Slideshow

Check out this slideshow my Mom made from our time in Otavalo and Quito. Its nice.

http://gallery.mac.com/harveyjan#100000

MACHU PICCHU

And now the one many of you have been waiting for...................................MACHU PICCHU PICTURES.

Quick summary. 38 hours on the bus from Quito to Lima. Two nights in Lima. Great city. Plane flight to Cuzco. Super touristy, but beautiful. 4 days and 4 nights backpacking in luxury (we had a table and chairs!). One full day at Machu Picchu. Train and bus back to Cuzco. Night at the clubs with my group. 30 minutes of sleep. 4 hour delay at the Cuzco airport. $100 voucher for next flight on TACA (I complained about the delay......in Spanish). Caught bus from Lima with 15 minutes to spare. 38 hours more on the bus to Quito. Got pulled over by the cops at midnight in Ecuador (see below). Arrived at my apartment at 4 am, March 30th. Classes started 7 am March 31st. All in all, an incredible trip!


This is the group at the top of the Salcantay pass, about 15,200 ft. There were 4 people from Buenos Aires, and then 4 (including me and Caroline) from the US. Great group. Great dynamic. We had a lot of fun and had a nice little English-Spanish mix (although mostly English by the end). The guy in the big red jacket was our guide. Super nice, good English, and he new a lot about the Quechua culture in the area (he is Quechua).


We booked our trip in Cuzco with some random agency (we took a gamble). We went on the Salcantay Tour. We began on Sunday from Cuzco, took a bus to a small town, and then began the trek.


Needless to say, we were hiking in style. Tables. Chairs. Horses to carry the bags. Two cooks to prepare dinner, snacks, and do the dishes. Food and drinks would be waiting for us when we arrived to camp. It was great!


Our first campsite.


Salcantay Mountain. Our backdrop for our first night.


Worshiping the Inca gods with three coca leaves. To do so, you blow on them as you wave them in a small circle (same as how a condor takes off), say the names of the mountains nearby as you look in their direction, and think the positive feelings you wish to receive. You don't ask for material goods but more abstract things: like health, safety for that day of work, etc.


We woke up at 4:30am so we could be at MP by 6:00 for the sunrise. Good thing we did. Isn't it beautiful?


Actually it turned out to be a gorgeous day with beautiful scattered clouds.


Waynu Picchu in the background.


On top of Waynu Picchu. You can kind of see MP down below. The shirt was off because it was drenched from the climb. Stairs straight up the mountain for maybe 2000 ft. Not an easy climb.


Some ruins built on the top of Waynu Picchu on the cliffs. Absolutely incredible that the Incas could do this. The top of the cliff in the picture continues all the way to the river valley floor, some 5000 feet below or so.


Incan stairs leading down from Waynu Picchu. They were so steep that you could hold onto stairs above you like a railing. And they were so skinny that my boot was wider than many of them. Treacherous. But awesome...from the safety of the bottom.




A video from the top of Waynu Picchu. Enjoy the scenery. Absolutely gorgeous.


Jumping off Waynu Picchu. It was a long way down.


Beautiful.


Look at the cliffs Machu Picchu overlooks. That was one of the coolest parts for me.


Machu Picchu and Waynu Picchu from "La Puerta del Sol." This shot gives a good sense of the scenery surround MP.




A video of MP from the post card spot.

All in all, an incredible trip. It was way cooler than I expected, and well worth the money. The alternative treks are a lot cheaper and better on the environment (I think), but I hear the Inca Trail is really cool. Just a heads up, to do the main trail, you have to book anywhere from a few months to a year in advance, depending on the season. I highly recommend visiting Machu Picchu if you can. And do it soon. Apparently the side of the mountain is slipping 1 cm a month. There could be a catastrophic land slide soon, or they are going to greatly reduce the number of visitors. But again, I highly recommend it.

Puro Miedo

This one is a short one. I was returning from Machu Picchu on a night bus from Guayaquil to Quito. I sat next to a nice old lady and she started warning me about the night buses and how you shouldn't sleep on them. I was like, right right. I've done this before. I'll be careful. And then she warned me about how the police stop the buses at night sometimes to "check for weapons and robbers," and how they will steal stuff themselves sometimes. Sure enough, that night, we were pulled over by the cops and we had to get off. To add to my fear, I had heard of two extranjeros being pulled off a bus by the border a couple of months ago, robbed by the police at gunpoint, and then left in a field. So needless to say, I was crapping my pants. Nothing happened, but nevertheless, that is one of the darker sides of traveling in South America.