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Peru 2009/2010

Peru Dec 09/Jan 10:
  • 5 days in Cuzco
  • 1 day Sacred Valley Tour
  • 4 day Trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
  • 4 days in Lima
We spent five days in Cuzco to do some sightseeing and acclimatize to the altitude before setting off on our 4 day trek on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. During this time Tracey got pretty sick almost to the point where we were about to return home early. Luckily though, after seeing a doctor and taking some different medicines, she felt good enough to do the trek. Cuzco was a really cool city to explore, lots of history (both Inca and Spanish), and many Inca ruins to see. Since we were there for New Year's and the days leading up to it, there were nightly events at the city's main square, the Plaza de Armas. After spending some time in Cuzco, we began our guided trip with Gap Adventures. On the first day we saw different ruins and towns (such as Pisac and Ollantaytambo) in the Sacred Valley. Then we began our 4 day trek on the Inca Trail which would eventually lead us to Machu Picchu. Though it was a guided trek with porters that carried all of the group gear and up to 6kg (13lbs) of our personal gear, it was still more challenging than I had expected. On the second day we hiked through a pass in the mountains that took us above 13,000ft and the third day was our longest mileage day. We experienced pretty wet and rainy conditions on the 2nd and third day as well. Luckily, we did get some sun and blue skies on our final day of the trek at Machu Picchu, which was just an absolutely amazing and awe-inspiring place. It is a beautiful site that everyone should go and visit, just maybe not during the rainy season. After our trek ended we flew back to Lima and spent a couple of days there. I wasn't too impressed with Lima as it felt like another big city with a lot of pollution, but it did have some impressive Spanish architecture.
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I snuck a couple shots of the porters having their lunch. Some of them are giving me the "why are you taking a photo of this?" look, haha. Notice the dog and the chickens, there were a lot of random animals hanging around looking for scraps of food.
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I snuck a couple shots of the porters having their lunch. Some of them are giving me the "why are you taking a photo of this?" look, haha. Notice the dog and the chickens, there were a lot of random animals hanging around looking for scraps of food.

Inca TrailPeruIMG9852

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  • Everyone taking a breather at the top of the hill.
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  • One of the porters carrying a typical size load. Pretty amazing, and most of them wore sandals or very basic shoes.
  • We stopped at this open patch to take a peek at the ruins down in the valley and the guides talked to us about the history of the Sacred Valley and Inca Trail.
  • Ruins and terraces.
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  • We stopped at this open patch to take a peek at the ruins down in the valley and the guides talked to us about the history of the Sacred Valley and Inca Trail.
  • At first I thought we were going to camp here, but in fact it was a stopping place to have lunch. The porters had gotten here ahead of time and setup the kitchen and dining tents and had already started preparing lunch for us by the time we arrived. All of the meals were delicious!
  • Cooks busy in the kitchen.
  • I snuck a couple shots of the porters having their lunch. Some of them are giving me the "why are you taking a photo of this?" look, haha. Notice the dog and the chickens, there were a lot of random animals hanging around looking for scraps of food.
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  • The dining tent, complete with a dining table and stools.
  • Rooster
  • Donkey
  • Plenty of these in the bathrooms at night.
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