Camino Inka (The Inca Trail) - Day 2 - Part II... I know I can, I know I can!

More orchid sightings but still looking for the "Forever Orchid"



Hiking back up to another mountain pass after lunch





Runkurracay (Inca ruin site)



Runkuracay - named for its egg-shaped middle design



Small, shallow lake? near top of 2nd pass with chilly mist of the altitude climb





Yay down lol  - if I don't see another stair again it won't be too soon!

When I wasn't stopping to catch my breath and enjoying the valley/mountain views...I was concentrating on staying on the rocky path beneath my feet!



Campsite reached!  Couldn't capture it on the iPhone but beautiful clear night sky views of the Southern Cross constellation and the Milky Way belt from our mountain edge campsite:)
(Track our progress on the Llama Path map)

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Day 2 Recap:  Ayapata to Dead woman's pass (4250m/13779ft) to Chaquichocha (3600m/11800ft)

• 16 km/9 miles trekked
• Two mountain peaks traversed
• Highest elevation gain 950m/2950ft; net gain 300m/971 ft

Camino Inka (The Inca Trail) - Day 2 - Part I ... What was I thinking?!

Day 2 of my first real 'backpacking' (versus 'car camping') trip to date was warned to be the most difficult day of the Inca Trail trek as well as the coldest night of the trip at -2 degrees Celsius.

But seriously, big kudos to the Llama Path guide Eddie and co-guide David for being motivational cheerleaders every step of the way and the porters for showing us how backpacking with 30kg on your back (and beating us by a mile) is really done!


Edwin Eddie Champi and David - Our guides

Day's preview by our guide:

• Wake up 6 am
• Hike 2 hours uphill to Warmiwafiusca (aka Dead Woman's Pass) - highest pt of trek
• Descend 2 hours downhill
• Lunch
• Hike 2 hours uphill again to 2nd pass over another mountain pass
• Descend for 2 hours downhill to our campsite @ Chaquicocha

Heading up....

Yet another micro climate w/in the Andes...



Yay! 1st 'wildlife' llama encounter having a snack...



Crispy chilly but breathtaking views (and no not due to altitude gain:D) - so glad 2nd day was cooler for our 2 hour hill ascents!



Still heading up... apparently a natural path tread by the local llamas

Knees are definitely starting to feel the challenge...glad I got the walking stick!

Still more up??? Where does it end? lol



Our 1st orchid sighting! - tiny I know! Helped to have a biologist in the group to point then out:)

Deadly nightshade (ID courtesy of our fellow biologist traveler Liam)





Photo op/excuse for a break time! lol



Representin' USA and Canada! (me, Sienmi, Anna)



Downhill!!! - equally steep 2 hr descent

down, down, down...

Photo ops at every turn...



A surprise waterfall as we looked back up our path behind us:)

LUNCH BREAK!!! :D

(Track our progress on the Llama Path map)

Camino Inka (The Inca Trail) - Day 1 - Conquering the Andes

One of the main goals of this first trip to South America for me was to visit the famed Machu Picchu archeological site a.k.a. "Lost City of the Incas" never found/destroyed by Spaniards. (Voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World)

Now there are basically two ways to get to this vast citadel/Inca ruin that lays nestled in the Andes on Machu Picchu mountain:

• The easy way:  2 - hour train ride from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes city at the base of Machu Picchu and a 30-min bus shuttle up to the site.

OR

• The full Inca experience immersion/pilgrimage route (a.k.a. the more challenging way lol): a 4 day/3 night backpacking hike across three mountains and a 3:00am sprint on the 4th day to the Sun Gate entrance of Machu Picchu site to be the first visitors - Si, muy macho:D

Yeah guess which one this L.A. city girl chose to do....
3:45 am start - departure from Pariwana Hostel to Llama Path bus meeting place.
2 hr bus/nap to Ollantaytambo ....brrrr...wishing I had brought that extra fleece sweater!



Starting point at Kilometer 82 (2720m/8923ft) - Happy, bright faces:D



 We booked the "Inca Comfort Trail 4D/3N" package through Llama Path and let's just say I let the "comfort" part of the tour package ease my mind when I reserved it but a tiny part of me probably knew what was really in store.



1st steps along the Urubamba River -



Gaining elevation quickly!

Little shower scare (me in my poncho de lluvia :)



Local burros sharing the trail and having a bite to eat

Cow trail block



Pretty flowers everywhere! But still on the hunt for orchids...

Gorgeous river views from the trail

Yay lunch break w/ refreshing warm (boiled) water to hand wash in the wilderness:)



Sopa and frites

Veggies and more potatoes (over 200+ varieties...they're everywhere!)



A much needed respite after 'sprinting' (Ann's interpretation) up a tons of rock stairs..



Forget the extra sweater lol! - The steep ascents made us sweat bullets especially with 5kg+ on our backs... jackets were coming off left and right...but then right back on for any stops greater than 10 min (mountain chill still there!)

Left: Sienmi's backpack; Right: a porter's 'backpack' - how do they do it??



One of many breathtaking views of the Andes to come...almost around every trail corner.



Finally - end of Day 1 - Survived? Yes ...not so bad?

Day 1 Recap: Km 82 to Ayapata campsite (3300m/10829 ft)

• 14 km/8 miles trekked
• 580m/1906 ft elevation gain
• Super brief mist/drizzle
• After our surprisingly "challenging" hike (for me) on Day 1, I hope I survive the dreaded day 2 and don't shred all my muscles by manana!

(Track our progress on the Llama Path map) 

Money, money, money: the Peruvian nuevo sol (S/.)

With new foreign destinations comes the need for knowledge on new monies and currencies.  For Sienmi and I, this meant getting to know the Peruvian Nuevo Sol.  How were we to taxi to our hostel or importantly eat?? Motivation led us to research (worth it) the exchange rate of $1 to S/.1

Whoo hoo, turns out for this trip the Nuevo sol is worth a third of the US dollar so our hard earned T.A.'ing money and Target (per diem) dollars would go a little farther:)

                                   $1 USD = S/.2.73 PEN as of June 19, 2013.

We also discovered (via our dependable friend Google) that the best exchange rates are via ATM.  Make sure you pull out of an S. American affiliate bank (free) or know what your bank fee for withdrawal is...

Bank of America - affiliate: Scotia Bank
Wells Fargo - affiliate: none ($5 transaction fee per withdrawal-ouch)

All sources (Google, LonelyPlanet, various websites) all agree that the WORST place to exchange is at the airport so don't do it! Or just get enough for a cab to the ATM lol (our method).

Example:
Lima airport - Interbank exchange: $1 USD = S/.2.45 Nuevo soles PLUS 3% commission
Lima airport - generic money exchange (next to Interbank): $1 USD = S/.2.52

Cusco - Cambista (Street currency exchanger)...actually in a small store on El Sol street
$1 USD = S/.2.71 up to S/.2.74 (best cambio yet!)- score!!!! Apparently slightly better rates than banks.

Casas de Cambio

ATM - haven't tried yet 'cause 2.74 ain't bad at all:D

Side note: Hotels and expensive tourist shops (e.g. alpaca sweater stores) still take major credit cards so don't panic. (Capitol One VISA -no international fees; WellsFargo VISA 3% per transaction)

But lol our hostel only took Nuevos sols as did the street food vendors selling those mouth-watering pork rinds:D

 

Yo no entiendo: A Dinner to Remember

June 19th - 1900

After 14 hours of flying, layovers and lugging  combined total of 38 kg of personal belongings around, Sienmi and I were ready to pass out...literally.

We arrived in Cusco at 1605 (right on time) and were comfortably ensconced in our private 2-bed/1ba hostel room by 1730.

By 1900 though after countless cups of warm, soothing coca leaf tea, we were ready to drag ourselves out of bed and find some good eats!

Pacha Papa ($$) in San Blas was a recommendation by Lonely Planet as well as our local taxi driver when we asked for the "mejor restaurant" in Cusco.  Maybe even try the cuy (I'll let you decipher that local delicacy:D)

Short story: we ended up on Arequipa Street a short distance from Pariwana Hostel at the recommendation of some cheap good (S./8-9 per dish) eats by the front desk attendant.

Entrez Restaurunte Egos - Menu looked fairly clear...and we figured that we couldn't go wrong ordering....the pollo.  Who doesn't like chicken?

One hour later, this is what we managed to order between non-English speaking server and non-Spanish/Quechua speaking gringos (us):

 

We wanted local, we GOT local lol.  Definitely should have at least downloaded a Spanish dictionary or brought with us our Lonely Planet guidebook with common translation appendix in the back.

En somme:  the bebidas calientes of hot chocolate con leche was delicious in the evening 34F temperature and eh why not a little chocolate german cake appetizer before our pollo dorado and milineza de pollo main course.


Milaneza di Pollo

La cuenta (bill)
-------------------------
2 chocolat con leche (bebidas calientes) S./ 10
1 slice of chocolate cake S./3.5 (accidently ordered when we were trying to find out our pollo status)
2 pollo entrees S./14
-------------------------
Total S./27.50 = $10.91

Realising how much can actually be lost in translation and that I should have taken the time to pick up a little more Spanish in L.A.  --> Priceless!

Day 1 - Red Eye to South America!

June 18th

The vacation gods have finally laid down the law and I find myself boarding an LAX red-eye (11:39pm) flight to 16 days of a new South America adventure!

This trip had definitely brought down any self-proclaimed titles of myself being a 'wordly traveler'. Yes, Western Europe and Southeast Asia have been demystified...but when I, a native born N. American, can not with certainty tell you where Peru is.....I know I've got a lot to learn lol:)

So to quickly answer some pre-trip questions I had received from fellow Peruvian virgins now that the first bridge has been crossed:

Total flight time from LAX to Cuzco (CUZ) = 11 hrs
2 connections: LAX - Panama City (PTY) 6.5 hrs
                        PTY to Lima (LIM) 3.5 hrs
                        LIM to CUZ 1.25hrs

Whew!  Had to take a break and photobomb some pandas in the duty-free National Geographic store in the PTY airport...

Overall Copa airlines and Lan Peru Airlines were on time and transitions in each airport went very smoothly with less than 1 hour time layovers pretty much.

Don't forget to hydrate to increase quality of plane tolerance and I was a bit afraid of my reaction for Cusco's 11,000 feet elevation so I started my prescribed acetazolamide (Diamox) pill course at LAX:)

Unfortunately no sleep for me on the leg to PTY but did pass the time with The Promised Land, Beautiful Creatures and Jack the Giant Slayer!  Think I'm good on movie watching for the next couple of months hehe.

No hiccups except one odd thing on a pretty empty flight to LIM. My good friend and traveling buddy for the trip, Sienmi, was told that she couldn't occupy the exit row seat (with glorious leg space) because she didn't speak/understand Spanish.... Hmm, despite clear emergency pictorial and large printed Spanish/English directions on the exitdoor.  So the seat stayed empty. Lucky for us, no emergency exiting was required.