Joe's World Backpacking Trip Stories and pics from my travels.

I decided to take a day in NY in between AZ and Peru so I could finally see the city.  I was fortunate enough to be able to stay with my Uncle in Manhattan so I got plenty of tips on what to see and a place to stay.  I started my day walking the Brooklyn Bridge, then hopped on the Staten Island Ferry for a look at the statue of liberty.  Afterwards followed a couple hours at The Strand and some awesome curry at Brick Lane on "Curry Row."  I returned to my Uncles to get a couple daytime pictures on the roof of the midrise in his back patio since the place was almost a tourist destination in itself.  A walk down the Hudson River with a walk through St. Patricks cathedral and the NYC Public Library finished my day.  I pretty much had to do everything at a jog in order to fit it all in.  It was a full day and I needed to knock over the slow, weak or infirm that got in my way so I could take in all the sites.  Oh and also I went to Times Square.  It was alright, if you´re drawn to shiny things.  Finished off the night with Uncle Kevin and Mike on top of "30 Rock" which made it the perfect day.  Flew into Lima yesterday afternoon and I´m here in Nazca after a 9 hour bus ride starting this morning.  The Peruvian countryside has taken me a little by surprise.  Almost the whole bus ride was through desert, rolling sand dunes turned into rocky mountains and desert on all sides, with the Pacific ocean on your West as you went South.  Beautiful, but I was expecting some more green, maybe jungle.  I guess thats all inland, towards the Amazon.  The people have been very friendly so far, welcoming and eager to talk to a foreigner though I most definitely am on the "Gringo Trail."  The trail backpackers follow in this region.  Ive already met some fellow travelers in passing these two days, there will probably be loads of us at Arequipa and Cuzco.  That´s all for now, so far, so good.  I´ll check back in when I have some pics of the Nazca lines taken from a dinky rotary aircraft that I´ll be taking tomorrow.  Hopefully they give us parachutes.