New Adventure Begins!

WOW. The past two weeks have been some of the most amazing of my entire trip. I’m going to split the time into two blog posts: one on the journey to the Inca Trail and a second about the actually trip to Machu Picchu itself.

The last post left off with just a couple days left before taking off for the mainland. It was a good last few days on the island for sure. Everyone spent lots of time together as well as time with Galapaganian friends and our host families. One of the things that we did as a group was help with the annual town Christmas party. GAIAS students used recycled cardboard to cut out over 40 Christmas decorations to hang around town (along with other decorations created by other families/groups). Long story short, we had to use regular house painting paint which of course made the upstairs of the school smell pretty terrible. Also, that meant when we spilled we had to use turpentine to clean it up which made everyone feel a little queasy.

Painting the cardboard

Finished! 45 decorations to be hung up!

Regardless, we hung the decorations up on Wednesday and it made the whole town feel Christmasy. On our last night we marched in a parade with the kids around the town singing Christmas songs and looking at the lights around town. It was a fantastic last evening!

Hanging the decorations!

The nativity scene in the big church in town

I took a few last pictures around town and of the places I went to most, just to help remember some of my everyday life here on the island.

Laundry drying on the roof

Picture with my Mom (Luisa) and my Dad (Diogenes)

Oregon friends! Parting shot in the airport!

On Friday we headed back to Quito which felt HUGE, crowded, and dirty compared to the Galapagos. We had one last fun night out on the town on Friday night at the mariscol district and got up to enjoy our last day Saturday. Several of my friends hadn’t been up to Teleferico and since it was the first thing I did in Ecuador I decided to go back up with them. Unfortunately it was wicked cloudy and we couldn’t see a whole lot of Quito but it was still a blast and we could see some of the mountains nearby.  At the bottom of Teleferico there is a great little amusement park. We decided to give it a go and all went on a roller coaster. Slightly terrifying since it went upside down and our lap belts were pretty loose but definitely awesome. We also went on this upside down ride which lasted FOREVER. We had not adjusted to the altitude so our screaming and laughing definitely made us very dizzy!

The before

The middle

The after

We then headed to the market to do some last minute souvenir shopping and ended the night at a fancy dinner sponsored by the university. I also tried to go back visit my host family but only their son was home (which was still awesome and we hung out for about an hour chatting!). Sunday it was up early for everyone and the morning was spent in goodbyes and tear.

However, for Sarah, Amy, Shelby, Jacquie, and I our adventure was just beginning. As I mentioned we were just bringing carry on bags so we headed to the Secret Garden to leave our other bags and raced to the airport. The check-in process went great for Sarah, Shelby, Jacquie, and I but Amy wasn’t so lucky. Somehow her ticket payment had never gone through. Ticketing in South America can be strange. You often ‘reserve’ a ticket and then have to go back to the site and pay. Additionally, with the terrible internet on the Galapagos it was to know if anything ever went through. Even with a confirmation email she still didn’t have a ticket and had to run around the airport and rebook to get a seat on the plane with us. Thank goodness we were at the airport early!

But finally we were off and after a quick 35min flight we arrived in Guayaquil which was HOT! We knew we’d be back in a few days so we decided just to chill at the hostel for most of the afternoon. We did go shopping for snacks, lunch food, and tried to eat out at a Chinese restaurant. As has happened over and over in Ecuador, Jacquie and I were assured our meal had no meat but when it arrived there was chicken and beef. Of course no refund so that was annoying. Other than that all was good and we spent the night watching Harry Potter and getting to bed early.

Thankfully our flight to Lima the next day went with no hitches! It was exciting to be in a new country and we were all feeling great! We only had the afternoon to explore but we tried to make the most of it. We headed downtown to see the San Francisco Church where we got to explore the neat old church which had one of the COOLEST libraries I’ve ever seen. It also has amazing catacombs below the church which we got to tour. There is evidence of 25,000+ bodies being buried there and they still use it today to bury the monks. Very cool. Very creepy. We also wandered along the malecon and enjoyed the view of the ocean sprawled out below us. We were all really bummed we didn’t have more time in Lima.

The outside of the church with the catacombs. Incredible - unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside.

In a main square of Lima, Peru

On Tuesday we had our final flight south and arrived in Cusco in the early afternoon. The flight in reminded me of Quito as we came into a valley surrounded by towering mountains. It’s both much smaller and a bit higher than Quito. We had 36hrs to readjust to the altitude in preparation for our hike and we needed every second of it.

Our plane!

Hugo, the owner of Kapatchi Peru (our tour agency) picked us up from the airport and told us we had a briefing that evening. We chilled out in the hostel until then and then headed into town to meet with our guide. We went over some financials with Hugo and then he introduced us to Percy who would be helping us get through our four day hike.

We liked Percy immediately. He walked us through the hike, answered all of our questions, was very funny, and spoke great English! Even though there were only four of us we would have five porters to carry our tents, food, and sleeping pads. We would carry our clothes, water for the first two days, and snacks. He gave us a map and told us to be ready at 6:15am on Thursday morning. We left feeling really excited and a tiny bit nervous! We spent the rest of the night relaxing in the hostel, watching the first half of Bridesmaids on Amy’s computer and eating popcorn before we got so sleepy we had to go to bed at 10pm! 

Playing pool at the hostel

Our last day before the hike we spent exploring Cusco. It’s definitely a jumping off point for Machu Picchu filled with tourists either preparing to climb or waiting to take the train (which is what Amy was doing). We went to a shop where she could buy her entrance ticket to Machu Picchu and did a little souvenir shopping. We also tried to see some nearby ruins but they were WAY too expensive for the five of us! We also visited the chocolate museum (everyone told us we needed to eat chocolate to help with the altitude and we were happy to follow that instruction to the best of our abilities!).

One of the main squares of Cusco

Drinking chocolate tea and the coca museum!

Chicha Morada - a typical Peruvian drink

Rainbow over Cusco!

That evening we watched the rest of Bridesmaids (with more popcorn) and packed up our bags. We were taking just a couple outfits each (one to hike in and one to sleep in) plus some rain gear, an extra shirt, and a few other odds and ends like snacks, water, headlamps, and the like. Jacquie showered that night while Shelby, Sarah, and I decided to shower in the morning. We went to bed excited for what the next four days might bring and ready to go!