After our trek we spent one last day in Cuzco, mostly walking around like we had just gotten off of horses. We dropped our laundry off and thankfully got almost all of it back! Folded, ironed and not smelling biohazardous.
We ate a decadent lunch at a swanky Peruvian restuarant. Peruvian cuisine is amazing and the style and ambiance is far ahead of ANY latin american country I have ever seen. We then got massages that hurt like hell but felt good afterward and had yet another decadent meal for dinner. We got beers with our norwegian girlfriends and had good time until the waiterss dropped a hot coffee down my back (and newly cleaned clothes!!!). We went back to our hostel, packed for Ecuador and watched HBO, what a treat.
We arrived in Quito after a long day of travel and it was rainy and cold. Not too much excitement as we were completely wiped out but we ate a delcious cuban meal and took hot showers. We then packed up to head to Baños the following morning.
world travels. san francisco. seattle. medical school. gut instinct blogging.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Machu Picchu!!!!
Machu Picchu is a big freaking deal. Like the kind of thing that you sleep 5 hours to enjoy. And that is exactly what we did.
We awoke at 345 am and shoved a pancake into our mouths before waiting in line to catch one of the first buses to Machu Picchu. The street was lined with people getting in line to try to be the first to Machu Picchu and thus get a coveted ticket to climb a nearby mountain called Wayna Picchu (with ariel views of MP). We arrived at 545 to Machu Picchu and I was number 314 out of 400 to climb Wayna Picchu. Thank god!
The mist was breakig as we entered and Eddie gave us a great tour of Machu Picchu. Although it was 6 am I wouldn´t have wanted it any other way. We got to watch the clouds break and the sun shine and the place was practically empty. The structures are seriously breathtaking, and the fact that this amazing and elaborate city stayed hidden for 350 years is simply mind blowing.
The city is perfectly nestled between four mountains and the Incas deliberatley hid all the enterances to the city and abandoned it when the Spanish invaded. Machu Picchu was the city where the royal and noble people lived and the Incas purposfully led the Spanish to their three other cities sacrificing them to preserve Machu Picchu.
The city is in immaculate shape and 80% of the structures are the original ones and only 20% had to be rebuild. The incas carved the stone with such perfection and detail that walls that surround temples are stronger than walls for homes as it was more imporant to keep temples in tact. Machu Picchu is earthquake proof and has withstood many natural disasters. Hirman Bingham (the american professor who discovered machu picchu in 1911) had left a tree standing in the center to show how high the overgrowth of vegitation was covering the city. I have no idea how he (or the local people) found it buried in these massive trees. It made me think there could be an entire world under the trees in the Andes. Apparently google earth has dispelled that idea...
The incas had created the most elaborate temples to worishp the sun and also that had windows exactly placed so that the sun would shine through them on the summer and winter equinox! The royal palace was huge and just the sheer perfection and presicion of the building was amazing. We got to see the room where the princesess would sleep before they were sacrificed to the gods (the proof is mummies shoved into the temples). The city was lined with very steep terraces used for farming which were also impressive and at such a steep angle!!
The weather was sunny and perfect and by far the best we had seen the entire trek. I wouldn´t have wanted it any other way. We were completely winded from just walking around the city so it really made me appreciate all the work that the Incas had to do to carry these stones and construct this city. The city started to get crowded around 930 am so we headed over to Wayna Picchu to begin our final climb of the trek! Wayna Picchu was another beautiful mountain with a 500 meter vertical climb to the top. The climb was steep but totally worth it. The ariel views of Machu Picchu and the sacred valley were unbelieveable and we got some spectacular photos (which I can´t post until I am home because I don´t have a computer!).
After our descent a few of us hiked uet another 20 mins to see an extremely precarious bridge that the incas built over a sheer cliff that they used to transport in stones and goods from the valley. It was frightening and when we realized we couldn´t walk over the bridge I wasnt too disappointed...
by the time 130 rolled around we were completely exhausted and bought an extremely overprived chicken sandwhich outside Machu Picchu and hopped on the bus back to Aguas calientes. From Aguas calientes we started the LONG journey back to Cuzco. We took a 2 hour train to another inca city (Ollantaytambo). From there we hauled all of our shit (and our filthy selves!!) to a bus for another 2 hour windy drive back to Cuzco. On the drive we encountered a young dentist from georiga who was in Peru for a medical mission and to "extract teeth from natives who don´t know any better." Julie and I had to bite our tounges as we listened to him tell our lovely belgian friends about how Obama wasn´t doing any good for the US and how the health care reform wasn´t going to work and how it was going to make idiots like him lose a bunch of money. Oh and then we also had to endure him talking about how his wife was too "foo foo" to come to Peru. He also spoke no Spanish. At that moment we were so thankful we were the only Americans on our trek and that we weren´t constantly trying to defend ourselves against idiots like this guy who paint terrible pictures of Americans!
We arrived back in Cuzco at 9 pm after being awake since 345 am and of course we left one of our bags on the bus. Thankfully our cab driver took us back to find it! We then tried to get through dinner and showers and literally melted into our hostel beds.
In summary: I was so impressed by Machu Picchu and I think I appreacited it even more from a physical standpoint after enduring five days of snow, rain, sweat, sun, 15,000 feet, camping, vomiting and sheer exhaustion. Taking the train and bus to Machu Picchu would have never let me understand the sheer physical feat that Machu Picchu was for the Incas. We walked in total 75 KM (47 miles) in 5 days and the Incas would do that much walking in one day. I think they actually ran, right? It was a truly unforgettable expereince and also an extremely grueling one! We met some great friends along the way and I hope to see them again.
Thanks for putting up with the Machu Picchu posts. Shorter ones from Ecuador to come...
We awoke at 345 am and shoved a pancake into our mouths before waiting in line to catch one of the first buses to Machu Picchu. The street was lined with people getting in line to try to be the first to Machu Picchu and thus get a coveted ticket to climb a nearby mountain called Wayna Picchu (with ariel views of MP). We arrived at 545 to Machu Picchu and I was number 314 out of 400 to climb Wayna Picchu. Thank god!
The mist was breakig as we entered and Eddie gave us a great tour of Machu Picchu. Although it was 6 am I wouldn´t have wanted it any other way. We got to watch the clouds break and the sun shine and the place was practically empty. The structures are seriously breathtaking, and the fact that this amazing and elaborate city stayed hidden for 350 years is simply mind blowing.
The city is perfectly nestled between four mountains and the Incas deliberatley hid all the enterances to the city and abandoned it when the Spanish invaded. Machu Picchu was the city where the royal and noble people lived and the Incas purposfully led the Spanish to their three other cities sacrificing them to preserve Machu Picchu.
The city is in immaculate shape and 80% of the structures are the original ones and only 20% had to be rebuild. The incas carved the stone with such perfection and detail that walls that surround temples are stronger than walls for homes as it was more imporant to keep temples in tact. Machu Picchu is earthquake proof and has withstood many natural disasters. Hirman Bingham (the american professor who discovered machu picchu in 1911) had left a tree standing in the center to show how high the overgrowth of vegitation was covering the city. I have no idea how he (or the local people) found it buried in these massive trees. It made me think there could be an entire world under the trees in the Andes. Apparently google earth has dispelled that idea...
The incas had created the most elaborate temples to worishp the sun and also that had windows exactly placed so that the sun would shine through them on the summer and winter equinox! The royal palace was huge and just the sheer perfection and presicion of the building was amazing. We got to see the room where the princesess would sleep before they were sacrificed to the gods (the proof is mummies shoved into the temples). The city was lined with very steep terraces used for farming which were also impressive and at such a steep angle!!
The weather was sunny and perfect and by far the best we had seen the entire trek. I wouldn´t have wanted it any other way. We were completely winded from just walking around the city so it really made me appreciate all the work that the Incas had to do to carry these stones and construct this city. The city started to get crowded around 930 am so we headed over to Wayna Picchu to begin our final climb of the trek! Wayna Picchu was another beautiful mountain with a 500 meter vertical climb to the top. The climb was steep but totally worth it. The ariel views of Machu Picchu and the sacred valley were unbelieveable and we got some spectacular photos (which I can´t post until I am home because I don´t have a computer!).
After our descent a few of us hiked uet another 20 mins to see an extremely precarious bridge that the incas built over a sheer cliff that they used to transport in stones and goods from the valley. It was frightening and when we realized we couldn´t walk over the bridge I wasnt too disappointed...
by the time 130 rolled around we were completely exhausted and bought an extremely overprived chicken sandwhich outside Machu Picchu and hopped on the bus back to Aguas calientes. From Aguas calientes we started the LONG journey back to Cuzco. We took a 2 hour train to another inca city (Ollantaytambo). From there we hauled all of our shit (and our filthy selves!!) to a bus for another 2 hour windy drive back to Cuzco. On the drive we encountered a young dentist from georiga who was in Peru for a medical mission and to "extract teeth from natives who don´t know any better." Julie and I had to bite our tounges as we listened to him tell our lovely belgian friends about how Obama wasn´t doing any good for the US and how the health care reform wasn´t going to work and how it was going to make idiots like him lose a bunch of money. Oh and then we also had to endure him talking about how his wife was too "foo foo" to come to Peru. He also spoke no Spanish. At that moment we were so thankful we were the only Americans on our trek and that we weren´t constantly trying to defend ourselves against idiots like this guy who paint terrible pictures of Americans!
We arrived back in Cuzco at 9 pm after being awake since 345 am and of course we left one of our bags on the bus. Thankfully our cab driver took us back to find it! We then tried to get through dinner and showers and literally melted into our hostel beds.
In summary: I was so impressed by Machu Picchu and I think I appreacited it even more from a physical standpoint after enduring five days of snow, rain, sweat, sun, 15,000 feet, camping, vomiting and sheer exhaustion. Taking the train and bus to Machu Picchu would have never let me understand the sheer physical feat that Machu Picchu was for the Incas. We walked in total 75 KM (47 miles) in 5 days and the Incas would do that much walking in one day. I think they actually ran, right? It was a truly unforgettable expereince and also an extremely grueling one! We met some great friends along the way and I hope to see them again.
Thanks for putting up with the Machu Picchu posts. Shorter ones from Ecuador to come...
Day 4: Another mountain
We were up at "la playa" at 6 am and ready to hit the road. Our guides told us it was 3 hours up and 2 hours down and that the trail was well maintained. The trail was actually part of the Inca Trail so it was maintained by the government (or something like this). Well, of course we start out by having to cross over basically a waterfall that had created a massive landslide! It was actually such a massive river at this point that we had to take off our shoes and socks to cross. This was much welcomed relief to get out of my boots for a second. Putting them back on with wet feet was another story.
Once we got on the trail it was narrow and fairly steep, but also a pretty clear route. Our guides were super hungover from the night before (apparently they stayed up until 4 am drinking and hanging with the locals). They weren´t doing too much "guiding" on the trail and when we stopped at a waterfall Eddie actually stuck his entire head under the water. Talk about a hangover cure. We passed by lots of great fruit trees and ate a few passion fruits fresh off the tree.
At the top of the mountain we stopped at an Incan stucture and learned a bit about the path leading to Machu Picchu. We got to see Machu Picchu peeking out from the clouds which just bolstered our enthusiams. We learned about many of the Inca cities and how the Spanish destroyed them and how the Incas protected Machu Picchu. There were 4 cities that were each exactly 75 KM away from eachother and the messengers would walk 75km each day! That is the amount we walked in 5 days....
Our descent down was fairly steep but the sun came out and we kept eachother company by playing 20 questions and talking about if American summer camps were really how they appeared to be on Bug Juice!
By the time we got off the mountain we were all pretty hot, tired and hungry. We had to cross over yet another landslide before reaching our lunch destination. We ate a speedy lunch and hopped on the train to Aguas Calientes to stay in a hostel (hooray!!) and prepare for Machu Picchu.
Aguas Calientes is a small little town smooshed in the mountains 25 minutes from Machu Picchu. It was specifically created as a spot for tourists to crash before getting up to Machu Picchu the next morning. And that is exactly what we did!
Once we got on the trail it was narrow and fairly steep, but also a pretty clear route. Our guides were super hungover from the night before (apparently they stayed up until 4 am drinking and hanging with the locals). They weren´t doing too much "guiding" on the trail and when we stopped at a waterfall Eddie actually stuck his entire head under the water. Talk about a hangover cure. We passed by lots of great fruit trees and ate a few passion fruits fresh off the tree.
At the top of the mountain we stopped at an Incan stucture and learned a bit about the path leading to Machu Picchu. We got to see Machu Picchu peeking out from the clouds which just bolstered our enthusiams. We learned about many of the Inca cities and how the Spanish destroyed them and how the Incas protected Machu Picchu. There were 4 cities that were each exactly 75 KM away from eachother and the messengers would walk 75km each day! That is the amount we walked in 5 days....
Our descent down was fairly steep but the sun came out and we kept eachother company by playing 20 questions and talking about if American summer camps were really how they appeared to be on Bug Juice!
By the time we got off the mountain we were all pretty hot, tired and hungry. We had to cross over yet another landslide before reaching our lunch destination. We ate a speedy lunch and hopped on the train to Aguas Calientes to stay in a hostel (hooray!!) and prepare for Machu Picchu.
Aguas Calientes is a small little town smooshed in the mountains 25 minutes from Machu Picchu. It was specifically created as a spot for tourists to crash before getting up to Machu Picchu the next morning. And that is exactly what we did!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Day 3: vamos a la playa
On our third day we awoke to sun. I actually didn´t think this would be physically possible considering all the rain we heard the night before. At breakfast I found out that a few of our group members actually heard nearby landslides the night before.
We had a shorter day of hiking ahead of us: 5 hours to our lunch spot at which we would hang out all afternoon and camp. The hike started out a bit precarious as we were dodging landslides and walking through rivers, waterfalls and massive amounts of mud. The sun stayed out for most of the time, which provided for some much needed relief for our poor little rain ponchos.
We made a pit stop at a couple little homes that doubled as snack bars for trekkers and I somehow spent 9 soles on a gatorade (that´s like $4.00). clearly the altitude had messed with my normally stingy self.
We arrived at our third campsite "la playa," which is Spanish for the beach. This was ironic because we were no where near a beach, rather a rapidly flowing river that perhaps the locals equated with a beach? We had actually beaten the porters and horses to the campsite because they likely had some trouble getting the horses past all the landslides.
We had lunch and had some time to rest and play games. I was completely exhausted from having three days of hardly any normal digestion so I took a little nap in our tent. Before dinnner we got the chance to rinse off in freezing cold water. It hurt like hell but it felt better than the grimy feeling my body had been in for the past 80 hours!
After dinner Julie, Jessica and I took it upon us to teach some of our fellow campers how to play bananagrams. It was a ton of fun and we actually had some pretty stiff competition from a british attorney. We used Clarie´s special rules to make the game more difficult even!
Before bed, our guide, Eddie, told us that the trail up to the mountain we were to summit the next day was in pretty good shape despite all the rain and that we would continue with our plan to start our ascent at 7 am. Julie, Jessica and I were excited but some of the Austrailian girls (who wore tennis shoes that were not at all waterproof) were not so happy. We all snuggled into our tents and our two guides stayed up drinking with some locals until 4 am. Sucks to be them at our 6 am wake up call the next morning!! More on that later...
We had a shorter day of hiking ahead of us: 5 hours to our lunch spot at which we would hang out all afternoon and camp. The hike started out a bit precarious as we were dodging landslides and walking through rivers, waterfalls and massive amounts of mud. The sun stayed out for most of the time, which provided for some much needed relief for our poor little rain ponchos.
We made a pit stop at a couple little homes that doubled as snack bars for trekkers and I somehow spent 9 soles on a gatorade (that´s like $4.00). clearly the altitude had messed with my normally stingy self.
We arrived at our third campsite "la playa," which is Spanish for the beach. This was ironic because we were no where near a beach, rather a rapidly flowing river that perhaps the locals equated with a beach? We had actually beaten the porters and horses to the campsite because they likely had some trouble getting the horses past all the landslides.
We had lunch and had some time to rest and play games. I was completely exhausted from having three days of hardly any normal digestion so I took a little nap in our tent. Before dinnner we got the chance to rinse off in freezing cold water. It hurt like hell but it felt better than the grimy feeling my body had been in for the past 80 hours!
After dinner Julie, Jessica and I took it upon us to teach some of our fellow campers how to play bananagrams. It was a ton of fun and we actually had some pretty stiff competition from a british attorney. We used Clarie´s special rules to make the game more difficult even!
Before bed, our guide, Eddie, told us that the trail up to the mountain we were to summit the next day was in pretty good shape despite all the rain and that we would continue with our plan to start our ascent at 7 am. Julie, Jessica and I were excited but some of the Austrailian girls (who wore tennis shoes that were not at all waterproof) were not so happy. We all snuggled into our tents and our two guides stayed up drinking with some locals until 4 am. Sucks to be them at our 6 am wake up call the next morning!! More on that later...
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Abbreviated version of the trek
For those of you who don´t want the entire play by play, here is a more abreviated version my travel buddy jessica wrote to her family and friends... enjoy!!
"Hi friends!
After five days of trekking 75 kilometers through the Andes, we made it back to Cusco exhausted, sore, and ready to relax.
I wish I could say I blew everyone away with my stamina and physical endurance, but in truth I succumbed to altitude sickness shortly after our lunch break on the first day and I was the girl who had to ride the emergency horse. But I did finish the day on my own and the remainder of the trek, even leading the way some of the time. As Julie pointed out, my body was giving me a heads up that there was a reason I was born in Ohio and clearly not engineered to be in the mountains. To that end, I took a picture of myself with the sign that says we reached 4,600 meters as I do not intend to get up to such a height again.
Beyond the physical difficulties, the entire experience was incredible. We chose to do the Salkantay trek to reach Machu Picchu rather than the traditional Inca Trail. While a little bit more challenging, I am so glad we did it because we didn´t see another group of hikers until we reached Aguas Calientes (the entrance point to Machu Picchu) on the fourth day. Our group consisted of 16 people and Lauren, Julie, and I were the only people from the United States. The rest of the group was made up of people from Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Norway, and Switzerland, plus our two Peruvian guides. It was awesome to be with such an international group. And, true to the typical patterns of my life, I was the youngest (but the age range was only 22 to 31 which made it a lot of fun) and of the 16, only three were males. Go figure.
The trip came along with all kinds of adventures that we didn´t anticipate, mostly due to flodded roads and landslides blocking our path. At times, we literally had to dam streams and rivers in order to cross. We walked over "bridges" of every possible description and measure of stability. Our first night in the mountains it snowed, we saw two avalanches that seemed only yards away, we found a hidden lagoon, hiked through rainforests, slogged in mud in the cloud forests. At every turn in the road, the Andes just kept rolling on in the distance.
And, of course, the part you are actually interested in: Machu Picchu. We woke up on Sunday at 3:45am to get in line for bus tickets. I think the only other time I have engaged in such a ridiculous activity was waking up to climb Masada at sunrise, but in this case it was just about beating the lines. By getting up to Machu Picchu so early (at 6) we were able to get access to Wuaynapichu, which is the steep mountain in the background of every picture of Machu Picchu. They only give out 400 tickets a day and it is an incredible view of the ruins and surrounding areas. Plus, we clearly needed one more physical challenge. The sophistication of the city was just as impressive as you would expect. The Incas were so atuned with nature and natural disasters, building their cities in such a way as to protect them from flooding and earthquakes. Mostly, it is just amazing how immense the city is. When it was re-discovered in 1911, the entire city was hidden under trees and shrubs. Standing on top of Waynapichu and looking at the sprawling mountains around us, all we could think about was the possibility that other cities could just be hiding in these mountains. And of course, the insanity/impressiveness that comes with the construction of such a massive network of buildings at the top of a mountain range that we struggled to climb with just our backpacks or even daypacks. After a full day of hauling ourselves around the mountain, we literally stumbled wearily onto a two hour train ride to Ollantambo and from there took a bus to Cusco, finally getting to our hostel at 10pm. Unfortunately, we were starving so we had to suffer slow service at one of the few restaurants still open and didn´t make it to bed until after midnight. Long day.
Since I know most of you probably haven´t read this far (let´s be honest, this email is mostly about me writing down things I want to remember since my journal is fairly incoherent), I´m going to wrap it up. We are spending the rest of today in Cusco taking it easy and enjoying this beautiful colonial city nestled in the mountains. Tomorrow we take a 7:30am flight to Lima, then Guayaquil, and finally arrive in Quito in the afternoon. The current Quito agenda involves getting Julie Indian food and bagels (she´s been down here a while) and catching a bus to Baños on Wednesday morning."
"Hi friends!
After five days of trekking 75 kilometers through the Andes, we made it back to Cusco exhausted, sore, and ready to relax.
I wish I could say I blew everyone away with my stamina and physical endurance, but in truth I succumbed to altitude sickness shortly after our lunch break on the first day and I was the girl who had to ride the emergency horse. But I did finish the day on my own and the remainder of the trek, even leading the way some of the time. As Julie pointed out, my body was giving me a heads up that there was a reason I was born in Ohio and clearly not engineered to be in the mountains. To that end, I took a picture of myself with the sign that says we reached 4,600 meters as I do not intend to get up to such a height again.
Beyond the physical difficulties, the entire experience was incredible. We chose to do the Salkantay trek to reach Machu Picchu rather than the traditional Inca Trail. While a little bit more challenging, I am so glad we did it because we didn´t see another group of hikers until we reached Aguas Calientes (the entrance point to Machu Picchu) on the fourth day. Our group consisted of 16 people and Lauren, Julie, and I were the only people from the United States. The rest of the group was made up of people from Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Norway, and Switzerland, plus our two Peruvian guides. It was awesome to be with such an international group. And, true to the typical patterns of my life, I was the youngest (but the age range was only 22 to 31 which made it a lot of fun) and of the 16, only three were males. Go figure.
The trip came along with all kinds of adventures that we didn´t anticipate, mostly due to flodded roads and landslides blocking our path. At times, we literally had to dam streams and rivers in order to cross. We walked over "bridges" of every possible description and measure of stability. Our first night in the mountains it snowed, we saw two avalanches that seemed only yards away, we found a hidden lagoon, hiked through rainforests, slogged in mud in the cloud forests. At every turn in the road, the Andes just kept rolling on in the distance.
And, of course, the part you are actually interested in: Machu Picchu. We woke up on Sunday at 3:45am to get in line for bus tickets. I think the only other time I have engaged in such a ridiculous activity was waking up to climb Masada at sunrise, but in this case it was just about beating the lines. By getting up to Machu Picchu so early (at 6) we were able to get access to Wuaynapichu, which is the steep mountain in the background of every picture of Machu Picchu. They only give out 400 tickets a day and it is an incredible view of the ruins and surrounding areas. Plus, we clearly needed one more physical challenge. The sophistication of the city was just as impressive as you would expect. The Incas were so atuned with nature and natural disasters, building their cities in such a way as to protect them from flooding and earthquakes. Mostly, it is just amazing how immense the city is. When it was re-discovered in 1911, the entire city was hidden under trees and shrubs. Standing on top of Waynapichu and looking at the sprawling mountains around us, all we could think about was the possibility that other cities could just be hiding in these mountains. And of course, the insanity/impressiveness that comes with the construction of such a massive network of buildings at the top of a mountain range that we struggled to climb with just our backpacks or even daypacks. After a full day of hauling ourselves around the mountain, we literally stumbled wearily onto a two hour train ride to Ollantambo and from there took a bus to Cusco, finally getting to our hostel at 10pm. Unfortunately, we were starving so we had to suffer slow service at one of the few restaurants still open and didn´t make it to bed until after midnight. Long day.
Since I know most of you probably haven´t read this far (let´s be honest, this email is mostly about me writing down things I want to remember since my journal is fairly incoherent), I´m going to wrap it up. We are spending the rest of today in Cusco taking it easy and enjoying this beautiful colonial city nestled in the mountains. Tomorrow we take a 7:30am flight to Lima, then Guayaquil, and finally arrive in Quito in the afternoon. The current Quito agenda involves getting Julie Indian food and bagels (she´s been down here a while) and catching a bus to Baños on Wednesday morning."
Day 2: 4 seasons of weather
We awoke on a clear morning to the most amazing views of mt. Salkantay. The night was chilly but not unbareable and my stomach was feeling slightly better. I was actually hungry and thirsty! The chatskies (quecha for porters) brought us tea in our tents. We took pictures before even emerging from the sleeping bags. After a breakfast of pancakes and poordige we started the ascent up to the highest point one can go on Mt. Salkantay (15,050 feet). It was hot and we immediately started stripping layers despite hiking in the snow. We reached the view point around 8 am and took tons of pictures with the mountain and the signs. they had an oxygen tank but none of us needed it.
We then left our packs near a rock with a mule and hiked along a more technically rocky "trail" to a hidden and amazing lagoon! it was this blue, turqoise milky color and sat at the base of Mt. Salkantay. it was completely hidden from the trai and I felt really lucky that we got to see it. the water was apparently this special color due to high levels of copper and other metals.
next we each got three coca leaves from our guides and a peice of quartz that we had each picked out of a sacred river the day before. We held the coca leaves in our hands and learned about the incan spiritualuty trilogy of;
We then left our packs near a rock with a mule and hiked along a more technically rocky "trail" to a hidden and amazing lagoon! it was this blue, turqoise milky color and sat at the base of Mt. Salkantay. it was completely hidden from the trai and I felt really lucky that we got to see it. the water was apparently this special color due to high levels of copper and other metals.
next we each got three coca leaves from our guides and a peice of quartz that we had each picked out of a sacred river the day before. We held the coca leaves in our hands and learned about the incan spiritualuty trilogy of;
- love those around you
- learn knowledge and teach those aroudn you
- work to spread your knowledge and love
They also say to do these things for;
- family
- community
- yourself
We had a moment to reflect and say a prayer of thanks and also to say our own prayers. it was very cool and i was very happy to learn about Pacha Mama (incan spirituality, basically mother earth).
the rest of the morning we walked in a farly flat-downhill valley which was a much needed downhill. It started to pour rain as we reached our lunch spot and thus we were leaving the sunny glacial area and headed into the rainforse. It rained for a good 2.5 hours and to be quite honest I have had better moments. we each wore these cheap ponchos that covered ourselves and our backpacks. the hiking boots: not so much! Luckily the salesgirl at REI did me well and mine kept my socks and feet dry!!
I played 20 questions with a belgian couple and it was quite entertaining and helped distract us from the rain. At one point we were basically hiking down a small creek.
we arrived at our camp at about 530 pm (and left our morning camp at 7 am). we were all completely wiped out and drenched! We changed into dry(ish) clothing and successfully taught 5 or 6 people how to play set under the dinner tent. I didn´t eat much of our amazing dinner bc my stomach was still going a little crazy.
After dinner the guides suggested that we should consider changing our route a bit due to landslide precautions. We couldn´t fully come to a desicion so we just decided to figure it out in the morning. Jessica, Julie and I tucked ourselves into our sleeping bags and it rained so hard for about 3 hours that I thought our tent might just lift up and glisade down the hillside. so that maybe wasn´t the most restful night of sleep I´ve ever had!
the good news: we awoke to clear skies and hot coca :)
Monday, April 11, 2011
I Am Thankful For:
- Claire for letting me borrow her backpack (thanks clar!)
- My kindle. I am reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, it´s a great book
- REI for having 20% off right when I needed to invest in expensive waterproof hiking boots
- my headlamp
- the porters who helped carry all our stuff!
- the rain fly on our tent becuase I thought we might actually fly away one day
- The austrailian girls who brought lollipops and nerds
- Bananagrams and Set!
- 20 questions for distracting us on the rainy parts of the hike
- a warm sleeping bag
- immodium, excedrin, advil and gatorade
- my amazing hostel bed that I slept in last night
- my camelback
- my swiss friend who let me borrow sunglasses
- chacos
- my deedee that i used as a pillow every night!
- All the kiddos I babysat for to make enough money to do this trip- miss you little guys!!
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