Llama Llama Ding Dong!

Our flight left Detroit on time at 11:47 AM. We had a layover in Houston, where we ate giant soft pretzels and pizza – dinner of champions. And, of course, a visit to any airport would not be complete without a Starbucks latte for Simon. Our flight to Lima arrived on time at 10:15 PM. We met Boris after a smooth trip through immigration …

We started the day with breakfast at the hotel and then we were back in the car with Boris and off to the airport for the flight to Cusco. Because Boris is such an avid surfer, he took us by way of the ocean road, where we could check out the waves and the surfers.
We were on our own, with my limited Spanish, at the airport. I was very proud of …

It was all going so well. And then altitude sickness struck in the wee hours of the night. It wasn’t pretty and, it lasted most of the day. Simon had a headache, but I had additional symptoms. I’ll put it this way, I will possibly never like Pisco Sours and am so very, very glad I had not eaten cuy! Despite my weakened state, I …

We left the big city and half of our luggage behind and headed to Ollantaytambo. We stopped at the Pisac Ruins and had an hour or so hike. The ruins were great, but it was pretty crowded and hot. Bruno, our driver extraordinaire, was waiting with the van and a nice breeze was coming through. We went to the Pisac Market next and were left to …

We started the day with a hike of the ruins at Ollantaytambo. Then, Bruno picked us up in the trusty van and we were off to the trek starting point. We picked up Miguel, the cook, and Pio, one of the porters, on the way. Miguel, Alex, Simon and I started the trek while the porters and horsemen prepared for the trek.
The first village we …

A cheerful Guillermo and Freddie woke us up with hot tea and hot water at 6:15AM. Then breakfast, a bit of llama wrangling and up the mountain! The trek was 5 hours today, but mostly uphill. We started at 8:30 and ended at 1:30. We reached a peak of 4,436 meters (14,550 feet) and were awarded with spectacular views of Mt. Veronica and the …

We had put on all our layers Tuesday night because it was so cold. We managed to sleep well and kept fairly warm. Until we walked outside. Everything was covered in frost. It was 25 degrees F in our tent and about 14 degrees F outside. Brrrrr…..Simon’s boots had a layer of ice on the inside and they were in the tent all …

We were sad to say goodbye to the porters. They were so kind and thoughtful and such hard-working people. They all seemed so happy all the time even though they were working so hard. I wanted to take them all home with me, but I’m sure they’re much happier in their mountains.
Bruno picked us up and took us to the train station in …

We decided we were done hiking and had seen what we wanted to of Machu Picchu, so we headed back to Ollantaytambo on the 10:30AM train. Bruno picked us up and we headed back to Cusco. It seemed like a long time had passed, but it was really only four days. It felt like weeks. Being in the mountains was just so peaceful and magical.
We …