Sarah Too

Tami and I decended down from Machu Picchu around 12:30 PM and arrived at the SAS Travel Hostal Viajeros around 1. We took a moment to drop our packs and drink some water. I took another moment to change into flip flops and clean out my rented pack. All my belongings went into a huge rice bag. I was happy to see that pack go, as it meant I was that much closer to seeing my travel backpack in Cusco. Tami and I rested at the hostal after stopping at an ATM and waited for the rest of group to roll in. The rest of them had decided to climb Winaypicchu, the peak that overlooks Machu Picchu city. The trail up the peak is extremely steep with continuous cliff edges and is not for the faint of heart (or weak of knees). I'm glad I skipped out of that ascent, as I laid on the chairs at the lunch table...

There is not much I can say about Aguas Calientes, as I wasn't there long enough to have more than a first impression of the place. It definitely caters to tourists and it has all of the same wares for sale as Cusco. Again, every shop sells the same things and there is a shop everywhere you turn. The highlight of our time in AC was our dip in the hot (warm) springs at the top of yet another hill. Tami and I slowly made our way up the hill to the hot springs. 10 soles (approx. US$3) gets you admitted. Tami and I soaked our broken bodies for over an hour. The pool could have been hotter, but hey, it was still pretty warm and just what the doctor ordered....Plus, we met a retired couple from North Carolina that had been sailing around the world for the past 6 and half years. They made me feel like a weak loser when they said they finished the Inca Trail the day before and they climbed Winaypicchu.

When we left the springs, it was time to head to the train back to Cusco, along with the second SAS Travel group. What would have been a restful, sleepy ride through the dark back to Cusco, was actually a loud, raucous ABBA sing-a-long - courtesy of the rude and drunk second SAS Travel group. Maybe I am just getting old and lame. What's wrong with a few beers after hiking for 4 days? What's wrong with blaring your iPod speakers while other ill, tired, and sore travelers are trying to sleep? And seriously, who has a problem with ABBA?? I'm raising my hand over here because there IS a time and a place for ABBA. The 6 PM train back to Cusco after 4 days on a steep rocky trail is NEITHER. Now, a 70s-themed birthday party at a roller rink....YES.

The bus ride from the train station at Ollytaytambo was blissfully less noisy, as we wet blankets took over the back of the bus and the rowdy bunch sat up near the guides. Sleeping was the name of that game. Wearily, Larry, Tami, and I disembarked and hoofed our way back to Pirwa, where Ryan and Amanda greeted us. I missed them on the trail!! We animatedly debriefed each other on our travels to and from Machu Picchu while Larry slept - maybe for the first time since leaving the coast and arriving in the mountains. In the morning, we were all headed off to Puno, the gateway to Lake Titicaca...

Labels: friends, Peru, travels | 0 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

I don't know that words or photos can really capture the wonder that this place induces. We arrived at Machu Picchu at 7:45 AM and I'm so tired and sore (such a broken record I am) that there is not quite the impact I expect upon arrival at this place.





The sight of more (MORE???) stairs leading to the official entry point makes me grumpy, but as Tami put it, "I waited my whole life to see this place, there is no way I am not going to see it now." Unfortunately, Larry did not share her sentiments...He had enough of the trail and the stairs and his body - he went down to the hostal in Aguas Calientes with Washington and skipped the two hour tour of the city with Hilbert.

I am in a haze as we tour Machu Picchu with Hilbert. Somebody get me some cheese with my whine, because my knee hurts. I am amazed by the stonework. Pre-industrial revolution humans built this place out of the side of a mountain. Were they smoking the cocoa leaves?? Who DOES that?? Who sees the mountain peaks and says, "Let us build a sprawling sacred city HERE!" Yes, Machu Picchu gives views of all the other sacred glaciers ("apus"), but does that mean you haul rocks, by hand, up and down steep mountain slopes?? CRA-ZY!!

From here, I'll let the camera do the talking:
















------------------
TRIP STATS (thusfar)
Number of soles paid to go to the bathroom at Machu Picchu: 1
Where I was on the 10-point happiness scale when I peed in a toilet with a seat: 11+
Number of tears shed on the trail: ZERO (eat THAT, mountain!)
Number of rocky stairs climbed: Ugh, too many!

0 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

Orientation the night before hitting the trail did not do much to prepare me for this trek through the rugged Andes. Yeah, yeah, we got it...altitude sickness...take it easy...Blah blah blah. Let's get hiking. Of course, it would have helped a whole lot if the morning of the trek did NOT start with me sleeping through my wristwatch alarm. I spent from 2 AM to 4 AM fighting off a severe headache while resting my head on a pillow that felt no softer than a rock. So, when at 5:25 AM I woke with a start and whisper-screamed "Shit!! It's 5:25. We gotta go guys!" I felt stressed AND nervous. I shoved my sleeping bag into its compression sack, hastily dressed, and bungied my sleeping mat and bag to my pack as quickly (and as irritably as I could). I wasn't the only one who slept poorly, either. Tami spent the night going to the bathroom. Regardless, Larry, Tami, and I blearily hustled the 2 blocks down to the 5:45 AM bus, where, once boarded, Tami downed an early morning cocktail of Pepto and Dramamine. I really wish I could say our troubles ended there...

Day 1 - Our group of 16 travellers plus 2 guides ride the bus from Cusco to a breakfast stop in Ollytaytambo. While I want to sleep on the bus ride, I can't. The scenery of the mountains in the early morning light is too breathtaking. The sky is so blue and the mountains are indescribable. It won't be the first time I think, "My camera and my words will never capture this view." Plus, I'm nervous about what to expect from the trail, myself, and my guides.

In Ollytaytambo, we turistas can buy wooden walking sticks, overpriced snacks, and Agua de Florida for the trail. Allegedly, Agua de Florida is "magic water" containing eucalyptus and some other methol-like herbage that when inhaled, opens up your lungs, easing breathing in the thin mountain air. Really, the stuff smells like Grandpa's aftershave and, like the cocoa leaves, I can't vouch for the validity of the guides' claims. After breakfast, we continue onto KM82 (2380 meters above sea level), where we check in to the trail and start hiking.



Our hiking is stalled by the Australians efforts to iron out a small, yet annoying, paperwork snafu with the trail authorities. Every hiker, porter, and guide MUST be permitted on the Inca Trail to limit the number of trekkers each year. Once they get through, though, we are on our way...up, and up, and UP. The rocky trail and the stairs start now. I will curse them both by the end of it. Larry and Tami would begin to feel the burn of altitude sickness, as well.


By the end of Day 1, we are sweaty, huffing, puffing, tired, and positive that we will hire porters to carry our packs on Day 2, which is listed as "Challenge" in the SAS Travel brochure. Fortunately, the amazing porters provided by SAS Travel carry the food, our sleeping tents, the dining and kitchen tents, and all other necessary supplies on their backs. They make light work of the rocky, steep terrain and always have camp set up before we weary Gringos arrive for lunch or the night. I feel like a schlep in comparison to these wiry men that traverse these mountains with such seeming ease and quickness. Most of them, when not working the trail, are farmers in these mountains. Many porters die by falling off the edge of the rocky trail each year. When the porters are introduced, many have between 2 and 4 children. The youngest among them is 20, and the oldest is 60! We learn the marital status of each one, as that seems to be an important statistic in this country - I've had to fill out my status on every hostel registration card so far. Single and PROUD, Peru!

Day 2 - Uh, change the SAS Travel word "Challenge" to "Effing Bitch of a Time." This was by far, the hardest day, even without our packs. Larry, Tami, and I each paid 80 soles (approx. US$20-30) for a porter to carry our packs for the day. I am awed and annoyed by the veteran trekkers in our group that suck it up and carry their own packs, while still maintaining the lead. Larry, Tami, and I continue our trend of coming in last at every rest stop.

Never flat, the day was either steeply headed up or steeply headed down as we made our way through two passes. The first was Dead Woman's Pass, at a maximum height of 4200 meters. As we rested at the top of the pass, I huffed and puffed (again). Larry and Tami fought off nausea, headaches, and stinging lungs. Yes, Altitude, we feel you, we know you, now leave us alone!!! I barely took photos at the time, and I think these are photos of the top:

If you look closely at the photo above, you can see the trail sloping away in the bottom third of the photo, and heading down the mountain towards the valley half-way down the left side of the photo. The trail is one small tiny sliver, snaking its way through the Andes and none of my photos capture the steepness of it...

This photo is the other side of Dead Woman's Pass - in the direction we continued to trek - toward Machu Picchu. We would be heading straight down - basically dropping out of the bottom of the photo frame...

If I thought going up sucked, going down a mountain just might blow even bigger llama chunks. Stairs, stairs, and more effing stairs. When I think about them, I get mad. I spent so much time looking down and holding my balance that I missed so much of the beautiful scenery. My toes are throttled into the front of my shoes with each step, which I noticed at the end of Day 1 were separating from the rubber soles (check out the right shoe near the toe):



By the time I reached the lunch stop, I was at the end of my rope and ready to cry. I was exhausted and barely hungry. I ate what I could, but I felt spent and wondered how I would make it up through another pass. I was one grumpy trekker, but I was still upright. Kathy (a fellow St. Pete resident that happened to be in our group!), Larry, and Tami were all laid out on a tarp and they all skipped lunch. Altitude, seriously, leave us alone!! One person that kept the humor in the situation was Simon, the gregarious Australian. He was so excited that Larry was skipping out on lunch because that meant more chocolate pudding for him for dessert!!

I have to say Simon and every one of the other trekkers in our group made this arduous task enjoyable and bearable. Never once did I feel like we stragglers were holding up the group. Everyone's buoyant and adventurous spirit kept us all laughing and plugging along, every small step of the way up and down the trail. Check out some of our fellow travelers tales here and here.

After lunch, we headed down for a bit, then....right. back. UP. Uuuuuuggggghhh!!! Are you KIDDING me?!?!? This SUCKS!! And I PAID for this!!! HA!!! By the time we made it through Runkuraqay Pass (approx. 3900 meters), and down, down, down to camp, we were spent. We skipped the tour of the Runkuraqay Inca remains. Hilbert (our lead guide) could tell us another day. Tami crashed in our tent as soon as she arrived at camp and never woke up. She fell asleep with her tea in her hand and barely moved when I later hit the sack. Larry skipped another meal, leaving Simon to inhale the extras while having yet ANOTHER conversation about cricket with the Brits. And, as a reward for all our hard work that day, the squat toilets at this camp were miraculously free of any excrement outside the porcelain bowl in the ground. Unfortunately, they were not free of the disgusting stench. Plus, you wondered whether that was really mud on the floors....

Day 3 - We all groaned awake at 5:15 AM, but finally noticed the incredible view from camp.



Well, the hike is easier than Day 2, but not by much. Fortunately, the views are amazing:





I have my pack back and the 2 hours of stairs leading down to the night's camp made me tear up as my right knee could no longer support my weight on its own. I was depending on my left leg to lower me down each step of the way. I gasped each time my right knee tweaked or my blisters (that's right, my huge effing blisters on both heels) rubbed the wrong way in my shitty ass shoes. Agony made me hate my shoes, my feet, my body, the mountain, and the stupid idiots that built this damn trail. I thought of Tami and Larry, too, that suffered even greater bodily strains, as the altitude sucked the life out of them. Tami, too, had her right knee Ace bandaged the day before and was experiencing the pain of each step. Both of us wanted to cry, but too many people were around. (We aren't SISSIES!!)

We reached Winaywayna (2700 meters) for lunch and I was so flippin' grumpy. Before lunch, we would head over the Inca remains, just a short walk from the base camp lodge. This was our last camp before seeing Machu Picchu the following day. The walk to the remains made my body scream and then, the drizzle started as we toured the remains with our second guide, Washington.





Some folks went further down the stairs than I did, but I kept thinking about the climb back up the stairs. As expected, the walk back to camp from the remains was uncomfortable. I was looking forward to lunch, flip flops, and to the hot showers offered at the lodge for 5 soles. 8 minutes of warmth and cleanliness!! Larry, after a brief reprieve from the symptoms of altitude, again felt nauseous. Simon was slightly deflated come extra servings of dessert, which happened to be his least favorite dish: Jell-O. HA!! I LOVE Jell-O and there is ALWAYS room for it.... After showers, Tami and I relaxed in our tents as the afternoon drizzle continued. People napped and read. What a wonderful break from the demanding trail!! What a wonderful rest before our 3:45 AM wake up call the next day...

Day 4 - RISE and SHINE, trekkers!! My first words: "F**K Machu Picchu." (Sorry, Mom) Seriously, my blisters didn't want to squeeze into my shoes. My body didn't want to eek out of my warm cocoon and my eyes didn't want to peer through the dark pre-dawn air. After a quick breakfast, an huge mass of hikers went to hurry up and wait on the trail. We had another checkpoint to go through, before hiking to the Sun Gate, where we would get our first glimpse of one of the 7 Wonders of the World. One by one, the headlamps clicked off in the darkness as the different tour groups waited to start down the trail. I don't know what time we passed through the checkpoint, but I had my headlamp on, even while the morning broke over the mountain peaks. The trail was much more even, and much less severe than the previous two days, but there were still some really doozy points: the Gringo Killer (steep steps that seemed like climbing a ladder) and the steps leading down to Machu Picchu. It was not helpful that some especially rude and fast hikers nearly plowed us slowpokes off the trail, without saying excuse me - in any language. Again, it was so hard to see the beauty of the trail when I was focused on each step and my body was tired, tight, and sore. Regardless of how my body felt, I hiked all this way (49 KM; approx. 25 miles) and I was going to see all of Machu Picchu....

Labels: friends, Peru, travels | 0 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

I ventured my first cup of caffeine on Day 2 in Cusco - a delicious cafe con leche made in what look like a small patisserie where Amanda, Tami, and I also had apple (manzana) croissants. I keep wondering how the locals really live and where they shop and eat, as there are turistas crawling ALL OVER this town. I would find out later in the day that the locals all shop and eat at the local market, just off San Francisco Plaza:



Here Amanda, Larry, Tami, and I had our first questionable meal at one of the market stands. We didn't even know what we ordered. It was a huge meal that started with what looked like chicken noodle soup. Then, a plateful of beef, rice, beans, and some sort of salad with onions. I could not finish my plate, there was so much. The poor woman selling the meals must have thought I was some sort of anorexic. She chided Tami for not finishing her plate like one of our mothers telling us to finish our peas at dinner. There was simply no room left in my stomach for more food! Despite our fears of what kind of water was used for cooking or cleaning, we did all survive. All that food for 6 soles (or about US$2.00). The market offered up more to see and do than just lunch, including:








As the sun goes down, the cool air invades quickly. The night makes the air sharp and brings back memories of the cold winter nights of my childhood. There is no snow, but the mountainsides are brown, which contrasts sharply with the green grass and bright snapdragons of the plazas. Tomorrow, Larry, Tami, and I head off on the Inca Trail for 4 days and 3 nights while Amanda, Lindsey, and Ryan head off for their 2 day Inca Trail/Machu Picchu tour. My nerves pitch upward as I pack my rented 45L backpack, which will hold my clothes, toiletries, medicines, sleeping bag, and sleeping mat while I am on the trail. My other bag will be in storage at Pirwa, along with the others' bags, while we experience the Andes and the remains of an ancient culture.

In bed, I am left thinking of all the noises of Cusco: flutes, drums, foreign tongues, tires on brick-lined streets, laughter, children running, karaoke, car horns, barking dogs, whistles, and creaking floorboards. I am also left still wondering how the hell I got here and what the hell I think I am doing here...which is exactly the kind of sentiment I was seeking...

Labels: friends, Peru, travels | 0 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

Cusco is amazing and so much quieter than Lima. Far fewer car horns, and the sound of the rubber tires of the toy-car-sized taxis on the brick-lined streets of Cusco is like little children running (without the laughter or screams, because we heard children running down the streets to school during the early morning hours). There are turistas (tourists) and stray dogs EVERYWHERE [I guess turistas are kind of like stray dogs, in a way...]. I am in LOVE with the dogs - they are sweet, affectionate beggars with alluring eyes. I want to take one home with me....after its been treated for fleas and any other parasites, of course.



Beggars, hawkers, and squawkers on every street corner berate you to buy their handicrafts or eat in their restaurants. Shops selling the exact same merchandise on every street and in every nook made me question how any of them made any money at all. Alpaca scarves and sweaters, woven tablecloths and table runners, chullos (woolen hats with earmuffs), embroidered purses and change purses, wall hangings, ceramics, knickknacks and other chotchkes...The cramped places of Cusco were stuffed with it all and we were in a buying mood! We were in Cusco for nearly 2 and half days before hitting the trail and all the guide books recommended taking it easy to adjust to the altitude. I love taking it easy, so sign me up, Cusco!! So far, a dull headache is the only notice Cusco has given me that I am so high above the earth.

Our hostel, the Pirwa Backpackers on San Francisco Plaza (just like in Lima...but not really), has us waiting for a room until 10:30 AM, as we arrived by 8 AM. In the meantime, we have some breakfast. I have my first panqueque (pancake) with honey and my God, it tasted good. We also have our first of what will be MANY cups of cocoa tea, or mate (mah-tay). [Allegedly, cocoa leaves, whether in tea or stuffed in your cheek and sucked, relieve the symptoms of altitude sickness. I don't know if those leaves actually worked or whether it was a placebo effect, but I believe in them. I believe in the mate. As many of the keychains and other souvenirs said, "Cocoa no es druga." Its not cocaine, folks, but an excellent herbal remedy for altitude sickness!!]

After some confusion over our reservation, we are assigned a room. This, after I fell asleep on a very short couch in the lounge of the hostel. Below, Ryan and Amanda watch TV and doze, respectively, while we wait for our room:



Our room is three bunk beds in a fair enough sized room. Not huge, but not too cramped. The wooden floorboards of the 500 year-old-building creak like a spooky haunted house. Late night visits to the communal bathroom will be heard by everyone...which, in the end would be the least of the noises heard in the middle of the night (late night karaoke in the hostel bar, anyone???). The last thing on my mind upon arrival is which alcoholic beverage I will drink. With the dull headache ebbing and flowing, being drunk is no grand goal...

So, we spend the day touring around Cusco. Here is the Plaza de Armas (of which there is one in EVERY city of Peru, if not South America):



At lunch, I have alpaca tenderloin and man, I need a new word for "so good!" It tasted so scrumptious, but it paled in comparison to the trucha (trout) I had at the Inka Grill for dinner (see below).





I wish I had the appetite for more dessert - Larry, Tami, and I split an incredible chocolate cake at lunch. I am completely overwhelmed by the language of this place, the architecture, the smells, sounds, and high energy buzz. It is hard to believe that already, all these sites and experiences have occurred in one day. I guess that's what the early bird gets...But I am also ready for a full night's sleep, with no 3 AM wake-up call. I think Amanda could have gone all night, as she shopped her way through Cusco and wore nearly everything she bought:



-------------------
TRIP STATS (thusfar):
Number of times I've said "No, gracias.": 50 million
Alpaca meat: 1
VW Beetles sighted: 600,000 (NO JOKE)
Chullos sighted: infinity

Labels: friends, Peru, travels | 0 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

3 AM is always so much more exciting when you stay up until then (like the Brits, who were still playing cards), not as a wake-up hour! Larry, Ryan, Tami and I woke to the sound of my wristwatch. [This trip was the first time I wore a wristwatch 24/7 since about 4 years ago, when I cast off watches in favor (??) of laptops, cell phones, dashboards, and wall clocks. Who needs a watch when everything else is telling you what time it is??] Anywho, at 3:30 AM, we were packed and rattling down the city streets with Francis, who seems to moonlight as not only a lost baggage advocate, but as a taxi driver.

Ryan retrieved his "delayed baggage" from Copa Airlines and we all checked ourselves and our bags into our 5:35 AM TACA Airlines flight to Cusco. At the terminal, we met up with Amanda and Lindsey, who had been in the Lima airport all night. For everyone's happy face, look below:





Yeah, that's everyone at 4:45 AM. Without coffee. And we're sooooo excited to get on another plane!!

When we landed at Cusco airport, there was a band playing Peruvian/Andean music with drums and costumes and bottled oxygen for sale. Cusco is at 10,860 feet above sea level - a significant change from my home base of 13 feet above sea level - and your body starts to feel it almost immediately. The dull headache and the labored breathing...The thirst! The mountains are so dry! But more about that later...Landing in Cusco was our first step towards Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail...

Labels: friends, Peru, travels | 0 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

Larry, Ryan, Tami, and I tried to sleep in, despite the noise of Lima's traffic. Lima was so quiet and bare in the early morning hours that the noise and bumper-to-bumper traffic is a surprise. As the four of us sat down to a complimentary breakfast of bread, butter, tea, and instant coffee, we tried to decide on our game plan for the day. Tami offered up the National Archeology Museum and Ryan wanted to visit Plaza de San Francisco. In the end, we decided to do both.

The National Archeology Museum (whose full name is the El Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología, e Historia) contains pre-Columbian artifacts, including 8,000-year-old stone tools, textiles, and ceramics of the Moche, Chimú, and Inca civilizations. It cost 11 soles (approx. US$3.50) to tour the museum. Inside we found:











Carved shells
















Fertility Statues













Ceramic pots of various shapes (like a crab!)

















And my favorite little guy that seems to be saying "Heeeeeeey!! Look at me!"


After the museum, we had a lovely lunch at a little restaurant whose name I can't remember. I had the fish with rice and fried yuca, with a dash of lime. It was fantastic. Whether it tasted so good because I was starving or because it was actually delicious does not really matter...

After lunch, we taxied over the Plaza de San Francisco and toured the monastery. No photographs were allowed, but here is the outside:

Pigeons were everywhere in the square and the monastery was filled with courtyards, ornate statues, antique books, ancient murals, beautiful architecture, and catacombs filled with bones. Lots and lots of bones. A disturbing amount of bones. Nearly 70,000 people were buried there and the femurs and skulls were arranged in concentric circles by the conservationists that discovered the catacombs. Yay!

The taxi ride home to Miraflores House through Lima's rush hour traffic took about an hour, when it should have taken about half of that. By the time we arrived back the hostel, we were cold and tired. So tired that we ordered a Papa John's pizza. It was delivered within minutes and it tasted just like home. We felt a little like we copped out by ordering some American food, but it helped us bond with the other guests at the hostel. Mike, from Colorado, rode his BMW motorcycle all the way to Peru and was planning on continuing down through Argentina. As a website designer, he has an income and mobility, allowing him to continue traveling without end. He has already been on the road for 2 years. There was Chris, from the Isle of Wight, and two young women from Newcastle, England. We ate pizza and played cards with them until past our bedtime, as we all had an early morning wake-up call for our morning flight to Cusco.

Another happy ending for our day (other than pizza and new friends): due to the efforts of Francis, the owner of Miraflores House, and his two trips to the Lima airport, Ryan's bag was found. He would retrieve it at the airport in the morning when we checked in for our flight to Cusco. Luck had smiled once again on our motley crew...

Labels: friends, Peru, travels | 0 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |