Playing in the Mud

Welcome back to your regularly scheduled programming! While you were reading about Peru, Jo and I continued to do random activities for you're (and our) entertainment. One of those activities occured 3 weeks ago. We participated in the first Las Vegas Mad Mud Run. The run consisted of a 5 mile course studded with obsticles and ending with a crawl through a mud pit. One of the prizes given out during the event was for "best costumed team" so Jo and I went to Savers and the Party Store and came up with a Hawaiian theme.

Along the run we faced hay bails, a large mountain of dirt, balance beams, an over and under and a 5 ft wall. Overall we did well on the obsticles ( I struggled a bit with the wall) and ran it in to plunge in to the mud. As we couldn't take the pictures ourselves, Jo's friend Peter showed up and took photos as well as video of us running.

We had a great time running this little race and getting dirty.

Our next planned run is the Ragnar Relay in which a 12 person team runs 180 miles relay style. More on that in October.

Peas!

-Cory

Cusco- The Final Peru Post

Bloggers' note: we relize how long it has taken us to get our Peru posts all up and ready for your hungry eyes. We apologize to our patient readers.

Cusco is the ancient capital and current heart of the Inca Empire. It is the starting point for all things Machu Picchu. It has the potential to be a mess of tourists and cheap, shlocky crap for those tourists. However, Cusco avoids being cheap and fake and instead is wonderfully quaint and beautiful. Cusco is built in a series of interlocking plazas, the main plaza being the Plaza de Armas (shown above). Each area of Cusco is kept, for the most part, amazingly clean and despite what the guidebooks tell you, it is a very safe little city.

We stayed right on the Plaza de Armas and were therefor in a central location that allowed us to go exploring the city with a great amount of ease. We got in to Cusco fairly early on the 3rd and were able to go check out a large selection of the cathedrals and churches in the area. We also went to check out the local market.

Our first stop was Qorikancha (Cory Kahn Cha) an ancient Incan temple that has been converted into a Catholic monistary. There were beautiful ruins of ancient temples as well as an amazing Incan harvest calendar right next to its corresponding Incan ritual calendar.

We spent a lot of time wandering the church/ruin before deciding it was time to have some lunch. One of the great things about Cusco is that if you get away from the Plaza de Armas you can eat and be entertained for a lot cheaper than expected. Meals in Cusco come (for the most part) in a set menu that includes soup, a main course, and some form of fresh juice/beverage. Most of the time we had no clue exactly what we were eating, but it was always good and always very fresh and, most importantly, usually no more than 3-5 bucks.

We toured some of the other churches but none were as amazing as Qorikancha. We also hit up the local market where we tasted fresh cheese, saw fruit smoothie stands apleanty and, oddly enough, saw a bucket of live frogs next to a bucket of not-so-alive, skinned frogs. No one was manning the buckets so we could only guess what they were for.

When we returned to Cusco from the Inca Trail we were fortunate enough to do it on Good Friday and the Saturday before Easter. No one parties better than Latin American Catholics on a religious holiday. We saw huge processions on Friday night of the Virgin and Christ being taken in to one of the cathedrals. On Saturday we were treated to a parade celebrating the cultures of the Andean people and their customs and history. It was, by far, one of the coolest things we have seen. The parade went for hours and involved dancers and warriors, bands and the clergy.

Everyone was welcome at the parade, Cuscoian and Tourist alike. We were not hounded by street hawkers or stared at by the locals. We were simply a part of the festivities. That sums up Cusco in a nutshell; you're not a tourist, your a global member of their community.

As always, there is so much more we could share about our trip. We simply do not have the time to write out all of the stories. Jo has had an article published with Donne Tempo about Cusco that you should all read. I will do my best to get the rest of the pictures posted shortly. This is the last of the Peru posts, we have had other adventures and we are planning even more. Until then...

Peas!

-Cory

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

We're in some Hot Water- Peru Day 5

After we had our fill of Machu Picchu we hopped on the bus with our entire group and headed down a series of steep switchbacks on our way to the town at the bottom of the mountain, Aguas Calientes. 

Alex and Eddie had left a few hours before the group and Alex gave us directions to the restaurant where we would all be eating our final group meal.  As we arrived in Aguas Calientes we realized it was a one street town.

 Alex, showing exactly how clairvoyant he is, was waiting for us when our bus arrived in town. We all headed off to the restaurant and ordered burgers and pizza.  Jo and I thought it was a luxury to have burgers, we would find out later that Augas Calientes was full of burgers and pizza.   After lunch Alex, Eddie and Matias hopped on the train and headed back to Cuzco.  Bethany, Matt and Klaus were scheduled for a later train and headed off to find an internet café.  Jo and I had decided to stay in Aguas Calientes that night so we headed to our hostel (which Alex had already found for us and drawn us a map).   We originally reserved a four person room, but the hostel was light on customers so we received a two person room!  It was freaking sweet!  We took some time to hang all of our wet clothes aroun

d the room.  It was only 3 in the afternoon so we decided to head up to the city’s namesake, the local hot springs (Aguas Calientes = Hot Waters). 

The hot springs were great.  We had a wonderful time just soaking in the natural springs.  There were a lot of familiar faces from the trail hanging out in the springs.  It was extremely relaxing and we could feel our muscles relaxing as we sat in the warm water.  After the springs we went back to the hostel and had a nice hot shower.  We decided to head out and find some dinner after our shower and came across another pizza joint just down from the hostel.  It was actually really good pizza, wood fired and very fresh ingredients.   We retired early that night, I read a bit on my iPod touch (hooray for Kindle apps!) and Jo wrote in her journal.  We slept the sleep of the dead that night.  It was really nice to sleep in a soft, comfy bed after four nights of tent floor. 

When we got up the next day we had about 5 hours to kill before we caught the train back to Ollyantatambo.  We left our stuff at the hostel and went walking around the town.  There are really only two streets in Aguas Calientes and we took the back street down from the Hostel to the train tracks.  There was a very pretty fountain in the center of the plaza.

  We then trundled on through the huge market  (which was well situated for the locals…you had to walk through it to get to the train station).  Jo bought herself a necklace and I bought a head band to keep my hair out of my face.  We then sat at a coffee shop for about an hour or so, watching tourists walk up and down the road in their khaki safari pants, linen shirts and multi-pocketed vests.  One group seemed to get a cell phone as part of their trip. 

The train ride back to Ollyantatambo was fairly uneventful.  We were in the “backpacker coach” which is the nice way to say “the cheap seats.”  We slept a lot of the trip and pretty much stared out the windows.  When we got to Ollyantatambo we still had a 2 hour ride back to Cuzco.  We were expecting to take a Llama Path bus, but what we got was a small car that we shared with another couple from Montreal.  One of the best moments of the whole trip happened about 20 minutes outside of Cuzco.  We were driving through a hail storm and our driver could not get his window rolled up…it was freaking hilarious, there I am, right behind the driver, getting pelted with hail the size of quarters. 

Overall, Aguas Calientes was touristy and boring but exactly what we needed to unwind from Machu Picchu.     

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

Inca trail day 3 - A walk in the rain

When we awoke on day 3 we were greeted with a great view (below) and a sick group member.
Matt had apparently spent the night rather ill and was not looking to good first thing in the morning. To make matters worse, Matias was also feeling ill. I was feeling much better and was able to give Matt our extra bottle of Gatorade to help him through the morning. Matt and Matias were both fairly lucky; where day 2 was a flat out test of endurance, day 3 was a gentle stroll through the cloud forest above Machu Picchu. Day 3 was all original Inca Road. Every stone we stepped on was laid by the Inca Civilization.
As you can see, the road was beautiful. It was a bit damp the entire day, with intermittent moments of heavy rain. Our first Inca site of the day required a small climb to reach the ruins of Phuyupatamarka. It was misty and a bit eerie to sit atop the ancient site. Alex taught us about the ritual sacrifices that the Incas did and Matt managed to purge his system while being respectful of the site. Eddie and Matias decided to skip the site and head straight to camp to give Matias a chance to rest and be ready for Machu Picchu the next day.
After Phuyupatamarka we had another 45 minute walk or so to our next Inca site, Yunkapata. Klaas took his usual trail blazing pace while Jo, Matt, Bethany and I strolled casually with Alex. We walked through hand carved tunnels(below) and Alex stopped and showed us every different orchid he could find, of which there were dozens. It was a beautiful little walk and quite a difference from the day before. When we reached Yunkapata we were all feeling a lot better and the mist had (mostly) lifted. We breezed through Yunkapata because we were running behind schedule due to our botanical bliss. On our way to camp we saw a bit of wild squash.
We headed down to camp to have lunch, and I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed that we didn't spend more time at Yunkapata. However, our 3 minute walk to Winaywaya after lunch totally made up for it. After Machu Picchu itself, this is the most amazing site we saw.
Winyawayna is a monstrous concave set of terraces that run up a very steep hill. The site had a beautiful room with seven windows, meant to represent the 7 colors of the rainbow. It also had a complex system of fountains that ran down the side of the buildings. We had a lot of time to explore the site and really got a feel for the architecture and skill of the Incas. We returned to camp just as it started to rain and were treated to happy hour (popcorn and cocoa) and a few card tricks from Klaas. This 3rd camp had a small cantina/restaraunt and there were a ton of people enjoying cold beers for most of the evening ( Kenya friends, it was a lot like the little bar at the campsite on our Nile trip). Matias was feeling better and he joined us for happy hour and dinner. After dinner we had our formal goodbye with our porters. Matias really saved our bacon by giving our respects in Spanish to the porters on our behalf. One of the tragic bits of information we learned at dinner was the fact that none of the porter had ever seen Machu Pichu. They take a different trail down to Aguas Calientes and do not go through the city of their ancestors. It is roughly 80 U.S. dollars to visit the site and none of them can afford it. We had an early dinner and the Chef went all out for us (I'll do a whole post on the food, no worries). We headed off to bed around 8 a.m. due to our 4 a.m. wake-up call. We all slept soundly, dreaming of then next day and our first view of Macchu Picchu.

Inca Trail Day 2 - Post #3

We awoke on our second day feeling not nearly as sore as we expected, and, for Cory, much better than the night before. Thank God for altitude sickness pills! We were greeted by a stunning view of the world and were both excited and apprehensive by the day before us (promised to be our hardest day on the trail).

We had already had a chance to get to know the people in our group on the trail the day before, but in the morning we got to meet our eleven porters, one of whom was also our chef. They all only spoke Spanish or Quechua (the native Andean language), so we were lucky to have two guides and one person in our group who were able to translate for us as needed. We'll write a post specifically about the porters later, but suffice to say that this incredible group of guys were our lifeblood on our trip and without them the second day would have been significantly more difficult than what it was.

Luckily for us, we had started the uphill ascent the day before. Cory and I are fairly seasoned hikers and aren't afraid to push ourselves when it comes to a challenging climb, but this was much more strenuous than just about anything we'd climbed before. Most of the path is made of ancient stones, so going up the path isn't just about climbing uphill. We actually had to climb ancient, uneven Incan stairs. One hiking pole in front of the other, we forced our legs up the steep, narrow steps. It was a day of halfways: We were halfway to the halfway point, then halfway up the hill, then halfway past the halfway point. Our first break was halfway from our campsite up to Dead Woman's Pass, the highest peak of our trip at 13,782 feet (4,201 meters) in elevation. This picture is us at our morning break point. You can see Dead Woman's Pass behind us. It is so named because it looks like a dead woman with her head and nose on the left side of the picture and her breast on the right side. The pass is through the saddle between the two (essentially where her neck would be).

The goal of the second day's hike was just to get past the hard part, but we were encouraged to take our time. At such a high elevation, it was not just the challenge of the hike but the exceptionally high altitude that made the climb difficult. It took us most of the morning to reach the top, but once we did, it really felt like we were on top of the world. This picture is the six of us and our two guides at the top of Dead Woman's Pass as the fog started to roll in. It was so cold we could see our breath and had to put on hats and mittens. This photo is looking back at where we'd just come from. You can see people coming up the trail on our right and the path we'd just climbed trailing down the hill behind us.

The other side of the trail was a lot different. Steep steps, lush green foliage and waterfalls that fell down the cliff sides. It was almost more difficult going down than it was going up, and I fell once on the way down. No worries ... only my pride was hurt. Cory and I took the slow, gentle footing way down the hill while our friends Klaas and Mathias made like the porters and ran down the steps. I'm glad we took our time because Alex and Eddie pointed out all kinds of fantastic flora and fauna, including a golden hummingbird and her tiny nest of even tinier baby birds.

We were met with a huge lunch once we reached the bottom of the hill, but the day wasn't over once we finished our meal. We had to climb again, this time to 11,876 feet (3,620 meters). We passed by Runkuraqay, one of the ruins, before we reached the crest of this climb. One of the things I enjoyed most about the Incan ruins was the ability to wander through them. We were often either one of two or the only group at any given site, so we could poke around in the ruins, look out the windows and enjoy the amazingly green and luscious views. There is so much rain that the stones are overflowing with moss and brilliantly colored flowers. Some rooms are so overgrown we couldn't even walk into them.
Just past the "false top" of the second pass, the sky cleared just a bit and a rainbow opened up behind us. Spread across the backdrop of the Andes and the Inca Trail, it felt a little bit like being in a dream. Even though we were tired and damp (from rain and sweat), we were so excited to be in this place, experiencing this moment. We had so many moments like this on our hike, where, even though we felt uncomfortable or worn down or stiff or cold or wet, we still felt so lucky to be in such a beautiful place.

We crested the pass and continued on down the Inca Trail, tired and accomplished. Day two had been a tough one, but not one that took us down. It only led us closer to our ultimate destination ... Machu Picchu.

Beautiful violet flowers and crystal clear waterfalls,

JoAnna