It's my birthday! Day 3 was the longest of the trek. Nilton, one of our guides, said that Day 1 was the training day, Day 2 was the challenge, Day 3 was historical, and Day 4 was magic.
For our Day 3 lunch, Jesus made us a beautiful cake as a surprise. But how? How did he frost it? I was very impressed. During tea, we figured out the tips to distribute to the guides, porters, head porter, and chefs. Mark from Arizona made a speech, and Gina from Colombia translated.
We woke up at 3:30am to begin our final two hours to Machu Picchu. It was dark and rainy when we began, and I was thankful for the head lamp that Ryan and Lealah got me for my birthday. It was somewhat of a race to the top and it was discouraging how cloudy it was at the sungate.
We did a two hour tour of the ruins, and I took lots of llama selfies. Want to know how the terraces on the ruins stay trimmed? LLAMAS! Afterwards, we had an hour and a half to ourselves. I trekked back up to the main place where people take the quintessential Machu Picchu pic with Chris and Erjela. We were each other's photographers. They took a great photo with the South African flag. I sat looking at the ruins, in disbelief that I had hiked up to the place that I envisioned myself going to since 2008. I'm happy that I have the means and belief in myself to do these things.
Then we made it to the first real toilet for days. Best sole I ever spent! The bathrooms along the trek were awful - not just because of the squatting but also because of the smell. On my way out of the bathroom, I ran into a girl from school in the bathroom line. What a small world!
We took a 25 minute bus ride down the mountain to a little town and had our final lunch together. I had a much deserved ice cold beer. Then I explored the little town, bought postcards, and took photos of the stray animals. While in the process of taking an adorable photo of a kitten, I lost my bus ticket! But I couldn't be mad because that kitten was just too dang cute. Plus the bus station printed out another one for me, no problem.
I bought a bocadillo and a chocolate bar and felt content. At the train station, our bus left early with only eight of us on it. The South Africans asked me about my thoughts on Black Lives Matter and I told them about how I fully support the movement. Erjela told me she had friends that were against it. They showed me wedding photos and I asked them about the #feesmustfall protests that were happening at the South African universities. I really liked them.
When we got off the train we met our next bus driver to Cusco. I was the only one in the group that spoke a bit of Spanish so I explained that were were missing people and led the group to get out of the pouring rain. It worked! That Spanish vocab coming through - words such as "return" and "wait" are game changers. They ended up putting us on a different bus and our driver waited for Gina, Mark, Vic, Danny, and Jackson to arrive.
My shower back at the hostel was 45 mins long and heavenly. I couldn't fall asleep because I was too excited about what I accomplished. I woke up this morning smiling since I am the birthday girl! I looked into hiking Colca and then heading to Huacachina before Lima. But the bus tour companies have started closing down for Christmas. I dropped off my trek clothes for laundry (although I probably should have burned them) and then wrote postcards.
I did a two hour walking tour and at the end the guide gave me two pisco sours, since it was my birthday. The group wanted to go to a travel company, and I ended up jumping on board with two Australians' plans to go to the jungle. For three days and two nights, including two overnight buses, it was only $228. So cheap! I'm excited for the spontaneity. Tonight a group of us is going to dinner and hopefully drink more piscos. After booking the jungle, I drank a beer on a balcony overlooking the main square and ate ceviche with the Australians. One of them said "I don't think I've ever said this about a Western country, but I feel bad for you all that Trump is president." You're telling me dude!
It has shaped up to be a wonderful birthday and I was able to temporarily forget the many challenges that my 28th year with bring. How did I get so old? But I am grateful. I leave for the jungle tomorrow!
For our Day 3 lunch, Jesus made us a beautiful cake as a surprise. But how? How did he frost it? I was very impressed. During tea, we figured out the tips to distribute to the guides, porters, head porter, and chefs. Mark from Arizona made a speech, and Gina from Colombia translated.
We woke up at 3:30am to begin our final two hours to Machu Picchu. It was dark and rainy when we began, and I was thankful for the head lamp that Ryan and Lealah got me for my birthday. It was somewhat of a race to the top and it was discouraging how cloudy it was at the sungate.
We did a two hour tour of the ruins, and I took lots of llama selfies. Want to know how the terraces on the ruins stay trimmed? LLAMAS! Afterwards, we had an hour and a half to ourselves. I trekked back up to the main place where people take the quintessential Machu Picchu pic with Chris and Erjela. We were each other's photographers. They took a great photo with the South African flag. I sat looking at the ruins, in disbelief that I had hiked up to the place that I envisioned myself going to since 2008. I'm happy that I have the means and belief in myself to do these things.
Then we made it to the first real toilet for days. Best sole I ever spent! The bathrooms along the trek were awful - not just because of the squatting but also because of the smell. On my way out of the bathroom, I ran into a girl from school in the bathroom line. What a small world!
We took a 25 minute bus ride down the mountain to a little town and had our final lunch together. I had a much deserved ice cold beer. Then I explored the little town, bought postcards, and took photos of the stray animals. While in the process of taking an adorable photo of a kitten, I lost my bus ticket! But I couldn't be mad because that kitten was just too dang cute. Plus the bus station printed out another one for me, no problem.
I bought a bocadillo and a chocolate bar and felt content. At the train station, our bus left early with only eight of us on it. The South Africans asked me about my thoughts on Black Lives Matter and I told them about how I fully support the movement. Erjela told me she had friends that were against it. They showed me wedding photos and I asked them about the #feesmustfall protests that were happening at the South African universities. I really liked them.
When we got off the train we met our next bus driver to Cusco. I was the only one in the group that spoke a bit of Spanish so I explained that were were missing people and led the group to get out of the pouring rain. It worked! That Spanish vocab coming through - words such as "return" and "wait" are game changers. They ended up putting us on a different bus and our driver waited for Gina, Mark, Vic, Danny, and Jackson to arrive.
My shower back at the hostel was 45 mins long and heavenly. I couldn't fall asleep because I was too excited about what I accomplished. I woke up this morning smiling since I am the birthday girl! I looked into hiking Colca and then heading to Huacachina before Lima. But the bus tour companies have started closing down for Christmas. I dropped off my trek clothes for laundry (although I probably should have burned them) and then wrote postcards.
I did a two hour walking tour and at the end the guide gave me two pisco sours, since it was my birthday. The group wanted to go to a travel company, and I ended up jumping on board with two Australians' plans to go to the jungle. For three days and two nights, including two overnight buses, it was only $228. So cheap! I'm excited for the spontaneity. Tonight a group of us is going to dinner and hopefully drink more piscos. After booking the jungle, I drank a beer on a balcony overlooking the main square and ate ceviche with the Australians. One of them said "I don't think I've ever said this about a Western country, but I feel bad for you all that Trump is president." You're telling me dude!
It has shaped up to be a wonderful birthday and I was able to temporarily forget the many challenges that my 28th year with bring. How did I get so old? But I am grateful. I leave for the jungle tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment