Sillustani

After a few hours of shopping, because as I’ve mentioned before, it’s not only our favorite thing, it’s also what we’re good at, especially bargaining, we had lunch and took a bus to an archeological sight that our teacher had recommended.

The sight is home to tombs from the Incan empire and before, where many mummies have been uncovered. The history was intriguing and the views were spectacular. We even watched a thunderstorm in the distance as the lightning struck down on the mountains.

After an extensive history lesson, we traveled to the home of a local family where we tried some local delicacies, including potatoes with clay dip (literally a dip made from combining the clay found naturally in the soil with boiling water and salt), and fried quinoa dough with cheese. Oh and of course we saw 20 alpacas, llamas and other breeds of cute furry animals.
Oh and the craziest thing, we went on this tour who our new friend Catherine, and not 2 minutes into the tour did two of her housemates get onto the bus, expanding our group to five. Which we eventually increased to six by dinner when we invited an England-born, Italy-living, UN-working friend to join us also.

Hike to the Incan Caves

The couple that also lives with us organized a hike to some Incan caves last Sunday afternoon through Loki Hostel. We hiked for around five hours total, stopping to explore the caves, which in the dry season you can actually walk through.

Tipòn

We took a local bus out to the small town of Tipon, and walked to the Incan ruins at the top of the hill. Catching a cab at the last minute where you cannot walk any farther. These ruins were especially interesting to me because they were a system of aqueducts that were built to take water to the crops, which are still running today, without any electricity, and no sure sign of where the water actually comes from.

After the ruins, we drove back into town and had our cab driver introduce us to a woman that took us to her “restaurant” where we ate the local delicacy, Cuy, or guinea pig. The pigs are fire roasted outside and served over potatoes and noodles. Many families in these areas raise guinea pigs to eat, and Peruvians generally enjoy them on special occasions.

The Inca Trail: Day 4

We woke up at 2:45am, packed our bags, had breakfast, and walked for about five minutes to the entrance of the last part of the trail. We waited an hour and a half for it to open, and then began our hike, it was drizzling, and very foggy, so by the time we reached Machu Picchu we could not see anything. Luckily we had plenty of time so we waited until the clouds cleared and were able to see some spectacular views. By the afternoon, the sky had cleared, and it was really hot. We fed some llamas, checked out some more ruins, and then headed to lunch to meet up with our group. The Portuguese taught us how to party, and we eventually boarded our train and headed back home.

The Inca Trail: Day 3

This was by far may favorite day, even though my muscles were sore, and I was exhausted, this day offered the most exciting sights. We hiked through a cloud forest, where you are literally at the same height as the clouds, saw some spectacular Incan ruins, and then finished the day with a visit to a nearby waterfall. In total we hiked over 6 miles, with a lot of it being a steep downhill. Our last meal was so much fun, and we really got to know our group that night. The chef even made us a cake for our last night! We tried to fall asleep as early as possible because our wake up time was 2:45am on day 4.

The Inca Trail: Day 2

Day two was supposed to be our hardest, although I found day three more difficult because I was so exhausted, however we hiked the second day for about 10 hours, stopping for lunch after about 6, and going to our highest elevation through Dead Woman’s Pass. We went a total of 7.5 miles, but it was all either steep and uphill or steep and downhill. For energy we frequently chewed on Coca leaves. After all our hard work, our porters gave us tent-service, bringing us hot chocolate and snacks to our tents.

The Inca Trail: Day 1

The first day we caught a cab at 4am to go to the main square and take a bus to the starting line about two hours away. After a quick breakfast we headed to Kilometer 82, where the trail begins. We hiked for about 5 hours, then stopped for lunch and a nap, continuing for about two hours after lunch for a total of 10 miles that day. Before dinner we were introduced to all of our porters, and the chef. And after dinner, the chef made bananas with rum, that he caught on fire in a pan tentside. It was incredible.

Inca Trail: Overview

Diana and I just got back from our 4 day hike to Machu Picchu, one of the new seven wonders of the world. Our hike covered 26.5 miles, and reached elevations of 13,779 feet. We booked our tour through Llama Path, an organization that does a lot of good things for its employees, including education classes, and housing for their porters and families. The porters, seventeen in total for our group, carried everything that we needed, tents, food, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, and supplies. Each with about 50 lbs. on their back for the trek. There was also a chef that gave us an appetizer, soup, and several main dishes served family style for both lunch and dinner, in addition to a wonderful breakfast spread, teas, and snacks throughout the day. We slept two to a tent, in tents that were big enough for four people.
Our group had 11 people including us, a guy from Australia, an older couple from Canada/Florida, and a group of 6 college students from Portugal. Our tour guides were Rueben and Adolfo, both native Peruvians who had so much knowledge to share with us about the trail. We stopped at several Incan sights along the way, and of course ended out trek arriving at Machu Picchu on the fourth day. It was an incredible experience, and wasn’t as hard as we thought it would be. It was challenging, but no where near impossible. Like I always say, if you are thinking about doing the Inca Trail, feel free to email me with any questions.
.