I arrived to Cusco, Peru after a 4 day bus journey, and my headache started shortly after we crossed the Peruvian border. I was scheduled to meet some good friends (Monica & Jake in the Peru Treks office 2 days before our trek was to begin. We arrived at just about the exact same time & it was like Christmas. I cannot express how exciting it was to have familiar friends from home & an amazing care package from my parents.
We were all a little under the weather & it was a serious miracle that we all woke up the day of feeling ready for this 4 day 3 night Trek to Machu Picchu with our group of 14 new best friends.
Not much to date is really known about the Incas because most of the Elite Incas lived in Machu Picchu. They were the ones that could read & write and when it was finally discovered they were slaughtered by the Spanish & almost all of their civilization was lost.
A picture straight out of the L.L Bean catalog.
This plant looks a lot like aloe & the Inca's used it for shampoo.
The Inca trail was filled with Eucalyptus & bamboo trees.
Jake & me
Monica & me.
The PORTERS were amazing; they made the trip so much more easy & enjoyable than I could have imagined. They carried all our cooking supplies & camping equipment for 4 days. They left after us, cleaned up everything & raced past us to set up & have everything prepared for our breaks & meals. Here is a bit of a calf muscle shot. Their endurance & strength far surpassed anything that I have seen.
Every morning we woke up with tea. Our food was amazing. It was some of the best food I have had on my trip period. Oh- Yeah our breakfast even had SPRINKLES! 
Our two tour guide Mercelo & Augusto.
Here is a trout farm.
All over the trail & Peru there are red flags for where homebrewed Incan corn beer is made. It is sweet, refreshing, & delicious.
We were laughing at the roosters, little did I know they would be our alarm clocks at 5AM. Seriously could not sleep through them though we tried.
Here we all our at the highest point of our trek. 4,000 meters (13,120 ft.) I see now why top athletes train in high altitudes. It is impossible to describe. Before I even left for the trip I was out of breath by saying a phrase or two, walking up stairs, or just laughing... So you can imagine what it is like continually hiking up unending stairs. It reminded me of endless wind sprints in the cold air during soccer season back in my high school days.
Monica had a brilliant idea of collecting rain water when we were completely out of water. Although her idea was genius, the wind had a different idea for those bottles, luckily we had nice neighbors!
This is a cool picture of some green life that has started growing in what was the Inca's aqueducts. Incan ruins are all over Peru. And most cities still have gutters were the aqueducts were carved out with water still flowing through.
Sile was my Irish ancient historian professor. I got a lot of valuable information from her.
Many of the rooms in the Incan villages had these blocks shaved for offerings.
The light at the end of a tunnel....
Or just a half time nap?
One of the best things that came from our hike was meeting the TASSY'S. (Tasmania is a little Island right off of Australia. I always thought it was a separate country but it is actually apart of Australia.)
I like this shot because the clouds just cut off the mountain tops. (kinda reminds me of the pictures I used to draw very straight edged of the skyline....)
Orchids to not bloom long, and were sacred to the Incas.
Go team FLOWER POWER. (We gave ourselves the name because of our inherint slowness.) It was Jake, Monica, me, & the TASSIES.
Our last day:
The last night it rained on us all the way through. When we woke up at 4:30 A.M, it was still raining.... The whole hike was filled with mist & complete smog. Depressing.
All along the path there were many rocks stacked on top as offerings and wishes to Pachamama (or mother earth.)
The more I travel, the more I see what a small world it really is. I ran into an old friend from middle school- GO WOLVES! This is Marilee, and her brother Jake. They were doing the hike with their parents who were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.
As we stood at this lookout point slowly but surely the clouds started to lift. Our guides kept trying to rush us but we were not budging after all that hiking.
BOOM - CHILLS!
A temple
This was a sundial the Incas used. We were doing a fun energy excercise.
After we finished the tour through the ruins & got our certificates we had some free time. We hiked up this mountain in the background because we could not get enough of all the stairs & because we wanted one more clear lookout since it was so foggy in the morning.
A really cute couple having a picnic lunch.
Hey Machu - Hey Picchu!
1 comment:
i see how machu hiked there.. i pichu were sore..
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