The Grand Finale

To preface: We wrote this in the Lima airport before our journey home, but are just now posting it. Sorry for the delay. We also have 1,800+ photos to eventually share, so be patient, but excited!

Our last stop on the South American Sweep was in Peru. Now, if you’ve been following the blog (which sheesh you better be!), then you know that we spent a day in Lima previously on a layover between Bolivia and Ecuador. Lima was nice, we got ceviche, checked out the hot spots, and then called it good. Cusco is an entirely different Universe than Lima.

Cusco, now if you want to imagine Cusco, think back to my description of La Paz (I know; now I’m just testing how many blogs you’ve read, GOTCHA!) Cusco is very similar in structure because it is seated in the center of a whole bunch of mountains and has a pretty high altitude as well, albeit lower than La Paz. Cusco has more flair though, in my humble opinion, plus is more developed than La Paz, likely due to the influx of tourists passing through en route to Machu Picchu. On our first day in Cusco we decided to see the sights, so what did we see you may be wondering? We saw churches silly! What else is there in old cities?! But seriously, churches are like the thing to do, so naturally we saw them all. It’s actually kind of tragic to see the churches because Spain conquered the Incas in Cusco and then forced Catholicism on them so the churches are sort of still a symbol of that harsh reality. Nevertheless, the churches were absolutely gorgeous with these gigantic bricks that are thousands of years old and giant bells in enormous bell towers that make you wonder where the hunchback is. Anyway, churches and that was that.

Let’s get to the main reason why we came to Cusco okay? The funny part is that when we planned this trip I had yet to convince Eric that Machu Picchu was a necessity. I will let you in on a little secret though; there was no way I was leaving South America without going to the big MP, whether Eric was coming with me or not. Not to worry, he was easily convinced by week two and was by my side on what turned out to be one of the most epic hikes we’ve ever been on. After choosing our tour company, which we would highly recommend for any future MP visitors out there, we rested, packed up, and were ready to rock and roll by 5:30am the next day. Now, you might be like “oh my gosh Mandi, did you hike the Inca trail?!” No ya punk, we hiked an “alternative” hike. This couple we met in one of the tour offices was so snotty about calling it an “alternative” hike that we just wanted to punch them in the face, but we didn’t because we have more class than that. ANYWAY, we hiked the Salkantay Trek, which is arguably more difficult and way cooler, although I’m biased as I have only ever done the one. We chose to do 5 days/4 nights, because really how many times are you going to hike to freaking Machu Picchu, plus there’s nothing to do in Cusco so we had some time to kill.

Day 1: We hiked into the Andes up a gradual hill to the base of the Salkantay glacier. It was an easy day compared to what was to come on day 2, but Eric and our guide Frank (seriously, his name is Frank, but he’s Peruvian, how hilarious is that? We called him Puma, but more on that later) convinced me to hike a little extra once getting to camp, to see a lagoon. I was told it would be only one more hour and it was pretty blah blah, so I was a sucker and said “sure”, even though I was pretty wiped from the hike to camp. We then proceed to hike up, up, and further up, to get to this damn lagoon. I literally thought my heart was going to peace out on me because it felt like it was beating out of my chest. My legs felt like jello and I was wishing I had brought myself an oxygen tank with the lack of oxygen up there (seriously, growing up at sea level is really not the bee’s knees). Eventually, after I thought I was going to pass out and die, I saw the lagoon, we had made it! You know when you see people in the desert and they think they see water and then it’s a mirage? I swear that could’ve happened to me the way I was feeling at that moment, but I have pictures to prove there was an actual lagoon, so it really did happen. And let’s be real here people, it was gorgeous and totally worth feeling like I was going to die to make it there.

Day 2: Let’s talk about how we started hiking on day 2 at 7:30am and didn’t stop hiking (except for a brief lunch break) until 5:00pm, WHAT. I know, I know, I’m a badass it’s cool. But seriously. WHAT. So we hiked up to the glacier, sure no big deal, I see it, it looks close, WRONG. We had a joke in our group, “The Cruising Pumas” (because we impressed our guide Frank with our speedy hiking and because Pumas are important animals in Peru), that we always only had “fifteen more minutes” to go. Frank said that sometimes guides will tell people that because they are used to the altitude and it only takes the guides fifteen minutes, but what takes the guide fifteen minutes could take the sea level people up to two hours. Seriously, this is true life at high altitudes. So anyway, once again I thought I was dying, actually I’m pretty sure I did die once or twice. This hill was HUGE. I mean it was basically climbing a mountain to get to this glacier, but it always looked so deceivingly close. Such a bad trick. The end height of the glacier was over 15,000 feet, 15,000 FEET. Yeah baby!!! Taller than Mount Whitney, which we plan to climb in early September, so we’re not even worried anymore. Piece of cake. We even were going so “fast” (I air quote that because we really weren’t going that fast, but considering everyone else’s speeds, we kind of were) that we passed other groups! Nailed. It.

So climbing to Salkantay was only the first half of the day. We climbed through this gorgeous valley after the glacier with just this stream in it that looked like we landed a part in Lord of the Rings (I know nerdy, whatever you love LOTR too don’t lie, Legolas, come on) or wound up in Scotland, it was so green and there were just streams and horses and fog, it was unreal. Here we stopped to have lunch and then carried on where the rest of the day was spent hiking through the jungle. The great thing about hiking to Machu Picchu is that you get a little taste of everything, you get jungle and the Andes, it’s pretty awesome. I mean whatever, I hiked through the Andes mountains, I mean right? That’s so cool! We slathered on bug spray and carried on through the jungle, through some unpleasant muddy parts, and popped out into what I would describe as a new movie set, possibly Tarzan.

Day 3: On day three we hiked down deeper into the jungle and followed a trail along a roaring river. Our treat at the end of this day was hot springs, so needless to say, we were motivated. We hiked through the jungle checking out creepy beetles, swatting away mosquitos, and sweating all of our layers off. It was an easy day compared to the day before, but we still hiked around ten miles just in the morning alone.

Now, let’s take a moment to talk about one of the highlights of our trek, the food. Seriously, the food was the best vegetarian food/any kind of food, I have ever eaten in my life. The trek was just Eric and I and our guide Frank (Puma) and then we had two other HUGE parts of the trek, Guido (I’m not making that up, like Jersey Shore, but pronounced “Ghee-Doh”) and Wilbur. Wilbur was our horseman, the horses, mules rather, carried all of our stuff besides our day packs. This sounds lame, whatever it’s not real backpacking, but I don’t think we could have carried all of our stuff at that altitude. Anyway so Wilbur who just nailed it all the time with the horses and would go way ahead of us to set up camp every time and then there was Guido, our chef. Guido is the best cook in the whole Universe. I’m not even exaggerating. The things he made just got better and better, I didn’t even think it would be possible after the last meal, but then the next meal would come and I would just drool. It was also probably more food than I have ever eaten in my life, but we needed the fuel for the ridiculously long and rigorous hikes we had each day. He made Causa (which is probably my new favorite food), cake, Sangria, empanadas, pancakes, crepes, French toast, rice mixtures, quinoa EVERYTHING, stuffed peppers, etc. I can’t even begin to tell you how this is even more impressive than a normal chef because he was doing this all on the road in little shacks that we would stop to eat at. How is that possible? I have no idea. He is the master. Eric and I told him to move to the US and open up a vegetarian restaurant because he could probably charge insane prices (I’m talking 3-4 price tags on Yelp) for his delicious cooking, everything just melted in your mouth.

Anyway, at the end of day three, we went to relax at these gorgeous hot springs that were literally just sitting at the edge of the roaring river we had just hiked along. They were the most refreshing thing ever on our aching muscles. Eric did make one huge mistake though, he got out of the hot springs for literally no more than five minutes, and was promptly eaten alive by mosquitos. Poor guy, but he really does have more self-control than me with itching so he’s going to survive. After that, we decided we obviously had to celebrate the Fourth of July, Peruvian style, so we had a campfire. Guido made us warm Sangria (seriously, who has ever had Sangria on a backpacking trip before?) and then we went to sit around a campfire, listened to Peruvian, Brazilian, and even American music and drank beers. The only hiccup to our Fourth of July was our scorpion sighting. That’s right, I said scorpion. I don’t think either of us had ever seen one in real life before and it sure didn’t help my sleep that night. I made Eric check and double check our tent and my sleeping bag before I could turn off my headlamp and sleep, but really I just lied awake thinking about how the scorpion was somehow going to claw its way into our tent, with its entire extended scorpion family, and eat me. After all, a spider had tried to share the dinner table with me earlier that evening (I’m talking a spider that scared even Eric and Frank away from the table and had me almost flip the entire table over in fear), it was a rough night for me. Thankfully, we made it through the night and more importantly, to breakfast the next morning.

Day 4: This was our last official day hiking because day 5 was the grand MP. Our goal on day 4 was to end our hike at Aguas Calientes, the town where all of the buses, trains, and hikes meet at the base of Machu Picchu. We hiked a winding, but flat trail along the railroad tracks. It was really beautiful because the whole way we could look up and see bits and pieces of Machu Picchu as we were winding our way around Machu Picchu Mountain.

So Frank, we called him Puma. This all started because he told us he hates his name, this was after I clarified that his name was actually Frank (I mean it doesn’t sound Peruvian, so I didn’t know if he was just trying to make it easier on us, I speak Spanish so I can handle a Spanish name). Anyway, so Frank tells us he hates his name and wished he had a more Quechua name. His brother apparently changed his name (William, apparently their dad loved American names and named Frank after Frank Sinatra and William after a famous American actor) to Amaru. Amaru means snake in Quechua and the snake is an extremely important animal in Incan history. Snakes, pumas, and condors are the three most important animals to Peruvians and we decided that Frank needed a name like his brother. And so, Frank became Puma and our team name became the “Cruising Pumas”.

Once we made it to Aguas Calientes, Eric and I passed out in a three hour coma of a nap. We were exhausted, I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since we left Cusco, and it was a real bed. We then decided to explore the town. There really wasn’t much to see besides a whole lot of tourists and people trying to sell us souvenirs we didn’t want or need. The town basically exists because of Machu Picchu. The trains bring tourists from Cusco, who didn’t choose to backpack, into the town every morning (10:00am is the first one) to see Machu Picchu. The train tracks literally go directly down the center of the town, it really is the weirdest place. We slept, we ate, and then we slept some more to rest up for our big arrival to Machu Picchu in the morning.

Day 5: MACHU PICCHU. No words can even describe the feeling you get when you first see Machu Picchu. We woke up at 4:00am to catch the first bus to Machu Picchu at 5:30am. Note: Eric deserves some acknowledgement for his abilities to wake up insanely early on this trip. For those of you who know Eric, you know that he stays awake until 4, 5, or 6:00am and doesn’t wake up until mid-afternoon. This is his preferred sleep schedule. On this trip, I have been so impressed with his abilities to wake up at 6:00am every morning of the hike (although this has always been easy for Eric as a hike is the only way to even get his butt out of bed), but also at odd hours like 3:00am or 4:30am to catch a flight, or even just 8:00am to have our free breakfasts. Now back to Machu Picchu.

We made it on the very first bus up the mountain to the ruins of the ancient Incan city. Our goal was to see the sunrise and watch as the sun first shines on Machu Picchu, it was absolutely spectacular. I would highly recommend seeing MP in this light; it really is the only way. Not only that, but knowing that we hiked four days just to see it was a great feeling of pride and accomplishment for us. Walking around Machu Picchu has an almost eerie feeling to it, you can imagine the Incas building it, stone by stone, and just how much time and energy it must’ve taken. It’s an incredible place with an immense amount of history that even the smartest of historians can’t figure out. Machu Picchu, to this day, is still a mystery for the most part. Puma did give us a two hour history and tour of MP, but it is all mostly speculation as no one truly knows what Machu Picchu was, how it was built in just 100 years, if it was built in just 100 years, and what happened to the last of the Incas. MP even has the llamas that you can see in pictures of it. Eric almost got killed by one that decided he wanted a closer look at us and leaped from a ledge above us to the one we were standing on.

After the two hour tour that Frank gave us, Eric and I decided to hike a little further up to the Sun Gate, this is the first sighting of Machu Picchu from the Inca Trail. It was gorgeous up there, seeing Machu Picchu as if it was a postcard. We sat up there in awe for a while until we decided that six hours at MP was enough and that we were starvation station, it was lunch time. We said our goodbyes to the magical place, and hopped a bus back to town.

Machu Picchu, I know that was brief, but I really cannot put into words how incredible of a place it is. I’ve seen Tical and I’ve seen Angkor Wat, but Machu Picchu is in a whole different world. It truly did not disappoint.

The ride home was delightful as we got to take one of the trains! I love trains, I think train is my favorite method of transportation. The train follows the river that we had hiked near the previous day and it was nice to just debrief and relax after a long, but memorable, five days.

So that was that. We wrapped up our South American Sweep with an unforgettable and epic trek to Machu Picchu. Now as we sit at the airport waiting for our redeye flight to Houston, we can properly reflect on the last six weeks. The last six weeks have been some of the best of my life and I think I can safely say the same for Eric. We have had the most fun ever together, laughing and being ridiculous, relying on each other as we never really had before. We got to meet so many people from all around the world: Australia, New Zealand, England, Isle of Man, Ireland, Slovakia, Peru, Bolivia, Norway, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Portugal, Canada, South Africa, and learn all about all of their cultures while immersing ourselves in cultures completely different than our own. I had my Spanish skills tested and even taught Eric some! We tried new foods, new adventures, and tested our limits on how long we can go without showering. We saw some of the most incredible scenery we have ever seen and challenged ourselves in all aspects both individually and in our relationship. We feel so lucky that the death road didn’t kill us, we never got sick from any food, and that nothing really that bad happened to us the entire time we were here. We are not sure how we got that lucky, but are so thankful that it was such a flawless trip, minus the almost-mugging that is. Not to mention how thankful we are that we got to go on such an incredible trip in the first place. It was the most amazing six weeks that we will always remember. Here’s hoping that we have many more like this to come.

And now drumroll please because we have decided to assign each country with an appropriate award as we have experienced it.

Best Public Transportation System: Chile

Best Beaches: Brazil

Most adventurous: Bolivia

Best food: Peru

Best wine: Argentina

Best people: Ecuador

Here's a picture of us with our guide Frank, from the top of the Salkantay Glacier! See how high we were?! Crazy.

Now the tricky part about getting home is dodging the crazy ladies at the airport. This lady working at the Cusco airport asked us about five times if we had anything flammable in our bags. We repeatedly shook our heads “NO”, but that didn’t seem to satisfy her. She then threatened that our bags would be x-rayed and that they would find anything we had that we weren’t supposed to. We must look pretty dodgy in order to get asked repeatedly if we have flammables or matches in our bags, oh well.

Thanks for all of your love and support throughout our trip, we truly appreciate all that you do for us. We are sad to leave South America, but excited to see all of our loved ones, that’s you! Look for our thousands of pictures to be posted on Facebook hopefully sooner rather than later for your viewing pleasure. We look forward to sharing more stories and adventures with you in person!

xoxo,

Mandi & Eric

Ps. I’m not sure if I’ll keep blogging since my year in New York is over and our trip to South America is complete. Stay tuned for possible blogs about the failures and struggles that come with apartment hunting and job searching and life in the real world. Who knows, my blogging career might just be beginning!