Salkantay Trek to MachuPicchu

Ok, this one is going to be a doozy I’m sure. I just got back from a 5 day 4 night trek through the Salkantay Pass to MachuPicchu with six of my friends, and it was one of the more incredible experiences of my life, and probably the most physically trying of my adult life. After a night of packing until 12:30 (due to my usual procrastination), the seven of us and 8 others (4 Swedes in their early 20’s, a Canadian man in his 30’s and his 50 year old aunt, and a Chilean couple on their honeymoon) were picked up at 4:30 am by our bus, and driven 3 hours to the town of Mollepata, elevation of 2,900m/9,512ft. The bus driver decided that early morning was a good time to blast music, so we unfortunately didn’t get much shut eye on that leg of the trip. In Mollepata we had a quick breakfast of bread and instant coffee at a small restaurant, and embarked on our first day of hiking – 20 km (13 miles) over 8 hours of walking. We had 2 guides leading us – our head guide Edson, and Orlando, a 27 year old whose main initiative seemed to be to hit on my friend Caitlin. Three men came along to cook for us, as well as two horsemen who carried our tents, sleeping bags, and part of our gear (we kept 5 backpacks, which we took turns carrying). The five of them would set up our meals/campsites, then break them down after we left, pass us on the trail, and set them up again so they’d be ready for us at the next site. It was pretty humbling to see these men in their worn sandals and packs fly by us as we panted up the steep inclines.

We had beautiful weather the first day, and we stopped often to keep the group together (the Chileans tended to keep their own pace about 20 minutes behind the group) and to acclimate to the elevation. At 2 we stopped and had a huge lunch of garlic bread, soup, rice, fried chicken and French fries, then continued on to our first campsite at Soraypampa. I’ll admit that as it was getting dark at 6 and we were still half an hour from our destination I started to get exhausted and to anticipate the cold night ahead, I may have whined to my friend “I don’t want to keep walking…” I think that was my one brief outburst on the trip though, and I managed to keep my head down and pack on pretty much the rest of the time. Located at the base of the snowcapped Salkantay mountain, at an elevation of 3,600m/11,808ft, Soraypampa was our highest and coldest campsite. Both my friend Patrick and I ended up with sleeping bags that didn’t zip up, so despite having three people per tent for body heat and wearing multiple layers (including two coats, hat and gloves and 3 pairs of socks), I did not get much sleep that first night.

We woke up in the morning to warm cups of coco tea delivered to our tents, and after yummy breakfast of omlettes and a quick teeth brush, baby wipe shower and pee in a field we headed off on our second and most difficult day, 22 km (14 miles) over the Salkantay Pass of 4,650m/15,252ft. Let me start by saying that even in Cusco still (3,200m), if I walk up the 3 flights of stairs to my bedroom too quickly I sometimes get winded to the point of needing to sit on my bed for a second. So our morning hike up 1,000 meters over 4 hours to the pass was an extreme challenge, but hugely gratifying when we reached the top (one woman burst into tears). From there we hiked down for 2.5 hours as it started to rain. One of my friends wasn’t feeling well, so the seven of us stopped while she vomited, and somehow managed to lose the group during this time (well done guides, huh?), and ended up wandering for an extra 30 minutes until we were able to reconvene. An extra 30 min when you’re already hiking for nine hours in the rain really does count though, and our guide received a bit of an earful from my friend who fell in the creek as we attempted to find the trail again. It was a quick and grumpy lunch, then after a brief speech from the guides that we “needed to stick together,” Orlando took off at pretty much a jog so we could make it to camp before dark. Four of us managed to keep up with him as we descended into the jungle about 1,700 m (5,500ish ft) in the rain. We managed to make it to camp just before night, and the others trickled in over the next 45 minutes. We were all exhausted, so dinner was pretty quiet, then we slunk off to our tents around 9 for some sleep. Caitlin and I quickly noticed that our tent smelled off, which we soon discovered was from shit that somehow got smeared all along the inside walls of our tent (we think an animal must have pooped on the rain fly the previous night, which was then packed inside the tent and evenly distributed on all of the surfaces). It was too late at night to do anything about it, so I snuggled up with a baby wipe under my nose, made sure to sleep in the middle of the tent, and was so exhausted I actually managed to get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

The next day was much shorter, with only 15 km to hike over 6 hours, and at a much lower elevation. We were in the high jungle, so it was beautiful and green, with plenty of small waterfalls to pass through. The hiking was relatively easy in comparison to the previous days, but by the final few hours the blisters and soreness had set in, and when we hobbled in to our feast of a lunch close to 3 we were ecstatic to be finished for the day. We took another treacherously exciting bus ride 45 minutes to our campsite in the town of Santa Teresa, where we randomly camped out in a open air discotech for the night. We had the evening free to hang out, rest, use the first toilet in 3 days, assess the damage to our feet and drink beer (I did not), and after receiving a functioning sleeping bag and shitless tent I managed to get close to 9 hours of glorious sleep.

Despite the incredible night’s rest, I honestly thought that very little could motivate me from walking faster than a snail’s pace for the remaining three hours of our trek to the station to catch the train to Aguas Calientes (the closest town to Machupicchu). As we walked along the road however, there were cads of workers clearing recent rockslides from the street. After about an hour we caught up to Orlando and a few of the others, who, after a rock had fallen from the top of a huge cliff above him, decided to stop at that exact place to wait for the group to catch up(?!?). About a minute after we were all there we heard a huge crack and a rock fell 10 feet from my friends head – you can’t imagine how quickly I threw my pack on my shoulders and bolted out of there. We power walked for the next 45 minutes in complete fear, and fortunately we all made it safely to the river pass. I found out yesterday morning that later that evening, a huge portion of that very road collapsed (I’ve heard both 40 meters and 400 meters, not sure which one is correct). Either way, absolutely horrifying, and I was honestly praying for our safety during that entire portion of the walk.

To cross the river we had to wait in line for close to two hours in order to go on a small cable chair about 30 meters above the rushing Urabamba River – three people squished onto a tiny platform with our packs, then, with our feet dangling over the edge, we were pushed out over the river. We glided ¾ of the way, then were pulled to the opposite platform by our guides, who literally pulled the cable connecting us hand over hand until we reached the other side. One hour more of hiking (with no water at this point, having not anticipated the long wait in the sun), we finally reached the train station, where my friends and I immediately all bought tickets for the next train rather than hike an additional 3 hours in the approaching darkness to town.

Once in Aguas Calientes, we rejoiced in taking our first showers in 4 days, and believe me, it was necessary. After dinner in a restaurant we went to bed at 11:30, to wake up at 4 am in order to get in line for the bus up to MachuPicchu. Next to MachuPicchu is the WaynuPichhu mountain, an hour hike that provides incredible views of the ruins, but only 400 people are allowed to hike it per day, so one has to wake up extremely early and catch one of the first buses to get tickets. It rained during our tour for our first two hours in the MachuPicchu City, but it was perfect – as the day progressed the rain tapered and the clouds slowly burned off, revealing incredible views of the city and surrounding mountains. At 10 am, after the tour, my friends headed up WaynuPicchu, but I chickened out as it was really steep and crowded, and instead hiked an hour up another mountain that provided beautiful views of the ruins. We all met up and continued wandering around the ruins and taking pictures until 3:30, when we finally hiked an hour down into town to eat our first meal of the day. It was an absolutely incredible day, and after having done so much hiking it really felt like we earned it.

I’m not going to try to even describe any of what I saw as I could never do it justice, but I’ll upload pictures to facebook as soon as possible so you can see the views we came across. Despite the few setbacks and scary moments, I’m incredibly thankful that I went on this trek, it was one of the more amazing and different experiences of my life. And yesterday, after sleeping for close to 14 hours, I woke up and got an hour long $10 massage in Cusco, feels nice to be home J

Well, if you read this far, I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for listening to my ramblings. Pictures to be uploaded soon. Love!

Autumn Solstice

Ever since our hike a few weeks ago up to the Temple of the Moon, a group of us had been discussing hiking up to see the sunrise one morning. We were all in town this weekend, and as it was the first day of autumn (here) we decided it was a good morning to go. Seven of us woke up at 4:30, and took a cab across town at 5, then hiked for 25 minutes to ruins above the Temple of the Moon and watched the sun come up. As we were sitting there a group of about 10 Peruvians of all different ages came up and joined us. With them was a shaman, and they were there to celebrate the solstice and give their offerings to the earth, and they invited us to join them in their ceremony.

They poured rose oil on our hands, and gave us coco leaves to chew on, and three to hold in our hands. The shaman then called out to the spirits of mountains and welcomed their energy to us as we blew on the leaves and prayed. As the sun rose we all stood and meditated as they prayed in Spanish and translated into English for us, explaining how at the solstice the energies of the cosmos and the earth align, and plants, animals and human beings are the bridge to this energy, and we welcomed it in. At the end of the ceremony they blew smoke from a fire they had burned on us, and after one last prayer of thanks, we chewed the leaves we were holding.

I completely can't do the ceremony justice with my words, but it was amazing to recognize and pray to the earth and ask to receive it's energy. It was about giving thanks to the sun (or, whoever you believe you should be giving thanks to) for our blessings and for each day that we are given, and it was wonderful to just take a step aside and really be appreciative of all of the things that I have been blessed with.

What would have been a beautiful sunrise turned into so much more, due to coincidence? or instinct? to go on the solstice. The woman that helped lead the ceremony and one of the guys there offered to take us all on a hike along the Inca Trail next weekend to a waterfall and show us some more Incan ruins along the way, so more to look forward to next weekend!

Phew, sorry, pretty heavy for a blog, I know. But I'm just aware of how incredibly lucky and blessed I am, not only to have the opportunity to be here and have these experiences, but also for all of the wonderful people I get to be with when I return home (including the soon to be new members of the family!). So yes, love to you all!

-me

Lake Titicaca

Greetings once again from Cusco!

Just got sent home from construction due to the rain so figured I´d update you all on the goings on here....
Just returned from a weekend away at Lake Titicaca, it was pretty incredible. Ten of the volunteers from my house all took the trip together, so there was a great crew of people. We took an overnight bus ride from Cusco to the city of Puno, arriving at 5:30 am, where we had 2 hours in a hotel to sleep, shower and eat breakfast. Turns out I´m a champion sleeper and slept through the entire bus ride, I was pretty proud of myself and more rested than I expected. From Puno we took a boat to the floating islands, a community called Uros consisting of like 70 families that created their own islands out of reeds. It was really interesting, they gave us a demonstration of how they constructed the islands using clumps of reed root as a base, and layers of dried reeds on top. They staked their islands into the bottom of the lake (about 16 meters deep), and from there they built their houses on top. I guess historically the inhabitants moved out there in order to hunt birds and fish more easily. Unfortunately the animal life has been depleted too much for them to depend on that, and the community currently lives on the lake so they don´t have to pay taxes to the government. Interesting approach...I wonder if Thoreau would have had more luck if he actually lived in Walden Pond? But now they obviously depend on tourism to survive, so it´s pretty exploited, but supposedly on some of the islands life continues as it did before. Either way, it was really interesting, and I got to eat a piece of reed which was cool.

That afternoon we headed to the island of Amantani, where we had lunch with our host families, including little 4 year old Roy, who gave us a quick Spanish lesson by pointing at pictures in his notebook, saying the word and then giggling intensely. Such a cute kid!! Three of the volunteers and I had a little room at their house, and they cooked us quinoa soup and a plate of potatoes with fried squeaky cheese (if you´ve had it before you´d know why we call it that, it is really a squeaky texture). We then played a game of soccer, locals versus gringos, and despite the altitude of over 3800 meters we actually held our own pretty well. I was a little disappointed as they made us play girls versus girls, so there were 6 female college grads from the states/Spain versus 6 locals, primarily girls wearing full traditional garb, including sandals, brightly colored skirts and head scarves...didn´t feel that evenly matched. But it was fun either way, I scored 2 goals which made me happy :) Following the game we hiked for an hour up to the Pachatata temple at 4200 meters - the hike was really tiring but it was rewarding with panoramic views of the Lake Titicaca at sunset, including the snow capped mountains of Bolivia across the lake. After the hike we had dinner (again of quinoa soup, followed by white rice and fried potatoes in egg). As soon as dinner was over our host mother threw us into traditional clothing (I´ll post pictures soon, but I don´t think I could quite pass as Peruvian...) and hustled us off to a party, where we learned traditional dance and drank Cusquena, the local beer. We were all pretty exhausted from the day so my friends and I didn´t dance long, but wandered off to look at the stars, so incredible with barely any light pollution!

I was fighting a cold all weekend which was a bit of a pain, but it was really only a problem at the night and in the morning (randomly woke up the following morning with one eye crusted shut? That was pleasant, especially with no running water to rinse it out. All weekend. Huzzah for baby wipes!) But was actually okay the following morning, from Amantani we took the boat to another island Taquile, where we hiked for 45 minutes up to a beautiful restaurant, where we got a brief history lesson and were then served (you guessed it!) quinoa soup, and omelette or trout with rice. Once again, quite delicious. From there we just took the boat back to Puno (I managed to punch through the mirror in the bathroom on the boat, don´t ask. Hand was okay but super embarassing and had to pay $10 to replace, oops!). Back in Puno we had 5 hours to waste, and managed to do so at the absolute worst restaurant in the world, Eccos. They didn´t have half the food or drink items offered on the menu, and pizza consisted of essentially a matza cracker with a ketchup type sauce and cheese, and quacamole was the portion of a shot with 5 chips served with it. Awful yet hilarious experience. Managed to sleep through the bus ride home, which was fortunate as I heard it was pretty much death defying, with the bus at various points going up on one axle as we rounded mountain bends. We managed to make it home an hour faster than the way there, kind of concenrning but everyone survived (Did I mention that when you get on the bus they take a quick picture of each passenger? I believe which is then used to identify bodies if the bus does happen to plummet off the cliff? Yep, scary).

Things in Cusco still continue to be great, I´m just doing construction this week and am really looking forward to my afternoons being free. Construction is just plastering the outside of an abode brick building, it´s pretty fun actually and much easier than when we did the attic dad, there´s no floor yet so we can be as messy or awful as we want and it´s not a problem!

Anywho, love you all lots, feel free to respond with the goings on at home!

-tNaZ

Week 2

Hola!

Yep, as I said I'm horrible about being consistent with this sorry!

Last Thursday was my best day here by far. Two of the other volunteers and I went on a hike up past the White Christ, and came across a German couple that told us about a trail to the Temple of the Moon. We kept wandering along, and eventually just came across these old ruins nestled into rock faces. It was amazing - the previous views I had seen were of the city, but we were on the other face of the mountains, looking across rolling green stretches of Andes scattered with ruins, with very few people around. There is so much Incan history in Cusco that a group of sacrificial temples just beyond the outskirts of the city are not even a tourist attraction, which allows for a really peaceful visit. We got a tour from the local who explained some of the history, then hiked further and meditated for awhile in the sun on top of a mountain.
On the way down I stopped by my friend's hostal in San Blas and got my hair wrapped by an artist in the street, got to practice my Spanish with him for over an hour which was great. And then that evening the majority of the volunteers went out for a night of Karoake (sp?), which was quite interesting in itself - I even sang a song or two (Talking Heads and Garth Brooks(?!) With other people of course). I should probably be embarassed, but it was a lot of fun.

On the weekend I was a tourist, going on the Cusco City Tour and the Tour of Sacred Valley. The first tour I could have done without, as I discovered after that the majority of the sites were of Incan ruins I would have preferred to have hiked to, which would have been much more gratifying that have been shuttled around in a bus. Sacred Valley was beautiful - we saw a demonstration of how they clean, spin, dye using natural elements, and then weave the wool from the llamas to make their wares, which was really interesting. We went to 2 major sites of ruins, and stopped a delicious buffet restaurant on the way home (I ate Alpaca :/ I feel like a bad person but it was actually really delicious). It was a good day, but due to the flooding and a washed out bridge we didn't get to one of the other major sites which was disappointing. One thing I've learned though - if there's an earthquake I'm running directly to the nearest Incan structure - despite pillaging of the stones by the conquistadors, they have withstood the test of time and are incredible and sturdy. Not that I have an escape route or anything...

Besides that things have been relatively "routine", I've continued to have Spanish classes in the morning and to work at the same home in the afternoons. Next week I'm going to start doing the Construction project in the mornings though, and possibly continue at the home (the girls will start school, and I think that with my level of Spanish I may be able to help them with there homework, at least that way I'll feel like I'm actually contributing!) A few people from our volunteer house left and a lot more came in, so we are full capacity with 19 (16 of which are female). It seems like a good group, and it's nice knowing that none of them have done the excursions yet, so it will be easier to plan small trips (hopefully next weekend to Lake Titicaca!).

Some more good and bad:
Bad: Did I mention toilet paper can't go in the toilets? And on that note, I finally got sick (as expected), but it really wasn't that bad. My stomach hurt for two days, but I took medication I brought with me from the travel clinic and it cleared up. I didn't even have to miss any classes or volunteering.
The sun has been relatively scarce, but it's ok because it's incredibly strong - if I'm out in it for more than 10 minutes without sunblock I'm guaranteed to burn. Which has happened to my scalp numerous times, which is pretty hideous when it peels :( Next item I purchase is going to be a hat or bandana, I'm an idiot for not bringing any.
Two of my roommates are doing the medical volunteering - they were both scribes in a hospital at home prior to coming here, which essentially just entails following around an ER doctor and taking notes for him. Here, however, one has been doing transvaginal ultrasounds and the other taking out stiches. And did I mention that neither of them really speak Spanish? They've been learning those skills primarily through hand gestures and broken Spanglish. That coupled with their reports of the sanitation only reinforces my goal to stay out of the hospital here!

Good: I still have pretty much loved every single meal I've had here, including the ceviche they served for lunch. I've still pretty much only eaten at the house (except this weekend on the Sacred Valley tour - which just happened to be right before I got sick...I'm going to guess that that wasn't a coincidence), and they serve all sorts of different typical Peruvian dishes, they haven't made the same meal twice. Did I mention I love food?
Just in general I'm really happy I'm here. I love and miss everyone at home a lot, but I'm so grateful for this experience and the opportunity to be doing this. Still so excited for all of the other things I'm going to do, I'll keep you posted(eventually)!

After one week

Hello again!

I can't believe that it's only been a week since I got here, I feel like it's already been so much longer than that! I'm really enjoying Cusco, and the more time I spend here the more excited I get to do the different things they have to offer. I'm thinking about going to the jungle at some point to volunteer for a week, for essentially the same price as I'm paying now I get to trail blaze through bamboo with a machete, hang out with a monkey and shower in a waterfall (And don't worry dad I'll take my malaria pills before I go...). It sounds a little too convenient and exciting to pass up.

The people in my house are all really nice and cool, haven't necessarily made any best friends but I've definitely found some great people to hang out with. My first Friday here I went bar/club hopping and dancing with a 6 of the other volunteers in Plaza de Armas, the more touristy area here (we danced to a combination of Latin hip hop, salsa music, and hits from the US - made for a good time). They have "happy hour" (10-12am) drink specials, 2 drinks (like Pisco Sours, Mojitos, Cuba Libres) for 15-20 soles, which is about $6-8. Not bad. And luckily a lot of the people I live with are interested in going out and being social, but partying is not their first priority, so it seems like there is a good balance. Sunday day I went to a fundraiser put on by a bar and hostel in San Blas, another historic section of town that has cobblestone roads and small white shops, very quaint and cute. A local reggae band played and there was barbeque, vegetarian food and drinks, and the proceeds went to the flood victims in the area surrounding Cusco. It started raining after only 2 hours unfortunately, but I was able to meet a few cool locals and travelers staying in the area, gives me hope for making connections for traveling beyond Peru!

I've been getting a ton of exercise while here, I walk at least 40 minutes every day to Spanish class and sometimes up to an hour more than that to and from the orphanage I'm working at (2 hours today, another volunteer and I went exploring. I'm sore.). I found a yoga class I'm hoping to go to more often (my yoga instructor also happened to be at the party on Sunday), and on Sunday morning I hiked up a mountain on the outskirts of the city to the White Christ, a large statue of Jesus overlooking the city. The hike itself took less than 30 min, but it required walking 50 min across the city to get there. Pictures to follow soon. Saturday Maximo Nivel (the center through which I'm volunteering) also offers free salsa lessons, I went this weekend and only lasted a little over an hour before I got too tired! But I'm definitely going to go again soon, as I was forced to salsa dance by some friends on Monday night at a random bar and believe me, I was awkward. The lessons might be necessary in order to save face.

The food continues to be quite yummy and I've managed to avoid any sickness besides the usual acclimating to the altitude. Which is lucky as pretty much everyone in my house is sick. Out of the 17 people here people have had the shits (to be expected), some have been throwing up, we had one case of strep, a few sinus infections, a parasite, one case of undiagnosed bronchitis that turned into pneumonia (he is just getting out of the hospital today after a four day stay), and a combined case of ecoli and salmonella (after a day and a half in the hospital she ended up leaving for home a few days early :/ She was okay but just felt like recuperating at home in the US). Needless to say I've been incredibly careful about what I'm eating (essentially only what they offer me at the house, definitely no street food), and I've made an effort to get lots of rest and be healthy. I've been getting upwards of 8 hours of sleep a night, and actually waking up before my alarm, which might be a first? Um...please don't mention that sickness stuff to Grammy. And dad, please also disregard the last paragraph.

I'm still working at the same orphanage as before, as I've become less shy with my Spanish I've been talking to the girls a lot more and I've started to get more attached to them. I still feel like I'm not exactly needed there (they're going on a field trip tomorrow and I'm not invited - one would think they would need additional supervision taking 45 girls out of the city!), so maybe when I finish up my Spanish lessons next week I'll work on the construction project in the morning in addition to my current placement. Or maybe I'll just switch up altogether. We'll see.

Anywho, once again a short novel. Love to all and I miss you, keep me updated on life at home!

-tNaZ