Day 5 (Hard day on the Inca Trail)

We wake up around 5. We have a half hour to pack up everything and also get breakfast. It is a little chilly outside but not too bad. Our guide tells us that we can put long sleeves on now, but in 10 minutes we'll take them off at the next checkpoint. It is chilly enough though that we decide to keep the cold weather gear on anyway.

We begin climbing steadily. After about an hour we get our first rest stop which offers us some nice views of the mountain that is on our back as we ascend up. It is a fairly open area. While I am hiking I am always tempted to stop, turn around and take more pictures, but I have learned by now that the guides almost always stop at a better picture location so I wait till then to take pictures.

After the first stop, we have another 2 hour ascent to the next rest stop where we'll get a tea break. From there we we will be climbing up to the highest point in the trek at 4215 meters on the top of Dead women's Pass. Once again we start moving. There was a group ahead consisting of Mark and most of his friends and a group a few minutes behind them which was Megan, Tom, Jake, Darryl and myself. We ambled up towards the tea break stopping for a few photos of a waterfall alongside the trail among other things. We finally got to the rest hour almost a half hour ahead of schedule (I guess we were booking it) and took a well deserved break. I am pretty sure they put crack in the popcorn they served because I couldn't get enough of it. They also had instant hot chocolate which was 10 times better than the crap they served in Cusco.


After the tea break, we had a fairly flat walk for twenty minutes up through a field towards the start of the ascent to the pass. At that point we could start to see the figures on the pass and make them out as people. We were definitely getting close. From here, the trail forked hard up the slope switch backing its way quickly away from the valley floor. After quickly gaining a lot of elevation, it straightened (and steepened) out and we continued our ascent towards the pass. An hour later we finally reached the pass and it was great to know that the big climb was out of our way. Now we just had downhill to the campsite. We stopped for a while to take pictures and then quickly moved down the mountain as it was foggy, windy and cold up there.

After about thirty minutes descent, we came up to another ruin where we stowed our bags, took our cameras and walked around a bit. (note to self: research name of this ruin .. memory is already failing) We got to walk around a bit. Cesar mentioned that they used to store mummies here and there had been a roof and gate protecting the mummies from the elements. From here we could see our campsite and we hastened down there as we were pretty exhausted and looking forward to dinner. After another delicious dinner, we got to finally meet all 16 porters and our cook. For a group of ten people, we had 19 people helping us get to Machu Picchu. It kind of takes some of the sense of accomplishment away thinking about how easy it is for these porters to carry ridiculously heavy packs all year and think nothing of it, while we need them to carry all our gear and it still is painful.

The night was very clear and we took my camera out to try and get some pictures of the stars in the southern hemisphere that we don't normally get to see in the states. Afterwards, we played some more Euchre and then went to sleep.

Day 4 (Inca Trail Day 1)

We wake up super early (4:45) and drop off our bags at the front desk. We check out of the hotel and wait in the lobby until our guides show up. They pull up and grab our gear and load it into a gigantic bus. We all get loaded up and start moving. Our guides introduce themselves to us as Cesar and Juan. I was super deliriously tired and heard Carlos. Megan asks me what our guides name are and I tell her Carlos and Juan. Sadly she talks to "Carlos" and addresses him by name. SUCKER!

We pull into Ollantaytambo again and stop for breakfast around 8 am. We are swarmed by tons of people trying to sell us hiking poles, hats, scarves, gloves and other things. We wade through them to our restaurant and walk up stairs, sit down and order. A few guys snuck into the restaurant and tried to hawk their wares at 2x prices which we wisely ignored. We all ordered pancakes and Tom attempted to order a poached egg which they totally didn't understand. They brought him a glass of boiling water and a raw egg. Finally they hardboiled it and brought it to him but it wasn't quite cooked yet. He ate a little and smeared it all over his plate so they didn't get too angry. Megan meanwhile decided to make amends and talked to Cesar and Juan and apologized. She found out that Cesar was totally cool and didn't take offense. She also found out that Juan would like to be refered to as Don Juan or Numero Juan.

Tom and I decide we should get hiking poles and talk to one lady. She wants to sell us one for 10 or crappy ones for 5. We tell her 2 for 15 and she takes one good one and one crappy one and hands them to us. Tom takes the crappy one hands it back to her and takes the good one and says 15 again. She tries a halfhearted 16 and he says 15. She says sure and he makes her break a 100 sole note so he has change for the trail. We take our new sticks, hop on the bus and take off for the start of the trail.

We get off and they put out a tarp for us to pack up all our gear. You can see the red bags are for our porters, and the other backpacks are ours. This is our last time to use a real bathroom before we leave for the trail so we all head down and pay the 1 sole to use it. While we are using the bathroom, the porters leave with their packs. This was common as they would leave as soon as possible and would always beat us to the next location. They were completely absurd. We were hiking with like 10kg packs and they had 25 kg packs. They would beat us by multiple hours. So hardcore. Oh and they hiked in sandals.

Megan and I took a before picture:


We started walking and about an hour in, Cesar stopped us to show us some of the natural plants they used for dyes and for natural remedies (like tara for sore throats) We eventually came to the first ruins on the trail, a small fort along the river. We then proceeded on to Llactapata, which was another agricultural site. They apparently grew a lot of crops here and took them all the way over the pass to Machu Picchu. We then headed onward towards our first lunch site. I was excited to get lunch. I knew that we had a cook, but I wasn't sure what to expect.





Turns out I had no need to be worried. In fact, we were going to eat better than at the buffet we went to. I think there also was more food. High school Wes would have been happy. For our first meal, they served us garlic bread sticks, followed by a soup, followed by rice and trout and something else. They also served coca tea at pretty much every meal to help with the altitude. It was all delicious. I think it would have been good even if I hadn't been hiking for 4 hours already. Megan had an excited timing learning how to use squat toilets after lunch. She can tell you all about it if you are interested. We then continued on to our first camp site at 2600 meters.

Some of the porters and the guide amused themselves with Jake's frisbee (they weren't very good) while Jake tried to figure out how to put up his hammock. He finally got it up and used it for only about 20 minutes before we started playing euchre to kill time until dinner. After dominating at Euchre for a while, we had dinner and then I went and played more Euchre with Mark, Chad and Adam. I finally ended up going to sleep around midnight. I had heard that the 2nd day on the trail was the hardest as we climb up to 4215 meters and then descend down to the campsite. I was not excited about the mile vertical the next day.

Day 3 (Last Pre Inca Trail Day)

We slept in today. With nothing scheduled, Megan and I decided to go check out this market that our guide Will had suggested. It was only 5 blocks away. Megan and I headed out to this little breakfast place overlooking the plaza. It was pretty good and we got eggs, bacon, toast, fresh pineapple juice and a hot drink for 12 soles (4 dollars) I don't drink coffee, so I got hot chocolate. It was at this point that I realized most Peruvian hot chocolate is terrible. I think they try to make it how they think tourists want it, but they don't quite get it right.


After breakfast, we headed down to the market. Along the way we came across this street which was under construction. This whole process is done by hand. It was in a crazy state of disrepair, but as the week went on, they made a ton of progress.





We finally got to the market and it was crazy. There were some of the textiles and clothes for sale, but most of it was food. They had tons of meats, all kinds of vegetables and fruits. There were also a lot of vendors selling hot food. People would get it and sit down at some of the tables in the back. There were also packs of random dogs running around. At one point we saw a dog stop and pee on someone's leg who was sitting down at a table eating. The person was not phased in the least and just kept on eating. It was crazy. Megan went on to fall in love with a scarf that was produced with natural dyes and materials and everything. She didn't bargain very well, but she wanted it so much she still got it. They can tell when you want it and will adjust their prices accordingly.

After the market, we headed back up and made a brief stop to buy ponchos for the trail just in case it rained. Megan also got a little water bottle carrier so she could have a little more water readily available on the trip. We then got back to the hotel, dropped off our gear and headed out to lunch with a few more folks. We ended up at an empanada place which is supposed to be the best bakery in town. We tried some Inka Cola and got some delicious deserts as well. Then Megan and I headed to make reservations for a super fancy restaurant after the tour and then we went to the Inka Museum. We saw mummys in jars and in other positions. They didn't allow pictures there, so no good updates here.


After heading back to the hotel, we headed out for dinner at MAP cafe. This was an awesome dinner. It is in the courtyard of a museum and they elevate it slightly and totally enclose the whole eating area in glass. It was definitely a unique experience and the food was awesome. It might have been the best meal I had in Peru. It was prix fixe meal at around 35 USD which was really pricy (for peru) but totally worth it. We had 3 delicious courses and it included a glass of wine. There also was a harp player the whole time.


Now just when the meal is going well, these creepy little guys in masks come in. They are advertising this show in Cusco. They would come in and laugh in a super creepy voice and brush people with feathers and put random hats on people. We luckily got a picture of them. It basically convinced me that I did not want to see this show. We all headed home early because we had to be up ridiculously early the next day.


Everyone got back, I finished packing up my trail bag and my bag to leave at the hotel while we were gone. Most places in Cusco are really good about letting you leave your gear there while you go on the trail and then pick it up afterwards. Unfortunately, my headlamp got stolen off my bed. Some painters had come in and were painting the walls. In a mix of bad timing, the room service came to my room and I had left the headlamp on the bed. It was gone when I came back. Luckily, Jake let me borrow his extra flashlight otherwise I would have been totally screwed.

Day 2

Today we began to do the real touristy stuff around Cusco. There are a ton of ruins nearby and we had purchased a private tour around them from the guide group we are doing the Inka trail with. They picked us up around 9 in a large van. Our tour guide Will told us that we'd be looking at a few different ruins nearby.






We quickly get out of town and start climbing into the hills. We took a quick stop to look out over Cusco. Our first stop was going to be an alpaca and llama petting zoo. We hadn't seen any of these guys yet, so we were excited for it. Megan and I fed a few of them. They love alfalfa and would come right up to you to eat it. They were also pretty aggressive. Once they bit down, they would jerk their head to pull a lot of it out of your hand. I guess they didn't want to get nickle and dimed and wanted all the food at once.


Megan really liked the "special" alpaca who was grinning all the time. We also learned a lot about how they make alpaca wool. They showed us the different organic materials they use to make natural dyes. Most of the stuff we saw for sale in the markets and everything used non natural dyes and as such was a lot brighter and usually worse craftsmanship. We also got to see them knitting the wool and how much time it took to make the blankets / scarves etc. At the end they took us to the store that benefited the families who owned the alpaca place. We took a look at a lot of the stuff which was all really nice, but super expensive (even by US standards)







Now that we finished there, it was time to start touring ruins! WOOT! The first set of ruins we went to was Pisac. The Inca's loved their terraces. Most of the terraces they used for agriculture but they also would occasionally use them as structural support. They were super smart and figured out that by using these terraces and facing them east, they could vary the temperature by as much as 5 degrees per terrace and grow different crops on the different terraces. they also had these agricultural testing facilities where they would test to see which crops grew well at particular temperatures and wetness etc.


After checking out the ruins, we then went into town to get a snack and also take a look at the market in Pisac. Megan was SUPER excited about this because she loves street vendors and shopping. While most of our group stopped for empanadas (meat/cheese stuffed in dough and baked), Megan, Julie and I went shopping. Megan and Julie bought a ton of yarn so they can start knitting alpaca. We also got a few other random things there. They have a ton of textiles for sale and everyone has something similar. I liked bargaining with them. If you don't like the price you are getting, move on. Basically my rule of thumb became that I wanted 2/3 the price of what they wanted. If I couldn't get that, I would go to someone else.


After the market, we had an hour or so long drive to our lunch place. It was a fairly touristy buffet restaurant. They had ceviche, chica (corn beer, although I think what we got was the non alcoholic version), and tons of other stuff. You will see on the picture we all have bottled water. That is because you can't drink the tap water in Peru unless you wanna get super sick. I had a little of everything there. It was nice to taste all these different things, but I didn't think anything was particularly good. It was a little overpriced (at 11ish USD) for Peru, but what can ya do when that is the place your tour takes you?

After lunch, we went on to the ruins at Ollantaytambo. This was the location of the only place the Incas defeated the Spanish. It was easy to see why. The steps were all really steep and funneled intruders into small corridors. Even with superior technologies, the Spanish couldn't take it. The Incas ended up retreating later. This is another good example of terraces. The Incas would divide towns up into 3 sections: urban, agricultural and cemeteries. Here on the right side you'll see the holes in the cliff. Those are the graves. In the middle is the terraces which makes up the agricultural part and on the left side is the urban side with the unfinished temple of the sun. There were giant rocks at the top which were still waiting to be moved into position.

At this point it was starting to get dark. It got dark around 6 pm sadly (stupid winter). We had one more set of ruins to visit and a fairly decent drive. At this point, my friend Tom was really starting to feel sick. He hit the bathroom a few times, I think we had to pull over once for him on the way over. Then when we hit the next ruins (Chinchero) he spent the whole time in the bathroom.


We got to the ruins and looked around some, but it was pretty dark. We had 20 odd minutes to ourselves, which Megan used to buy more stuff. Our group ended up buying a bunch of stuff from one vendor who gave our guide a free hat. He didn't want it and handed it to me. No sooner do I get it in my hand, then Megan snatches it to use for the hike. We had to stop a few more times for Tom on the way back home as he was really hurting and the ride was bumpy which couldn't have been helping.

We got back to the hotel around 7:30/8 and took some time to freshen up. A bunch of us met up to go for dinner at around 8:30. We looked up a restaurant in the Lonely Planet book we had with us and set out to it. Unfortunately, the map in our book was terrible and only had every 5th or so street. We managed to get to the restaurant we wanted which was MAP Cafe. Unfortunately, they didn't have any tables for us and they suggested Ciccolinas (I think) Since MAP looked awesome, we made a reservation for the next day for our whole group. After spending another 20 minutes getting to the next restaurant (which also looked good), they also didn't have a table for us. They suggested Pacha Papa which was supposed to have a lot of seating. By the time we got there it was 9:45 and they were closing.

We were pretty hungry, frustrated and grumpy. We made our way back to the main plaza and took a look around. There were tons of people suggesting various restaurants. In Peru, the restaurant pays people to get you and bring you into their restaurant and they take a commission on it. We took a look at a few places before this one guy convinced us to go with him to a restaurant. We walked up, but it was in this super sketchy alley and its menu was short and had a "healthy section" and "Unhealthy Section". We turned around and headed back to the main plaza and went to one restaurant which was a little pricier, but still nice.

Dinner turned out to be awesome. Megan had a pumpkin soup she really liked. I had alpaca probably or something. I was so hungry at that point, I don't really remember. We had a good bottle of wine also. I hope Eric has pictures of the wine, because he did a really awesome job taking pictures of the restaurants we went to.

Megan was tired, so I walked her back to the hotel and checked in on Tom who luckily wasn't dead. Then Mark, Eric, Adam and I headed out to the bars. We tried another Irish pub right on the plaza. This pub was smaller, more expensive, and had worse beer than the other place. So of course, this pub was packed. We talked to some girls from the US who had just moved to Peru to work at a nonprofit to help get Peruvian women into sports. Apparently it is normal for Peruvian women to get married and stay at home and not be seen out much or have social lives. (this is all from them, not my words) We did have a fantastically terrible round of beer while there. So naturally, when Eric went up to get another round, he assumed they had given us the wrong thing and ordered a 2nd round of the beer. It was equally terrible. I drank a little and then went and got a round of Cusquenos.

While we were having this fiasco, we started talking some folks who had just finished the Inca trail and were a mix of Dutch, Australian and some others. They were celebrating the end of the trail and also one of the girl's 30th birthdays. We drank with them while they explained to us what a rich and developed language they have. All I have to say about it is they taught us what swaffle is. Look it up on urban dictionary and I imagine it'll be there. If not, ask me and I'll tell you a good story about it. We headed home after the bar closed. Some of them were going to a dance club, but we were pretty tired and wanted to get some rest since tomorrow would be our last day in Cusco before the trail.

More of Day 1

after our nap, we all met up to go to dinner. We all wanted to try more Peruvian food and our lonely planet book recommended the Inka Grill It was right on the Plaza Armas which is the main touristy downtown of Cusco.

We figured we'd try it and went in and asked for a table for our group of 10. They sat 4 people immediately and then we had to wait for a table to clear for the rest of us to sit down. We took a look at the menu trying to figure out what to get. I decided on a stuffed chicken dish (aji de gallina I believe) and Megan got the cuy which is fried guinea pig. This was a nice restaurant and we figured if it wasn't going to make us sick, this is where it wouldn't.

The whole time we were there, there was a small band elevated in a corner playing music. At first they had been playing what I can only assume is authentic Peruvian music, but once we sat down nearby, the switched to playing beatles, ABBA and other covers. I didn't really want to hear that, but I guess they think most white tourists want to listen to "our" music.

When we got our food, mine was delicious. Megan's guinea pig was a little tough and there wasn't much meat to the rib I got. I finished off my portion of the chicken and looked over when Megan started freaking out. Turns out the one filet she thought she had was actually the body portion of the guinea pig and when she turned it over, she saw all the internal organs and stuff. I ate part of the kidney which was not bad, but I wasn't a huge fan.

Let me briefly go over our group composition before continuing.
We've got Megan and I.
Megan's brother Mark and his friends Chad and Adam.
Chad's friend Eric.
Megan's friends Jake and Julie and Jake's dad.
My friend Tom.

I was really surprised the whole trip how well everyone got along.


Anyway, it was Adam's birthday that night, so we decided we were going to go out to a bar. I guess Chad and Eric had already scoped out an Irish pub to hit up, so Megan and I met up with Mark, Chad, Adam and Eric at the bar. We were literally the only patrons there on a Saturday night. This bar was a few blocks off the main plaza, which I guess mattered a lot to catch drinkers. As it was, we got great service and they came up with a flaming shot for us to take. Adam has already done one before we got there. Once we got there, we all rallied to do another one. The bartenders mixed Kahlua and tequila and lit the tequila on fire. Then we drank it through a straw. It actually tasted pretty good. We chased it with coca beer.

They love their coca leaves in Cusco. We drink the tea to help acclimatize and they also make the beer. This beer was not good though. I was happy to be done with that and I drank something different afterwards. We decided to call it a night early since we had scheduled a tour of the ruins around Cusco for the next day. We ended up back to the hotel around midnight I think. the tour bus was gonna be at our hotel at 9 am so we were in good shape sleep wise for the next day.

Travelling to Peru

So after leaving this blog be for a while, I figure I´ll use it to keep track of what I´ve been up to in Peru.

First off they use a crazy keyboard which is just close enough to the us keyboard that it really screws you up when you try and get a few keys. Also they use shift and also an alt key to make @ so it is a hassle.


Anyway, Megan, Julie and Jake and I all meet up at our house at 6 am friday to car pool to san bruno bart. Megan and I are slow and we finally leave at 6:20 which still gives us plenty of time to make it to the airport. After an uneventful flight to LAX, we then transfer to the international terminal where we have a few hours to kill. I thought the terminal was promising at first with a big food court over the checkin/security area. Once we went through security though, the only food to get was hot dogs or sandwiches. You´d think for a gigantic airport they would be slightly better.

We get onto our 767 which turns out to have personal tvs. I effing love those it makes long flights so much better to pause and watch what you want when you want. they also had some fun games. Megan and I boozed it up and started buzzing with our first meal and then attempted to watch iron man until we passed out. We woke up a few hours later and turns out that the personal tv system was crapping out and would kick us out of the movie. after we got it reset, we watched some more of it before it crapped out again. We took a few laps on the plane and visited with jake and julie and then finally finished off iron man. megan went back to sleep and i watched some heist film all the way to about 15 minutes till the end before they turned them off for landing. I´ll finish it on the way back.

We got into the lima airport and get our bags and recheck them to go to cusco. we had a 7 hour layover from midnight to 7 in the morning so we haed a ton of time to kill. we were then excited for some crazy peruvian food. Turn out their food court had starbucks, mcdonalds, papa johns pizza, and dunkin donuts. Good thing we just left america. I butchered some spanish talking to the person ordering food while jake got a burger at mcds. We ate that and it was around 1 am I think. We paid the airport fee (it isnt rolled into the ticket like in america) and then found an empty gate to sleep at. what i was super psyched about was that whereas in america almost every seat has arms to it, this one had 3 in a row with no arms. we could stretch out and actually sleep horizontal on the seats. woot! i´ve got pictures to come once i get home.

We then get woken up at 5 am by one of the employees who tells us that the area is closed (maybe thati s why it was so empty) we slowly relocate to another area with the sweet seats and i pass out. megan stayed up and updated her journal. then finally they showed what gate our flight was at and we move there. By then it was about 7 and our flight left in 45 minutes. I couldn´t go back to sleep so we just pack up and wait. It was really deserted and i was excited about getting our own rows. then about 5 min before boarding about 100 people come in (must have been a connecting flight) and the airport is packed. we finally board the plane for the house flight over to cusco.

I passed out again until while I´m sleeping I wake up to megan freaking out. The flight attendant had just spilled boiling tea down her leg and it was scalding her. There wasn´t much she could do at that point but suck it up and be a trooper (which she was. she hasn´t complained about it once) At that point I open our window and look out a few thousand feet below us where there are tons of mountains on the right side. apparently the left side was way more impressive, but what can you do. we got in and got our bags in about a minute. it was very evident that we weren´t in america anymore. ill opst an airport picture later.

We then waited for jake´s dad to show up which he did in an hour. he showed up and pointed out that there were people with name cards with our names on them. we go and talk to them and turns out our hotel is awesome and has arranged for a person to get us to the hotel from the airport. then we figured since megan´s brother mark was coming in twenty minutes we should just wait for him. so we did. we then meet up with him and his friend adam.

we all jumped in a huge bus that i should have taken a picture of where they throw all our gear on top. we get to the hotel and unload and meet up with tom. everyone takes some time to shower and then we meet up and go to the peru treks office to pay our balance for the upcoming trek. turns out we hit them right at their lunch time so we go to this amazing lunch place looking over this piazza (or whatever they call it in peru). i ate alpacca, some chinese peruvian fusion beef, some trout. Basically we had 10 people and everyone sampled a little ofe veryones. we also got this pisca sour which is basically a margarita but the people love it here. it was good. we also got a 650 ml of beer for 8.5 soles which is like 3 american. BOOYAH. turns out then that i was a little buzzed cause we are at 10k elevation. we head back to the hotel and i pass out. more to come later