(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074799&id=1280460131) is the link to the first photo album and
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074781&id=1280460131) is the link to the second photo album.
After my cruise I flew from Guayaquil to Lima, where I had a LOONNGG lay over waiting for my dad. He finally got into Lima and after taking care of the details we just hung out until 4AM when we could check our bags for our flight to Cusco, at 540AM. We spent 2 days in Cusco, exploring the city and the Incan ruins as well as getting accustomed to the altitude.. (10,860 ft). We took the opportunity to try out some of the local foods while we were in the area, my Dad had a pastry that was just flaky bun filled with dulce de leche called la lengua de la suegra (the mother in law's tongue) and then we shared a dish of guinea pig. Yup, thats right, they eat household pets in Peru, not really, they raise them to eat, and then on Sunday, the 16th we met up with our group at 4:30AM in order to head out on the Inca Trail Hike to Machu Picchu. We took a bus for a while and then stopped to eat breakfast before starting the trail. The first day we saw some Inca sights and got accustomed to carrying out packs on the up and down undulating terrain until the final two hours of our hike on day 1, when we started our ascent up to the highest summit on the trail. From where the ascent started it is a 6km hike up rocky, uneven, unrelenting mountainside. We had amazing porters (20 for our group of 14 hikers) who carried enormous packs. Our group was made up of my father and myself, the only Americans, 8 Canadians from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and then one couple from the Isle of White off of Britain and 1 couple from Sydney, Australia. Our guide Alex was a 43 year old Peruvian and the closest in age to my Dad, by far the oldest person we saw walking the trail.
One of the beautiful orchids that we saw along the way.
The second day saw a grueling 4 hour ascent to the first summit, a rapid descent losing half of the altitude that we had gained, and then a second ascent to the original height of the first peak. We then had a more leisurely descent and a stop at an Inca sight to break the afternoon hiking up. The first two days we had spectacular weather, no rain during the hiking hours but also not very hot and the sun was out but not scorching us.
Dad and Chris (one of the Canadians) descending a very steep staircase.
One of the coolest sights that we saw during the hike before arriving at Machu Picchu, this was a 5 minute walk from our camp on the third day.
January is one of the two rainiest months in Peru, and most people who chance hiking the trail then get poured out, so it made sense when the third day it rained on and off all day and the fourth day, after we got up at 3:20AM to make it early into Machu Picchu was more of the same.
Me, hiking along, wearing the same clothes that I wore for 5 days straight.
We spent 1 night in Aguas Calientes, the touristy town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain that exists for tourist purposes and then ascended to Machu Picchu a second time on the 20th of January. We were pretty wiped out from all of the hiking by then but excited to see the sights. On the 21st we flew back to Buenos Aires and we are now here with my Mom, and tomorrow morning we are flying out to El Calafate, a southern city in Argentine Patagonia. More updates to come!
Oh yeah, a picture of our group in front of Machu PIcchu.
No comments:
Post a Comment