One day I was sitting in my office (yep, upgraded from the cube) and decided that I needed to quit feeling sorry for myself because all my friends were married, had significant others, were having kids, or were wrapped up in their families and I was single with nothing exciting on the horizon. I felt quite alone and sad because I couldn't find anyone to travel with me. Travel was my release from the monotony of everyday. So, I was perusing the internet for REI Adventure trips offered and found myself stuck on a trip to Machu Picchu and Cusco, Peru. The trip was multisport where you stayed in 4-5 start hotels and got to see one of the 7 wonders of the world. I decided, "why the hell not", and booked it that day. Of course, a few hours later, I had major buyers remorse but decided to face my fears of travelling alone in a foreign country. It's not like I would be truly alone, I would meet up with 10 other people from REI Adventures, have a guide, and I wouldn't have to plan a thing.
I booked my hotel stay for before and after the trip and the flight to Cusco. I went shopping for some more outdoorsy clothing and researched Cusco and Machu Picchu including watching several videos about the locations. I even went to a travel doctor to get altitude pills (I was most scared of getting altitude sickness). I was so excited. My mom, however, was not. The week before my flight, I received a phone call from my mom telling me that the travel alert for Peru from the US Embassy was a 4, do not travel, because two Americans were reported missing. Well, I did not want this to scare me away. At this point, I did not have travel insurance (wasn't fully understanding the need at the time and I was cheap) so there was no other choice, I had to go. Also, REI Adventures did not seem to have an issue with Americans going there. Note: the day that I left for Peru is the day they found the two "missing" Americas. They had gone on a cruise and their phones were not working so their mother put out a missing persons on them.
Day 1
I flew all night (6 hours) and landed in Cusco at 7:30 am on March 22, 2013. My biggest concern getting off the plane was the altitude. I heard that you need to properly acclimate in Cusco before heading to Machu Picchu. I had several years of Spanish in high school and college but the tricky part was remembering it when I had to take a taxi to the hotel. I picked one guy that looked the nicest. I had forgotten to get Peruvian money from the ATM in the airport so I was glad I found a taxi that took American Dollars. After bobbing and weaving through crazy amounts of traffic, I arrived at the hotel door. The hotel was on a side street with a green door. The hotel was quaint but beautiful and even more wonderful because they let me check in early. The hotel staff even gave me "mata de coca" which is a tea made from coca leaves which helps with altitude sickness. Throughout the trip, I drank this tea and chewed on coca leaves as well as took my altitude pills to avoid getting sick.
After I took a quick 2 hour cat nap, I decided it was time to venture out into the city of Cusco and get some food. I walked out onto the street and turned the direction that they hotel staff told me. If you know me, you know my family loves llamas and alpacas and I happen to see a lady sitting on the street with a llama next to her. I asked her to take a photo and she agreed. Then she asked for money...well I only had American dollars but she refused and kept on yelling at me. I just had to walk away and it kind of freaked me out. What did I do next? Well, I headed to find a bank. With Peruvian Sols in my wallet now, I found a place to eat. The cute café had a balcony over looking the Plaza de Armas and I ordered a sandwich (spinach, cream cheese and pecans) and cappuccino. After lunch, I sat on a bench in the Plaza and people watched for bit. For dinner, I was told by a guy I went on a date with from Peru a few weeks earlier to try restaurant called Chicha. I hunted the restaurant down. I told myself to try different food/drink while I was away so I got myself beef cheek and a local drink called Pisco Sour. It was one of the most tender "steaks" I have ever had. The sweet from the meat and the sour from the drink made for a great combination. With tight pants and a full belly I headed back to the hotel, showered, and watched Dawson's Creek (no joke) in Spanish on TV. What a wonderful first day in this amazing city.
Day 2
CUSCO: The next day I met up with the REI Adventures group. My roommate for the next week was a 30 year old woman from Chicago. There were two families and one other 30 something year old woman who worked at REI Adventures. It was so great having two ladies close to my age. Our guide were two amazing guys, Ernesto and Julio. After a quick briefing, we hoped on a small tour bus and took off on the days adventure. We toured the streets and buildings of Old Cusco. Then we went on a small hike in a place called Sagsaywaman. At the top of a hill was a large statue of Jesus and near it was an Incan wall which had huge boulders. It is amazing how they built the wall without any modern machinery to lift the boulders. We toured a Catholic church in the Plaza de Armas. One of the paintings was of the last supper and in the middle of the table was a roasted guinea pig. One fun fact I learned during the day was that Cusco city is in the shape of a puma. The 3 ladies ended the day drinking pisco sours (no too many because it is very easy to get drunk in high altitudes) and toasting to the trip.
Day 3
PISAC: The next day, we all loaded the bus with our stuff and headed to a city called Pisac. The roads were windy and all you could see was green grass and vegetable gardens on the side of the mountains with little pueblo like houses. We went on a hike on narrow trails surrounded by yellow and white flowers. At the top of the trail were Incan buildings. The guides were speaking Spanish to me during the hike and I was attempting to have a conversation back (not a big success but at least I tried). At the end of the trail was a local market. There were so many booths and goods including huge ears of corn and lots of potatoes. Did you know that Peru has over 3,800 varieties of potatoes? I had an apple hand pie that cost me 2 soles ($0.50). We loaded the bus again to head to lunch at a restaurant called Rancho Wyra. This place was beautiful, it is what I picture when someone says 'hacienda'; horses on property, flowers everywhere, red clay roof tiles on the house, and mountains in the background. Lunch was huge, probably 10 or so courses: empanadas, salad, corn (mama sara), tamales, mystery meat on a stick, grilled chicken and pork, fruit salad, corn pudding, sweet potato donuts, and purple corn drink. After I ate several pieces of the mystery meat, the guides informed me that it was cow liver. Well, you know what, it was delicious and goes along with my 'try everything' theme in Peru. While we ate lunch, there was an Andean horse show in the green grass outside. The horses picked up their hoofs and pranced around all in sync with Peruvian music. It was quite magical.
YUCAY: After lunch, we headed to a town called Yucay. In the middle of town is a huge piece of corn. The town was full of small shops. One store was selling yellow underwear with "feliz ano" on it. Per our guide, it is a tradition to give yellow underwear to friends and family to celebrate the new year. Finally, we checked into our hotel. It used to be an old monastery, Sonesta Posadas del Inca. The keys to the hotel room doors were huge brass keys the size of your hand. The grounds were covered with green grass and flowers; gardens everywhere you looked. I was so excited for dinner (even after the huge lunch). The hotel had alpaca on the menu and, of course, I had to order it. It was served on top a bed of, what else, mashed potatoes with a sweet sauce drizzled on top. It was similar to deer meat and oh so tasty. That evening I sat on the porch and journaled as well as watched the starts. It was so clear you could see the Southern Cross constellation which was used by many travelers and sailors to know direction and Orion's belt which is upside down in the Southern hemisphere. Another amazing day. I couldn't wait for our new adventures in Peru the next day.
Day 4
OLLANTAYTAMBO: The day was started with a wake-up call from a rooster, HELLOOO. We loaded the bus and headed to the ruins of Ollantaytambo. The stairs at this place were no joke, especially with the altitude (since I came from Florida / sea level). The ruins were more huge boulders that completely amazed me as to how they got to the top of the mountain. At the end of the hike was a fountain; if you put your right hand in it, it gave you fertility and if you put your left hand in it, it gave you youth (if you notice in the picture, I chose youth).
CHINCHERO: After the hike we headed to the town of Chinchero, the center of weaving in Peru. We visited a not-for-profit, Interpretation Center of Andean Textiles, where women weave amazing things out of alpaca and sheep wool. They are trying to keep the native weaving practices alive. The women wore their native dress, red vests and black skirts. They had small weaving apparatuses and large ones. The wool was spun with hand spindles. The colors of the yarn were made by boiling the yarn with something in nature, leaves, twigs, berries, beetles, lichens, etc. We were given lessons on weaving, dying yarn, and spinning the wood into yarn. We even got dressed up in native clothing. I bought my favorite pair of winter gloves from here; deep purple alpaca gloves.
MARAS: After our bagged lunch (which was super yummy, avocado, tomato and cheese sandwich, chocolate cake, apple, tangerine, and papaya juice box), we headed to a town called Maras. The town has more donkeys than people. To our surprise, we joined in on a tradition where visitors rode donkeys through the town. I was hesitant at first but then decided to hop on for the ride of my life. A man played the flute and drums while we were riding through the streets of Maras. We hiked to salt mines after we got off our donkeys. As water flows through the mountains, it picks up salt. The salt pools capture the salt that comes out of the mountains. Each family has about 80 pools each; each pool produces about 3 bags a month; each bag brings about $2 each. After the full day of fun, we headed back to the hotel to pack, eat dinner, and go to bed early since we had a train to Machu Picchu at 6 am the next day.
Day 5
AGUA CALIENTES: Today is the day I have been waiting for, we get to visit Machu Picchu. We loaded onto the Peru Rail and off we went. They served a snack in a cute basket of small tomato and cheese sandwich and fruit. I tried Inca Cola for the first time (not my thing, way too sweet) and we sat in nice large, grey, leather chairs. The train ride to Agua Calientes was about one and 1/2 hours. Once we arrived in the city, it was super crowded and rainy. We loaded the bus to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas, and started the windy and bumpy road to the top of the mountain. At the park entrance, they stamped our passports (yes!). The entrance was very bland and boring, but after a short walk down a little path, the gates opened up to this magical Incan city. Our guide, Ernesto, is from an Incan tribe and he gave a blessing to the mountains using coca leaves prior to us exploring the city. The rain stopped about 30 minutes into our exploration. The clouds would come and go. If you waited a few minutes, the scene before you would be totally different. The most exciting part of the day was when we hiked part of the Incan trail to the Killapuku (moon gate).
I was so ecstatic to be in Machu Picchu that I didn't realize that I was so cold and wet from the rain and mist. We headed back to Agua Calientes to our hotel, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. The shower was so magnificent. It was very large with a rain shower head and a huge window that opened up to greenery. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. I was so excited to see guinea pig on the menu but was told a few minutes later that they are out...what a bummer. I opted for I called my parents via internet phone and joined the rest of the crew in the hot tub drinking wine. It was again, another magical day in Peru.
Day 6
Boy, was I tired. Every day has been so jam packed. But I was not going to miss out on today. Today we woke up at 5:00 am in order to hike Wayna Picchu; a mountain that rises over Machu Picchu. We checked in at the control check point. You have to sign this huge leather bound book with your name, date, and time. I asked the security guard what time it was, in Spanish, and he told me "siete doce" . It took me a bit to translate but realized he just told me my birthdate, 7-12. How cool and magical is that?? Anywho, we made our way to the top, stepping up huge boulders and rocks. It was a super tough hike. At the top we played around a bit but then it started to pour. I realized that I did not have a picture yet and begged my roommate to take a photo of me. You couldn't see anything from the top but clouds. I knelt down and we got the shot...one of my favorite travel shots of all times. After our hike, we headed back to the hotel to pull off the wet clothes and eat lunch. Today, I was promised by the guides that I would get to try guinea pig. Lunch was served and I got filets of guinea pig. I was glad it wasn't a whole guinea pig on a stake like I saw locals eating on the side of the roads. You may not believe me, but it was so soft and tender. The taste was similar to pork shoulder but a little more salty. My food adventures were done. We headed back to Cusco today and said goodbye to our guides and fellow travelers.
But the Peruvian adventure was not yet complete. Ernesto, our guide, was the lead singer in a heavy metal band and he had a concert that night at a local club. He invited us out to see the nightlife of Cusco. I was so tired but rallied and went out after the long day of travel. The three 30 somethings ladies went out to a restaurant called, Fallen Angel first. Then we headed to the show in a bar called Ukukus. All they had to drink was beer and it was in huge cans. Now, I'm not much of a beer drinker but again I said "why not". So, I'm sitting at the bar with my huge beer can watching our guide from the week in tight pants with tons of zippers and a band t-shirt on singing his heart out on stage. He puts on a rainbow fringe dress on (in Peru rainbow flag means "victory") and performed a coca leave ceremony on stage. Us three ladies couldn't believe what we were watching but it was so amazing. American rock music mixed with Incan culture, magical. We walked back to the hotel under the full moon with Blanco Jesus lit up on the hills of Cusco and were so amazed at how perfect the trip ended. It was a ideal ending to a excellent trip.
What did I learn from this trip:
Be grateful for what you have. Seeing how different people live outside of the US opens your eyes to how privileged we are in the US. My "problems" are tiny compared to others.
Some of the best things in life come from being open minded and flexible.
Live each day moment by moment, second by second. If you aren't totally present to today, you may miss out on some amazing things.
Memories and experiences are so much better than stuff.
It is OKAY that you are in different places in life than your friends. Be happy for them and keep on doing your own thing. Life does not have to stop if you have kids, get married, or are single. Do not let fear paralyze you from living life to the fullest.
Things I will bring to Glamp GVL:
Experiences are everything. Glamp GVL will have available all kinds of onsite and offsite activities.
Magnificent showers. The bathrooms and showers at the Perivan hotels were so nice. I loved the open window shower at Inkaterra. I want Glamp GVL to have showers that are glamourous.
I want to encourage campers to try different things, get out of their "normal" bubble and let go.
Nature, land, and water is/was so important to the Peruvians and Incan culture. I would love to teach people about the importance of protecting our lands and waters. I would love to give people the ability to start a garden, thank the earth regularly for its bounty and love, or how to use mother nature in healing our body, mind, and soul.
Comentarios