The long walk home

We began this "long walk home" when we started the Inca Trail on August 11th. It was a wonderful experience and a lovely way to begin leaving. Our group consisted of 31 people, 8 American's, team Portugal (4 women in their late 40's who have been friends for more than 20 years), 17 super-human porters, 1 prone to hyperbole guide and 1 soft spoken assistant guide (who I swear was somehow speaking and swallowing her words at the same time). We were lucky because our trekking group was short 4 people which allowed our group to be a bit more intimate, and in general we were a good mix of people who all got along very well.

The trail itself is fantastic. We started in a town called Ollaytantambo. It was warm and we were all chatty with excitement (in-spite of waking up at 4:30am). We walked on fairly level terrain for about 4 hours before we experienced the first of many fully catered meals. The porters are machines, they race ahead on the trail, set up a dining tent, bowls full of warm water with soap and towels, and prepare ridiculously good nourishing meals. The food was outstanding, traditional fare (rice, potatoes, quinoa, veggies, meats, puddings and an incredible steamed cake the final night), enough so that we stuffed ourselves silly at just about every meal. Over the next three nights and four days our group of 12 split itself into two perfect halves, 6 of us walking at a faster pace than the rest but always waiting at important spots and cheering one another on. As the terrain got more difficult our guide reminded us that we were a "spiritual family" and that was all we needed to remain connected. We crossed Dead Woman's Pass under the watchful eye of Pachamama (who decided to make the weather cold, and the skies full of mystical clouds, which blocked our views of some beautiful glaciers). Our guide had us perform a ceremony of thanks to Pachamama which included us saying a prayer over a pile of rocks and pouring Pisco over the rocks once we conquered the pass (I felt we had the best ceremony of the day...other groups were blowing on things and turning in circles, still others just sat around). The terrain changed from verdant green hills, to arid mountains, to cloud forest, to early rain forest, it was magical. We walked along the ancient Inca road, past ruins the whole time and had quiet moments of spiritual peace. Our reward at the end....arriving at the Sun Gate (along with the 200 other tourists who began walking the trail with us) as the sun rose and shined its light on Machu Pichu.

Our guide, though prone to hyperbole and telling tales that I am pretty sure he made up, was fun. The two best "tales" that he told included explaining to us how the Inca's knew about eggs and how they knew about fried egg construction (really) to explain how one ruin was built. The other tale was how he himself "reconfirmed" that the trail was built for llamas and not horses...this tale included explaining how he watched a llama carry 20 kilos and an horse carry 200, and that because of the angle of the road the horse broke it's ankle....not because it was carrying 200 kilos.!!!

I had some very insightful moments while walking the second day. I was feeling totally at peace with myself and my life. I think I spent about 40 minutes walking and talking to Mondo about how lucky we are and how I feel I have very little left to prove to myself about who I am and how comfortable I am in my own skin....I should have seen the neon foreshadowing of the next day as I espoused such peaceful spiritual thoughts!!

Let's be totally honest ....7 weeks of spending 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with another human being is challenging..I decided that the third and most beautiful day of the Inca trail was the best and most optimal time to feel fully challenged. I think it started at 5:30 am when I tried to pack my bag and began feeling like Mondo was sitting too close to me, and it all kind spiraled down hill from there until I was in tears and gently arguing with Mondo about how I was tired of feeling like his and Travis' mother. Fortunately by dinner and after having a bit of time to myself while walking, I seemed to have returned to a more stable state of being and the last night and next day was again peaceful...well sort of....

On the final morning all the groups get up at 4 and then wait in line to begin walking the last few kilometers to the sungate. Everyone is excited (and we all felt blessed because the cloud cover cleared revealing a full moon and many snow capped mountains) and the trail is very narrow. Our guide said to use our judgement but that it would be ok to pass people as we made our way to the sungate. Our groups judgement...the trail was too narrow, and that there were too many people to pass, so best to just be patient, we would all get there before sunrise....but not everyone felt that way. There were three rogue trekkers who, I am not kidding...pushed people over, and thought that they needed to tell people that they were trying to get to the sungate, as if the 200 or so other people walking like cattle, were not doing the same thing. The grumbling came up the line of hikers as these impatient and self-important people approached our group. Feeling peaceful and trying to keep my energy balanced (given my behavior the day before) I grumbled a bit but decided to let it go. This was not true for three members of our group who decided it was their job to remind these people that they just needed to chill out and that everyone was trying to get to the same place safely. There was a bit of a heated exchange, which included some comedic comments since the pushy group only spoke Spanish...and that's when everyone realized they were from....SPAIN!!! Ah the irony...here we were at Machu Pichu, a place the Peruvian's proudly tell you remained hidden from the horrible Spanish invaders for years....but this group of Spaniards still felt there was some conquering to be done!

Having completed the Inca trail, we settled in Aguas Calientes for the night, soaked in hot springs (more like luke warm lime green springs) and enjoyed the company of our new friends. The next day because we had not done enough walking the day before we hiked to the top of Putukusi to take in some more sites of Machu Pichu. In the afternoon we caught a train and bus back to Cusco, slept for a few hours, woke up and took a cab to the airport and boarded a plane bound for Lima.

We arrived to the cloudy overcast skies of Lima at 8am, were greeted by a cab (this cute little man who waved around a sign with Mondo's name), and arrived at Lex Luthor's Guest house (which had by far the hottest showers we had in Peru). The comforts of the city were a welcome site....movie theaters, fast food franchises, and STARBUCKS!!! We visited pre-Incan ruins called Huaca Juliana. For years assumed to be a mound of dirt upon which locals played soccer and drove their dirt-bikes, this place is an ancient city with it's original dirt bricks from the 4th century. We took the mandatory tour, which included a small petting zoo including animals the original inhabitants raised (ducks, llamas, guinea pigs, and hairless dogs (they were really cool)). After the tour, we ate at the museum's restaurant. This is when the decadence began.....

We ran up a 100 dollar bill consuming the house specialties....ceviche, cuy, and pato (fish, guinea pig and duck) and then delicious desserts and coffee!! It was the fanciest restaurant Travis has ever eaten at, way too many forks for him to know which one to use first! Our initial indulgence was followed up with a movie (in English with Spanish subtitles), drinks from Starbucks, a visit to Lima's Chinatown with another decadent meal (the highlights of which were the musical accompaniment, whistled Christmas carols, and a discussion about the street balloon vendors).

Our grand finale for the trip....a magical night at this water park, Parque de la Reserva. It's a park of water fountains. There are all different types, each one choreographed to music, and laser lights. The fantasy fountain was the best, with a fantastic display of water and pictures projected into the water. There were interactive fountains, ones you could walk through without getting wet and others that soaked every square inch of your clothing. We were some of the only gringos and we stuffed ourselves silly with cotton candy!!! It was a perfect end.

Travis left that night at 11pm (his flight was at 1am) and we left the next morning at 11am.
As we left hostel it was hard to believe that we were heading back to California. I recently received an email from someone we met traveling, she described vacations as "dreamlike" experiences. I think that is a wonderful way to summarize the last 8 weeks, as I think back on everything we saw and did...in my minds eye it is one elaborate beautiful dream.