Death Road, Machu Picchu, Nazca Lines and Lima!

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First off I need to apologize. Jason and I are now in Peru and have been for
almost 2 weeks. I had written a great blog on the death road telling about the
adventure but I lost it as I was saving it...and it was done! Since the blog site hasn´t been operating for me, but now that it´s up and running I have a lot to write about.

So the death road....definately a once in a life time experience. At first Jason
and I were not going to go on the death road as we read that the death road was
a lot more dangerous in the rainy season when the roads were wet. However after
more research in La Paz we found reputable companies were all still running it
with some extra precautions.

The day we set off was interesting in deed! When we got to the top we had much worse then rain, SNOW! and thick fog. We decided as a group to continue on. The first part was just the paved part. We started off going relatively slow as we all got used to our gear. We were wearing full face helmets, elbow, knee pads and full pants and jackets! We also had full suspension bikes which was different for me! After a while we started going really fast down the hill, about 50km. Because it was so cold I lost feeling in my hands and I was actually worried before we got to the first stop about my ability to pull the breaks! However after decending so rapidly it got warmer quick. By the time we got to the dirt road it had stopped rainingsnowing altogether.

The dirt road is the section of the road known as the death road. It is called that for the vehicles as so many buses and other vehicles went off the edge. The road had constant crosses going down the side. I can see why as it was narrow windy and had a sheer cliff going off the side for most of the way down. We eventually got going on this road really fast as well which was a lot more difficult as you were going over very uneven ground. For a mountain biker it wouldn´t have been much but since I don´t mountain bike it was tough to keep up! We got to the end with only one person having a minor crash. The total distance was 56km and an amazing 11400km drop in altitude!

The very next morning we set off to Cusco, Peru. From here we hoped to do the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu. HOwever we would have had to wait too long to go so we decided on a new trek called the Jungle trek which involved both biking and biking to get there. The biking here was only slightly less intimidating then the death road because the bikes were so terrible. At one point Jason and I stopped and refused to go any further because it took about 5 seconds to stop and both our brake handles were hitting the handle bar when trying to stop! Only then did they tighten the brakes. However that being said it was a lot of fun but the muddiest bike ride of my life! We were covered from head to toe in mud. This time we had no gear so it was our clothes for the hike which got so wet.

The next day we had a grusome 29km hike ahead of us. We started off early in the morning. During the morning we headed up to an Inka trail. We were surprised to be able to go on an Inka Trail on this hike as well. We found out that the Inka Trek only goes on one of many Inka trails in the area. At the top we stopped at a local house where we bought and chewed Cocoa leaves with the activator. It was a neat expeirece. The only affects you feel is a numb mouth and not getting hungry or thirsty all day. This made us understand why the poor workers in the area tend to chew the leaves so often. The afternoon most of our group were too tired to continue and hired a taxi to the night stop. Jason me and the guide were the only that continued so the guide decided to take us on the harder route which was much more rewarding. This route took us over many landslides which we had to hop rock to rock on in order to go waist deep into the mud! After the last landslide when we thought we were out of the dangerous part we were on the trail that led to a bridge. However the trail disapeared right before the bridge as it was washed away. This meant that we had to scale the mud wall to get to the bridge. If we fell we would have falled 50 feet down into the rocks and the fast moving river. The last part of that day we got to take a cable car which was very neat as it was only feet above the water as we sit in this little cart pulling ourselves across.

On the day of Machu Picchu we decided to get up at 330am to hike up to the top. We had to go so early in order to be able to get a stamp to climb Waynapichu. Hiking up was a terrible climb very much like the grouse grind. However this was at a god aweful hour! There was a heard of people when the gate opened and we were about the 50th people back. Slowly we started passing people simply by them stopping for breaks. Jason took off between every road to pass people. Eventually Jason got to the front of the pack and was the first up there. I on the other hand was with the group and we were about 15 people back. We all got our stamps but as luck would have it, it was so foggy that you couldn´t see anything of Waynapicchu! After our tour Jason and I did an even more extensive tour around the ruins. About 10 minutes before our time was up to the Waynapichu gates it started to clear to we headed over. The mountain wasn´t in view when we got in so rather then going on another 1 hr hike up hill for no view we decided to do little waynapichu which the fog had lifted off of. Because everyone else was climbing the big one Jason and I had this mountain to ourselves. It cleared up enough for us to just get the perfect view of the city! However on the accent I dropped my camera off the cliff. We recovered it but it was officially toast now. Thankfulkly this was the camera that previously broke ont he trip and was already held together by tape. Actually the tape it what saved the memory card.

After Machu Picchu and a couple of great days in Cusco we headed on one of the last long bus rides to Nazca. Here we hired a plane to take up over the Nazca lines. These are amazing lines in the ground making figures that can only really trully be appreciated from the air. No one knows why they were there since flight was long out of reach when they were created. The theories range from aliens to astronomy. This was one of the hottest bumpiest plane rides of my life. While the lines were amazing we were all glad to get off the plane!

We are now in Lima, enjoying our last day. I am in an internet cafe to get some refuge from the blaring hot sun! It is going to be tough to return home to cold weather.

A quick reflection on the trip. This has been an great time! I really think that anyone should venture to do a trip like this at any point in your life. It is an eye opener to the different ways of life, so many different cultures and landscapes. I really think that one becomes a better person when they have a better understanding of the diversity of the world. I also believe that this trip has been amazing for our Marriage. We started off before our marriage (the tester), enduring 16 days of hiking and smelling together. Then had our fabulous wedding trip with our closest family and friends! After we tried something new altogether. Traveling with another couple. This was fun don´t get me wrong but boy oh boy did Jason and I have some arguments....not serious but frequent...sorry Tina and Mike 😊 We aren´t exactly sure why this was but right after we were back to our usual selves (of course we still bicker just not as frequent- that´s just us!). Then we suffered through both of us getting sick (both twice) and it went back to back. Then we went into what I will call the Honeymoon phase. The last 4 weeks have been absolute bliss. We have had so much fun and excitement. Finally we had a traveling style where we both LOVED. Ok well I think that´s a good enough relection. Thank-you so much for reading and I can´t wait to see you all when i´m home!

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