Off to Peru

Sometimes, I'll be wandering down some quiet street in some tiny South American town, and I'll feel as if I could turn some corner and disappear from the world, and all traces of me would fade away, until a short while later no one would even remember who I was. At these times, the world feels amazingly vast.
Recent highlights include mountain biking down from nearly 13,000 feet to 11,000 feet near Cusco, along a path that hugged the side of a mountain, the cliffs dropping off to one side; snorkeling atop a school of Pacific cownose rays and spotting white tip reef sharks and sea turtles to the side; hiking the ruins near Cusco; snorkeling with a colony of sea lions frolicking all around me; Peruvian cuisine; watching the mating dance of the blue-footed boobies from, well, the front row, essentially (the Galapagos Islands are famed for the fearlessness of their wildlife, who have spent millions of years isolated from predators).
And to be fair, a few lowlights. Difficulties leaving Argentina because they had failed to give me a proper entry card when I crossed from Chile to Argentina. Altitude sickness upon arrival in Cusco, to the extent that for two days my migraines and breathlessness rendered me useless. Getting food poisoned from some ceviche I ate in Quito, and then two days later throwing up from terrible seasickness right after dinner when the boat taking me around the Galapagos Islands crossed rocky seas from Floreana Island to Espanola Island. Avoiding a shifty English-speaking "street guide" who tried to extort money from me and tried to maneuver me into an alley where some of his thug buddies were hanging out.
Just finished up with the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador, and tomorrow I head back to Peru. A day in Lima, a day in Cusco, and then I set off on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I'm nearing the limits of my self-imposed budget, and when all is said and done, I'll be content to board the plane home.