Some Pictures

Here are some pictures from the trip. Always nice to have some images to put with words!

Conquering Machu Picchu!

Just got back from visiting the ruins of the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu. This city is particularly famous because it sits on top of a beautiful mountain and is the most well preserved Incan city. When Francisco Pizarro came to Peru he succeeded in destroying much of the Incan empire. However, Pizarro and his men never found the hidden city of Machu Picchu. The city was no longer occupied some 500 years ago. Many theories exist for the reasons that it was abandoned. It wasn´t until 1911 that an Englishman ¨re-discovered¨ the lost city with some tips from some of the local farmers living in the remote area of Machu Picchu. There are many ways offered to get to the ruins. We chose the jungle trek because it was the best fit for our time situation. First we took a bus 3 hours out of Cuzco to a mountain pass roughly 9,000 ft. above sea level. From here we got on mountain bikes and rode down-hill for 5 hours to an elevation of around 3,000 ft. I could feel the temperature rising as we decended from the snow-capped peaks to what are the fringes of the Amazonian basin. The scenery was beautiful and the ride was great. I was heading full speed down the valley for most of the time. Through the mud, the rivers, and the passing cars I did my best to keep concentration and avoid Peruvian road rash. Finally we arrived in the small city of Santa Maria where we took a mini-bus to another city closer to the ruins. Being in Peru I have come to realize that roads can be built anywhere! We clung to the side of the mountians as we bounced our way to Santa Teresa. Here we spent the night and got up early the next day for our hike to Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is a city built at the base of the Machu Picchu Mountian specifically for the many tourists who visit the ruins. The surrounding moutains and jungle give the place a real ¨Indiana Jones¨ feel. After a nice lunch I headed up to the peak of Puticusi Mountain. This peak has a great view of the ruins from across the valley. The climb up was steep but well worth the views. The trail I used was an Incan trail from hundreds of years ago. It is amazing that the same trails are still used today by backpackers throughout Peru. The next morning we woke up at 3:50 AM to climb the steep trail up to the ruins. We left in the dark so that we could be some of the first 400 people to enter the ruins. Only the first 400 have the opportunity to climb the peak of Winay Picchu behind the ruins. This peak is the small mountain head that most people recognize from the most famous pictures of Machu Picchu. I will be sure to post my pictures as soon as I can. The climb up Winay Picchu was steep and slippery becuase of the many misty clouds and light rain. Although sunshine would have been desirable, the mist and low lying clouds made the mountain and ruins feel alive. After tackling my 2nd mountian in 24 hours it was time for a 3rd! Soon I found myself huffing and puffing up the peak known as Machu Picchu, where the ruins get thier name. Machu Picchu means ¨old mountain¨ in the Incan language of Quechua. I was feeling like an old man by the time I got to the top an hour later. Normally the peak offers great views of the ruins and the surrounding area. However, mother nature allowed me to see about 50 ft. in each direction at best. The mist and rain blanketed the entire landscape. I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed with the weather during our day at the ruins. This only gives me a reason to come back again! I need to see the place with some sunshine! Despite the mist I would not have changed a thing. Not many people get to see the ruins with the mystical surroundings we were granted. We just got one of the two days that it rains during Peru´s dry season! After taking the bus d0wn around 4 that afternoon (scaling 3 mountians in less than 24 hours allows me the luxury of modern technology to get down! ) I devoured a nice meal before we caught the train for Cuzco. Last night we had a nice meal and celebrated my birthday by drinking Peru´s finest Inca Cola and then passing out after our long day. Today we are catching a night bus to Lima for our flight tomorrow night. Peru has been great and of course the trip went by way too fast. My spanish is greatly improved, I surfed and kited more waves in 3 weeks than I have in my life, I hiked the world´s deepest canyon, slept on an island on the world´s highest lake, rafted a beautiful river, saw amazing ancient wonders, ate llama, took a bus with over 5 different species of animals, and had a great trip my first time in South America. I have a feeling this will be the first of many times. I will post my pictures in the next week. Hope you enjoyed reading about my trip. Until the next 0ne!

Cuzco Rafting

Four days ago we arrived in Cuzco from Puno. Cuzco was once the capital city of the Incan Empire. After the Spaniards came and killed off many of the Incans in thier conquests the city became the colonial one it resembles today. Many of the churches and buildings were contructed using the same stones the Incans used for thier buildings when the city was thiers. Today Cuzco is known as the capital city for ancient ruins in South America. The day after we arrived we booked a rafting trip and a jungle trek to Machu Picchu. The rafting was an amazing time. We drove about 5 hours outside of the city to the Uripumac River. This river is actually the beginning of the great Amazon River. After some safety drills we were on our way. The trip was 3 days and 2 nights of beautiful scenery and great rapids. We completed some sections that were level 3 through level 5 rapids. The campsites were amazing with sweeping views of the river and canyon. On the second nights we were treated to a Peruvian sauna miles from civilization. Our guides rigged an air tight tent on the beach by our campsite. After heating up rocks in the fire for a few hours they took them out into the "sauna". The air temp was about 50 and we packed all 17 tourists and guides into the tent. After about ten minutes we made a mad dash for the freezing cold river. We did this 3 times and it made for an experience I will never forget. After our spa treatment we dried off by the fire and warmed up. The next day we did some more rafting and surfed the river waves with our boat. Last night all of the guides and travelers met up at a bar to watch the video from our trip. The shots of our boat going down the rapids our great! I´m all smiles in the front of the boat while Sarah is hard to spot ducking for cover in the raft. Today we are going horseback riding to some different Incan ruins in the area. Tomorrow we head for Machu Pichuu via the jungle path. First we will bike down an area of the Andes to the outskirts of the Amazon jungle. Here we will spend the night and begin to make our way to the ruins over the following two days. I am really looking forward to visiting another one of the ancient wonders of the world.

Titicaca to Cuzco

Just got back from 4 days in Copacabana, Bolivia on lake Titicaca. Copacabana is a sleepy town on the lake just across the border with Peru. We chose to go there because it is home to Isla del Sol and Isla del Luna. The islands of the sun and moon are an hour boat ride from Copacabana and is where the Incan creation myth is centered. The Incans believed that the sun was born here and where the first Incan people came from. After spending two nights on the island I can certainly see why. Our hostel was on top of the island with panoramic views of both Bolivia and Peru. Bolivia´s Cordilla Real mountian range rose dramatically about 30 miles from the island on the lake shore. The snow capped peaks where beautiful to watch as clouds moved in and the mountains changed colors all day. After our second night on the south end of the island we began our 3 hour hike to the north end where the Incan ruins where primarily located. The hike was great and a nice break from the intense hikes we had done in the canyon. On the north end there was crystal clear water and an Incan palace with The Rock of the Puma nearby. The Rock of the Puma was used for animal and human sacrifices to the gods. It was cool to imagine the Incan rituals taking place here 500 hundred years ago. The island was great and it was time to head back to Copacabana for one night before back to Puno. These sound like simple plans, however my stomach was ready to take me on a whole other kind of adventure! Not the kind of adventure I would ever like to experience again. I will spare you the details in order to save your appitite. Lets just say I never knew my body was capable of making the noises it did. I´m writing this 24 hours after the first incident and feeling a lot better! A short trip to the local hospital in Bolivia set me right. $5 USD later and I had the antibiotics I needed for my road to recovery. I am considering getting some cavities filled at these great exchange rates in South America! Tomorrow Sarah and I are heading to Cuzco for Machu Pichuu, river rafting, and whatever else the local travel agency touts can try to con us into for some commission. Still unable to put pics up. Hopefully in Cuzco. Hope all is well back in the northern hemishere!

Deepest Canyon To The Highest Lake!

Picked up Sarah in Lima without any problems and then headed to Arequipa the next night. Arequipa is Peru´s second largest city located in a valley surrounded by three volcanoes, two of them active. Not the best place to build a city! After a day in Arequipa we headed to the Canyon Del Colca about 6 hours outside the city. On the way to the canyon we stopped at a lookout point for the Andes. For someone who is not acclimatized it would probably be a good idea to not run off the bus to relieve themselves at 12,000 ft. But of course I was only thinking about getting off the bus as fast as possible! The view from my ¨bathroom¨was probably as good as you get for a toilet. There was no time to enjoy it too much as I was rushed back onto the bus to head to the canyon. So I ran back on and sat down. What followed was my attempt to not scare Sarah and pass out from my sudden onset of altitude sickness. My head was spinning and I began to sweat. Nothing serious, but I thought I was going to be on the floor! After about ten minutes I regained my senses and was able to enjoy the great scenery down to the canyon. A word to anyone traveling to the mountains, take it easy and don´t run to the bathroom at 12,000 ft the first day you are there! This was the worst of our mishaps so that is a good thing. After a night in the city of Cabanaconde on top of the canyon we headed down. Walking downhill sounds a lot easier than it is! The paths clung to the sides of the canyon as they wound down to the bottom. 4 hours later we had reached our first destination. A small camp on the Rio Del Colca would be our home for two nights. We were in luck as our camp had natural hot springs down by the river. After two days of recovery we headed to Sangalle or ¨the oasis¨ located further down the river. In order to get there we had to wind our way up out of the canyon and back down again, no easy feat as we had already learned. This was another 4 hour hike. The scenery was amazing so it made our trekking much more exciting. My motivation was always to see what was around the next bend or over the next hill. I also was trying not to leave Sarah in the dust as I can be a little speedy. I think I managed to not make her too upset as she huffed and puffed her way up. But she did great and should really be proud of tackling such daunting hikes. I have to realize that not everyone loves the feeling of being absolutely exhausted and still wanting more. For me, thats when I feel most alive! After a night in the oasis we headed up out of the canyon on our toughest hike. I was about to feel absolutely exhausted and absolutely not wanting more! After three and a half hours I reached the top. It was not easy, but a great ending to our time in the canyon. This morning we made our way back to Arequipa and plan on leaving for Lake Titicaca tommorow morning. Many of the internet places do not have places to upload pics so I will put them up as soon as I can. Track me on the GPS!