IT Day 2: I Want To Take You Higher

Reality has set in. We are going up these mountains. I am filled with dread as I try to comprehend the 4200m Warmiwanusca or "Dead Woman's Pass" we have to summit today. The morning is bone chillingly cold and after our first check in point Emilio sits us all done for a heart to heart about the days hike. Some consider turning back with the prospect of today's challenge. We give each other a pep talk, high five and decide to call our group "team Rocky." Up Up and Away Part I: Slow uphill climb Jeff, Tom & I pull away from the group and make it to the first resting point to wait for the group. We are sweating, but not overly so. Jeff and Tom buy 6 more beers each (to go with the bottle of wine Tom is carrying to savor at Machu Picchu). We are sweating but I am beginning to feel confident...maybe today is not so bad. Carole, Kirsten, Pia and Emilio arrive. We decide to go at our own paces and to meet at the campsite on the other side of the summit. We are all feeling good. Go Team Rocky! Stairmaster From Hell Part II: Jeff takes off like a mountain goat. I put on my ipod for motivation. The trail takes a hellacioiusly steep incline. Porters are flying past me with 25kg of weight (WTF??). More than a few people turn back, deciding they cannot do the hike. Shit. What have we gotten ourselves into??? Stone stairway after stone stairway after stone stairway....Jeff waits for me at checkpoint #2. We have been hiking straight up for 2 hours now, at a brisk pace. THIS IS VACATION?!? Part III: The sun is out, I am sweltering. I can see the summit up near the snow, but the couple of people already there look like ants. My legs burn. The air is thinning. We have hiked the equalivalent of Camelback three times straight up back to back to back, and still MORE to go. I take 10 steps, using my hiking poles to pull me up the giagantic stone steps, and pause to breathe. 10 steps, stop, 8 steps, stop, 3 steps, stop. OMG. Almost there, Jeff sprints to the top. Ok I can do this...maybe. OH Thank Heaven Part IV: I made it. I am at the top of the world. The views are incredible and my body is starting to give in, I nearly cry. Jeff and I decide to wait at the top for Tom and Carole before heading down to camp. We see them 50 meters down from us, Carole is sitting and surrounded by people. Jeff runs down to carry her pack up and check what is happening. She is having a panic attack from the altitude, barely breathing. Doctors rush down and help her. After about an hour, they make it to the summit. This climb is not for the faint of heart. We decide to head to camp. As soon as we arrive we crack some beers, warms ourselves in the sun and put our feet in the ice cold mountain river. Day 2 complete. ahhhhhhhhh

Inca Trail Day 1: Let's Get It Started!

Our hiking group turned out to be very small, just 6 of us in total: 2 Americans (us), 2 Aussies (Pia & Kirsten), 1 Brit (Carole) and 1 Irishman (Tom). I could tell at our pre-trek meeting this might be interesting since none of us with the expection of Jeff has ever hiked for more than few hours and definitely never been up a mountain. So here we are staring 30 miles in the high altitude of the Andes in the face and no one has a clue. My favorite pre-trek comment had to be Carole with, "Has anyone been camping before?" Oh, and our guide, Emilio, speaks some type of English that leaves us guessing. We just nod. So on to the trek....We had a 3 hour car sick inducing bus ride to the trail head (fun!) then checked in with our porters (12 total for just 6 of us!). Then we were off! Adrenaline pumping through our veins we couldn't wait to get going. The trail was relatively flat with the expection of a couple steep climbs. The views were quite stunning! We had wonderful views of the snowcapped Mountain Victoria and sweeping vistas to the valleys below as we creeped along trail following the Urubamba river below. After about 4 hours of walking we made it to camp in a grassy plain known as Wayllabamba. Jeff pulled out a couple of beers he had been carrying and we all partook in a little Chicha (corn beer-it was sweet) and congratulated ourselves on one day down! After a very good dinner (seriously!) we emerged from our dinner tent to find the sky filled with stars. The milky way was as clear as I have ever seen and the Southern Cross sat on the horizon. The night sky here in the middle of the Andes was magical. But alas, tomorrow comes too soon and it off for a cold nights sleep.

Pisco Sours and Shopping

Well, we finally made it to Lima around midnight after a couple of delays. On the plus side our room was on a total party floor. DJs, rooftop pool, some sort of angry birds themed going away party...weird. We decided to partake (shock), so we only got in a few hours sleep before we had to jet set it down to Cusco. Hangover+Altitude+winding mountain roads+sleep deprivation=VERY long day. But no rest for the weary! We dropped off the bags at our lovely hotel and grabbed a taxi for the small town of Pisaq, where the Sunday market is famous throughout Peru. And hit it we did! Everything was so colorful and vibrant. Pink, red, green, yellow, orange, turquoise splashed across the market like it was a canvas and the locals lived on a rainbow. I loved watching the ladies in their bright alpaca wool skirts and funny pointy hats dance around the main plaza. Tiny goats would cuddle up to small children sitting on the sidewalk enjoying Popsicles. The whole scene is so alive it's nearly sensory overload. And the food! Dinner was cilantro lamb and alpaca steak with pisco sours (you were wrong, Ty. They are amazingly good...like a piña colada and margarita had a baby and named it pisco sour). And the view was to die for! We ate outside looking down on the spectacle of the main plaza and surrounded by the terraced peaks of the Andes! I seriously almost cried out of pure joy (or exhaustion from the last 36 hours). After another pisco (naughty but good) we hightailed it home for a well deserved rest before we explore Cuzco tomorrow. Night night all from the Southern hemisphere.