Cusco and Machu Picchu 8/30/12 - 9/6/12

Our first three days in Cusco weren't that eventful and were used to plan our trip to Machu Pichhu.  We met a couple of travelers, J.P. (Australia) and Katie (Portland, Oregon), while in Arequipa and we both ended up going to Cusco on the same bus and staying at the same hostel.  We decided we wanted to do Machu Picchu together.

To get to Machu Picchu there are more than a few options: hike the classic Inca Trail, hike the Salkantay trail, do a Jungle Trek, take the train, go by van, etc.  Of course, each one of these varies in price, duration, and availability.  All are great options but just depends what kind of experience you want.  After talking to various tour companies and weighing the different options, the four of us decided we wanted to do a trip of our own.  We combined van transportation, hiking, and camping.

We started in a tourist van full of about 15 people and went for a 7 hour ride along some VERY narrow, windy roads to the town, Hydroelectrica.  From here, there's the option to train or hike 2 1/2 hours into the town of Aguas Calientes.  We loaded our packs with tents and sleeping bags that we rented from town, food, and clothes and made the hike to our campground, 20 minutes before town.

The path was along the railroad tracks and went through some beautiful scenery.  Our campsite was right at the entrance to Machu Picchu (the entrance to start the 1 hour hike or 20 minute bus ride to get you up to the gates).

The next day we were up by 4 A.M. in order to start the hour hike up to the Machu Picchu entrance gates and be some of the first people in.  Kristin woke up at 3:30 that morning to the sound of pouring down rain.  We hoped it would stop before we hit the road, but unfortunately we were not that lucky.  We weren't that worried though because we had our rain jackets so we thought we would be okay.  We began the journey at little after 4:30 am and it was dark, rainy, and kind of cold.

We found out the hard way that the rain jackets were only water resistant and not water proof!  Our stuff was soaked and we were freezing. We made it into Machu Pichu a little after 6 am, still raining, and walked around for a little while soaking it all in (no pun intended) and taking pictures. Even in the rain, Machu Picchu was incredible.  Everyone has seen pictures of this wonder, and it's even more amazing in person!

After about 45 minutes the rain subdued and Matt, Kristin, and Katie were so cold that we went back out to get something warm to drink.  After drinking some hot chocolate, the sun came out and we were able to dry out our clothes.

This made us very happy :), and we re-entered to hike Waynapicchu (the big mountain in the background of pictures).  It was steep and hard, but well worth it for the views.

After we reached the top and took some pictures, we continued on another trail to go see the Grand Caverna (Grand Cave); however, we aren't so sure that it was "Grand".  This hike added another 2 hours of down the mountain, up the mountain, around the mountain, and up the mountain AGAIN and we never saw anything close to "grand".  

Eventually, we made it back to the entrance, only after Matt wanted to die a few times.  The altitude makes it harder to breathe and this mountain was steep going up and coming back down!!  Definitely not a hike for people scared of heights.

We enjoyed more of Machu Picchu and decided to hike back down to our camp around 3.  By the end of the day we ended up hiking roughly 8 hours.  Very tiresome, especially on the knees.

The next day we went to some hot springs in Aguas Calientes (hence the name of the town), a good way to relax the muscles.  Afterwards we broke down camp, packed up, and hiked the 2 hours back to be picked up by the van.  The ride back was EVEN scarier than the ride there because we were in the front seats this time and could look out the window and see down the mountain since we were that close to the edge.  2 hours of the journey was on a one lane road and the drivers just honk as they're going around the turns, praying no one is coming from the other direction.  On top of that, once it was dark there was a thick fog that lasted for a while where we couldn't see anything in front of us.  And someone forgot to tell the driver that it's not the best idea to use the brights in the fog.  Kristin was grabbing Matt's arm the entire journey and was so happy when we made it back to Cusco.  

Once back in Cusco, it was low key again and we used the time to relax and plan our next move to get across the border into Bolivia.

In Cusco we stayed at the Eco Packers Hostel.  Breakfast was provided, bathrooms had hot water and were very clean, the beds were super comfortable, there was a TV lounge room with fireplace, and the staff was friendly.  We spent a lot of evenings in the lounge area on bean bags next to the fire relaxing with a cold beer.  We stayed in a 6-8 person dorm that cost about $14 each per night.  We enjoyed this place!

Titicaca to Shotwell! 9/7/12

I wanted to send my well wishes to the team and fans that will be at Shotwell Stadium tonight as Abilene High hosts Duncanville.

A big congrats for the tough fought win last week, I hope the positive things continue to flow.

Good luck from Copacabana, Bolivia, a small village on Lake Titicaca!

Arequipa 8/24/12 - 8/29/12

We finally made it to Arequipa and were ready for a meal and rest.  The town just so happened to have a McDonald's, thus, we decided to indulge in such a treat.  This was our first McDonald's of the trip and it did not taste good!

We really didn't know what to do around Arequipa; however we quickly figured out most people are in the area to do Colca Canyon.  We wanted a few days first to relax, so we scheduled a trek a few days out.  We checked out the town, and the views of the volcanoes and the town square which were pretty great.

We ended up meeting a guy from New Zealand, Hamish, and a couple from Portugal, Ricardo and Catarina, at our hostel that booked the same trek as us.  The trek was a 2 day/ 1 night hike down into Colca Canyon, stay over night  at the river, and then hike back up the next day.

So we packed our small backpacks, made some trail mix, bought plenty of water, and hit the hay early the night before our trek because we had to wake up at 2:45 A.M. the next morning for our 3 A.M. tour bus.

The bus picked us up at 3 and we rode about 5 hours to get to Colca Canyon for our first stop, Cruz del Condor.  Here we saw the Andean Condor which has the largest wingspan of any land bird, a little over 10 feet!

After watching these birds for a little while, we continued on for another hour until we got to the town where our trek started.  We had a good group for our trek as it was only the 5 of us and our guide.  The hike down into the canyon involved lots of pretty steep rocks and took about 3 hours.  Colca Canyon is reportedly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and one of the deepest canyons in the world, but the walls of Colca Canyon are not as steep as the Grand Canyon.  Matt and I said to each other at the end of the trek that we both thought the Grand Canyon was more impressive.

Once we finally made it to the river, or "The Oasis", where we were staying for the night we all just wanted to eat and rinse off in the pool.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed.  Our hike back up started the next morning at 5 am.  We made it back up the canyon in a little less than 3 hours.  Between the altitude, dust, and sore legs, the hike up was quite the morning exercise.

As part of the tour we also stopped at a hot springs pool that was quite nice and a look out of the area and then another look out of multiple volcanoes.  Arequipa has over 80 volcanoes in the area, but only 1 is active.

We made it back to Arequipa and relaxed for a day before heading on to Cusco.

We stayed at Wild Rover Arequipa for $11.  This hostel is more of a "party hostel" which isn't the norm for us; however, we stayed there based on a review from another traveler.  The hostel was clean, fun, and we met some good people that we experienced the canyon with so it worked out well.  We forgot to take pictures of this hostel, oops!