machu picchu

emily and i survived the 5 day hike. we hiked for 70 km in total on some crazy terrain at times. our first day we hiked for 8 hours. i´ve already excluded breaks and lunch ect. after the first day one girl dropped out because of altitude sickness. she was throwing up all night next to our tent. it was really gross. that first night we could hardly sleep anyways. it was so cold. we wore all our clothes plus our tuques and mitts and still we were cold. no one slept well that day.

the worst day was the 2nd day of the trek where we had to go up a steep mountain for 1km. emily was really sick that day from something she ate, she still had a cold and we were both suffering a bit from the high altitude. we were definately the slowest of the group that day but no one seemed to mind. that day was 9 hours of hiking. we collapsed in our tents that night.

the third day we walked for 7 hours through lower lands and got eaten alive by black flies. my whole body is covered. it´s pretty hideous. we got to take a crazy ride on the back of a large pick up truck going down dirt roads. we camped in a town called santa maria and walked to some natural hot springs. it was so wonderful to relax our poor aching muscles. the 35 minute walk back to the campsite felt like torture after the hotsprings.

the forth day was pretty chill. we walked for 45 minutes to a cable pulley thing to cross the river. it looked a lot scarier then it was. it was so much fun. then we caught another ¨bus¨to another town had lunch and then walked 3 hours along the train tracks to Agues Calientes. this town literally means hot water. it´s one of the most touristy cities we´ve been to since it´s so close to Machu Picchu. we got to stay in a hostel that night. it was nice to have a hot shower. since people in the group had booked through different travel agencies the group was split between 3 different hostels. but we all met up for dinner.

the fifth day we had to get up at 430 am because our guide wanted us to see the sun rise over machu picchu. we all showed up at the restaurant for breakfast and our guide had slept in. we had to wait 30 minutes outside. we climbed the gazillion steps up to the ruins which took about an hour. then we had a guide take us around and explain things for 2 hours. it was way too early! we couldn´t have even seen the sun rise if we had gotten there on time. it was so foggy. luckily the fog cleared up somewhat so i still have some pretty awsome pictures. for some reason we got booked on the 420pm train back to Cuzco. that sucked since it left us with way too much time to kill in Agues calientes. a group of us played lots of card games. i managed to nap on the train back to Cuzco.

that night we went out with some people from the group. 2 british guys, 1 japanese girl that turned out to be 38! she kicked our asses on the hike!, 1 dutch guy and 1 irish guy. we played drinking games at the hostel until someone told us to shut up because they were trying to sleep. then we all went to the bars. the bars here offer free drinks to come into their bar. we didn´t pay for anything last night. that was a crazy night. this morning we couldn´t sleep in because construction started next to our hostel at 7am. ugh! so tired today. Emily and i managed to see one museum today. the inka museum. the highlight for me was seeing a recreation of an inka burial. all the mummies are in the fetal position. it was creepy.

oh yeah. emily and i look like total freaks! we forgot suntan lotion on the trek. actually we didnt think we´d need it since it´s so cold here. well at 3000 to 4000 m elevation and near the equator the sun is pretty strong. we both have the worst sun burns on our faces. it´s the worst one i´ve ever had in my entire life. i´ve started peeling. something that has never happened to me before. so now we are covered with bugs bites and flaking skin but we still managed to have peruvian guys trying to pick us up. score!?