After the long trek...

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Hi everyone,

After a long week, we are back in Cusco. Last Sunday we arrived in Cusco with Mark, Kris, and Aaron and found a guided trek to Machu Picchu, which left the next day. We left the hotel at 4 a.m. that Monday and bussed for awhile, then began our trek.

We started the walk after lunch and went for only 3 hours, but we were exhausted afterward. In that time, we hiked uphill to about 15,000 feet -- an elevation where it seems like doing anything is difficult. We stayed our first night surrounded by snowy mountains that were beautiful, but didn´t make camping too warm. We woke up bright and early Tuesday morning to frosty tents and a full day of walking. The first hour or so was still uphill to the breathtaking mountain pass, which was at about 15,700 ft. After that point, it was all downhill (literally) and much, much warmer. We watched the terrain turn from dry and treeless to the beginnings of the Amazon rainforest in our 8 hours of walking that day. We arrived at our camp near sundown, which was sort of a tent city, unlike the first night where we were all alone.

After a much more restful night, we started our third and final day of walking. The sore joints and muscles made it more difficult, but we made it in about 6 or 7 hours to another tent city. The next day we took various trucks, buses, and trains and made it to the town of Aguas Calientes, which was even more touristy than Cusco (yuck). Ben and Mariel went to a hot springs and ate some chips and guacamole (which we are still feeling effects of...), then went to bed early for the early morning ride to Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca city.

We hung around Machu Picchu and explored the city and surrounding mountains most of yesterday. It is a very incredible place, and many things are still intact, such as the fine canals and nearly all of the walls. The Incas used incredible methods to piece blocks of granite perfectly together without any sort of mortar, and the walls are still standing. They actually don´t know what the site was; it´s speculated that it was a monastery, school, or some mix of the two. We took many many photos, which we´ll post...someday.

Today we are trying to make it to Puno, a nice little city on Lake Titicaca, despite our guacamole-related problems. Then we will spend the next few days hanging around the lake, and probably cross into Bolivia and go to Copacabana and La Paz once more. After that, we´ll all come back to Lima to see off Mark, Kris, and Aaron, and Mariel and Ben will make their way north to the beaches of northern Peru and Ecuador for the remaining two weeks -- a relaxing end to the trip.

We hope everyone´s summer is going well, we miss you and love you.

Love, Mariel and Ben

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