I just got back from a 2 1/2 week long backpacking trip through Northern Chile, Bolivia and Peru. It was incredible! I started by heading from Santiago up to Arica, Chile, which is right on the border. I took a bus to La Paz and spent a few days in La Paz. The city was so different from Santiago - it was full of bright colors, patterns, and indigenous people. We stopped at the witches market and saw the dead llamas fetuses, (which are supposed to bring good luck when moving houses) sexual enhancement herbs and shrines to every kind of god imaginable. I took a picture of the llamas and was cursed by the store owner...
From La Paz we headed by bus to Copacabana, a town on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Copacabana was nothing more than a tourist layover town, but Lake Titicaca was awesome! It's the highest navigable lake in the world. We headed to Isla del Sol and stayed 2 nights there. Isla del Sol was beautiful, and we hiked for 4 hours to some ruins that are older than the ruins at Machu Picchu. While on the island we experienced a phenomenon that happens once every 10 years...snow!! The island was full of farmers with sheep and goats and llamas.
We left Isla del Sol to go to Puno, Peru. Upon reaching the border of Peru we were examined by doctors and given basic information on contageous diseases and how to avoid spreading them, like covering your cough. Swine flu is a major issue down here. We stayed in Puno a matter of hours while watiting for a bus to Cusco, and in that time we managed to hit up the biggest tourist trap ever: the floating islands. The concept is really cool: islands constructed out of reeds and anchored to the bottom of the lake. The Uro people lived this way for centuries. Now, no Uros exist but the islands have been taken over by people pretending to live there, and trying to sell you things. It was worth a see anyway.
From Puno we headed to Cusco, Peru, which was an great city! Lots of culture and awesome sites. We hiked a tour of ruins just outside the city and explored within the city as well. We stayed about 2 days before starting our grand adventure.
Allegra, Gerhard (her boyfriend) Scott (her brother) and I went on a 5 day, 4 night hike through the Salkantay pass to Machu Picchu. We had horses that carried our heavy packs, and cooks that provided meals for us. Now don't get the wrong idea - it wasn't a walk in the park. The first day we hiked 6 hours and camped at the base of Salkantay Mountain at 3,900 meters (12, 792 ft.) The next day we hiked a total of 10 hours. We summitted the 4,600 meter (15, 100 ft) pass at Salkantay Mountain. (That's higher than Mt. Rainier! Woop woop!) Then we headed down into the jungle and over to Machu Picchu. If you haven't been to Machu Picchu...GO! It's incredible. We woke up and started hiking at 4:00 am to be some of the first people to the top. (Too bad about 200 other people had the same idea.) We reached Machu Picchu as the sun was coming up while the city was still a little grey and misty. The city is surprisingly intact for being so old, and I could almost feel the spirits as I walked through. We hiked up Waynapicchu (the mountain that you see in the background of all the classic Machu Picchu pictures) and it was one hell of a hike. It could have been the fact that I was walking uphill for the previous 4 days for at least 6 hours a day, but it was worth it once we reached the top. The view was awesome! We spent all day walking around and exploring, and at one point I even snuck in a quick nap inside the ruins :) We hiked to the Inca Bridge which is part of the 2 foot-wide original Inca trail. There is so much rich history surrounding the place and it was awesome to actually go there and see it! The Peruvian government is trying to figure out a way to limit the number of people who visit Machu Picchu because it is estimated that its foundation is slipping. Soo glad I got to see it when I did!
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