So we finished the Incan Trail yesterday and I got a really bad cold while I was on the hike. I defintely learned the meaning of the Peruvian Proverb I named my blog after because each little step can take you so far.
The first day wasn´t too bad because we all had energy and were excited to start our journey. There are these men called Porters that strap so much to themselves like, tents, tables, little stools, plates, a gas tank, and other necessities to cook our food, etc. They were all incredibly nice and the food was amazing.
I got a cold after the first day and it got worst as each day went on because it was so hard for me to sleep. I was so conjested that I couldn´t even sleep at night which made it even worse. The second day was the hardest part of the hike because we had to hike up the steepest part of the mountain for the majority of the day. It seemed like every five minutes I had to stop and catch my breath because it was so hard to breathe in the altitude. Luckily I was able to pay a Porter to take my bag for the day which is amazing considering the amount of stuff they already have to carry, and they still were able to hike past us without any trouble.
I fell once the first day and again on the last day. Luckily both times didn´t hurt but because I felt like such crap by the last day I couldn´t help but cry because of my frustration. I just wanted to be done with the trail. I could barely enjoy the hike and I just wanted it to be over with. When we were finally finished I could barely talk because my cold had gotten so bad. I even started crying as I was giving the walking stick back to the guide who I rented it from. He told me ´don´t cry señorita´. He probably thought I was crying because I was sad the hike was over but I was just so stressed and sick that I couldn´t even help myself from tearing up.
Luckily after I was able to finally shower after the past four days of hanging out in my body stank I felt ten times better. I still have a slight cold today but it is definitely not as bad. I have a feeling another good night in a bed will put me at 100% again.
I´m really glad that I was able to do the Incan Trail even though I regret the sick part, but it is an amazing feeling that I finished it.
Tonight we are taking a train ride to Ollyantantambo to do community service for a poor elementary school. Our group is going to paint the outter wall of the school which is going to make it look so much better and help the school out a lot. We visited the children there about a week ago and all of them are so precious. I can´t wait to see them again. Afterwards we´re headed back to Cusco to hang out just for a day or too before heading back to Lima to start classes.
I hope everyone is doing well! I can`t wait to see you once I´m back in the States. Thanks for keeping up with my blog. Catch you on the flip side!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Peru te Amo
Cusco is such an amazing city, and the people I am with make it even better. I´ve only been here for about a week but it feels like its been so much longer. Everyone has bonded immediately.
Morray is a sacred group of ruins. From above it kind of looks like a group of stone crop circles. We hiked to the bottom and sprawled out in the grass in the shape of NCSU. One of the boys named Johnathon is a photographer for the Technician and he got a great picture of it. Afterwards we gathered in a circle and began chanting and dancing.
I did the worm in the middle of a sacred ruin!
A guide with a group of hippies with him came up to us and asked us if we spoke Spanish. All of us were really excited and thought he was going to maybe tell us something about the ruins. In Spanish he told us that this was a sacred place to some people and basically we were being very rude. After we climbed out of the bottom we noticed the guide and the hippies passing the peace pipe or doing some other kind of hippie bullshit. My study abroad group was kicked out of Morray by a bunch of hippies. I guess I can check getting kicked out of a sacred Incan ruin off my bucket list.
We also visted the salt mines where they still harvest salt to this day. Afterwards we saw how these Peruvian women created dye for the alpaca wool that they use to make tapestries, clothes, etc. It was amazing the kind of manipulation you can do to something like tree bark or flowers to get the different colors.
(Mom and JC I bought you presents at that place so get excited!)
Yesterday we rode horses and it was so exciting because I haven´t ridden in so long. I miss my horses.
I talked to one of the boys who worked at the stable and practiced my Spanish which was exciting. I really do enjoy speaking Spanish with these people although I have gotten really frustrated with myself. I feel like under stress I forget some of the basic Spanish I should know, but hopefully I´ll get over it before Lima.
Now for the exciting part. Cusco has amazing night life! Tuesday after getting back from the Valle Segrado a bunch of us went out to this bar called Mama Africa. Can I just say how much fun it is to actually be able to buy drinks at a bar. I can´t wait until I´m 21. We danced the night away three consecutive nights at bars called Mama Africa, Inca Team, and Mythology and I´ve barely gotten any sleep but it´s so worth it. I´ve met people from Brazil, Switzerland, Israel, and so many other places just from going out to the bars.
I love the people I´m here with. I already feel so close to all of them and it´s so amazing! Today we visited the Tipon which was frightening because the bus had to drive up the edge of a mountain to get to it. Lets just say I freaked a bit but I´m still alive so that´s all that matters.
Tomorrow we´re going to hike the Incan trail to Machu Picchu so wish me luck because I might die! The altitude here is killer. Walking up steps or an incline makes me out of breath, and in the next four days I have to walk up and down 3,000 steps. Wish me luck and Pray for me. It´s going to be an amazing experience.
I love and miss all of you guys! Be watching out for my next post some time after I get back from Machu Picchu!
Morray is a sacred group of ruins. From above it kind of looks like a group of stone crop circles. We hiked to the bottom and sprawled out in the grass in the shape of NCSU. One of the boys named Johnathon is a photographer for the Technician and he got a great picture of it. Afterwards we gathered in a circle and began chanting and dancing.
I did the worm in the middle of a sacred ruin!
A guide with a group of hippies with him came up to us and asked us if we spoke Spanish. All of us were really excited and thought he was going to maybe tell us something about the ruins. In Spanish he told us that this was a sacred place to some people and basically we were being very rude. After we climbed out of the bottom we noticed the guide and the hippies passing the peace pipe or doing some other kind of hippie bullshit. My study abroad group was kicked out of Morray by a bunch of hippies. I guess I can check getting kicked out of a sacred Incan ruin off my bucket list.
We also visted the salt mines where they still harvest salt to this day. Afterwards we saw how these Peruvian women created dye for the alpaca wool that they use to make tapestries, clothes, etc. It was amazing the kind of manipulation you can do to something like tree bark or flowers to get the different colors.
(Mom and JC I bought you presents at that place so get excited!)
Yesterday we rode horses and it was so exciting because I haven´t ridden in so long. I miss my horses.
I talked to one of the boys who worked at the stable and practiced my Spanish which was exciting. I really do enjoy speaking Spanish with these people although I have gotten really frustrated with myself. I feel like under stress I forget some of the basic Spanish I should know, but hopefully I´ll get over it before Lima.
Now for the exciting part. Cusco has amazing night life! Tuesday after getting back from the Valle Segrado a bunch of us went out to this bar called Mama Africa. Can I just say how much fun it is to actually be able to buy drinks at a bar. I can´t wait until I´m 21. We danced the night away three consecutive nights at bars called Mama Africa, Inca Team, and Mythology and I´ve barely gotten any sleep but it´s so worth it. I´ve met people from Brazil, Switzerland, Israel, and so many other places just from going out to the bars.
I love the people I´m here with. I already feel so close to all of them and it´s so amazing! Today we visited the Tipon which was frightening because the bus had to drive up the edge of a mountain to get to it. Lets just say I freaked a bit but I´m still alive so that´s all that matters.
Tomorrow we´re going to hike the Incan trail to Machu Picchu so wish me luck because I might die! The altitude here is killer. Walking up steps or an incline makes me out of breath, and in the next four days I have to walk up and down 3,000 steps. Wish me luck and Pray for me. It´s going to be an amazing experience.
I love and miss all of you guys! Be watching out for my next post some time after I get back from Machu Picchu!
Monday, May 17, 2010
I AM HERE!
¡Hola mis aimgos y mi familia!
I have succesfully traveled to Peru!
We got to Lima around midnight on the 14th, stayed in a hotel, and woke up at 6 to fly to Cusco the next morning. At that point I was only running on about 5 hours of sleep from Thursday night and then about 2 hours from Thursday. It was all worth it.
Lima is a city of 8,000,000 people, and from what I saw of Lima it was incredibly Americanized. There were McDonalds, Pizza Huts, KFCs, and many other fast food restaurants. Casinos also lit up the streets. It definitely seems like a lively city.
I had been warned about the altitude sickness the entire semester we had meetings for this trip. As we flew over on the plane I pictured myself stepping off the plane and literally being hit like a brick by the lack of oxygen, being knocked over, and throwing up everywhere. Dramatic I know. Luckily that didn´t happen.
The first day in Cusco we traveled to the Valle Segrado. There we hiked the Pisac Inca ruins. I wish I could post a picture, but even that wouldn´t do it justice. As we hiked I realized how hard Machu Picchu will be. At first I wasn´t worried because I mean I played frisbee, worked out a fair amount, etc, but as we hiked Pisac I noticed how much the lack of oxygen really affected my body. Just from a hike that I would consider not incredibly hard in America I was out of breath and my heart was racing. I really thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest, and everyone felt that way.
That night a couple of us walked to a store and bought some alcohol. There´s this grain alcohol called Pisco that is made from corn and the Coca leaves. The leaves are used here to calm altitude sickness and nausea, and a lot of people drink it in tea. I tried a beer called Cusqueña which was pretty good.
Everyone on the trip is incredibly nice and we all got to bond that night since it was one of the first nights we had time.
Today we went to Ollantaytambo which is basically just a taste of what Machu Picchu is going to be like. It is amazing how advanced the Incans were. The stone walls they built can´t be pierced because each stone is sealed so tightly to the other. I can´t imagine how they built those structures without the technology and tools we use today.
I know this post was incredibly long and I will try to get on more often in the next few days! I miss all of y´all and hope your summers are going well!
I have succesfully traveled to Peru!
We got to Lima around midnight on the 14th, stayed in a hotel, and woke up at 6 to fly to Cusco the next morning. At that point I was only running on about 5 hours of sleep from Thursday night and then about 2 hours from Thursday. It was all worth it.
Lima is a city of 8,000,000 people, and from what I saw of Lima it was incredibly Americanized. There were McDonalds, Pizza Huts, KFCs, and many other fast food restaurants. Casinos also lit up the streets. It definitely seems like a lively city.
I had been warned about the altitude sickness the entire semester we had meetings for this trip. As we flew over on the plane I pictured myself stepping off the plane and literally being hit like a brick by the lack of oxygen, being knocked over, and throwing up everywhere. Dramatic I know. Luckily that didn´t happen.
The first day in Cusco we traveled to the Valle Segrado. There we hiked the Pisac Inca ruins. I wish I could post a picture, but even that wouldn´t do it justice. As we hiked I realized how hard Machu Picchu will be. At first I wasn´t worried because I mean I played frisbee, worked out a fair amount, etc, but as we hiked Pisac I noticed how much the lack of oxygen really affected my body. Just from a hike that I would consider not incredibly hard in America I was out of breath and my heart was racing. I really thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest, and everyone felt that way.
That night a couple of us walked to a store and bought some alcohol. There´s this grain alcohol called Pisco that is made from corn and the Coca leaves. The leaves are used here to calm altitude sickness and nausea, and a lot of people drink it in tea. I tried a beer called Cusqueña which was pretty good.
Everyone on the trip is incredibly nice and we all got to bond that night since it was one of the first nights we had time.
Today we went to Ollantaytambo which is basically just a taste of what Machu Picchu is going to be like. It is amazing how advanced the Incans were. The stone walls they built can´t be pierced because each stone is sealed so tightly to the other. I can´t imagine how they built those structures without the technology and tools we use today.
I know this post was incredibly long and I will try to get on more often in the next few days! I miss all of y´all and hope your summers are going well!
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