We checked in with our Trekking company called SAS and attended a briefing meeting on Saturday, November 1st. We met the 10 other people we would be enjoying our Machu Picchu experience with - a phenomenal group! James and Joanna hailing from Brooklyn NYC, Caraline & Dave a brother and sister duo from Australia, Jenn a spitfire from England, Caroline her partner in crime from Maryland, the three amigos: Kristen, Lexi, and Reb from California, and last but not least our Guide, Jose from Cusco. What an awesome group to be hiking with...
As you can see from the pictures we had all sorts of weather on our trip. The first day we headed out of town on a private SAS bus and got to breakfast in a town called Calca. We were surprised to see cages of guinea pigs, rabbits, ducks, and chickens in the local market - Guinea Pig is a delicassy here... we were met with awesome tunes from the 80´s at our breakfast spot ¨Now I am never gonna dance again, Guilty feet have got no rythymn...¨ ¨The Eye of a Tiger...¨among others. Reb and Tony shared their vocal stylings and we knew we were in for a fun trip! And then off again on the bus to our trailhead.
Once at the trailhead we quickly got ready to go, and within the first 20 minutes it started to rain... and rain... and then hail a little, and more rain.... we got to our lunch tent soaked and cold, but still in decent spirits! Lunch was fantastic as was all the food on the entire trip! We had porters, and our cook, and donkeys and horses carrying all of the essentials for the trip. We each had the option to carry our daypacks and our own gear or we could have a porter carry our own gear. They sure did work hard toting around all sorts of things including a portable toilet which we enjoyed in a ¨toilet tent¨we also were brought hot coca tea every morning in our tents! They sure took care of us...
Along the trail we met many local people and even got to visit a local house and family. We were told by our guide that we should bring some items to give to the people along the way, so we handed out bread, snacks, pencils, and coca leaves. They were often in thanks for letting us take their picture. Such amazing people who still choose to dress in the traditional clothing and live a rural life. The children often have to walk two hours to and from school every day. There is a picture above of the snowy mountains with two little kids dressed in red on their path to school. They all wear sandals year round! I mentioned this before, but I will again, they govern themselves with three rules ¨Don´t lie, Don´t Steal, Don´t be Lazy¨ We were very lucky to have an amazing tour guide who shared a lot of wisdom and insight into the lives of these people and the history of the Sacred Valley. We also all appreciated the fact that our trek was not crowded with lots of people like the Inca Trail.
The second day we hiked over two mountain passes and arrived to our campsite just in time before the rain and snow started. That night Jose shared a local drink called Macho Tea with us and we toasted to good friends, good memories, and thanks to Mother Earth or Pachamama for holding the rain until we got to camp!
The next morning we woke to a beautiful snow covered scene and began hiking to Ollantaytambo. Now this day was the day of the National Strike in Peru and so we weren´t sure of the exact details of the day. We were to hike to our lunch site and then there was a chance the SAS bus would meet us there to bring us to Ollantaytambo, but if not we would have to walk. After waiting a few hours for the bus, we started walking. And soon the SAS bus arrived and drove us to the town. SAS put us up in a hostal and we enjoyed a great dinner and some local Chicha. Chicha is an alcoholic drink that is made with corn, it used to be chewed in order to ferment it, luckily they don´t do that anymore, except for in the jungle, so we all got a taste of regular Chicha and Frutilla Chicha. Then it was back to our hostal to check on the election (see blog entry below)
We got up the next morning and excitedly boarded the 6:40 AM train to Aguas Caliente, then boarded a bus to Machu Picchu.... we were rediculously giddy and happy and had a great time....
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