Trying times and Lines

Out of Cusco finally! Not in a bad way, but it is the most expensive city in Peru so I´m happy to save a little bit of money. We arrived off a night bus to Arequipa and got to the hostel before 6am not expecting to be able to get into our room, but luckily the nice people at Hostel Sol de Oro let us check into an empty triple and catch up on some sleep.

Arequipa is a nice city. There is a beautiful Plaza de Armas with the obligatory cathedral. We walked around the city and had a delicious falfal for lunch. The main reason to visit Arequipa is for the jumping off point for the Colca Canyon, which is deeper than the Grand Canyon. We successfully negotiated a price for a 2 day 1 night trek into the canyon for the day after next. Our egos were a little inflated after conquering the Inca Trail so we thought we could handle anything.


The highlight of Arequipa is the museum to visit the Ice Maiden Juanita. She is a 14ish year old girl that was an Inca human sacrifice that was found in 1995 in the top of an area volcano. The museum is absolutely amazing and the tour was very well presented. The mummy is just wow. Amazing after 500 plus years, she is still so well in tact. Amanda and I saw mummy child sacrifices at a museum in Salta, but this was truly spectacular and it was really interesting to learn more about the Inca Culture. I also visited a 500 year old convent in the city. It was really different than what I imagined a convent would be like. All the walls were painted bright colors and had really detailed murals on the walls. I did tour of the convent by myself and it was kind of creepy at some points being in the really old convent cells and going in and out of the shadows.

We had to get up really early the next day to begin our trek into the Colca Canyon. First we stopped at the Cruz de Condor to see all the condors flying over the canyon. They are truly majestic birds and the soar really close to the lookouts so it was an awesome view.

We arrived at the canyon ready to begin our second trek in two weeks. However, it turns out that we were fibbed a little bit too. We were told we would be walking 3-4 hours on the first day, instead it was a grueling 7 hours straight down a gravel path into the canyon and it was hard. Our egos were burst within the first terrifying slip down the gravel. The canyon itself it gorgeous, but we really couldn´t enjoy it too much since we spent most of the time making sure we didn´t fall off the cliffs. Also, our group and guide were terrible, not supportive or encouraging and balked because we weren´t running with them. I tried to explain that we weren´t slow, just cautious, but we couldn´t have happier to arrive at the oasis that evening.


The next day was better, just 3 and a half hours back to the top of the canyon. Going up is still so much better than going down. The best part about the day was after the trek, we stopped at some thermal baths in town and were able to relax our muscles. Seriously, this two day trek was a hell of a lot worse than the 4 day one and our feet were torn to shreds.

We had booked a bus that night following the canyon to Nazca. We arrived there in the morning and after a quick walk around the 2 blocks that are Nazca we changed our plans of staying 2 nights to just one night. The thing to do in Nazca is to fly over the Nazca lines, which are in shapes of animals and other things that have zero explanation for their existence. I was really nervous about the flight over the lines because its flying in a little 6 seater plane, but I agreed and I´m really glad that I did. Sarah however, was not so glad that we took the flight and was a little queasy after takeoff.

The lines were really sweet. They were hard to take pictures of, but I did the best that I could. There are about 14 in total and the plane would fly over each of them twice, once on the left and once on the right. The whole plane ride was only 35 minutes and while I´m glad I went, I was even better when we landed.



Quick to get out of Nazca, we boarded a local bus to Ica. Sarah was very lucky that day to sit next to a stranger that decided to breast feed the whole 2 hours to Ica. In Ica, we took a taxi to the sand dune oasis of Huacachina. Its just a tiny hippie village literally in the middle of these massive sand dunes. We picked the hostel there based on which one had the best pool and we spent the next day catching some rays. The hostel we were staying in offered a sand dune buggy trip with sandboarding on the dunes later in the afternoon. Super adrenaline rush!!! Our buggy driver was insane. Every time he turned on the engine, he did the father, son, holy spirit over his chest, which of course was very comforting. He drove like a maniac over the dunes and it was the best rollercoaster ride I had ever been on. The sandboarding was really awesome too! We started first with some little hills, first on our stomachs on the board and then tried one standing up. Very difficult to try to carve in sand, not like snow. We then went to some much bigger hills and went down them on our stomachs again. So freakin fast! It was really really really fast! Amanda took a little tumble off the board on the last hill and has a war wound on her chin to prove it.

The next day we spent most of the day on the bus to Lima. We arrived in the capital city to celebrate Sarah´s 25th birthday yesterday!!! We hadn´t heard great things about Lima and central Lima is not meant to be safe at all. We are staying out in the suburb of Miraflores and it is surprisingly wonderful. We are really close to the best grocery store that I have ever been in. Amanda and I were so excited to be there we run around the store going from food sampler to food sampler, just so happy for some free food! We walked around the neighborhood yesterday and down to the beach area before going out last night to celebrate.

Tomorrow night we are going to take a bus up the PanAmerican South Highway near the city of Trujillo where there are some more Inca ruins and stay on the beach near there. Then another beach in Peru before we cross into Ecuador. Few places there before Colombia!!! Very excited about Colombia has we have heard the best things about Colombia!!! Only 8 weeks left in South America!

The Inca Trail

Day One: Began very early, we were up at 3am to make sure our bags were packed and to take our big backpacks to the hostel we were staying at when we returned from the Inca Trail. We met the Llamapath group at 4am and began our adventure to the beginning of the trail. First we took a bus for almost two hours to a small town where we had breakfast and then we had to go on another short bus ride to kilometer 82 where the Inca Trail begins. The most important purchase of the trip was made here, a walking stick, I´ll be forever grateful for that walking stick and I probably couldn´t have done the trek without it.

We had a easy 20 minute walk to the checkpoint and got our passports stamped as we crossed the river to begin the hike. The stamp is really cool and it was nice seeing that there were porter regulations and rules that needed to be followed to enter the national park. All the porters had to be weighed with what they were carrying because they used to carry too much and hurt themselves.

Our llamapath guides were fantastic! We had one head guide and two assistant ones. There were 22 porters, a chef and sous chefs for our group of 17. Of the 17, 14 were from the United States, 2 Canadians and of course our token British ladies. It was an amazing group of people, our guide called us Super Hikers! Everyone was super supportive of each other and encouraging each step of the way.


The hike on the first day wasn´t easy. We hiked for probably around 8 hours that day. Up and down, up and down for about 14 kilometers. At one point, Amanda, Sarah and I were behind the group a little and 3 llamas came charging at us much to our delight. We were also chased by some goats, but that wasn´t nearly as exciting. We stopped mid day for lunch and let me tell you, these porters are amazing. They started after us, run ahead, set up tents, and had lunch nearly cooked for us by the time we arrived. I´ve never had better service in my life. And lunch was a 4 course meal, yum!! The same thing happened when we arrived at our campsite later, all the tents set up and our bags in the tents with sleeping mats rolled out.

Day Two: The worst day of the Inca Trail so we are told. And it wasn´t easy, but it wasn´t terrible either. We started the morning early again, but not as early as the day before. We set out to climb to 4200 meters, which is around 13,779 feet, through a pass in the mountains called Dead Woman´s Pass, I think the name is self explanitory. It was a killer, however for some reason I have a much easier time hiking up than I do hiking down. We stopped around 4000 meters and one of the assistant guides rubbed this Anden scent thing on my forehead and had me inhale it to help me breathe at such a high altitude. The last 200 meters of the pass were brutal and one of the hardest parts of the trail, but I made it! The view from the top was spectacular. I hard to believe that we had been climbing through the mountains and to see how far we had come. Major breaktime at the top of the pass and since we were so far up, the other side of the pass was under the clouds. It was very weird, one side we could see everything and the other side was just an abyss.

The trek down to lunch was just as difficult as climbing up. I think I have such a fear of falling that I really take my time and move step by step. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed the sense of accomplishment we had achieved that morning. The afternoon was not much easier either. Back up to 4000 meters and then back down again. We stopped at some Inca ruins at the end of the day and could see our campsite from there, never been so happy to lay down! If we could do day two of the Inca Trail, we could do anything! 11 hours of hiking and 16 kilometers!

Day Three: Its meant to be the easy day of the trek and I took my sweet time. Most of the trail that day was downhill and it was painful. By that point some blisters had appeared and going downhill just pushed all my toes to the front of my boots and it hurt. It was also a lot colder that day and about as hour into hiking, it started to rain. I did have a poncho with me, but it made the rocks really slippery. We also entered the jungle part of the trail and saw some beautiful flowers and the snowcapped mountains in the distance.

We arrived at camp an hour later than what it was supposed to take, but it didn´t matter. We were at camp and there was a hot shower available! After 3 days of trekking it was necessary. And I only brought one pair of hiking socks with me. Disgusting! I couldn´t even leave them in my tent at night, I had to tie them in a plastic bag. Won´t be making that mistake again!

After the clean up we took a stoll to a nearby Inca ruin and it was beauiful! I wasn´t expecting to see what I saw when I turned the corner on the path, but it took my breath away. I got really excited then to see Machu Picchu the next day!!! We had a ceremony that night for the porters, chefs and guides thanking them for all their hardwork and how much we appreciated them.


Day Four: Machu Picchu!!! We had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to eat and pack up. We had a 5 minute walk to the gate and had to wait there until 5:30 when it opened and we could finish our hike into Machu Piccu. It was also at this time when it started to rain again! We had about a 40 minute hike up the the Sun Gate, including 50 steps of what is called the Gringo Killer. From the Sun Gate that´s where you are supposed to see Machu Picchu for the first time. However, because of the rain and clouds, we couldn´t see anything. It was a bit disappointing, but no one controls the weather. We climbed down the rest of the way to the ruins and lucky enough, the rain stopped and the clouds began to lift. By the time we reached the bottom and had our snack, the weather had cleared it was beyond words! Our guide gave us a two hour tour around the ruins and we just soaked it up. Finally after 4 days and 27 miles, we were there!!! I truly believe there is no better way to appreciate Machu Picchu than to do the Inca Trail. We laughed at the people who came for the day and were struggling with the steps, but hey, we had just climbed the Gringo Killer! We had some free time and so we climbed back up to the top to get the famous picture by the guard house and also some photos with the llamas. I was taking a picture with one llama behind me and didn´t know the others were approaching and one of them made a noise and really scared me!

We left Machu Picchu around 1pm to go to the tourist town of Aquas Calientes where wer had to take the train later back to Cusco. We were super lucky with the weather because as soon as we sat down for lunch it started to downpour. Lunch was great, so nice to relax and let loose with our new friends. I even tried some guinea pig. Yes that´s right. I was hesitant, but when in Peru. I only had a little picture and whadya know, it tasted like chicken. Because of the rain we decided to skip the thermal baths that were there and instead found a restaurant that was serving 5 for 1 cocktails. 9 rounds later, we were ready for the train back to Cusco. Slept on the train, then had to take a 25 minute bus ride because the trains still aren´t running completely after the mudslides. Then the nearly 2 hour bus ride back to Cusco arriving at 2am, almost 24 hours after we had awaken!

We´ve spent the last few days in Cusco just relaxing and recovering. I went and had an Inca Massage for an hour and twenty minutes and they even used hot stones on my body. Very necessary! Most people here are coming off treks and ready to begin them so there is always a lot going on. I went with the hostel one afternoon horseback riding. A very different experience that in Argentina. I had to wait while they brought me a different horse because the one I was supposed to have decided it was too angry to be ridden.


Yesterday we did a day trip to the Sacred Valley around Cusco to visit more of the Inca sites. It was a really strange day. The people on the tour with us were just really weird and took pictures of pretty much every rock that we saw. There was even a man on the tour we nicknamed ´BFG´Big Freaky Giant because he kept taking pictures out the window and saying weird things like Óh yeah baby, that´s it´ The tour was good and we were probably the smartest people there since we had been to Machu Picchu and were Inca experts at this point. We had fun playing in the ruins too!

Tonight we board a bus to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. As nice as it was to stop and rest in Cusco, I´m ready to move on and see the rest of South America! Just over two months gone and just over two months to go!