Traveling and Trekking with Darla!

Almost a month since my last update…and it has been a fun-filled month with lots of traveling, adventures, and friends!

My friend Darla flew in from Iowa for a week and a half long visit…and did we ever make the most of each and every minute! We saw and did sooo many incredible things…and so I will once again try to let the pictures do MOST of the talking in this entry.

The day after she got in we caught an early morning boat ride out to the Uros floating reed islands. The floating islands are always a fascinating experience, and the bright vivid colors of the women’s traditional dress make them looking like walking art…

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After our visit at the Uros we headed out to the charming and traditional little island of Amantani to spend the night with a host family. Pic on the left is of Darla and I looking local…well okay, as local as we possibly COULD look…with our host sister and host mother.

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Our host mother assisted us in getting our traditional dress outfits put on correctly…and then we were off to a local party with lots of music, dancing, and fun!

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Taking a break from the dancing with our host sister!

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The next morning we bid our host family farewell and headed off to the beautiful island of Taquile…where the locals also dress daily in their traditional dress and where you can enjoy some of the most stunning views of Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian mountain ranges in the distance.

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While on Taquile we purchased some of wonderful local handmade goods…

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And enjoyed a scrumptious lunch of some of the freshest and tastiest trout I’ve ever had.

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Then we headed back to Puno and set to the task of getting all of our luggage ready for our trip the next day…double blessing—-Darla brought down with her a huge suitcase filled with over 550 toothbrushes donated by generous Iowans, which will be used in our school toothbrushing programs…and as if that in and of itself wasn’t awesome enough………..it also meant that she had an ENTIRE huge empty suitcase in which to haul tons of stuff back to the states for me!…and boy did we ever fill that baby tight! (You wouldn’t believe how much stuff you can accumulate, such as gifts, etc, when you live in another country for 6 months!)

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Once the luggage was all ready to go we headed out for a fun night of dancing with a bunch of my local friends to celebrate my birthday! Turned the big 24!________________________________________________________

The next day we caught an early bus to Cusco where we met up with Bev and Scott…and sweet and thoughtful as always, they had bought me a birthday cake!________________________________________________________

The next morning we had an early start around 4:00am and headed off on our AMAZING five day trek on the Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu!________________________________________________________

The first day of the trek was quite easy, with about 6-7 hours of hiking on relatively flat terrain.

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The day was not without it’s memorable moments, however……….Darla had a little accident just about 5 minutes before arriving to our campsite!…………not EXACTLY what it looks like…she just fell into a shallow river we were crossing!________________________________________________________

Her boots obviously got soaked and were still not dry by the next morning…so she spent the whole second day hiking around with her high fashion plastic bag socks in order to keep her feet dry!________________________________________________________

Although the price we paid for our trek was that which you pay to be part of a group of about 15 tourists with one guide….we somehow had the random and incredible fortune of being in a group with just the two of us, our guide, AND an assistant guide! So we had our own private guides and were able to hike the whole trek at our own pace and in our own way…was wonderful!________________________________________________________

Additionally, we had our own private cook AND assistant chef who prepared truly UNBELIEVABLY delicious meals for us…using a mini propane stove…I kept saying to Darla…I would be WAY impressed if someone served me this meal from their full kitchen…and so I am outrageously impressed that he just whipped this up on a propane stove beside a river!________________________________________________________

The cook was such a sweet and kind man…and he even woke us up every morning with hot tea served to us in our tent to wake/warm us up! Needless to say, we felt CRAZY spoiled!________________________________________________________

The second day of our hike we climbed up to the Salkantay pass…which sits at about 4600-4800 meters above sea level (they all disagree on the exact altitude!)…

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Upon arriving at the pass we had a breathtaking view of the Salkantay mountain…the photo does it ZERO justice…

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Since our group was just the 4 of us, we had a lot more freedom to eat, camp, etc. wherever we felt like it along the trail…such as this wonderful afternoon where we ate lunch beside some beautiful rapids while soaking our feet in the cool waters…amazing!________________________________________________________

Our third day was a hot one as we started entering the highland jungle…along the way we stopped at an amazing waterfall…

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and after some convincing we decided to get in the ICE cold waterfall and enjoy the first shower we´d had in days! Was such an exhilarating experience but also a thoroughly numbing and freezing one!________________________________________________________

Our fourth day of hiking was our most challenging day…starting with a 3 hour climb up the side of a mountain…then a 2 hour climb down the other side of the STEEP moutain (which was rather miserable and a KILLER on your knees)…

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We passed a MASSIVE waterfall and then finished up with another 4 hours or so of relatively flat terrain before reaching our final destination town of Aguas Calientes…

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Darla and I both agreed that we got DOMINATED by this day of hiking…as can be seen in the look on my face in the pic on the left……..pretty much destroyed.

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The next morning we were up by about 4:00am and by 5:30 or so we were on our way up to Machu Picchu! The sun was still not high enough over the mountains when we entered Machu Picchu…and our first site of the ruins was majestic…with these clouds and fog hanging much of the city.

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As the sun began to rise and cast its rays on the city…it was like each ray unveiled a new layer of the city’s beauty… 

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just breathtaking

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I have to admit that because of all the hype… I didn’t have TOO high of expectations for Machu Picchu…just in that I thought…ya, so they are old Incan Ruins on the top of a mountain…but I don’t think it is probably THAT awe inspiring and miraculous like everyone makes it out to be…AND THEN I SAW IT. And I have to say…it TRULY is a wonder of the world.

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You look all around to the sides of the mountain where Machu Picchu sits and this is what you see…just huge, steep, forest covered mountains…and think…what on earth were they thinking???? And how on earth could they have built this huge city…which was so perfectly planned, with elaborate terrace and canal systems, HERE…in the middle of this rugged mountain range???…words really can’t describe it…IT IS incredible. PERIOD.

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Upon appreciating the cities full beauty…was time to branch out from the typical Machu Picchu photos…

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Although we were quite exhausted from the previous 4 days of hiking and lack of sleep…we made the hike up to Waynupicchu…

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(Waynupicchu is the big peak you see in the distance right behind Machu Picchu).

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It was crazy steep…kicking Darla’s fear of heights into gear!________________________________________________________

Photo on the left is of the view of Machu Picchu from Waynupicchu…putting into perspective how Machu Picchu was literally built in the middle of nowhere on the TOP of a steep mountain…C-R-A-Z-Y!________________________________________________________

After our incredible day at Machu Picchu, Darla had just one day left in Peru…and we decided to end it on a HIGH note…by paragliding over the Sacred Valley in Cusco!________________________________________________________

While the whole act of running and jumping off the side of a cliff was a pretty big adrenaline rush…the rest of the experience/flight was surprisingly incredibly calm and relaxing… ________________________________________________________

you just feel like you are calmly floating…

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thousands and thousands of feet above the ground! ________________________________________________________

And you really do go super high!________________________________________________________

Coming down was quite a rush too…as our pilot’s method of lowering us to the ground is by doing back to back 360´s…a real rush…but did a real number on my stomach too! ________________________________________________________

Okay…well I TRIED to make this a reasonably short entry…but was not so successful…so if you´re still reading…congrats and THANK YOU!________________________________________________________

For more pics of my adventures with Darla click on the following link: http://whereintheworldiscammeo.shutterfly.com/1625 .  Stay tuned for my next entry about my recent travels and exploring in Peru!