica cultures to bind children's heads to force them to grow in a point.  Very creepy!


Day 9 - 15th December
Today we got up early for a trip to the Islas Ballestas, a small group of rocky islands off the nearby coast which are home to huge sea bird and sea lion colonies, nicknamed the Peruvian Galapagos.  After a few days in the desert it was great to be back by the sea and the islands certainly didn't disappoint.  Our boat took us  up close to the islands and we were able to see hundreds of thousands of birds, including cormorants, terns, boobies raising their chicks, pelicans and penguins.  There were also hundreds of huge sea lions basking in the sun, many of the females were pregnant, although sadly we were too early to see any babies.  It was amazing to get up so close to the birds and sea lions.  Our boat also took us past the 'candelabra' - a mysterious geoglyph carved into the sand.  No-one knows how old it is or why it was created.  It was a great taster for our trip tomorrow...

bottlenose dolphins


boobies and chicks





sea lion colony
penguins
pelican

pregnant sea lion

"Candelabra" geoglyph

In the afternoon we braved the somewhat dodgy wifi connection and skyped our parents - hooray for the wonders of modern technology.


Day 10 - 16th December
We had another early morning to join our trip to the Nasca lines.  After some typical Peruvian planning, which left us waiting at a travel office for an hour and a half waiting for a man who had come from the same place as us we headed off to the tiny airport at Nasca.  Since the plane crash a few years ago the number of airlines has reduced dramatically (now only 4 or so fly) and the price has gone up accordingly.  It was definitely worth the cost though - the experience of flying over the lines in a tiny plane was one of the most amazing, if not necessarily enjoyable of my life.  Our plane had 4 seats and I can honestly say I've never experienced turbulence like it!  Our pilot took us through death-defying spirals over each figure so we could see them clearly from all sides of the plane - great for viewing the mysterious shapes but not so great for the stomach!  Air sickness aside, the lines truly are as enigmatic, mysterious and beautiful as everyone says and. although most recent theories seem happy that they were created for religious ceremonies an as offerings to the gods, one can't help but wonder why the Nasca people went to such extraordinary lengths to create them.

our tiny plane
Nasca lines from the air

Monkey

Hummingbird
Sadly we then had to hang around in Nasca town for 7 hours waiting for our night bus to Cusco.  There isn't much to recommend the town of Nasca, but our wait was made more pleasant by spending it in the company of 3 guys from Midhurst, who are doing a similar trip to us.



Monday 12 December 2011

Bienvenidos a Peru - Lima to Huanchaco

Day 1 - 7th December
After a surprisingly restful night in the Easy Hotel (think ship's cabin with no window!) we boarded our flight to Miami at 9:40. God bless BA, everything was great, the food was tasty, not just passingly edible, and i finally managed to see the last Harry Potter film. The fiasco in Miami aiport reminded me why I hate the USA so much! We had to clear immigration and customs just to make a connecting flight and, thanks to the inordinate amount of time it takes them to protect their borders, we very nearly missed our flight! This was the first time I've flown American Airlines and I'd happily make it my last. The airport staff were really unhelpful and some downright rude. The only way we managed to get anyone help us get through check-in in time to make our connection is because I started crying in the ticket hall until someone took pity on us. The plane was then over an hour late to leave and we had good old fashioned one-screen-at-the-front-of-the-cabin entertainment. Disney's Cars was the only film shown for the whole of the 5 1/2 hour flight. Never again! We arrived in Lima at midnight and finally got to our hostel at 1:00. Time for a well earned sleep!

Day 2 - 8th December
Today we headed out to see a bit of Lima. The hostel owners told us that it has been the hottest spring for many years but, as today is a bank holiday, the weather has turned cloudy and grey! We were staying in a residential area of Miraflores and wandered to the nearby ruined adobe pyramid Huaca Pucllana. Not much to see now, just a pile of collapsing mud bricks, so we did't pay to go in. We had our first experience of a Peruvian supermarket - quite similar to a French one, with lots of complicated systems for getting fruit and items from the counters. Somehow we managed to get out with lunch and some snacks for the night bus.
We caught the metro bus up the newly built express way into central Lima. The man at the ticket office took pity on our English uselessness and lack of Spanish and gave us his own travelcard! The outskirts of central Lima are still pretty rough but the area around the Plaza de Armas (Plaza Mayor) is really rather nice with lovely small shopping streets and grand old colonial buildings. We went to the Franciscan monastery and had a guided tour. It was lovely to see what our monasteries would have once looked like, with brighlty coloures walls and ceilings, before Henry VIII had his way. We also visited the catacombs, which were very interesting, although Jon hoped for more bones. As it was a religious festival we exited the monastery to find a procession of local men and women, dressed in robes, carrying a huge statue of the Virgin Mary into the church, accompanied by a brass band. A very latin sight!
Procession of the Virgin Mary, Monasterio de San Francisco, Lima 


After an Italian meal (there seemed to be lots of Italian restaurants in Lima) we boarded our bus for the nine-hour overnight trip north to Trujillo. The Cruz del Sur bus was the fanciest bus I've ever been on, with large comfy seats that recline to 160°, although unfortunately the chosen film was 'Tree of Life' dubbed into Spanish – very trippy and extremely hard to work out what was going on. We gave up and went to sleep - night night...

Day 3 - 9th December
We got off our night bus at 8:00 in Trujillo, a former colonial town north of Lima on the coast, and get a taxi to the nearby beach town of Huanchaco. Huanchaco is a small town, clustered along a road that runs beside the sea, and is a year-round hang-out for backpackers, surfers and holidaying Peruvians. Everyday local buses bring groups of Peruvian day-trippers looking for a bit of sun, sea and sand. We booked into Hostel Naylamp,on the recommendation of the hostel owners in Lima, and it was a great recommendation. Naylamp has a collection of double en suite rooms clustered around a lovely sunken courtyard complete with hammocks and two wandering tortoises (oh, and a small French Canadian boy called William, who likes to play with everyone!)
Jon with the tortoise at Naylamp

After a snooze we headed out for a wander along the beach, although most of the cloud had burnt off, the west coast of Peru is constantly buffeted by a north-easterly wind coming off the pacific so it gets a bit chilly when the sun goes in. The surf is pretty huge, even Jon has second thoughts about the sanity of hiring a surf board in the next day or two. Huanchaco is famous for its reed fishing boats, which are still made in the traditional Chimu way and are still used by the local fisherman. They are very impressive at slicing through the surf and it's easy to see why the tradition has remained until this day.

The Peruvians love the Beetle - at Huanchaco beach 
Reed boats, Huanchaco 

Day 4 - 10th December
It rained rather heavily last night and the local area is in a state of total shock and near gridlock as it barely rains at all here and the infrastructure is not able to cope. There are no gutters and no drains so local roads are flooded and some buildings damaged. Still we managed to get out on a day trip to see some nearby ruins. We started with the Moche pyramids Huaca del Sol y de la Luna (Temples of the Sun and the Moon). These date from 200-700 AD and are built of mud bricks. The larger temple, Huaca del Sol, was all but destroyed by the Spanish when they re-routed the Moche river to flow through the middle of it in an attempt to dissuade the indigenous peoples from worshipping pagan Gods.
Ruins of Huaca de la Luna

Looking over the ruins of the Moche city to Huaca del Sol
The smaller temple, Huaca de la Luna, is better preserved and open to tourists. The pyramid is in fact 5 pyramids built one on top of the other.  As each ruling dynasty ended with the death of a King, the new King ordered a bigger pyramid to be built on top, with a new step-wise façade at the front, laid over the original façade Archaeologists have so far uncovered parts of the 4th and 3rd levels, the 5th (topmost) level was mostly destroyed by erosion. Because each level was carefully filled in with bricks in order to create a solid foundation for the next level, the walls and their colourful carvings have been incredibly well preserved. They are cautious not to disturb or damage any of the temple so have only excavated small areas thus far. They are awaiting funding for sophisticated equipment to analyse the structure of the lower levels before going down into the 2nd and 1st temples. The interior walls and external façade of the temple are elaborately carved with recurring geometric patterns and images of the Moche God of decapitation, as well as other minor gods and cultural scenes. It is amazing to think how well these images have survived, thanks to the Moche tradition of burying old temples under new ones.
Inside Huaca de la Luna - the lower levels
 were filled with bricks before a new temple
was built on top.  This is the 3rd level.
The façade of Huaca de la Luna - there are 4
more façades bricked in behind this one


Jon with a very Peruvian lunch of Cuy and Pisco Sour




We stopped for an entertaining lunch at a tourist restaurant. Jon had guinea pig and we both had our first Pisco Sour, followed by a floor show with traditional Peruvian dancing, as well as some less traditional dancing involving a scantily dressed girl and a washing up bowl (!) We then headed on to the great Chimu city of Chan Chan. The Chimu came after the Moche, and may have come to Peru from Polynesia. At its height their empire covered the whole area from Lima to Ecuador and Chan Chan was home to about 100,000 buildings and several million people. The city originally covered about 20km² and contained 9 separate citadels. Only one of these is open to the public and another one is being preserved for archaeological heritage. The rest are covered by sand and may not be uncovered. The great mud walls were originally 12m high and all the interior walls were covered with designs carved into the mud. The archaeologists are using a technique of preserving some areas and reconstructing others, to give the visitor an idea of how the city would have looked. Many of the walls are covered with blue plastic to protect them from rain damage, so unfortunately most of the carvings are not visible, although they have uncovered enough to give a good idea of what it would have looked like. The plastic sheets do nothing, however, to detract from the sheer size and scale of the place, which is truly breathtaking.
It has been very interesting to visit these sites while they are still at the early stages of conservation. I hope that the Peruvian agencies can raise enough money and continue to bring in enough skills to continue their work and preserve these amazing structures for future generations to marvel at.

The birds and fishes gallery, Chan Chan.  The carvings at 
the bottom are real, the neater ones near the top are
 reproductions
Chan Chan - these walls would have been 12 metres high!

Chan Chan
Chan Chan - famous grid pattern on most of the walls.
These walls were originally 3 metres high
Day 5 – 11th December
We were supposed to be leaving Huanchaco tonight but have decided to stay another day as we're having such a great time here. Today was given over entirely to relaxing. We spent a good many hours sunning ourselves or reading in the courtyard of the hostel and on the beach. In the afternoon I had a surf lesson and Jon hired a board to try out the scary Pacific waves. It turns out I’m not a natural surfer (surely not I hear you cry!) my instructor, Carlos, was very patient and I managed to catch 5 decent waves and stand up! Of course there are too many waves to count that I didn't catch and I must have swallowed gallons of the Pacific! Jon attempted the big scary waves for a while and then came to join us in the more sheltered area when he got too tired to battle any more. I am glad that I at least managed to get to standing up but I have to say I'm not a convert to surfing and I think I'll stick with my body board for now.

Day 6 - 12th December
 Another chilled out day in Huanchaco. We reluctantly checked out of our hostel and spent some quality time reading, writing and relaxing in the hammocks and on the beach. We then boarded another night bus back to Lima to continue our journey south...

Welcome to Jen's ramblings

Hi everyone,
I started writing a diary of what we got up to each day and decided I may as well put it in a blog so that those of you who are interested in my ramblings can read it (and those of you who are not can ignore it.)
I've written this mainly for Jon and me so that we don't forget what we've done on this amazing trip, so sorry if I go into too much detail - just skip to the bits that interest you. 
I'll try and include some photos along the way, rather than clogging Facebook up with everything I snap.
I'm sure the posts will get shorter with time...


Happy reading,
Jen
x