Iconic Peru

What a day! It was wonderful last night to have a good sleep in a comfortable bed. We are up at 5am and have a light breakfast, packing a cheese/tomato/avocado sandwich to go. A few minutes walk down to the Machu Picchu bus stop. There is already a long lineup for the 7am bus, but we have tickets for the 6am bus and just walk on. The bus takes about 1/2 hour up the many switch-backed, steep narrow road. I can't imagine it in the rain. We have a last toilet stop at the gate before we go in. (no toilets at Machu Picchu)A very short line-up to get in. Then as you go through the gate and start climbing up you start to see the amazing views. We take a group photo at one of the view points, then Maren and I head for the Sun Gate while the others go to the Inca bridge. The trail to the Sun Gate is all up, some steps and some stone pavements, not too steep. Quite a few groups coming down from doing the Inca trail. To the Sun Gate it takes about 40 minutes at a good steady pace. I spend...

Last night was much warmer than the first night. Our wakeup isn't till 7:30 but everyone wakes up earlier because it's light by 5am. It's an easy day today, and I'm feeling good. But I play it safe and just have hot chocolate and quinoa porridge for breakfast. The cooks had even baked us a cake! (I tried a little, delicious) Amazing the incredible food with the surroundings. We start out at 9:00am, down the valley. The trail isn't as steep here, and we can all go at the same pace. We stop at an Incan way-station, at at a stream for a break. Reaching the road and our bus by about 11:30am. The bus takes us to a restaurant outside Ollantaytambo rented by G Adventures. There is about an hour to wait for lunch so we relax, and look in the small shop. A great lunch put on by our G cooks for the 3 groups who finished the trek that day. Potato cakes, fried yucca, fried zucchini fritters, rice mixed with veg, chicken, beef skewers.... I know I've missed some other dis...

A very hard day. 5am wakeup with Coca Tea. They bring hot water to the tent as well. It's pretty light by that time. 5:45am breakfast with Quinoa porridge and crepes stuffed with stirfried  vegetables and chicken. We head out about 6:20am. Cool this morning with a breeze. Some clouds on the mountains but looks like a nice day. The "Sexy Llamas" as they have dubbed themselves, are very fast, but I just go slow. We are going up to 4800 meters today. The trail is mainly up, not too steep to start. There often seem to be local women sitting spinning and selling a few goods beside the trail. I mainly walk with the assistant guide Jonathan who is bring up the rear. When a group is over 8 they have 2 guides which is nice. Part way through the day one of the crew insisted on taking my daypack. I felt bad then found out I wasn't the only one. Some very impressive mountain peaks, and we pass lots of Alpaca, llama and sheep. Also lots of dogs. I keep taking lots of short b...