A Somewhat Abridged Entry

Airtime between LAX and LIM (after a short stop in Panama City) was about 9 hours on Copa. A $10US almost-shady cab ride from the airport to Miraflores, the wealthy costal area, put us in front of our hostel Friend’s House. It was a cute hostel with friendly staff, many travelers, and community living rooms. Our first walk in the new country found us a popular bubblegum-flavored soda, Inca Kola, and a nice dinner over Cusqueño beers. Peruvians say “chelas.”

Larcomar in Miraflores

Back to Friend’s for some evening planning. My ex-roomate Omar put us in contact with his cousins Marco and Carlos down in Lima so we gave them a buzz and started the night off with some Pisco Sours, a very popular Peruvian drink made of Pisco (grape alcohol) and eggwhites followed by chelas. Twas the first of many. Between getting hit by a car, speeding from car attendants, getting pulled over by the police, losing each other, and meeting the “Jim Carey of Peru” we had an excellent night.

Chelas with Carlos, Marco, and Stephanie

The next day was simple with a tour of Lima sending us to a famous church with catacombs ‘neath the altars. It was from our tourguide where we learned about the Peruvian dish Cuy which we were to experience later. The evening was quite tame due to the early morning flight, although Robin managed to buy a stranger a beer for his birthday.

Our third morning was spent on our way to the popular mountain city of Cuzco via Taca airlines. After landing we wasted no time dropping our bags off at hostel Amaru, shooting quick “hellos” to the rest of our group (Dietrich, Jessica, Kay, Ed, Fred, Emi, and Bryce), and heading up the very long hill to Sacsaywaman (sexy-woman) to experience Inti Raymi.

A steep walk to Inti Raymi

Inti Raymi was interesting. I got to see a llama sacraficed with about a billion spectators each finding a rock corner or tuft of grass to put their siki (booty in quechua) down on.

Kids at a Sunday celebration

The following days were spent in Cuzco taking in the city: eating, walking, acclimating, salsa-ing, shopping.

Cuzco: Plaza de Armas at night

After two days of Cuzco we left early morning on a bus to Ollantaytambo and Kilometer 82 — the trailhead for our hike to Machu Picchu.

All I gotta say is “wow!” The 28-mile hike took four days and gave us the experience of half a dozen Incan Ruins, phenomenal scenery, and breathtaking (literally) trails. I’d say the Inca Trail was rather enjoyable (although day two was fairly harsh) considering 16 of us hikers had the support of 22 porters carrying food, sleeping bags, tents, and everything else. Our trek was guided by Victor and Efrain of Peru Treks. The only things we needed on the trail were our day packs to hold our jackets, extra water, snacks, or whatever you needed on a 6-8 hour day hike.

Atop Warmiwanusca: 4215 m (13,800 ft)

Ruins of Runkuracay

Sitting in Sayacmarca

On the morning of our fourth day we woke at about 4am to try to catch the sunrise peek over the Sun Gate (Intipunku) and illuminate Machu Picchu. After waiting to get past the control station (ranger station I’m assuming) and into the Machu Picchu reserve we queued up behind this group of seemingly nice trekkers. Nope. Let’s just say we supposedly disturbed the pleasure of some of these rude (and very slow) hikers and leave it at that. Sadly the sky was cloudy and there was no sunrise. But it was an experience of a lifetime nonetheless.

Group picture at Machu Picchu

A reflection of Wayna Picchu

After a historical tour of the ruins by Victor a few of us decided to brave a not-so-trecherous 15 minute climb (although it did involve ropes) up Huchuypicchu for an aerial view. We followed the Huchuypicchu segue with a bus ride down to Aguas Calientes and a return to civilization: chicken sandwiches, Coca Cola, and pizza.

We gave our fellow trekkers, guides, and porters our goodbyes, packed up our remaining hiking gear, and hopped on the “lazy” train back to Cuzco. The four-hour trip back was occupied by some Crazy-8 cards and rest.

Thinking about the Inca Trail

Finally back at the Amaru hostel we grabbed some grub and rested up for the morning trip to the Sacred Valley the next day. The hour bus ride to Pisac from Cuzco gave me a free Spanish lesson, and the twenty minute cab ride up to Intihuatana gave me the last Incan ruin I’d see for quite some time, maybe forever.

Ed and Jessica staring off at Intihuatana

That night we inagurated our noche de baracho (evening of inebriation) with Kings Cup in our room followed by numerous free drinks around the plaza. We were warned about the endless free drinks in Cuzco!

Everyone took off the following morning leaving Robin and Romeo and I to fend one more day. We fended well gathering gifts for those back in the States and of course watching Brazil’s futbol team lose to France. We ate our last Peruvian dinner at Jacks on San Blas (highly recommend), packed our bags, and with that it was an hasta luego to Peru!

Peru 2006 Photo Album

Thanks to the Dietrich and planners of the trip, and to Jessica, Fred, Emi, Bryce, Kay, Ed, Romeo, and Robin for the excellent company!

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