Kim and Doug

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Doug and I were married in 2000 and have tried to take a trip somewhere different every year to celebrate our marriage. Sometimes it is in our camper, and sometimes we have enough frequent flier miles to go some wonderful places!



Travel Blog Posts


Day 3 Inca Trail

Published: September 3rd 2008South America » Peru » Cusco » Inca Trail
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September 3rd 2008

Breakfast for Day 3 was a spinach & sausage omelets, toast, porridge, hot tea - lots of carbs for what was to be the longest day of the hike. The ups and downs this day were not as extreme as Day 2, but the down part of Day 3 involved many many many steps. I was nursing my left knee, and Doug his right after twisting it on Day 2. All the Advil I brought with me came in handy! Day 3 was beautiful, with very different foliage throughout the trek. We made our way down the mountain to the campsite after about 9 hours of hiking. This campsite was located near the trekkers hostal, and they had lukewarm showers for $1.50 soles (about .50 U.S.)! Doug and I splurged on a shower and a bottle ... read more



Day 2 Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Published: September 2nd 2008South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu
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September 1st 2008

Day 2 begins with the porters waking us up by tapping on the tents saying "Buenas Dias, Amigos!" and bringing hot water for coco tea. After a wonderful breakfast of cinnamon porridge (I never thought I would eat porridge, but I have to say it was wonderful!), caramel crepes, fresh fruit salad, toast and hot tea (this is definately not a time to start the South Beach Diet - most meals are very high in carbohydrates to provide the energy needed to hike for so long!), we began the hike for Day 2. After going through a check-in point, we made our way up a very steep incline and hiked for the next 4 hours through beautiful mountains. We stopped for tea at around 11:30am - the porters set up a table for us with cheese ... read more



Day 1 Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Published: September 1st 2008South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu
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August 30th 2008

Day 1 of our trek started out very early - we got up at 4:30 am to shower for the last time for 3 days, and make sure we were in the lobby to get picked up by 5:20. The hotel we stayed at prepares breakfast for you between 5am and 10am, so we were able to get some juice and a croissant before we left. We were the first hikers to get picked up that morning, and the bus made several stops at various hotels/hostals in the town of Cusco to pick up the rest of the group. In an earlier blog, I mentioned that there were to be 16 in our group, but we ended up with 13 due to a couple of bouts of food poisioning/altitude sickness. The bus ride was about an ... read more



WE DID IT!!

Published: August 30th 2008South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu
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August 30th 2008

WE DID IT!!! Doug and I made it through the trek - it was the most amazing thing we have ever done! (And I have to say it was much harder than any of the marathons I have run!) The scenery in the Andes mountains was just breathtaking and too beautiful to put into words. The ruins we saw were incredible - the engineering that the Incas used so long ago was amazing. The trekking company we used, Peru Treks, did a wonderful job taking care of all of us - there were 13 hikers in our group. The group was all Americans with the exception of one couple from London - strangers at the beginning of the trek and friends now! I promise that I will do a blog for each day of the trek ... read more



Preparations for the trek!

Published: August 25th 2008South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu
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August 24th 2008

Today is our last day before we begin the trek - we went to Peru Treks office last night to get our briefing - there will be 16 hikers total in our group plus about 30 porters, 2 guides, assistant guides and a chef. The porters carry everything we need except for our daypacks - they haul our sleeping tents, dining tent, all cooking necessities, food water, etc. over the trail. Our only job is to carry our packs and hike from one campsite to the next each day. Yesterday we took a horseback riding tour of 4 different ruins - I was really looking forward to this, because while in Lima I picked up a magazine that had beautiful pictures from Peruvian Paso Fino horse farms in the area. So I was picturing riding a ... read more



Made it to Cusco!

Published: August 22nd 2008South America » Peru » Cusco
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August 22nd 2008

Hi all! We made to it Lima last night around 10pm, made it to the Marriott and immediately went to bed! We had a 1pm flight today to Cusco - that was a little scary flying down into the mountains, but beautiful! Our hotel we are staying in Cusco is so clean and beautiful, and everyone is so helpful. Our goal tonight is to relax and not get altitude sickness! Kim & Doug... read more



South America trip

Published: August 21st 2008South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu
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August 21st 2008

This is our trial blog - Doug and I leave tomorrow for our Peru trip - looking forward to one night at the Marriott in Lima, Peru Thursday evening before we fly from Lima to Cusco on Friday. Our 4-day (no showering, stinking, hopefully no GI upset, altitude sickness or knee issues) trek on the original Inca trail to Maccu Picchu will start on Monday. I will try to update this blog as I can, the hotel we are staying at in Cusco is supposed to have a pretty good internet connection. I am sure we will have some crazy stories and great pictures to share! Kim & Doug... read more






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