Multisport Peru

I am traveling to Peru with fellow Adventure Lifer, Ashley Bailey. We start our trip with our flight to San Francisco being delayed by an hour and a half. That's an hour and half more that we could have slept in. Bummer! We eventually board the plane and even make our connection in SFO. The icing on top of the cake: our bags make it with us. We couldn't believe how great our flights on LAN Airlines were. Two square meals, free movies, free drinks AND great service. Maybe they should start a training program for US-based airlines. We arrive in Lima late at night and are happy to see that the hotel is literally across the street from the Lima airport. We pass through customs, pick up our bags and walk the 20 feet to our home for the night: Ramada Costa del Sol. The hotel has been newly redesigned and everything feels clean and modern. We enjoy our welcome drink (Pisco Sour) at the bar and turn in the for the night.

We actually get to sleep in late today and enjoy the early morning at the hotel. We were surprised by the breakfast: the omelet bar is fantastic. There was more variety than your typical continental breakfast = time to load up! We spent the day at our office in Lima, meeting with our staff Gianina, Fabiola and Milagros. They took Ashley and I out to lunch at a fabulous restaurant on the ocean. We sampled several different types of ceviche and other Peruvian cuisine. Yum! After lunch, we had a city tour of Lima. I could not believe the amount of traffic in this city!! It certainly makes Seattle look tame. It actually makes Rome seem tame as well. The historical districts and Miraflores districts were very impressive, though I'm not sure it's worth braving the awful, awful, awful traffic! Sorry, Lima. We're off to Cusco!!

We woke early again today to head to the Sacred Valley for whitewater rafting! The Urubamba River is the river that flows from Cusco through the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu. It eventually joins the Apurimac to become the Ucayali, one of the main headwaters of the Amazon. I was surprised by how low the water was, but the guide explained that we were there at the height of summer and the river was much wilder during high water season. Makes sense to me! We hit some big rapids toward the end of our rafting excursion, but most of the water was pretty calm. After getting off the water, we drove to Ollantaytambo. This tiny town was charming, with ruins lining the steep cliffs on either side of the valley. I wasn't expecting it to be so incredibly lovely. This was another place I wish that we could have spent more time in. Before dinner, Ashley and I explored the ruins on one of the hillsides and felt like explorers. We could see the jagged, snow covered peaks in the distance and wished we could hike them.

Early in the morning, we load into the van and drive to Malaga Pass. We started our ride a few miles below the pass. The road is newly constructed and hasn't even been opened yet, so we have it to ourselves. It was freezing in the morning at 14,000 feet! Imagine that! As we continued to ride and lose elevation, it got warmer and we shed layer upon layer of clothing. The first half of the ride was paved, but the second half was packed dirt, as the road was not yet finished down lower. It was exhilarating riding down this major pass and the views were amazing! Ashley and I had perma-grins plastered on our faces the whole time. When the road turned to dirt, we ended up getting super muddy as the road construction crews were throwing water on the packed dirt to keep the dust down. I can't decide if mud or dust would have been better, but eventually we just embraced the messiness and purposefully hit the mud puddles. After the mountain biking, we drove to Quillabamba and camped along the river in a meadow. Some creature had obviously died nearby and the smell of rotting flesh was horrible. Today was Ashley's birthday and we celebrated with local Peruvian wine and a chocolate cake for breakfast. Thanks, Vidal!

We drove to Santa Maria and began our hike on a trail that the Incas had used to travel between the Amazon and Cusco. The trail followed one of the steepest hillsides I have ever seen. I couldn't believe that people could manage to build a trail on a mountain like this today, let alone several hundred years ago. The trail ascended sharply for the first few miles and we certainly earned our lunch! After the climb, we broke for lunch at a woman's house. She gave us a shady place to sit and we bought all of her cold beverages. I have never been so happy to see Gatorade in my life. She had a handful of month-old puppies that ended up with half of my portion of rice. They looked sad and underfed and reminded me of the dogs I saw when I lived in Guatemala. I can't believe I didn't end up hiking out with one of them.... We continued hiking along this amazing trail. At one point, there was a viewpoint that showed all of what we had been hiking. Still, couldn't believe that there was a trail in a place like this. The Forest Service does NOT build trails like this in the states. Much too dangerous. We started descending and ended up at the van where our driver/savior, Carlos, was waiting. We piled into the van, exhausted, and headed to Santa Teresa. The group camped at a small ecolodge outside of Santa Teresa, where we were able to relax and enjoy some more of the national beverage, the Pisco Sour.

Normally, the Manco Multisport trip has an extra day of hiking today, but we were all tired and just wanted to get to Aguas Calientes. Vidal suggested that we skip the hiking trip to Patallacta and drive to the train station instead. We were quick to take him up on the offer. The train left early in the morning, so we left Santa Teresa before dawn to make it to Hidroelectrica, the project/village that houses the train station and the hydroelectric station that provides power to most of Peru. Upon arriving at the train station, we were informed that the train departing in the morning was for local Peruvians only and there was NO WAY they were going to let foreigners on it. We argued, we offered insane amounts of money, we moaned and groaned, we almost threatened (not quite), but the train staff would not budge. So, what did we do? We walked the tracks! Vidal jumped on the train with all of our bags and said he would walk back and meet us when he got to Aguas Calientes. We walked about 2 hours along the tracks to Aguas Calientes, which ended up being one of the best parts of the trip for me! The natural beauty of the area was incredible and we followed the Urubamba River all of the way. We could see Machu Picchu way above us on the cliffs. We pretended we were Indiana Jones or Hiram Bingham. With about a 1/4 mile left to go, we saw Vidal walking toward us. He had taken our bags and checked into our hotel rooms for us and had made it back in time to guide us to Aguas Calientes. We took quick showers, ate lunch and boarded a bus for Machu Picchu. Almost two full days to explore! As Ashley and I rounded the hill and the ruins came into view, I had a profound moment of realizing where I was and how incredibly special this place was. I have traveled a lot of the world in my few years, but I have never felt like I did when first seeing Machu Picchu. It actually changed my life. I just wanted to sit down and watch it for hours. After exploring the ruins on our own, we returned to Aguas Calientes. Our friend and traveling companion, Chris, took Ash and I out for a fantastic dinner at Indio Feliz. The food was Novo Andino and everything was delicious. I fell asleep that night realizing that I would have another day to watch the sleeping majesty of Machu Picchu.

We're up early to meet our new guide, Alfredo. We travel by rickshaw from our hotel to the docks. What a great way to go! We board our very own boat and motor out to the Uros Islands. The indigenous population here lives on islands made out of reeds and they actually float! We learn all about their way of life. They take small groups of us into their homes and offer to dress us up in their traditional clothing. We all get dressed up and take a thousand pictures. After Uros, we motor farther down the coast of Lake Titicaca to the peninsula of Capachica to Llachon, a small community of Aymara farmers. We gear up for our kayaking trip and enjoy the hot sun at 14,000 feet elevation. Ashley and I choose a double kayak and we start paddling down the peninsula. A few of us spot some contraption out in the water and go investigate: it's a fish farm, where lake trout are grown. So, this is how they get all the fish on the menus I've seen throughout Peru!! Being from Montana, I had almost thought they might be wild. Silly me! After kayaking, we get back in the boat and travel to Ticonata Island. The eco-village here is quite amazing. There are only a handful of families that still live on the island, but they have developed a tourism project to host people on their island. We stay in replicas of the pre-Incan homes that were discovered here and enjoy a traditional dance and ceremony. The people are so warm and inviting. The sunset is beautiful here, though the wind is bitter cold. I'm glad I brought my hat and gloves with me!

We have breakfast with our host family on Amantani and meet the group back at the dock to depart the island. We spend several hours motoring back to Puno and have the afternoon free to ourselves. I have my heart set on buying the traditional hat I wore on the Uros Islands, but I can't find them anywhere. Local markets, tourist markets, street vendors, nothing! Chris, Ashley and I wander around Puno and find a HUGE local market. We buy every kind of street food we can find. Hey, it's the end of the trip and I haven't been sick once! Time to test my stomach yet again. As this is our last night in Peru, we head out for a nice dinner and see if we can't find ourselves some trouble. We find some in the form of a karaoke bar and sing some really horrible American songs before turning in for the night.

All of our flight plans have been changed, but everything works out in the end (seems like that's always the case). Ashley and I take different flights from San Francisco to Seattle, but we arrive at nearly the same time. Now we just have to drive from Seattle back to Missoula ....