Colca Canyon Trek - PICS!!

Two condors chillin'

We have returned from our Colca Canyon trek and it was AMAZING!! The views were beyond gorgeous and the weather was perfect. The hike in was pretty intense...it reminded me of the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon only a little shorter. On the first day, we stopped to see all the condors that live in the canyon. They were considered holy spirits or gods by the Incas, and after seeing them in person I can understand why! They were humongous and beautiful. We sat and watched a bunch of them fly around for awhile and then were on our way to begin the trek.

 

Beginning of the canyon and hike

Part of the trail with Jack

We bagan with a couple hours of hiking down into the canyon to the first village where we would stay for the night. It was a long way down! Luckily, we did the three day trip instead of the two day, so we stopped once we reached the first village. It was beyond gorgeous...we got to stay in little adobe-type huts on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the major river that runs through the canyon. It was almost like a jungle with so many plants growing and all types of neat fruits and veggies. There were also some beautiful animals....we have seen a lot of kitties with different colored eyes. This little beauty tried to eat our dinners the first night! And the second. And anytime there was food :)

The canyon has a lot of exports of fruits and veggies, but there are no real cars or roads down in the canyon. The only way in and out is by hiking what we hiked down into the canyon (and a similar trail out the other side). So often, you see people or mules carrying everything. Very impressive, seeing as I was a whiney mess with my teeny little daypack :)

Oasis!

The second day we stayed in a place called Paradiso Oasis. It was literally the most welcome site! Beautiful scenery and a pool as well as really nice adobe rooms. We got to rinse off and be lazy for a day, hanging out by candlelight at night and listening to the river outside. Pretty sweet! We enjoyed it while we could, because the next day we woke up at 4:30 and began the brutal hike out.








It was two and a half hours straight up to the top of the canyon. Literally. I was amazed my legs weren't complete jello by the end of it, because I have never used them so continuously and aggressively, I swear! That is probably a lie, but still. I am very proud of us! Now we are back in Cusco after an overnight 10 hour bus ride (Peruvian buses are BOMB by the way...like beds!). We are here for a few more day and then back to the states!

Me pointing to where we have to hike out...
the tiny little trees in the top left!

We did it! And a half hour quicker than we thought we would!

So the past few days have been... interesting. To make a long story short, I got an infection and possibly altitude sickness when we went to Puno to do the Lake Titicaca. Jack had to take me to the local emergency room  because apparently, hospitals in Puno are closed on Sunday?  We spent hours sitting there having people talk to me in Spanish, but some weird fast doctor Spanish that is impossible to understand. I had multiple people come in and tellme I had multiple things wrong when I knew it was an infection. a bunch of scary tests and poking later, a doctor comes in and makes the needle motion that I can only assume means " I'm about to stick needles in you and hurt you really badly".  apparently anesthetic in Peru consists only of the doctor saying "Tranquillo, no necessita tener miedo" or " chill out,  don't be a baby".  The medicine versio is much more effective for pain, TRUST ME.  now I'm on boat-loads of  antibiotics and attempting a trek through Colca Canyon in two days.  We missed or lake tour :(

Jack was basically my epic hero through everything!! He was absolutely  wonderful and did everything he could to make me feel good/get me meds/deal with my fear and anxiety. he truly is el hombre de mis suenos (man of my dreams). If you see him on the street, give him a hug, high five, or cookie. Gold stars work, too :)

Now we are in Arequipa  waiting for our next trip.  This city is huge and warm, which is awesome!

Schooooools out for summmmmmer!

After a week of Spanish classes, I am so ready for a vacation portion of our vacation. This past week has been great for reviewing my language skills from years past, but I am also realizing that I am SO DONE WITH CLASS. Sitting still and learning for four hours a day is brutal. I guess three years of graduate school will do that to you. Luckily I have had two field trips to museums, and who doesn´t love field trips?? I got to visit the coca museum and the chocolate museum (yum!). The chocolate museum gave factoids here and there about chocolate but is more of a restraurant and store. Don´t get me wrong, that is wonderful! I enjoyed the coca museum more because it had a lot on the history and uses of coca. For those of you who don´t know, coca is huge in Peru because it is used in practically everything. We use it primarily to combat altitude sickness by either drinking the tea or chewing the leaves. It also gives you a nice little jolt of energy, which makes sense since it is also the principle ingredient in cocaine! I also got to learn about its cultural uses, which we had a taste of during the Salkantay Trek. Our guide gave thanks with coca leaves to Pachamama (mother earth) for our safe passage. I think I even threw up a few desperate pleas to good ol´ Pachamama when Jack was so sick that first day.

Other than that, class was class. I am getting much more confident in my speaking, so that is a plus! And by more confident in my speaking, I just mean more willing to make a million mistakes and sound ridiculous. But you know, tomay-toe tomah-toe. (Get it??) There are about 20 students here and about a bajillion volunteers. Our school coordinates volunteer programs throughout the city, so we all get to hang out in the dorms and in the school common areas together. A majority of the kids here are pretty young...just coming into college or having only been through their freshman year. It is definitely making me realize I am closer to 30 than 20 haha...I  have started to joke with Jack about the age differences between myself and my classmates. I am literally a 4th grader older than half the people in our school. A FOURTH GRADER! That is how I have started equating years of age difference to make it more dramatic than just saying "10 years", although 10 years is pretty freaking dramatic, too. UGH. They stay out until 6am drinking all night and then come back screaming, bouncing off crap in the halls, and hacking up what I can only assume to be large pieces of their lungs because everyone here parties so hard, their bodies can´t keep up and they are most likely dying of tuberculosis. As I huddle in my bed trying to warm up the blankets and listen to their incoherent ramblings, I repeatedly tell myself "you were like this once, right?" in an attempt to not run out in the hall, screaming at them all "you crazy kids, get off my lawn" style. My, how the tides have turned.

In addition to referring to age in terms of small children, we have also started referring to the cost of thinks in Snickers bars. This is due to the fact that an adorable14 year old on our Salkantay Trek was obsessed with Snickers bars. Every time we would stop along the trail for water refills at local shops (yes, there are stores all over the trek where you have to buy your water), this kid would buy a bunch of Snickers bars. Whenever he would want something else, his mother would say "Well, that is worth about three Snickers bars,so you decide". Snickers won out EVERY TIME. So we now refer to costs in Snickers bar units and age differences using elementary school children. It happens. What gets you excited in life has also changed dramatically. For example, I bought 2 ponchos and an individual roll of toilet paper today for a total of 11 soles. That is SO EXCITING SLASH IMPRESSIVE. That is like, $4!! TOTAL! FOR ALL THREE THINGS! Plus, NOW WE HAVE TOILET PAPER FOR THE NEXT WEEK. I can´t stress enough how important that is in Peru. Adjusting back to the states will never be the same...

Tomorrow morning we leave bright and early for our next adventure to Lake Titicaca and Colca Canyon. The lake will be great, the canyon trek may kill us. And I am basing that solely on the various blogs I have read about how difficult it is. We have been climbing small mountains to and from basically everything for the past few weeks, so maybe it won´t be so bad? I know I exaggerate a lot in this blog, but when I say small mountains, I´m not kidding. In Cusco, everything is uphill...both ways. There isn´t even a word for hill that is used to describe streets around here. I´m not kidding...I asked my teacher and he looked at me like I was crazy. He was all "If we used that word here, we wouldn´t have streets, only hills". So yeah....thighs and calves of STEEL!

Pictures to come later, crap internet, same old story blahblahblah. Anywho, that is enough blabbing on for today. We will probably have no internet for the next week,so see you in 7 days!

Posting from my phone, ignore the mess...

Jack and his toys :)

This gnome  is  in a  local  place  we  like  to  go  and   has  had  a  a  really  rough time  of it, if  you  can't  tell  from  his  chain. We watched  multiple  children kick/punch him as we ate  lunch. poor dude.

It is so incredibly cold here!! I swear it is getting colder each day we stay here...which makes sense since it's the start of winter...it really makes me appreciate heaters. Like, a lot. I'm getting used to sleeping in socks, legwarmers, tights, two shirts, and a hat. And that's on a warm night! I've, been slowly investing in an outfit made of all alpaca to combat the cold. Really, it only consists of a hat and legwarmers so far...but more may be coming if it stays this freezing! I'm currently trying to warm up in a Starbucks...yeah yeah I know. Trust me, I have been to all the local coffee joints and they are good, but no heat. Plus a white mocha is a nice creature comfort after traveling/being homeless for a month! I can already feel it's hot sugary goodness spreading into my frozen toes.

Pardon the sloppiness of this post, I'm doing it in my phone which is insanely challenging for me. So if something is spelled wonky or out of place, blame Samsung. Now that I am without Jack in the mornings, I'm also without his computer. It will be interesting to spend my mornings alone in Cusco...I'm going to have to get creative...that or just read a lit. Comfortable with either. I'm hoping these classes jump start my Spanish brain...I did alright in the oral test but I can pretty much only speak in present tense...not incredibly helpful.

We had the doctors in the school clinic give us a speech on parasites and bacteria to watch out for, and I'm more convinced I have a parasite. Anyone that knows me should be in no way shocked by this revelation. I gave none of the symptoms, but just hearing about it totally freaked me out. I have been here for two weeks now and am just now worried? Faulty logic...anyway, thats all for now. my phone is obnoxious.

Ruins and Markets, oh my!

We have been spending time the past week hanging out and doing nothing of particular importance...just familiarizing ourselves with Cusco. Tomorrow we start a language course for a week to try and improve our language a bit. For the time being we are staying in a nice hotel with heat and hot water. SO CRUCIAL. The hostel we stayed in the past few days had no hot water, no heat, and was basically  an addition to a building made of plywood with a semi-deadly staircase up to our bedroom. Oh, and our neighbors set of fireworks every morning around 7:30pm...maybe because of the festival this whole week (Inti Raymi or festival of the sun), but it could also just be for funsies, who knows. It wasn't terrible, but it could have definitely been better. Luckily there were a million adorable cats hanging out around so we could watch them play on the roof next door and forget about the cold. The hostel was located in a cool area of town too, full of art museums and shops. Many of the artists depict the Virgin Mary in traditional Incan or Peruvian clothing...they are really neat! It is to represent the fusion of Catholic and Incan religion that is prevalent here. 

I have added a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure. I finally gave in and took an adorable picture with the little baby lambs that are everywhere. I wasn't going to do it, but they saw me freak out a little about the teeny baby lamb and then I was finished....I couldn't resist. The picture is pretty much a hot mess, as you can see below. The two surly-looking women were basically already asking me for money while the picture was being taken, the lamb was simultaneously trying to eat my necklace/eat my shirt/fall asleep, and I was just ecstatic to be holding a baby lamb while wondering if I would have to put it on my customs form and be held in some dungeon in the airport for touching livestock in Peru. Verdict? TOTALLY WORTH IT.

YAY!

Yesterday we went on an all day ruins tour in the area. It was intense and fast but cool. We got to see two of the local sites named Pisaq and Ollantaytambo. They were really beautiful and just as impressive as Machu Picchu in my book. I still can't get over the awesome stones in all the ruins. They fit together like puzzle pieces and what is even more impressive is that they were carved that way using other stone tools and fibers from a plant that are similar to hemp.

 

There are also really cool terraces in all of them used for agriculture. One site that we probably won't get to see has terraces constructed to have a 5 degree temperature change for each terrace as they go down in a spiral. HOW COOL IS THAT?

Pisac (love this photo!)

Ollantaytambo - storage building on mountain side used by Incas
to preserve grains and other crops

The ruin-visit day also included lots of markets, which was probably torture for Jack but awesome for me! We got to see women weaving and creating jewelry in the various towns and villages we visited in the Sacred Valley. We also got to see all the farming between towns/villages...it is so neat how they can grow so many different things in one area. We even visited a town that is known for farming 300 kinds of potatoes called . 300 DIFFERENT KINDS. That is insane. Same thing with corn in some areas. Which explains why everything I eat is made of....get ready for it....CORN AND POTATOES. so. much. starch. We also visited a really cool market the other day full of awesome local food like veggies, fruits, and cheese. I want to go back and take some pictures at some point, it was too overwhelming at the time to get any good shots!

Anywho, that is all for now. More to come in a bit!

Hostels and hills

We are currently stationed in Cusco setting up all our adventuring to come for the next few days. We got back super late from Aguas Calientes and arrived at our hostel, Loki. It was...interesting. This hostel is notorious for being a party hostel and it definitely lived up to the reputation. Our first night was in a dorm room full of drunk kids coming in and out all night being all kinds of ridiculous. It would have been super annoying if it wasn't so entertaining! The second night was better in a private room...we could enjoy the awesome amenities and come back to a room free of drunken debauchery. I'm learning as I grow older that I am becoming way more picky about my accommodations...especially when it is winter and everything you touch is ice cold. That has been my biggest obstacle so far...I feel like I can never get warm here! That and the fact that nowhere has toilet paper. Every situation is a BYOTP kind of party. Who knew?

We are now in a cool little hostel in the artsy district of Cusco where we have a four bed room to ourselves. Cable TV too! Although only HBO is in English :) We have watched Con-Air one too many times. I really like staying in the more local areas, though. This hostel has only one staff member that speaks English and is near a bunch of fun little alley shops and restaurants. My Spanish is improving/coming back to me out of necessity, which is neat. The hostel Loki was like another world...one full of European 20 year olds who never leave the hostel and start drinking at 8am...haha. We spent a good chunk of last night watching a heinously drunk kid wander around the hostel, bouncing off people and furniture with dry heaves for about an hour...so yeeeeeeah. Our views from everywhere have been pretty neat...just mountains and Peruvian rooftops made of red clay tiles with laundry hung out to dry. I will miss the views you get here once we are back in the states for sure.

I have finally invested in some shoes so I don't slide all over the roads. Walking these mean streets is tough enough with all the vertical climbs, I don't need to add in the risk of breaking an ankle! I know that is a boring thing to put in a blog post, but I was pretty proud of myself for using my Spanish and making enough sense to actually get the right size AND buy a pair of shoes! I may sound like I am 5 years old when I speak, but people get what I am saying so it works. *pats own back*  Our two recent hostels are basically at the top of Cusco, which is built up the sides of mountains. I have never been out of breath as much as I am here! Just getting to your building takes more energy than a crossfit session. My legs will be made of STEEL by the end of this. All the exercise is good though since every meal includes cheese, bread, potatoes, rice, bread, potatoes, fried everything, did I mention bread? and potatoes? And yet I still had to invest in a belt to keep my pants on, if that tells you anything.

Our next adventure is going to hopefully include a week of Spanish school in the Sacred Valley, a trek through Colca Canyon to see some condors and be in a warm climate (finally!!!), and a visit to Lake Titicaca to do a "stay-over" with a family and see all the sites. It will take some crazy planning, but hopefully it will all come together soon! For now we will just relax, find cool restaurants, and do whatever touristy stuff is left in the city. Just walking the streets is pretty neat and can take a full day.

Again, crap internet connection so pictures may need to wait. Time for a little more HBO and warming up under the covers before heading out for comida. Thanks for reading :)

Salkantay Trek - UPDATED WITH PICS!

The past few days have been insane and a lot has happened, so I will try and make it short and sweet. We are also staying in a hostel with terribad internet, so I have a limited window of blogging time.

Machu Picchu!

The Salkantay Trek finished yesterday at Machu Picchu and let me just say, it was WAY more difficult than we had anticipated. Hiking at altitude is a beast, especially when everyone is sick and the hikes are straight up mountains. The first day of hiking wasn't too bad but was a good chunk of kilometers, so we were wiped out. On the first night, we almost had to send a few people back to lower elevation due to the severe altitude sickness symptoms they were suffering...plus the next day we had to hike to the top of a mountain that was much higher than where we were currently! I never felt as sick as the others, but Jack was in a bad way so I was worried we might need to get him out of there ASAP. Luckily we had the most amazing guide in the world who took charge and kept a positive attitude. He gave everyone this herbal concoction that the locals use for the symptoms of altitude sickness and it worked! By the morning everyone was on their way up the mountain. We decided to play it safe and take horses up the mountain which proved to be a terrifying experience. This was no simple trail ride...we were on tiny, rocky paths that zig-zagged up a steep mountain. My mule apparently liked the view and insisted on walking on the edge of the path the ENTIRE WAY. Scary but effective in getting us to the top.

At the top freezing!!

Jack the dog whisperer

After that, we slushed through mud for the rest of the day in pouring rain. I guess you can just never predict mountain weather...that night we spent a very soggy evening in the rain forest which was beautiful but COLD!! By the next day we were ready to lose some elevation and hit warmer weather and hopefully some sun. This third day was one of the most enjoyable of the trek. It was sunny and warm in the rain forest and we got to see some beautiful sights! This was also the day we went to the hot springs and let our muscles relax, so it was only about 6 hours of hiking as opposed to the other days that had around 8 - 10 hours. Everyone was in high spirits and our camp site was nice and warm. We even got to party with an Olympic gold medalist from Holland who was doing the same trek as us! He was a GIANT...apparently he won a gold medal a few years ago in the open swim but I can't remember his name.

Parts of the trail from hydroelectric

The last day was a fun hike across some train tracks from Hydroelectric to our hostel in Aguas Calientes where we would leave the next morning early for Machu Picchu. I was happy to be at an elevation where I had an appetite again! Hiking so hard (burning around 6,000 calories a day) and not being able to eat due to the altitude killing your appetite sucked. It was a pleasant day all around Aguas Calientes was a wonderful town. Mostly hostels and restaurants, but it worked for us! The next morning it was up bright and early at 4am to hike the one hour trail to Machu Picchu. Did I mention it was one hour of STAIRS? The entire way...my whole body was screaming by the end, but we made it.

Machu Picchu was gorgeous, but oh man all the people. There were so many! Luckily we got there early enough that we could take pictures and enjoy it without a million people crowding us out. We got to take some pretty awesome photos, but they may come later due to the crappy internet here.

Anyway, more details to come later. Just wanted to update and say we made it!!!!

Machu Picchu silliness

LOLZ...we had a fun group :)

Wandering...

Waking up in a bed and not in an airport today was amazing. We lounged a bit and then decided to explore Cusco, but slowly because it still feels like I am gasping for air from doing things such as brushing my hair and taking a shower. It isn't really that bad (anymore), but it is still a bit of struggle. You have to really focus on taking deeper breaths than normal or you get winded. The city is beyond beautiful. We walked through the Plaza de Armas today to seek out our tour company and it was gorgeous and bustling! In the afternoon while eating lunch, a million Peruvian children were let out of school and wandered around in their little uniforms. Beyond adorable. We are still gaining our bearings, so there is still much to see.

What I have learned about Cusco so far:

1. The sidewalks and streets are very slippery. This is probably due to the fact that my shoes have no traction, but regardless...I am practically ice skating down side streets. Jack has humored me and let me cling to him for dear life to avoid losing some teeth or breaking an ankle.

2. There are tiny baby lambs with flower tiaras EVERYWHERE. You have to pay to take a picture, so I am posting one I found online to give you an idea. They are adorable and I want to take one home with me. It also reinforced my determination to be a vegetarian. Who could eat something that adorable??

3. There are dogs everywhere! And not smelly rabies dogs...well-behaved, mostly well-groomed, adorable dogs of all shapes and sizes. Many wear little coats. But the most amazing part is that they are incredibly smart. They wait at crosswalks until they get the walk signal. I am in no way kidding...we saw it happen multiple times! Maybe dogs in other parts of the world do this too, but I have never seen it. If Malaya was left to her own devices, she would be hit by a car in under 3 minutes. Oh wait, that already happened. I want to take one of these Peruvian dogs home and have them give Malaya a bootcamp. As Jack pointed out, they are all older dogs, so obviously their method is working. 

4. Vegetarian on the menu does not mean vegetarian. I know this has been the case for me in most countries, but a little piece of me hoped it would be different here. Bonus? I get to practice my meat/edible animal vocabulary! I told Jack we should do an over-under bet regarding how many times I will accidentally eat meat while I'm here. It also limits our choices as far as restaurants go, but I may just start getting creative with my ordering (once I am more confident with my speaking) What can you do, right?

We have set up a trip to do the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu that starts day after tomorrow. I am hoping my lungs will stand up to the test...we hit pretty high altitude on the second day, but only for a short time. Hopefully I can drag myself up that mountain without whining....I mean struggling too much :) That's all for now!

Cusco, Peru!

We have made it to Peru! It was a super long trip, just like our Grand Canyon experience. We got in at 6am this morning (and it was COLD! nothing like that 108 degree weather in AZ!!) and have been spending the day acclimating to the altitude, catching up on sleep, and practicing our spanish. The practice has involved a little studying and a lot of watching TV in Spanish, including "Hook"! I KNOW, RIGHT??? Such a good movie.

Jack is experiencing the shortness of breath as am I (feels kind of like sucking air through a straw), but I am also just super tired. I think it is a combo of the altitude and also sleeping like, oh....4 hours in the past 24. I'm getting too old for this...tomorrow we start setting up our treks and taking photos, so be ready for more to come!

Grand Canyon has been conquered!

Bright Angel Trail from the top

So our Grand Canyon adventure has come to an end! It was way more than either of us could have expected. Well, we honestly didn't know what to expect so that isn't saying much. We rafted all day on big water and spent our nights sleeping under the stars on beaches. We had meals cooked in a full kitchen and plenty of down time and adventures in between. Our guides were by far what made the trip so amazing. They were incredibly knowledgable and friendly, full of entertaining stories and facts about everything around us. They were all very different too, which made it even more exciting to be in a different boat every day. Some had grown up on the river, some came to it late and fell in love. I could write an entire blog about them alone!! It was so impressive to watch them read the river and know how to navigate the rapids. And oh, the rapids. So this was my first time white water rafting...basically I was scared out of my mind. Our first day was HUGE. We hiked 7 miles down the Bright Angel Trail to the water and then began the rapids almost immediately. They were pretty big! Luckily The Colorado River has few rocks to harm you like most other rapids, so the real fear comes from the size of the rapids. 

Bright Angel Trail

Bright Angel Trail (in my dorky but life-saving gear!)

We went on many incredible hikes (some that were constant switchbacks...like, all the way...literally) and spent a lot of time in pools of all different colors. The rocks do some crazy things to the water around here due to all the various metals/compounds/insert-sciencey-facts-here, etc. The water never ceased to amaze me! It was incredibly difficult to read the currents, even in small little pools. There were many times I jumped off a rock only to find myself getting sucked in a million directions or straight-up UNDER WATER multiple times. A little scary, but hey...what is an adventure without a few moments that freak you out completely? Swimming the rapid triathalon at the end was by far one of the hardest things for me to do. That and Lava Falls, but I am getting ahead of myself. The triathalon involved jumping off a rock about 10 feet and then swimming a rapid, then just finishing it off with a "quick swim to shore". Easy, right? NO. The jump and rapid went swimmingly, but the actual swimming to shore part was brutal. First of all, the water hovers around 48 degrees fahrenheit. So cold it makes your lungs hurt, you limbs go numb, and you actually get a BRAIN FREEZE if you are under water too long. Imagine swimming that, against at least 5 currents from all directions, knowing if you stop swimming you swill get swept downstream and have to hike back to camp. We all made it, but at times you were swimming in place the current or eddy was so strong and by the time you made it to camp everything simultaneously burned and felt frozen. About 15 of us were slowly dragging ourselves onto the beach gasping for air...it probably looked like some terrifying zombie movie to everyone on shore. But at least I can say I did it!

Our rides for the next 9 days

We saw the entire lower portion of the Grand Canyon and did the epic Lava Falls rapid, which is a 10 on the 1-10 scale of Grand Canyon rapids. To give you an idea, 1 is like "oh look at that cute little ripple!" and 10 is like "hmm...that looks like the perfect storm mixed up inside a washing machine with a few huge boulders...do I have a living will?". My guide went through all the safety things we needed to know if we flipped or lost someone out of the boat (known as a "swimmer"), which made me prepared and also thoroughly freaked me out. By the time we were heading into the rapid, I had so much adrenaline coursing through my veins I almost jumped out and just swam the stupid thing to get it over with. Needles to say, it was amazing and totally worth it. We heard later a boat after us got stuck in a super scary part and had a few swimmers...guess we dodged a bullet! :)

Killer hike to Thunder River Falls (think thats the name?)

There were so many other amazing things we saw and did, it is too much to put into words. I will post a facebook album once we return from all our travels to give you a better idea. Even so, pictures can only say so much. If you ever get a chance to do the trip, DO IT DO IT DO IT!!