We Made It

When it rains, it pours. In the Andes at least. Weather wasn't the best but we had a great time regardless. Our guide, Domingo, was fantastic - he had a ton of info up his sleeve about each area we treked, and had jokes to boot. Our chef, Cesar, cooked up amazing meals, and our horseman, who we called T-Bone (his Quechua name was too difficult to pronounce) was a trooper. These guys were such hard workers.

Day One:

Rain. Started at 4am from the hotel. Took a muddy, three hour car drive to our start point. From there, we hiked to our first campsite at the base of Salkantay mountain (apprx. 13,780 feet). Spent a chilly night there until our 5am wake up call the next morning.

Day Two:

Rain. We're out of shape. Made our way up to Salkantay pass (apprx. 15,255 feet) very slowly...no oxygen and lazy New Yorkers doesn't make for a quick hike. The clouds broke just as we passed the peak, so we got a few hazy pictures of the mountain top. We continued on for about four more hours (!), and ended up in the jungle. It was amazing to see the climate change as we made our way down. We camped in the middle of a small village that night - many local people rent out their land to hikers for extra cash. The homes are very simple - bamboo walls, dirt floors, grass roofs, no electricity. Animals (horses, cows, chickens, guinea pigs, etc) roam around freely (we were woken up by something rustling the tent in the a.m.). Very interesting to see this side of Peru.

Day Three:

Sun! Walked along a river all day through the jungle again. There were wild orchids, bamboo forests, huge aloe vera plants, wild avocado, passion fruit and lime trees growing everywhere. Although the rainy season is over, we walked over huge, fresh landslides...Domingo pointed out these were probably only a day old...which, was pretty scary - again, safetly standards here don't really exist. We had a long morning until we broke for a late lunch, and the end of day, at another local village (with a bar and beer!). A few other groups camped here as well so it was quite festive.

Day Four:
Rain. Said goodbye to Cesar and T-Bone and packed our belongings for the last leg of the trip. It was pretty grueling. We looped on to part the Inca Trail and hiked four steep hours uphill in the heat. Well worth the effort, as we caught the first few glimpses of Machu Pichhu in the distance from the peak. After another hot two hours downhill we cooled off in the river below before making our last push along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes - the town just below Machu Picchu. Lucky us, a small utility train passed by and picked us up...we tipped the track workers after they dropped us off in town. Saved us about three hours of hiking. Perfect end to the hike.

Day Five:

Rain. After hot showers (the first in four days) and a night in a nice hotel (we were able to catch some of the Masters on ESPN Vivo - what a luxury!), we woke up early to take the bus up to Machu Pichhu. The first few hours were cloudy and very misty - it was hard to see anything. But after poking around for a few hours the clouds finally broke and we had great views. The site is truly amazing - it's hard to describe. We walked along a path to the Inca bridge (death defying, literally), through the whole city (which is much bigger than we thought it would be), and up to the Sun Temple for a view from Machu Picchu mountain. Beautiful.

After several hours of sightseeing we took a train on Perurail from Aguas Calientes to a small village, then packed on to a small bus to make our way back to Cusco. We could see all the devastating landslides from the last few months...the train tracks were bent and torn in half in some places. Very interesting, and scary.

We arrived late last night. Dead tired and sunburned (despite all the rain?!) we decided to stay in and order pizza at the hotel. It's good to be back.

Headed to La Paz tomorrow for a bike trip, then a three day tour of the Bolivian Salt Flats. Looking forward to it.