Hiking

It’s finally here!

So, I got up at 4:45, threw all my gear in an orange porter bag and got on a bus. We are driving on steep, curvy roads through dusty villages where llama and alpaca graze in front yards. I am finally on the way to the Inca Trail!!
Well….I wrote that early this morning, and I can now say that I have hiked under a full moon on the Inca Trail. How unbelievably cool is that?!
Today was dubbed as a pretty simple day, and a lot of it wasn’t bad, but there were some pretty serious climbs, and the day ended with a 1,000 foot climb up to camp. We hiked 14 kilometers, and due to the fact that the sun goes down at 5:30, I had to night hike some. But it was gorgeous!
When the bus dropped us off at the Inca Trailhead, better known a kilometer 82, we had to go through a serious checkpoint and we got our passport stamped! I am very proud of that stamp, but I will be even more proud of the stamp they put i my passport when I get to Macchu Picchu! 
We spend the day hiking on a trail that is fairly wide and rocky. From time to time there are rock steps, and the trail is in a deep valley surrounded by huge mountains. We hiked along a roaring river, full of trout, for most of the day and it was just delightful. From time to time, we would pass a mud- brick house with a corrugated tin roof being held down by rocks. Children would watch us shyly and the women would offer soft drinks and water for sale. I think this is a primary source of income for some of these folks.
Every now and then, we have to move to the side of the trail to let horses, mules, and llamas go by, being herded by their owners. The trail is actually quite remote and we saw one woman being taken off the trail on a mule!
The most remarkable people on the trail are the porters. Peruvian men ten to be on the small side, and yu wouldn’t guess that they are amazingly strong! They come by us in long lines, sometimes trotting with huge packs on their backs. They must be pure muscle!
I wish I could tell you that I am roughing it, but the porters think of everything. For meals, they put up a big tent, complete with table and stools for us to sit on, and then serve us a huge meal. When we got into camp, our bags were in our tents and there were bowls of hot water outside the door of the tent.
Yep, the hiking is hard, but they do everything in their power to make it as nice as it can be.
Julia and I hiked together all day long and she was fabulous. She could have finished much earlier, but chose to hang out with me and help me pace myself. We had a great day sighting hummingbirds in the bushes and gazing at the mountains towering above us. We really miss Deb and Sharon, who is hiking a different trail, though and can’t wait till we are all together at Macchu Picchu.
Tomorrow is the hardest day of all…..a lot of you know that I have been dreading it. Up 1,500 feet, down 1,000 feet….have lunch and then do it all again. Overall, we gain 3,000 feet tomorrow and lose 2,000. But I am not scared anymore.  Bring it on!
Love, Anna

June 16, 2008

Hyberbolic Chambers

Well, today has been another really hard day, but for much different reasons. Deb is really sick and they have called a doctor to come see her. She was up all night coughing and I am really worried about her.
Dr. Fernando came to the hotel and examined her and said that he thought she might have pulmonary edema….water in her lungs. So he arranged for a lab tech to come to the hotel to take her blood after which she was going to get a chest x-ray. The rest of the group has two bike rides and a hike planned for today, but I am going to stay with Deb.
After the lab tech came, the test results were delivered and Dr. Fernando came back to escort Us to the clinic for the x-ray. Is this service, or what? Finally, chest xray in hand, he gave Deb the results. Pulmonary edema. But, the good news is that it is only stage one. And he thinks that with two days of oxygen, doubled up altitude medicine and sessions in a hyperbaric chamber that she will be fine to meet us in Macchu Pichu!! Is’nt that great?!
So, we settled in for a long day of blood taking and oxygen breathing. I took a cab back to the hotel to gather her things up and when I got back to the clinic, she looked so muc better!! She had color, no fever and, for the first time in a week, no headache! Yay!
Whenshe went in for her first hyperbaric treatment, or as I like to call it, hyper-bolic treatment, I went back to the hotel to meet the group. We are supposed to have a meeting about the Incan Trail and I need to be there for it. I am having very conflicted feelings about going. She is doing great, and between the clinic people and the tour people, she always has someone taking care of her. But I am still not sure that I should leave her. I have decided to have Julia and Sharon look at her and tell me what they think.

June 15, 2008

Cabs, Cows and Caves

Well, today was a tough day. It started with a lovely breakfast before we had to say goodbye to our beloved Ninos Hotel. I am really going to miss this place! We taxied all of our gear to our new hotel and met the rest of our group.
There are 12 of us in all and everyone looks very fit! We range in age from 25 to 60 and everyone seems very cool. Our guide is a handsome, young local man with a winning smile and a wicked sense of humor. Have you ever noticed that tour guides are almost always like that? 
We started the day with a walk through the market. I assumed that we would be going to a tourist market, but when we got there, it was quickly evident that no tourist in their right mind would ever come here! We entered to stacks of boiled guinea pigs and piles of cow parts. ALL the parts! There was every type of animal part there in big heaps. I even saw a water buffalo nose!!
All that meat and not an ice cube or piece of saran wrap in sight! I am definitely not in Kansas anymore!
The market also had fruits, vegetables, fish eyes, breads, etc. But it is all that gross stuff that really stuck with me. Strange place to go before lunch, huh?  But that is exactly where we went next! Lunch was uneventful, and afterwards we did a big, uphill hike. Did I mention that it was big? And of course, Arturo wanted us to hike together, so everytime I would get to the top of the rise, the group would be waiting for me.  That part I really hate.
We went to a place called Sauchy Wyman, (I am pretty sure that I spelled that wrong but it is pronounced “Sexy Woman”). This is an amazing Incan temple that overlooks the city and once I got there, I really loved it!
I should have known that it couldn’t all be frolicing through the ruins…..Arturo led us over to a dark hole in the ground and said, “Now we go through the Incan tunnels”. I am not afraid of   mountains or bears or sleeping alone in the woods. I am not afraid to travel to remote corners of the earth by myself. I am, however, VERY afraid of dark, enclosed spaces…like caves. I questioned Arturro carefully…Do I have to go through? Yes. Can I go around? No. is it nice and big? No, it is very small and tight. He actually said that!!! This was NOT on the itinerary.
Finally, Natalie said she would lead me through while Julia and Sharon followed. Natalie kept up a running stream of, “It is a sharp turn left here, step down just about here, duck down..it gets really low here…”, and I just followed in the pitch dark. About half way through, I really thought I was going to lose it and it was only the thought of my friends behind me, and the fact that I didn’t want them to have to wade through my lunch, that kept me calm. It felt like we were in there for hours, but Arturo said that it was about 2 minutes. When I came out into the sun, everone clapped for me and I just tried not to cry. I hate caves!
Luckily, that was the last major event of the day and the hike home was nice, even though I was still shaking from the adrenaline. 
You may notice that I only mentioned Julia and Sharon on the hike. That is because Deb is pretty sick. She has altitude sickness. She has been doing well all week, but this morning she woke up feeling really badly. She decided to forgo the days activities in the hopes that she will be well enough to hike the Incan Trail in two days so cross your fingers and say a prayer for her!
Love, Anna

June 14, 2008

It is amazing how quickly we have fallen into a daily pattern here in Cuzco. We do nothing quickly, but end each day feeling like we did a million things! I guess that is because doing something as small as buying a phone card is an adventure! Today started with a light breakfast before the three others took off to get more backpacking stuff. I had some pocketmail issues to sort out and wanted to check my email, so I took care of all of that. I loved getting the emails from you guys! Thank you so much for all of the support!

PS- Because of Pocketmail and international phone line issues, I am having to filter these emails through the shop, so if you want to send me a reply, please re-address it to [email protected].
Thanks!!!

After all the logistics were taken care of, I walked out of the gate of our hotel and looked up to the right. Half a block above me, the road turns into the steepest street I have ever seen….so steep that the sidewalk is actually steps curving up and out of view. I have been wanting to climb up there, but had not had the chance. Well, there is no time like the present! I unfolded my hiking poles and up I went.

It was the weirdest thing…it was like the first step was the begining of a strictly native section of Cuzco. No tourists, no vendors and no souvevnir shops. I climbed 50 steps at a time, stopping to catch my breath between. At 217 steps, I reached the top and was treated to a gorgeous view of the city. I have climbed lots more steps then that while working out a home, but let me tell you, in this altitude, I felt proud to do the 217! As I was huffing and puffing my way up, a little, tiny old woman on the other side of the street chattered away at me in Spanish, pointing toward the top of the hill. When I laughed and nodded my head, she just smiled and shook hers. I wonder what she actually said to me? 

After descending, I went off to spend a few minutes sitting on the church steps before finding the rest of the gals. We headed off to lunch at this beautiful restaurant over looking the Shaman’s shop. I stopped in to make another appointment and was thrilled to hear that he would see me at 4:00.

As we were finishing lunch, I saw a woman eating by herself and told the others, “Would’t it be funny if she was on our tour?”. So…. I went up and asked her! Turns out that she is!!!!! How cool is that? So, in a flurry of introductions, our little group of four has become five.  Natalie is from New Zealand by was of the UK and is just as cool as she can be. She has traveled all over the world by herself and is only 25!! I told her that I was’nt half as cool as her when I was that age. We all like her very much, and I am glad that we hooked up. 

After lunch, I went back to see the Shaman to get my reading done. He used ceremonial coca tea leaves and it was fascinating! He looks like a Native American, with long black hair, a beautifully chiseled face and the most wonderful gnarled fingers. He had me pick out 7 leaves, then held each up to the candle and studied it intensely before he told me what it means. It was the most in depth, intuitive reading I have ever had done and I learned a lot from it. And I am really, really glad that I did it.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Am I the only one howling here because Anna didn’t dish the details!!!! 😉 )

Sharon also had a fascinating reading after which she, I and Natalie wandered through some shops and churches before landing at the local Irish Pub. Yep! You heard that right…there is an Irish Pub here in town! We had a lot of fun laughing, talking and eating greasy food with Deb and Julia. It was a great end to a wonderful day.

Today was our last day on our own…tomorrow we meet up with the rest of our group. I can’t wait to tell you how that goes! 
Until then, Love, Anna

June 12, 2008

Bones, Notebooks, and Giggles

Wonderful, wonderful day! I should probably save that opening line for an email written on the Incan Trail, or in the Amazon, but I just had to use it!

After sleeping like a log, we headed off to a magnificent set of ruins that was initially an Incan temple to the sun gods, and was later encapsulated by the Catholic Church when the Spaniards invaded Peru. The Incan temple rooms just felt so alive and I wanted to wander through them for hours. Everything was made of trapezoidal grey stones that fit together beautifully. Originally, many of them were covered in gold but the Spaniards invasion pretty much put an end to gold-plated buildings, I think!

The Catholic cathedral was gorgeous and was built in the 17th century. After seeing all of the gorgeous art, we were wandering around, and me being my mothers daughter, I started wondering about what was under the church. There is always something under these cathedrals!

Sharon approached one of the young men that worked there and he started taking us through the church and showing us the places that go down. Unfortunately, they were all closed. He answered all our questions and explained that the 100+ people that worked on the church were interred below it.

All the sudden, he looked furtively around, bent down and used his key to pry up a big piece of wood. Underneath was a inscribed piece of marble that he lifted up and under that…..lots of skulls and bones!! Piled up about five feet from the top of the hole! After letting us bend over to look, he quickly put everything back and said that he wasn’t supposed to show anyone. I am so glad that he broke the rules. !

We were, of course, completely respectful and really appreciated it. We did have a good laugh afterwards, though, when both Sharon and Julia confessed to being extra careful to hold onto their sunglasses which were perched on their heads. How awful would it have been to drop them down that hole!!

After lunch, we split up with Julia and Sharon going off in search of hiking stuff and Deb and I in search of children’s underwear and school supplies for the Hotel Ninos children. After lots of neat shopping, (neat because children’s underwear and school supplies can only be purchases at shops that are meant for locals), we went back to the hotel and gave them the stuff. The woman got teary-eyed when she saw the supplies that we had purchased along with all of the school supplies that Deb brought. Three cheers for my folks at Huthmaker Violins for providing the supplies I bought….they are very,very appreciated!

Deb and I were very excited to go on a tour of the children’s facility this evening. This email is getting tooo long, so I will have to put that in another email, but it was amazing beyond belief!! Unfortunately, part of the outreach is providing employment for poor people, so when Deb and I asked if we could come volunteer for the day, they said no. But I sure would have loved to!

The day ended with the four of us having dinner at a wonderful little restaurant with several very handsome waiters.  The meal was full of giggles and great food. Another great day at Cuzco comes to an end.

Love, Anna