Jo Travels the World

Hello World ~

I'm still alive. I know, hard to believe, but I've been busy tripping around the globe. It's not a good excuse, but when you consider that I've been pushing two blog posts a week live over at Kaleidoscopic Wandering and am still juggling a ton of writing assignments, maybe you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

If that doesn't work, I still have some chocolate in my refrigerator from Switzerland.

So where have I been?

I should back up briefly to our pre-Arizona road trip, when I made my first trip to New York City for a travel blogging conference. The conference was decent - I picked up a few good tips and met a lot of people that I've only ever corresponded with through social media and email. I even won a trip to Curacao (which Cory and I are going to take advantage of over the Thanksgiving holidays)!

But one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip was actually exploring the city a bit. I'm not going to mince words: New York City is overwhelming. But it was fascinating and interesting, and relatively self-explanatory to get around once I figured out how the commuter trains worked. I went to the top of Rockefeller Center, explored Times Square at night, ate some wicked food, stayed in a hotel that was designed after a ship and caught up with a friend of mine from Burning Man who lives in Brooklyn.

A few pictures from my trip to New York City:



(Seriously, what's with all these people? Yeesh.)

Home from NYC, Cory and I hit the road for northern Arizona, which he wrote about a few months back. Within days of getting home from our road trip, I was boarding a plane for Jamaica.

My trip to Jamaica was a blogging trip, and it was comped by the Jamaican Tourism Board. I stayed at the lovely Secrets Wild Orchid property in Montego Bay, Jamaica, which is adults-only and all-inclusive, so I could enjoy my frothy Bob Marley drink without any kids underfoot. Yep, kind of a little piece of heaven. I spent some time on the beach and indulging in delicious meals, but we also got out and did a few things on the island as well.

Anyone who goes to Jamaica has to check out Dunn's River Falls, a series of several waterfalls that people can walk up. So. Much. Fun.

Another one of the highlights of the trip to Jamaica was the opportunity to go dog sledding. Sounds weird, doesn't it? Remember, though, that this is the country that had a surprise bobsled team in the Olympics. Although the actual dog sledding part was a lot of fun, the part of the visit to the tour company that I most enjoyed was learning that the dogs trained to be on the dog sledding team are actually rescues from the local pound. How fantastic is that?

Here are a few of my money shots from Jamaica:





Shortly after arriving home from Jamaica, my sister flew into Las Vegas, and Cory, she and I drove to San Diego for a long weekend. Rebecca was there for a conference, but she still had lots of time to enjoy some of the city. Cory and I took full advantage of our time in San Diego. We hung out on the boardwalk, saw dolphins swimming off of the coast, visited Hotel del Coronado, explored Balboa Park and stopped at Cabrillo National Monument on the coast. Again, we indulged in tons of delicious food (especially one night, when we splurged at an awesome Indian restaurant).

We stayed downtown in the Gaslamp District, which was equivalent to party central every single night. The owners of the William Penn Hotel were gracious enough to grant me a comped stay at their hotel, which was right in the middle of the Gaslamp District, which meant that we were within easy walking distance to restaurants, clubs, shops and even the convention hall where Rebecca's conference was.

Good times.

A few photos to commemorate our time in San Diego:






We'd just dropped Rebecca off at the airport when I hopped on an airplane myself, this time for St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of the #BloggersParadise that is sponsored by Marriott Resorts. There were nine bloggers spread out over the Caribbean, and I got to go to USVI. For this trip I stayed at Frenchman's Reef and Morning Star, which was a nice but unpretentious hotel that was out on a peninsula of sorts on St. Thomas, so it was surrounded on three sides by water.

The highlight of that trip was a day trip I spent on St. John, which can be reached by a 15-minute boat ride. Rebecca and I did this when we were in the Virgin Islands for our cruise earlier this year. This time, though, we had the whole day, so I got to see more of the island and go snorkeling at a beautiful beach (where I received my worst sunburn of the summer ... I still have the lines to prove it). I love Virgin Islands National Park. If you ever have a chance to check it out, do it!

Some pictures from my trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands:




As was the routine of my summer, I got home from the Virgin Islands and barely had time to say hello to Cory and the animals before I hopped on a flight to Vietnam. This is the trip that I won way back in January through a travel writing contest. It was a 2-week, almost all-expenses paid, luxury tour just for me, so I wasn't there for work per se, but I did pick up some great article ideas anyway.

I started my two weeks in Hanoi, where I stayed in the backpacker district for one night before moving to a hotel on the other side of the lake. My immediate impressions were regarding the incredible amount of traffic and the lack of English that people spoke. But I felt safe walking around the city and checking out the temples. It's an extremely cheap country to visit, which makes it easy to travel in.

From there, I went to Halong Bay, where I spent two nights on a junk and got to go sea kayaking. We had a bit of rain, but it didn't spoil the fun. After that, I went back to Hanoi and caught a flight to Nha Trang, which is the water sports and backpacker capital of Vietnam. I booked a tour to go snorkeling one day (which was actually a bit chilly, so I'm glad I had a wet suit), but if I were to go back, I would skip Nha Trang and spend a few days hiking in Sa Pa, located in the northern part of the country on the border of China instead.

After Nha Trang, I made my way to Hoi An, which, for me, was the highlight of my trip. Hoi An was a lot smaller - only about half a dozen streets - so it felt a lot more manageable. Hoi An is known as both the food and clothing capital of Vietnam, so I took a cooking class and had some clothes made! Seriously, though, the food in Hoi An is to die for! I think I could live on the spring rolls and white roses in this city. Definitely on the list of places to revisit.

My final stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City, which was like Hanoi on steroids. The traffic was INSANE! But I did visit a fun market where I bought Vietnamese candy to share with my neighbors. I also spent some time at the War Remnants Museum, which was truly eye opening. On my last day in Vietnam, I took a day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, which is where people lived underground during the Vietnam/American War. I even got to squeeze through one myself, which was sort of terrifying.

I took more than a thousand photos in Vietnam, so choosing just a few to post is hard, but here they are anyway:






Once again, I made it home from Vietnam, just to turn around and head for Switzerland for a press trip sponsored by the Switzerland Tourism Board. As much as I've enjoyed every trip I've taken to Europe (which isn't very many), I find it to be incredibly expensive, so it was pretty nice to enjoy Switzerland for a week without having to foot the bill. Two quick observations about Switzerland: It is exceptionally clean and people really care about their country.

We spent our time in two distinct parts of the country: Appenzell and the Lake Geneva region.

Appenzell was absolutely fantastic. It really is the stereotypical Switzerland that people talk about, with men in leiderhosen and cows with large brass bells. I borrowed a bike from the hotel early one morning and rode through the hills around the Alps, and it was absolutely still and stunning, except for the hollow ring of cowbells in the distance.

In Appenzell, I got to do a lot of local, traditional stuff. I learned how to yodel and made a Swiss pastry called bieber. I also learned about leather craft and did some hiking. Truly a beautiful part of the country. I would go back in a heartbeat.

To get to Lake Geneva, we had to take the Swiss Rail System, which is super efficient and an awesome way to travel. I can't wait to go back and take advantage of it again.

The areas we visited near Lake Geneva were busier and more built up but had that old-world-meets-modernity feel. We drank a lot of wine and ate a lot of cheese. I gained four pounds in one week. No joke.

The thing I liked best about this part of the trip was the afternoon that I spent at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, where I got to check out Olympic memorabilia, touch an Olympic medal and learn more about the history and culture of the Olympics. I spent hours at the museum ... it was absolutely fascinating.

Again, I took a ton of pictures, but here are a few of my favorites:







And so now I'm home and have been for the past month or so. I'm starting to get a bit of the travel itch again, but I'm keeping it in check. I know that our trip to Curacao really isn't that far away, so it helps to see that on the otherwise blank calendar.

Around the world and back again ~
Jo

A Caribbean Sail to Ring in 2010

Once again, I'm late in posting about my latest trip, but it is what it is.

My sister, Rebecca, and I sailed on Holland America's ship, the ms Eurodam, the second full week in January. We rarely get to spend time together, so it was nice to just chill away from everything else for awhile. For the most part, we were unplugged for the duration of our trip, though we couldn't help but ring up the hubbies while we sat in the hot tub on the shore of Puerto Rico (technically U.S. land and therefore no international roaming charges). I was on the cruise for the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association 2010 conference, but for most of the time, we got to do what we wanted to do.


Some of the highlights:

• Holland America paid for me to get a spa treatment. I got a seaweed wrap, which sort of made me feel like a baked potato. It was very relaxing, though, and, for a first-time spa experience, I give it two thumbs up. I will be writing about the experience on Kaleidoscopic Wandering within the next couple months.

• The dessert extravaganza, which was held by the chefs one night, was by far more of an art show than a culinary marvel. Carved fruit and ice sculptures, beautifully designed bread art, a chocolate fountain, tiers of candied apples, dipped strawberries, mousse in every flavor ... truly stunning in every sense of the word.

• Relaxing in the hot tub. I know, I know, not all that exciting from the sound of it, but it was so nice to be able to soak in the hot water with no where else to go or anything else to do. I really did enjoy the night we were sitting in the hot tub while we were in port in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The lights were colorful and the weather was warm.

• There was a piano bar on board, and the piano man could plan hundreds of songs - everything from 1920s hits to modern gangsta rap. We spent a couple evenings in the piano bar and had a lot of fun.

• The Exploration Lounge was actually a huge library with computers and a cafe. It was on the very top floor of the boat, overlooking the ocean. Very chill. A nice place to relax.
• Rebecca and I were smart enough to pack a deck of cards (I never seem to have them when I want them), and we whipped through some serious games of War, including the shortest game ever. It lasted two rounds through the deck.

In the week we were at sea, we stopped at four ports: Grand Turk (Turks and Caicos Islands), Puerto Rico, St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands) and Little San Salvador (Bahamas). Seeing as how our first cruising experience was pretty much a bust, I was definitely happy with our on-shore stops. Here's what we did:

• It was raining when we left Ft. Lauderdale, and it poured rain the whole first day at sea. It also poured rain on Grand Turk, the largest of the Turk Islands, which are part of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Luckily, Grand Turk is a pretty small, fairly undeveloped island, and there really wasn't all that much to do. We stayed with the conference group the day we went ashore to Grand Turk, and that was fine with me. We had a car tour of the island (at 7 miles across, there's not much to see). The island is still trying to rebuild itself after a devastating hurricane that swept through in 2008, and there were a lot of buildings in shambles. I was most surprised by the garbage dump, which was literally a huge pile of garbage next to the side of the road - and next to a school and cemetery. We ate some variations of conch, which is a delicacy in the Caribbean, and which I fell in love with in Honduras. Overall, a pretty chill day - cold, rainy, but at least we got to get off the ship for a bit.

• Our second port was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We started the day off with part of our conference group. We had a really knowledgeable guide who gave us a tour of Old San Juan. I loved the public art and fountains in the public spaces. The streets were narrow and paved with cobblestones or old blue bricks. The sun was hot, and Rebecca and I each got a bit of sun (Yay! Mission accomplished!). Once we reached El Morro, the famous fort in San Juan, we broke off from the crowd and decided to tour it. I was a fan because the view was superb, and there were aspects of this fort - like a triangular staircase - that I've never seen anywhere else.

• Our cruise ship next docked at St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, but Rebecca had found out that it's quite touristy and known for shopping. Not so much our style. So we hopped off the boat and caught a ferry to St. John, another of the U.S. Virgin Islands, but much more preserved for nature. Over half the island is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park. The NPS office is right off the ferry dock, so we picked up a map and headed up the trail for a day of hiking. We only met a few other people on the trail. It was another warm day and sort of humid. I was sweating like mad, but it felt good to burn off some of those cruise ship meals. There were a couple places where we could look out over the island, and it was so green and beautiful. The sea was vivid blue, and there were itty bitty islands in every direction. Little white sailboats were floating around. Absolutely beautiful. Part of the trail went along Honeymoon Beach, which had very few people on it. It was a soft white sand, and little waves lapped on the shore. One of the stranger things on our hike was our discovery of hermit crabs, which, we learned after our hike, actually climb up into the hills of the park every year to live, then climb all the way back down to the beach and sea to mate.

• Our final cruise port was on Little San Salvador, an island in the Bahamas that is rented by Holland America for use as a cruise port. There were two Holland America ships in port that day, so the beach was packed (and the water was freezing cold!!), but we claimed our spot on the sand and did our best to soak up some sun on our last day on the cruise. In the afternoon, we went sea kayaking in a lagoon on the island. I've never kayaked before, and even though it was a hefty upper body workout, it was a lot of fun. I'd definitely do it again.

Overall ... a lovely week at sea. Here's hoping my sis and I get to vacation together every year!

Port and Starboard ~
JoAnna

A Trip to California - Mojave Area

I promise, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth! Instead, we took a vacation to California where we stood face-to-face with endangered wild cats, ate Mexican food at a restaurant made famous by astronauts, hugged some of the largest trees in the world, encountered not one but two rattlesnakes, heard a bear sniffing around our campsite and braved the crowds to visit one of the country's most famous national parks. ... WHEW! ...

So, where to begin?

This was the first leg of my journey as a 2009 Roads Scholar. This was also Cory's first journey by motorcycle. This meant that I drove alone, learned how to charge my computer via cigarette lighter and posted blogs on my travel blog, Kaleidoscopic Wandering, where I could. Cory boosted his confidence aboard his Honda Shadow. We had great fun ... see ... here's us smiling:

Seriously, though, we discovered so many places that this will have to, again, be split into numerous blogs. For now, let me tell you about Mojave, California.

Mojave itself is known for its air and space port. We had coffee at a little cafe in the air port, and it was fun to watch little cessnas come and go as people flew in for breakfast. Apparently Mojave has ideal conditions for testing aircraft. I'm sure it's seen more than one plane crash in its day. It also has such neutral weather that it's one of those places where planes are parked when they aren't needed. There are acres of planes just hanging out in Mojave. It's a little bizarre, actually.

The most interesting parts of our time in Mojave weren't actually in Mojave at all. We ate at Domingo's in Boron for dinner. While appearing to be a run-of-the-mill Mexican restaurant from the outside, the inside is basically a museum for air and space memorabilia. Domingo Gutierrez has been in business for more than 30 years, and his restaurant is where nearly flight members eat before they depart and when they land. The walls are covered with signed pictures, flags, buttons, patches and posters—all significant in air and space history.

He was kind enough to share more of his goodies with us, which he keeps in his back office. My favorite thing was a picture of the crew from ST-112 wearing Mexican garb. Domingo has even been invited to the launch of STS-128, which is happening in August. He will dine with the crew at their pre-flight meal then watch the lift-off from the VIP section. I wrote another blog about Domingo's at my travel blog, which you can check out here.

The second really cool thing we did in the Mojave area was go to the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound, which is in Rosamond. This facility is home to more than 75 different wild cats of 17 different species and it was FASCINATING! Sandy, the director of the EFBC, gave us a tour of the compound and took the time to answer all of our questions.

The primary purpose of the EFBC is breeding endangered cats to ensure their continued existence in the wild, which means these cats are definitely wild animals. They aren't imprinted by humans (though they know Sandy's voice), and they have very cat-like characteristics and defense mechanisms. Although I'm a softie for anything "cat," I think I liked the fishing cat, Frisbee, the best (though the jaguarundi were very interesting as well). If you're interested in reading just a touch more about the EFBC, feel free to check out my travel blog posting here.

I'll leave you with that tonight. In short order we'll post stories and pictures from our time in Sequoia National Park, King's Canyon National Park and Yosemite National Park. Cory extended his trip with a motorcycle ride into Oregon with my dad, so I'm sure he'll have plenty to share from those adventures as well.

I also know we still owe you all the full portfolio of pictures from Peru. We'll get everything up at the same time. It's on the list ... you won't have to stay tuned forever.

Leaving you with a California sunset ...
JoAnna

Strength of the Trail: All About the Porters - Post #7

“Hablas espanol?” he asked.

“Un poco,” I answered.

Our porter then proceeded to launch into a long Spanish conversation, to which I had little choice but simply shake my head and respond “no, no” over and over again.

The porters for Llama Path, as I would assume is the case with most of the tour companies on the Inca Trail, are born and raised in the Cusco area. Alex explained to me that many boys see their fathers and uncles become porters and make a living off of it, so they quit school and do the same. It’s akin to the kids here in Las Vegas who want to work in the casino cages just like their parents. Because of this, many of the Llama Path porters are family members—fathers and sons, brothers, uncles and nephews. In my quest to find all things gender friendly, I asked if there were women porters. Alex said no, though occasionally there is a woman chef.

Porters are a vital part of a successful Inca Trail hike. They are each allowed to carry 29 kilograms (almost 65 pounds!)—and that includes all of the tents, cooking gear and food. Cory and I wanted to focus on our trek and not the weight on our backs, so we hired a porter to carry our stuff. For every one hiker, two or three porters are needed.

Llama Path is a sustainable tour company, and the porters are all outfitted in proper hiking shoes and wear matching red outfits. They hike and take breaks together. They carry equipment in actual backpacks topped with rain gear. Other trekking companies’ porters wear worn clothing, torn up shoes (or sandals … or Chuckies!) and have equipment tied around their backs with oversized blankets and tarps. The further along the trail we got, the more appreciative I became of how well the porters at Llama Path were cared for. As we hiked along the Inca Trail, passing over peaks and making it through long and strenuous days were exciting milestones for me. I’ve referred to them as mini Everest achievements. Well, if this is a mini Everest achievement, the porters must be the next greatest thing after sherpas. Let me tell you, these guys can HAUL! We would leave camp in the morning while the porters were breaking down tents, washing dishes and packing. About an hour later, they would pass us as we labored on. By the time we reached our lunch stopping point, our porters and chefs would have a meal tent set up, water boiled and a full-spread buffet completely prepared. After lunch we would leave again while the porters cleaned up after us, and an hour later, our porters would pass us again. Within minutes they would become a microscopic line of red-colored ants running away and we would continue hiking. Once we reached camp for the night, not only would the meal tent be pitched and the food prepared but all of our tents would be up and our belongings were tucked inside. It was like camping at a 5-star hotel!

The other truly incredible thing about the porters is how fast they can climb. We struggled up the path to Dead Woman’s Pass with virtually nothing on our bodies, and the porters pushed on and passed us. Even more impressive was their technique to descend the mountainsides. They ran. Yes, you read that right. They ran down the steep, slippery stone steps, their feet barely touching the ground before they leapt onto the next one. Both Matias and Klaas tried this strategy and they said it worked well, but I was more interested in checking out the flowers and waterfalls.

Each porter had a particular duty to perform in the group. In addition to our chef, we had a waiter, men that were in charge of pitching the tents, assistants to the chef, etc. This whole porter thing runs like a well-oiled machine, but I guess when there are so many people on the trail, there is little choice but to be.

The saddest thing about the porters is that few, if any, of them have ever been to Machu Picchu. After the final morning on the trail, they rush down to Aguas Calientes to catch a porter train back to Cusco so that they can prepare for the next hiking group to hit the trail. I think there should be an option to donate toward a pool of cash that allows for porters to visit this World Heritage Site that just hangs out in their backyards. Our journey to Machu Picchu would have been drastically different without the strength and abilities of our porters. I might not hablo any espanol, but I did learn enough to tell each and every one of them gracias.

Seeing red ~

JoAnna

Inca Trail Day 4 and Machu Picchu - Post #5

I stayed awake almost all of our third night on the trail, listening to the rain and making silent pleas to Mother Nature to stop it. I finally drifted off when the rain slowed to a drizzle but I didn't sleep long because our wake-up call came at 3:30 a.m. The ground was damp but the sky was dry. The early hour didn't lend itself to breakfast, but our chef had baked a cake (!) overnight which wished us luck on the final leg of our journey to Peru's Wonder of the World and we ate it while we drank tea. The porters had our tents down in no time and were practically packed up before we were because they had to take a different path down to Aguas Caliente to catch the porters' train.

As for us, we ate and hit the trail. We could feel the sense of urgency in our guides and took off in the dark for the checkpoint which marked the end of the Inca Trail and the entryway for the path to Machu Picchu ... which we ran into in less than five minutes. We had no idea we were so close. It was 4:30 a.m., and we were the second group in line (behind another Llama Path group).

Fifteen minutes before the gate was set to open, it began to rain. Not just any rain, but big, bulbous rain drops. Chaos reigned (rained?!) until 5:30 as everybody tried to squeeze into the covered shelter.

At 5:30 the guides sorted things out, the first group pushed through the gate and then the six of us took off ... and I mean, we booked it. Forget the altitude sickness, forget the sore muscles, forget the exhaustion and fatigue. The fire to reach the Sun Gate first and the excitement of seeing Machu Picchu took hold and we took off at a ridiculously fast pace. The rain sloshed, our pants soaked through (lesson learned: never wear cotton pants in the rain), our feet slid across the rocks and our poles struggled to hold us upright. My headlamp bumped the bridge of my nose every time I took a step and I tore it off before the sun came up. I also felt my passport turning into a soggy mess in my pocket and I transferred it to an inside pocket of my rain jacket (another lesson learned: keep passport in a Ziploc bag).

Three individuals passed us before we reached the monkey stairs, a set of extremely steep steps that almost require the use of hands and feet to climb. As we ran up the stairs, we passed the group in front of us. The six of us hiked like we hadn't hiked in the previous three days.

And then we reached Intipunta - the Sun Gate - the first place where you can see Machu Picchu. We were the first full group to reach the Sun Gate that day. Unfortunately, as you know from my first post, the weather was not cooperating and our view was completely obstructed by fog. As disappointing as the situation was, it was sort of funny too. We'd come all this way and it was pouring rain. We took the obligatory picture anyway.

There was no reason to hang around at the Sun Gate, so we took off on the final leg of our journey ... this time at a significantly slower pace. We had achieved our goal of reaching the Sun Gate, but now the hikers began to mingle with tourists who had gotten off the bus at Machu Picchu and were hiking up to the Sun Gate for a view. There was a clear difference between us and them. Us: Wet, dirty, stinky, bundled up. Them: Pressed khakis, bulky video cameras around their necks, sandals, umbrellas.

When we reached Machu Picchu, it was so foggy we could barely see anything. We walked down to the entry gate and found an umbrella to huddle under as we ate our snacks. Alex told us that he'd just found out that it rained at Machu Picchu the entire day before. "Do you think it will burn off?" we asked him. And as optimistic as Alex is, he shook his head ever so slightly.

I looked down into the parking lot where buses were dropping people off and already picking up people who had given up on the weather. We stood near the site's cafe, which served up coffee and candy like a stadium. And then I looked out toward where Machu Picchu was supposed to sit, sprawling down the mountainside, and all I saw was fog. A heavy disappointment fell on me, and despite the amazing journey of the last few days and the achievement of hiking such a challenging trail, I had to fight back a few tears of frustration.

Alex suggested we take our tour of Machu Picchu in the drizzling rain, and we all hoped that in that time the weather would change its mind and the sun would burn the clouds off. Despite the situation, Alex and Eddie did a great job sharing the story of Machu Picchu with us. They led us into rooms and explained the significance of why certain windows and fountains had been placed where they were.

The higher class lived on one side of the site (about 200-300 people) and the workers lived on the other side (600-800 people). When Hiram Bingham found Machu Picchu in 1911, only two families were living there. The important buildings and the buildings at the top of the site (vs. the lower buildings) were made of perfectly fitting rocks which were rubbed smooth by the workers. Everything on the site was created from rocks pulled from three on-site quarries.

I thought the most interesting room was the Sun Temple, which was sort of located in the middle of the site. It has two windows, and on June 21 the sun shines directly in one of the windows and on December 22, it shines directly in the other. It's easy for me to believe that those buildings were built with the summer and winter solstices in mind, but the Inca history wasn't written down so it's hard to know for sure how much of the Inca story is true versus not, but it's a wonderful story of cross-mountain routes, spirituality, energy stones and levels of leadership spread out across the Andes anyway.

Once our tour had ended, the rain had let up a bit, and though the fog still came and went in waves, we began to see Machu Picchu in all its larger-than-life glory.

We wandered out to the old Inca bridge, a rickety structure that had been used by people on the Inca Trail. Apparently they used to let visitors walk across it, but someone fell off and died a few years back, so now people are held back with a simple "Prohibited" sign in Spanish. In the United States, there would have to be a guard stationed on the path, signs in a million different languages and a big ugly chain restraining people from wandering out to the bridge. But here, people just know and respect the trail.

When we returned to Machu Picchu, the clouds seemed to lift like magic and we eagerly took the moment to take in the massive, expansive civilization before us. The buildings escalated down the mountainside and the greenery of the surrounding mountains and terraces drew out an astonishing array of color from the site. I was so excited to be there at that moment. Despite the cool dampness, wet boots and pants, dirt and sweat, everything about the previous three days now seemed completely worth it.

From our vantage point high on the hill, we began wandering around the rest of the site. Machu Picchu is huge. We spent a couple hours peeking in the rooms, walking up and down stairs, looking through windows, feeling stones and gazing in awe at the fountains and flowers ... and yet I feel like I could have spent several more hours peeking, walking, looking, feeling and gazing and still not fully comprehend the enormity of this structure.

The sun never fully came out and we still had a few moments of light rain, but we definitely enjoyed Machu Picchu in all its glory.

One Wonder Down, Six To Go ~

JoAnna