Back in Lima

With Bolivian chants still fresh in our heads, we got up Sunday morning for a final breakfast at the beloved Ninos and then headed to the airport. Bye bye beautiful Andes mountains. You have taught us a lot.

We arrived back in Lima at around lunchtime. With nearly 8 million people it is a damn big city and even though only a short 1 hour plane ride from Cusco, couldn't be more different. We stayed again at Second Home Peru, guesthouse and gallery in the Barranco district and were not disappointed. Delfin's artwork was amazing. He is apparently very well known in Peru. We stumbled upon his artwork at several places in the Lima. His yard reminds us of a certain tiki'd out yard in Wolfe County, Kentucky.

We had a late lunch around 2:00 at Muelle, a little seafood restaurant just around the corner from our place, that was filled to the gills with locals. We all ordered ceviche and beer and basically were in heaven. The ceviche was much chunkier (for lack of a better term) that others we have had (like in Puerto Rico) and was more focused on the seafood (rather than veggies). After that we just walked around for a while and then, yes, headed back to our rooms for a nap. That night we headed out to El Hornito (also in Barranco) for a dinner of pizza served up by a very flirty (with Jessica) approximately 65 year old, five foot tall Italian man. After that we headed back to Second Home and played Spades on the balcony (the guys won; girls blame the beer) while overlooking the foggy ocean and listening to the waves.

Resting and Recuperating Back in Cusco

The Inca Trail left us freaking exhausted. After some serious sleeping in on Friday morning, we stumbled down to the Ninos courtyard for some breakfast in the warm sun. They bake fresh bread daily and also have this marmalade made from a berry called sauco, which according to our hosts, grows only in the Cusco region. It is very good; tastes a bit like blackberry, but richer. After that, we promptly headed back up the steps for a nap and then spent most of the day just walking and shopping around Cusco. Normally we are not big souvineer buffs, but we couldn't resist a few classic Peruvian wool hats, a woven tapestry depicting (in abstract form) a fisherman and fish, and a few other goodies. That evening we, along with Clark and Jessica met up with our hiking crew (JP, Claudia and Michele) for an early night of dinner and wine at a restaurant on the square to relive good memories.

On Saturday, we and our trusty travel buddies, the Cases, decided to leave the cozy bars and restaurants of Cusco (clearly somewhat demented from four days of hiking and high altitude) to venture out into the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley refers to the low lying valley area that surrounds Cusco and includes several small rural andean villages as well as some notable ruins. We rented a driver for the day (O'Braun again) to take us on a tour through a few of the villages and sites. It was a really pretty day and Alan spent most of the ride looking for and taking pictures of llamas, goats, and - his personal favorite, burros. Although the language barrier prevented any meaningful communication between us, I am quite certain from the twinkle in his eyes that O'Braun found this all hilarious. I am not sure that he quite knew what to think when Alan asked him to stop at a random farm somewhere outside Chinchero so that he could tiptoe out into a field to get some close up film footage of two random burros munching on some scrub.

Anyway, O'Braun put us up in style in his 1978 Datson hatchback for a ride through narrow, curvy country roads to Pisaq and Ollantambo for our trip. The ruins were great, but I am sure that we would have been much more impressed if we had not just come off the fantabulous Inca Trail. It really is hard to compete, especially when we had to share these ruins with other - gasp - tourists. All in all we were quite pathetic, bitching about the crowds, having to walk up hills when our muscles hurt and that the beer served at Kusicoylloy (a restaurant) in Ollanytambo was too warm. Clark definitely spiced things up a bit though when he bought a flute from local guy playing at the Pisaq site. I am sure that O'Braun appreciated his backseat rendition of Mary had a Little Lamb as we barreled through the countryside with the wind blowing in our hair on our way back to Cusco.

Back in Cusco, and after the obligatory nap, we went to Pomodoro with the Cases for a little food and libation. The dinner was average at best for such an upscale place and wouldn't even merit mention in this post were it not for Alan's order - the infamous cuy hornito, aka roasted whole guinea pig. Cuy (pronounced kwee) is a delicacy in Peru, reserved, it is our understanding, for special occasions by the locals. Once you got past the fact that you were eating a guinea pig, it was good, a bit like rabbit to us.

After fueling up on cuy, we headed back out to now our regular hangout, Ukukus. This night was no ordinary night at this peruvian hotspot, though. No, tonight the feature act was a seven member all girl Bolivan band. Picture tall (very tall) strong dark women dressed in flowing robes and all playing their own instruments (about three different guitars, flutes, drums). They played dance music and was really interesting to see the locals jamming to Justin Timberlake one minute and then these girls the next. JP, Claudia and Michele met us there for the show. Loved it.

Flowers of the Inca Trail

The flowers we saw while on the Inca Trail, especially in the cloud forest on the third day, were spectacular. So spectacular in fact, that we felt they deserved their own post. We can only imagine what the trail must look like during the wet season (our summer is their dry, or winter, season).

Machu Picchu

Up at 4:15 was painful. Don't get us wrong, everyone was pumped about Machu Picchu, but we were hurting. At 5:30, after final packing and a breakfast of pancakes, we walked out to a bus stop just outside of our campsite to catch the very first tourist bus to up to the site. We were all struggling in our own way. The guys were still slightly drunk and Jessica and Kelly had somehow contracted some stomach issues (we think they somehow ingested some unboiled water) and so were running to the bathroom every 5 minutes.

Despite our issues, we arrived at Machu Picchu about 25 minutes later (lots of switchbacks up the mountain). Before the throngs of tourists arrived, Erick gave us a 2 hour tour of some of the more notable structures at the site. The Incans worshipped the Sun and also the mountains, condors and other nature elements so there were several temples and areas that were devoted to their worship. Kelly's favorite was the Sun temple, a tall circular structure near the center of the site. The way that the Incan's chiseled and fit the massive white granite stones together so perfectly was amazing. After the tour, Erick pulled us aside in one of the buildings and popped a bottle of champagne (clearly a pattern of celebrating with alcohol had developed at this point) and thanked us for being a great "family." We, of course, thanked him too (including with a gift of a new bottle of his favorite Peruvian rum), and before we knew it he was off, heading for a train back to Cusco.

Although we all were very sad and a bit lost without our leader, we continued exploring Macchu Picchu on our own. The day was beautiful and clear and we spent a significant amount of time resting and napping on one of the countless agricultural terraces on the site. At around 1:30 Kelly's stomach could take no more. We said goodbye to Macchu Picchu and caught one of the tourist buses back down to Aguas Calientes. There we met back up with Clark, Jessica, JP, Claudia and Michele for pizza at Pache Mama, a local restaurant, before Clark, Jessica and the two of us boarded the train back to Cusco at 5:00. The train ride was long and slow and really quite painful after our long day. At around 9:30 pm we arrived back in Cusco. Our regular taxi driver, O'Braun (phonetic) picked us up and carried our tired, mosquito-bitten bodies back to Ninos Hotel.

That night's sleep was like a coma. We slept 12 full hours under three cozy layers of heavy Peruvian wool blankets. We had officially survived the Inca Trail. It will never be forgotten!

Holy Crap - We Hiked the Inca Trail: Part 3

The third day on the trail started at about 5:00 am (ouch) in order to avoid some vicious Peruvian mosquitos that are only out at dusk and dawn. We only ran into the critters maybe twice on the whole trek and only for a few minutes at a time, but a week later Kelly is still itching and feeling the pain of their ferocious bite. They were too small to see until they bit you, but they drew blood almost every time. Erick gave us the choice of sleeping in until later but we all agreed that we would rather lose an hour of sleep than deal with those things.

The original goal for this day was to make it over the third and final pass (12,037 feet above sea level) to the Winay Wayna campsite. Due to regulations, all Inca Trail hikers camp the last night at this campsite and then go through a final checkpoint early the next morning for the final 2-3 hour hike to the Sun Gate of the mighty Machu Picchu. The trail to Winay Wayna was like hiking through Wanda's or Janine's flower garden on steriods. Iris plants as tall as us, orchids (over 300 species can be found on the trail), ferns, and bamboo mini-forests were everwhere! Coupled with the views of the breathtaking snowcapped mountains, not to mention the ruins and Inca tunnels we saw along the way, the beauty of this stretch of the trail is undescribable.

Speedy hikers that we were, we arrived at the campsite at lunch. During our meal Erick hatched a plan to get us through the final checkpoint that afternoon instead of in the morning. He informed us that because all hikers have to stop at the Winay Wayna campsite, it can get quite crowded in the evening and also results in a hiking "procession" the next morning as everyone heads to Machu Picchu in the hopes of seeing the sun rise there (despite the fact that Machu Picchu is almost always clouded in fog in the am). Claudia, our German travel companion, had gotten come sort of bug bite on her eyelid during the trek. It was quite swollen, but not really that bothersome according to her, but Erick seemed to think that the injury may be our ticket to an early pass through the checkpoint.

Long story short, with our best serious, somber faces on display for the checkpoint guards, we made it through, and were rewarded with the joy of hiking the last 2 1/2 hours of the famous Inca Trail in almost total seclusion (we saw two other hikers). The last section of the trail is almost all original, and is noted for the fact that it is extremely narrow and literally on the edge of some serious cliffs. It was awesome!

After a final stretch of uphill climb that was like climbing a ladder it was so steep, we arrived at the Sun Gate of Machu Picchu at around 4:00 pm. There were other tourists there from the day train to the site, but not many at that late hour. Plus, it was incredibly clear. After taking a few silent minutes to process the breathtaking view that we had worked three long days to see, Erick took us to a secluded spot overlooking Machu Picchu and toasted us with a bottle of red Chilean wine. The appreciation that we both felt at that moment for the trail and the amazing human accomplishment that is Machu Picchu was overwhelming. We recommend, without reservation, that if you ever get the opportunity to visit Machu Picchu, you absolutely should (if you are able) arrive via hiking the trail. The appreciation that we gained through Erick for the Incan culture as we visited ruins along the way made Machu Picchu all the more special, not to mention that fact that when you hike 28+ miles to see something you are pretty much guaranteed to savor it.

After pictures and a few initial stories from Erick about the "discovery" of Machu Picchu we hiked down and straight through the site (we were coming back tomorrow so we didn't really wander around; plus we did not have the tickets yet) to a campsite in the valley about 3 km below Macchu Picchu. Once at the campsite, we (along with Erick and Jessica) decided to brave the cold water showers (our first shower in 4 days). It felt good but was damn cold. After our final dinner as a family, all 22 of us gathered in the mess tent for us to say goodbye and thanks to the porters and cook. (All but two of them were leaving that night to take a train back home to their families). After a great speech of gratitude by JP, the porters sang us a spirited song in Spanish to say goodbye. All the girls danced with a porter; Kelly danced with the cook. After their song, we (lead by Jessica and Kelly) sang "I Will Survive" in response (the only song we could think of all the words to). Despite the language barrier, they seemed to enjoy it (or maybe they were laughing at us, we'll never know).

After all that, the group decided to celebrate with a 20 minute walk (we truly are gluttons for punishment) into the town of Aguas Calientes, which is the tourist town that serves Machu Picchu. After almost 10 hours of hiking this was probably not our brightest idea and after several shots of tequilla (damn you Erick), cacacha (damn you JP), and a visit to a discoteque (damn you Jessica), not to mention all the cervesas, we were definitely hurting -- or a least would be after the alchohol wore off the next morning. If fact, a whole post could be dedicated to that fateful night, but we will spare the world the details, just in case one of us ever decides to run for public office. After dancing our buns off, we arrived back at camp at around 2 am only to get our wake up tap on the tent at 4 am to eat breakfast and leave for Machu Picchu. Argghh.

Holy crap - we hiked the Inca Trail: Day 2

Day two began with morning tea and 5:45 am - yikes! We sipped it from the open door of our tent while zipped up in our mummy bags and looking out over the misty dewy mountains. After quickly washing our faces and getting packed up for the day, we had breakfast and another round of tea and coffee in the mess tent with our other sleepy traveling companions. After that we were off and immediately smacked in the face with a daunting 500 meter (1650 vertical feet) ascent to our first, and highest pass -- Dead Woman's pass. The pass is at 13,779 feet. The air was so thin. It was Kelly's first time at such a high altitude so Alan (being the loving husband that he is) helped out by carrying both his and Kelly's pack for the last 150 meters. At the top we were rewarded well for all our gasping and hard work (and despite our bitching). The view from the top was unforgettable and we savored it as a "family" by sharing a bottle of Peruvian rum that Erick presented us with at the top.

After the pass it was down, down, down (hard on the knees, easy on the lungs). Most steps are 1.5 to 2 times the depth of a normal stairwell step and uneven. At the bottom of the valley (around 12,000 feet above sea level) we had lunch and then headed up 400 vertical meters again to the second pass. During this ascent we entered a different type of climate. Up to this point the landscape had been mostly arid with cacti and other scrub plants. After lunch though we entered what Erick referred to as the "cloud forest" which was much greener and lush. We saw lots of birds, including hummingbirds. After going over the second pass (Abra Runkurakay at 12874 feet above sea level) and hiking down again, we made it to our second campsite at around 5:30pm. Although we can't remember exactly, we think the total distance this day was around 13 km (about 8 miles).


At this campsite (Erick's favorite) it was again just us and one other group which was nice. The temperature was warmer although from about 5:30 to 6:30 we were feasted upon by vicious Peruvian mosquitos (so small you can't see them, but so vicious they draw blood). The night was perfectly clear, which allowed us to see the very bright and large Milky Way system and the snow-capped mountains that surrounded us. Before dinner, Erick rolled us two coca cigarettes (more for the neatness factor than any hallucinogenic effects) and we shared a bottle of scotch Alan and Clark packed up the mountain which definitely warmed us and helped with the aching knees and lungs.

Holy crap - We hiked the Inca Trail: Part 1

Wow. The Inca Trail. Where to start. On the morning of the first day, we, along with Clark and Jessica were picked up at our hotel by Erick, our guide, and several of our porters at 4 - yes 4- am to begin this experience of a lifetime. On the two-hour bus ride over pothole-filled, narrow hairpin curves to our starting location, we met the 3 other unsuspecting tourists in our group. Erick, our guide (more details on him later) referred to us throughout our trek as his "family." Aside from the 4 of us there was Michele -a 25 year old, single U.S. Navy nuclear chemist from Virginia who was a complicated mix of sweet, innocent youth and hardcore rebel, and J.P. and Claudia - a married French and German from Switzerland both in their early 30's. The 7 of us instantly meshed and all of our varied backgrounds and perspectives made the trek even more precious.

Before we recap the adventure, first a few words about the logistics of hiking the famed Inca Trail. There are actually numerous "Inca Trails" in the Andes Mountain of South America. We hiked what is know as the "classic" Inca Trail, which is 4 days and about 46 km (28.5 miles), and leads directly to Machu Picchu. Peru regulations require a permit to hike this Inca Trail and only 500 people (including porters and guides) are permitted on the Inca Trail per day. Because of this we booked 6 months in advance to reserve a spot, but it also results in a very uncrowded trail. It was not at all uncommon for us to see only other porters or locals (no tourists) on the trail for hours at a time.

Peru regulations also require that all persons on the Inca Trail be accompanied by a guide (no solo hiking). For our 7 person group, we had one guide, 13 porters and one cook. The porters carried our tents, sleeping bags, food (we carried only our personal effects and one half-day supply of water). It is our understanding that each porter carried about 50 lbs of weight, which is quite amazing to witness. We booked our tour through a company called Enigma (http://www.enigmaperu.com/). The porters were incredible. They would hike ahead of us so that lunch, dinner, campsites, etc. would be completely set up by the time we dragged our tired, breathless butts into camp each midday and late afternoon. The food was not your typical "camp" food either. We had some of our best meals of the entire vacation on the Inca Trail -- local soup dishes, avacado salads, Peruvian beef, rice dishes, even pancakes.


In addition to the good food, our guide rocked. Erick, who was in his early 30's, was an incredible leader and taught us so much about the Andean people and culture and the mysterious Chechua (Incans). Even more awesome though, he became our friend. We shared so many laughs and stories with him over the course of the trip, he will never be forgotton. He had such an appreciation for his heritage (he was Mestizo, half Andean and half Spanish) and his beautiful Andean Mountain home. His practice of always sharing his first sip of any drink with Pacche Mama - "mother earth" was quite inspiring. There were ruins all along the trail and Erick always sat us down for a break and "storytime" at each and every one to teach us about the archealogical excavations and studies that had been done regarding the site. It's quite amazing how little is known about the "Incas" and their culture (they had no known writings) so it was very interesting to hear about all the theories concerning their empire and culture.

We started our adventure on day one in Piskacuchu at an elevation of 8,800 ft above sea level, after having acclimated somewhat in Cusco for two days at 10,700 feet. The trailhead is located located by the Urabamba River and the local railroad (which in addition to serving as transport for the locals, carries hordes of tourists from Cusco to Macchu Picchu every day). After a breakfast of fruit, granola and coca leaf tea (helps with altitude sickness) all prepared by the porters and cook, we started out. We hiked about 15 km (9.3 miles) the first day and our first campsite, Llulluchapampa, was at a whopping 12,300 ft above sea level. The day was hard both mentally and physically. The morning was mostly rolling hills. We saw lots of locals using the trail and even saw some llamas and burros on the trail too. After lunch in Wallybamba though, we started going up, and let's just say a molehill is truly a mountain in the thin air of the Andean mountains. Our campsite was very secluded (only one other group at the site) and was very cold. We slept with our long underwear and hats and were zipped up tight in our mummy sleeping bags with only parts of our faces exposed. The porters didn't seem bothered though by the cold or their day of hard work. They played soccer for a while after dinner in a nearby field.