Glamping

Day one of the Inca Trail complete. My heart is full from accomplishing one of my oldest dreams!

The company supplied a much nicer bus than the Rainbow nonsense. I sat next to Jackson, a biologist that works for the park reserve in Flagstaff, Arizona. He came with his mom and stepdad. His mom looks like a hippie and keeps losing stuff at every stop.

We ate breakfast in a quaint little town and two South Africans sat at my table. They were beyond precious. They are taking two honeymoons - one the girl (whose name I can't pronounce! I hate myself) planned as a surprise, which was the trip to Peru, and the second Chris will plan in South Africa. So sweet! They met in their third year at college and after about a month she figured they wouldn't make it, and so they made a deal to skydive for their one year anniversary. They did! Chris isn't fond of traveling but does it for her. I can tell he loves her very much.

I can't forget about my crazy last minute rushing around last night! I wanted clean clothes, so I went to two places, one that charged me 30 soles and the other 20. I went to the market to get water and then bought a day pack (very touristy, but still cute) that I haggled down from 28 to 25. Then I went to the bank atm to get out 400 soles. After my barfing episodes, I decided to hire a porter to carry my bag. I didn't want to, but the altitude! I blame the altitude. I knew the guide would charge a bit more for last minute but it was worth it. We have to carry our sleeping bag and mattress pad and even though I left some stuff at the hostel and had my daypack, it still weighed 10 kilos! And the max was 8 kilos. But he said it was ok and we agreed on 300 soles, which is about $100. Not bad for four days! I lucked out and am feeling a million times better.

Our two guides are great. We stopped for lunch and all the porters clapped for us. They are incredible men. They carry all our equipment and run ahead of us so camp will be ready in time. We had a tent with a table and chairs and silverware and even a tablecloth. We had avocado today! We also had chicken noodle soup, salmon with orange sauce, veggies, rice, and tea. It was perfect and we were all happy.

We take lots of breaks for learning and climbing. A family is here from San Jose! Too funny. Now we are at camp, where our tents were already set up for us. I'm sharing my tent with Cynthia, the daughter of the San Jose couple. The bathroom is free here, but along the way has been 1 sole. We are nestled in a valley and the stream is right by our tents. The South African took a cute polaroid of me journaling.