Machu Picchu!!!

We woke up at 3:30AM and started our final stretch.

We packed up our stuff and the Porters headed off to "meet the train." (we'll come back to why that is in quotes later)

We packed up and started the most exciting day of the trip. We had a quick breakfast and hiked for about 10 minutes. Then we got in line. We stood/sat/slept in line for about 45 minutes to wait for the final check point to open. (I guess I should go back and explain that along the way there were 3 or 4 checkpoints we had to go through, almost like checking in at Customs. They only allow a set number of people on the trail each day and to be sure that no "un-authorized" people have wondered through the jungle, over the mountains and onto the trail, they check our tickets and passports throughout the way)

At 5:00 AM the check point opened and we were on our off! This was the only time it really went single file. Our group got in line after the Brits and before the group from Land O' Lakes. We hiked for about an hour like this until we made it to the SUN GATE!
We were very excited to get to see the first glimpses of Machu Picchu. Even with the bit of cloud cover it was still awesome! We took a family picture here. Throughout the time we had all helped each other a lot, offering laughs and encouragement to help everybody keep going and of course, we all got really good at helping take each others' pictures. As we got closer we got more views of the sacred city.

Along the trail to the ruins, we came across the Llama table. This is where the guides told us they think the Incas would sacrifice llamas.

I don't really know why they sacrificed them but it kinda reminded me of the table in The Chronicles of Narnia where they killed the lion.

This is also where we learned fun facts about llamas. Such as; llamas like to return to the same spot each day to poop. We kept seeing LARGE piles of llama poop and figured they just make big poops, but no we were corrected...

We continued along the trail and finally MADE IT!!! We spent about two hours with our guide learning about the history of Machu Picchu and admiring the view. One interesting thing I remember is that no where in the ruins, in any of the time since it was discovered, have they been able to find where/how the people of the city went to the bathroom. (Apparently we were fascinated with potty facts that day... but really, who isn't?) So from this fact it can be seriously questioned if people ever really did live here for if they left before it was complete.

After our guide taught us about the rollers they used to move the stones and how the Sun Temple is aligned perfectly to light up on the Winter Solstice on June 21st (we were about 3 days too early) we were able to wander around on our own and enjoy the amazing place.

Of course I took a LOT of pictures so here is a little photo montage: for more please email me at danielle.lupo@gmail.com and I'll send you the snapfish links.

As we walked around we were visited by llamas! We asked our guide how they got all the way up here since we had not seen them along the trail, days one and two we saw several mules and cows but never any llamas. His response was, "They are here for decoration." Which I take to mean, "Stupid tourists like llamas and so we put them here for you to take pictures of." So, of course we did take pictures of them!

Then, I took some time to just sit and take it all in. You know how in movies they have the soundtrack playing in the background and sometimes, they pick the perfect song that just fits the moment... I think my soundtrack song for this moment was One Sweet World, by The Dave Matthews Band. I didn't think to get my ipod out but...it was certainly a Dave kind of feeling.

Like I said, I took a ton of pictures!

4 days, 3 nights, 2 blisters, a million pictures and 11 new friends!
All in all it was an amazing experience, I'm glad I did it!

Day Three:

Day Three was going to be a long day, most of it was going to be "Inca Flat." (Which was described to us with the waving of an arm, up and down and up and down.) So we left our beautiful campsite from Night Two and set out for the next day's trek.

We hiked for a while, had a lot of ups and a lot of downs and had great views of the Andes.

By around noon we made it to the next archaeological site, Phuyupatamarca. Here our guide, Juan Carlos, told us about messengers of Inca time who would run the trail from one site to the next in a relay type fashion to deliver messages from the Inca King. Now a days they continue this tradition by having a competition where people (like our Porters) run the trail. The fastest time, 3 hours and 45 minutes!!! What was taking us 4 days of pain, close to 26 miles (a freaking mountainous marathon) is possible to be done in 3 hours and 45 minutes...WOW! Many jaws dropped with that statement.

After that site we continued down to where lunch would be served that day.(I have video but it is being a pain so I think I will publish the video, later)

After lunch we continued on back into "Deepest, Darkest Peru." I'm pretty sure I found Paddington Bear's hole. As we were going we came across a cave and our next wildlife sighting. We found a kitten that our guides tried very hard to jokingly convince us was a Baby Puma. Now unless a baby puma looks a lot like my parents' house cat, Pokey, I really doubt it was a baby puma. But the cave was cool nonetheless.

After the cave it was back UP again. We had some more very cool views and some more very steep climbs.

But the peak was well worth it! Then we started down towards our last campsite of the trip, Winaywana! This place was very cool, its a permanent lodge type of set up with a restaurant and bar inside. Then all of our tent sites were set all around outside. There is the option for a hot shower (for 5 Soles) and a beer for 6 Soles! We had an awesome dinner here and thanked our Porters and Cook for a great trip. It was a fun place and so we extended Happy Hour a little longer and rocked out to some 80s music and bonded some more with our Argentinian friends. Doing some air guitar and drums to "Living on a Prayer" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!" We went to bed early that night with the knowledge of our morning wake-up call coming at 3:30AM so we would make it to the SUN GATE at sun rise and onward to MACHU PICCHU!

Day Two:

Each morning our wake up call came as a Porter or Guide knocked on our tent and said "Buenos Dias Amigos, Cocoa Tea!!!" Then as we unzipped our tents we were greeted with a very hot cup of cocoa tea (very good for altitude sickness) As we drank our tea, we packed up our things and got ready for the day ahead. As mentioned before, much of Day One was spent telling us about the elevation and intensity that we had to look forward to for Day Two. The 12 of us gathered for breakfast (very yummy pancakes with caramel syrup and some porridge type stuff that kinda tasted like running grits, but it was hot and filling and we knew we needed as much energy as we could get) and discussed the journey we would take today.


The first pass was going to be at 4200m and then we would go down into the valley and pass through the rain forest.
Here we are in "Deepest, Darkest Peru."
After that we started the UP! It was kinda rough so I did not take many pictures. We all went at our own pace, which was good, and along the way we played leap-frog with other tour groups. At points I ended up hanging out with people from other groups more than my own. I met a great group of Brits who had been to many awesome places and had great stories to tell. I met some guys from Canada who had never done anything like this before. Then, I met a family from Florida. Along the way we started talking about where exactly in Florida we were from. As always, I started out telling them I was from Tampa. They said, "Oh so are we, where in Tampa?" I said "A little north of Tampa." "Oh so are we, what part of North Tampa?" I said, "Well its a little town called Land O Lakes." The woman almost dropped her walking stick "NO WAY, we live in Land O Lakes, our daughter is starting and the high school in the fall!" Insane! I instantly introduced them to Melissa, who went to high school with me and we started talking with the girl about teachers she should try to have and which teachers to avoid. It was a good distraction from the cardio ass-kicking we were receiving.

Thankfully, my sister-in-law helped me train prior to this trip. With Jen Ellefson's patented "16-weeks to get your butt ready for the Inca Trail" training program, I was in much better shape than I had expected. I will admit there were times when I had to pull over and I certainly spent some time giving Melissa instructions on what to do with my body if I die. But all in all, I MADE IT!

Once we got to the peak, we rested for a bit and waited for the rest of our group to catch up. We ate our snacks that the cook had packed for us that morning and we took some "Inca Family" photos at the top. Then it was time to hike DOWN! This was a time when walking sticks were needed. Much of the trail down was steps, which was great, except they were various sizes, shapes and heights. The wind at this point was brutal as well. Much of the trick of the trail was being able to quickly add or take off layers of your wardrobe. After a few more hours of hiking we made it to our campsite for Night Two. The area was called Chaquichocha and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! A cool little spot nestled between two mountains, with an amazing view of the clouds gathering and then clearing in the sky.

The lack of clouds that night made for a great Inca Astronomy lesson after dinner that night. Which is very cool because, unlike our astronomy based on Greek Mythology and the constellations made by connecting the dots of stars, the Inca Astronomy is based on their Milky Way with the Llama as the center point, the Southern Cross being important and the space between the stars make their constellations. It was really cool to learn about.

The minimal clouds also made it very very cold that night. Our water bottles froze inside our tents, but luckily the sleeping bags we had rented were great down NorthFace mummy sleeping bags that kept us quite warm (with many layers of clothes and two pairs of socks.) The ghost stories told at dinner made Melissa and I quickly agree that over night bathroom trips were NOT going to happen tonight. We we zipped up our tent, climbed into our sleeping bags and passed out after a long, hard day!

Inca Trail Day One:

and on a Tuesday, we started the trial!

Our tour guide picked us up at the hotel and we got on a bus in Cusco. The bus picked up several other people and we were on our way to Km82 (where the trail starts.) Before last years' mudslides there was a train that took you from Ollantaytambo to Km82 and onward to Machu Picchu, however, the track is no longer complete so a bus now takes you from Ollantaytambo to Km82. We stopped in Ollantytambo to buy water and waking sticks for the trek.

Along the way we picked up our porters, 9 total. These men would be the amazing pack mules that would carry our tents, sleeping bags, cooking supplies and personal effects all the way through the trail at lightning speeds. Each morning they overload their backs and take off along the trail. If at any point in time when you are walking and you hear someone call "Porter!!" you move yourself to the side of the trail closest to the mountain as fast as you can, because they are coming and coming fast!

So our whole crew off loaded the bus at Km82. 9 Porters, 2 guides, 1 cook, 2 Asians, 5 Argentinians and 3 Americans all set off at Km82 for the next 4 days of our journey. Within the first 5 minutes, I thought my lung was going to fall out! coughing and sneezing and hacking... not a good sign of what was to come!!! After taking a minute to reassess, we realized that it was not my fault... and it was not my pure "out of shape-ness" that was kicking my ass, it was the hay and grass! I took a Claritin and was on my merry way!

We stopped at what I'm told was about 2350m elevation (much different from my ZERO m elevation i live at) and introduced ourselves to our new Inca Family. We learned everyone's names and luckily all but one of our new friends spoke very clear English, so our high school Spanish class abilities of ordering drinks and asking for the bathroom, would not need to be tested too far.

As we went, we stopped to look at some ruins and throughout the way we could always see the Andes. The tallest one being Veronica Mountain, seen in the background here: A few hours into it, we stopped to have lunch. After lunch there was a lot of up hill walking and then some more ruins. And some amazing views along the way! And walked along the Cusichaka River. And as we got closer to camp and night started to fall, we put on our bug spray and layered up. It got really cold in the shade and at night. As we got further into the woods we started seeing signs warning us to beware of Paddington! (Spectacle Bears) Before I left for this trip, my niece, Mattie, had read a book about Paddington Bear and his journeys in "Deepest, Darkest Peru". Mattie warned me to be on the look-out for Paddington and if I see him to look for the marmalade sandwich under his hat! We did eat marmalade sandwiches for breakfast each day on some very yummy bread but, I must be honest, I was very glad to never actually see Paddington. It was fun to be reminded of Mattie every time I saw the signs warning about him though. Around 6 pm we finally got to our camp for the night at 3700m elevation. The magical Porters had gotten then who knows how much sooner than we did and set up all of the tents and supplies already. They already started cooking dinner and had our "Happy Hour" set up for us. Happy Hour consisted of tea and popcorn and most nights, cookies! It was a fun treat to greet us at each camp.

We camped that night in the area called Llulluchapampa. We had a nice little table set up for our meals and all of our sleeping tens around. As we were getting ready to meet up for dinner, Melissa discovered a rather large spider, that she described to our guides as being "VERY VERY GRANDE." They looked at the spider and instantly told us all to put our shoes INSIDE OUT TENTS and to stay away from the Taranchula!!!! Sorry I do not have any pictures of it... we were a little too freaked out by it to get the cameras out. The Porters and guides then followed the spider a bit away from camp and then proceeded to beat it with a shoe. It was quite an event. The camp itself had great views of the mountains that we would be climbing the next day. All throughout the first day the guides and books continued to psych us up for DAY TWO... day two was the steepest and hardest we would have. Many people told me we would be hiking the elevation equivalent of sea level to Denver in a day.... and so as we went to sleep on night one... I'm sure we all had worries and dread about what was coming in the day ahead.

Sacred Valley Tour

So the 2nd day we were in Peru we took a tour of the Sacred Valley. We got on a bus with about 20 other people and our guide, Lilliana. She spoke English and Spanish and was amazing at switching back and forth between the two, quickly.
We drove out of Cusco and up through some other towns. The Sacred Valley is all of the surrounding area around Cusco through the hills and mountains around the Andes. In the distance, you can see the snow-capped Andes.
On the tour, we went to the city of Pisac and did some shopping at a little market. Many of the people there had pet llamas that were specifically for tourists to take pictures of and give the little farmer people money (Soles). After shopping, we drove past the Rio Urubamba and visited the town of Ollantaytambo. Most of the cities were very touristy and welcomed us as soon as we got off of the bus. They were selling giant ears of corn, very cool alpaca wool sweaters and hats and all sorts of jewelery.
We stopped in the town of Urubamba to do some hiking in some ruins. This was our first real experience with hiking in the elevation and I'm not going to lie, it was a little rough. Luckily, a lot of the people we were with were certainly not hard-core in anyway so we had no problem going nice and slow. There were a lot of steps...but we made it. We learned that you can tell if a building was made during Inca time, if its windows and doors are shaped like trapezoids. We also learned a lot about the Incan cross: It is a three-stepped cross representing the southern cross (a big deal in Inca astronomy) and symbolizing the three tiers of Inca life. The lower world (the snake), this world (the puma) and the higher world (the condor).
We hiked some more in Ollantaytambo and visited a sun temple built into the side of the mountain. We finished our tour, about 10 hours after we started, with a visit to the town of Chinchero. Again lots of locals trying to sell us things. We climbed to the top of the town and visited a church. Lilliana explained the history of the Spanish taking over the area and bringing their religion with them. Many of the people did take on the new religion, but several of the old Inca traditions and beliefs were able to sustain.

When we finished in Chinchero, we returned to Cuscoand got some grub at the Irish Pub! In my opinion, a must for all back-packing towns!