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Thursday we met our group and guide at 5:30am at the bus station. We took at 3 hour bus ride and a half hour taxi ride to the trail head. Here we sat around for a couple hours, not really knowing what we were waiting for (our guide didnt tell us much, except that we were waiting for "some guy"). We had lunch here, and then started hiking at about 1:30pm. The trail was relatively flat for the first two hours and then we walked downhill for about 3 hours to our first campsite. It was in a tropical area on the river and had all kinds of fruit trees. Camp was set up for us and we ate dinner and pretty much went to sleep right after. We had to get up around 5am and were tired from the long day.
The second day of the trek was definently the hardest. The first 45min were downhill again (killed my toes) and then we walked straight uphill for about 4 hours to our stopping point for lunch. We had a couple hours here and we were able to nap in the sun (and get eaten alive by mosquitoes). We then
headed off to the ruins (about 2 hours away). They were very impressive. Only about 25% of Choquequirao is uncovered and the area that it takes up is HUGE. The buildings are high on top of this mountain and the sides are partially uncovered and is expected to be mostly agricultural terraces. Not a whole lot is known about this city, its is believed that only about 300-500 people lived here, and that is was possible a vacation spot for the Incas. Also, most people think it was accidentally built here becaue over the next hill is all this flat gound. I think it will be very interesting to see what it looks like in 10 years or so when more is uncovered.
We spent about 3 hours walking around the ruins and then headed back to the campsite. I was trying to hurry to get back before dark so I was ahead of the group a bit. I was maybe 10min away when the horseman ran up to me and said we moved campsites. Our guide failed to mention this to us so I ended up walking about an extra 2 hours, it was pretty frusterating. He also
didnt tell us that we wouldnt be able to buy water at this campsite, so we were all out. But luckily our cook boiled some for us. We had a cook, a horseman, three horses to carry our big bags, and our guide. They set up camp for us each night and cook us our meals, it was pretty nice 😊
The next morning we started hiking back to our first campsite, about 5 hours. Then our final day we started around 5am and hiked about 5-6 hours. Our legs and feet were killing us, but it was so much fun, and an awesome workout. The views were amazing. We were hiking down into this huge river valley and then up the other side. There were mountains all around us and barely any other people.
We arrived back at Cusco in the evening and I checked into the closest hostel I could find so I could finally shower! This hostal sucked (hostal Regis). It was loud till about 2am, my bed was awful, the shower barely worked, and they started construction right above my room at 6am..I dont reccomend it. In the morning I went to Pirwa Backpackers
hostal which is SO much better. The rooms are dormatory style, there is a kitchen (I can finally cook my own food!!), tv, internet, and courtyard. Im staying here a couple nights and then off to another four day trek, hopefully my legs will be ready by then!
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Mom
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Good to see you!
Hi Katy, It is so good to see you in the pictures. So many beautiful ruins. I know you're having fun. I hope your next guide is a little more friendly. Love and miss you - mom.