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Published: November 29th 2007
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The top!
The pass is over 15,500 feet and it was snowing on us! Seeing a few of our favorite friends in South America was like ringing in an early Christmas. Jocelyn, Nick and Brandon were the best gifts we could´ve asked for, so we celebrated their arrival with pisco sours, cervezas, grilled alpaca, and a tiny Christmas tree with a garland of all our family´s photos, sent with love from M&M (Mama Seelye and Mitch). The day after our entire group was together, we set off on a four-day backpacking trip along the Salkantay Trail.
Saltankay means ¨savage mountain¨ in Quechua, the native language of the Inca that still thrives despite the Spanish conquest. It could have something to do with the fact that we were surrounded by snow-capped peaks, and how we climbed over the savage Saltankay Mountain pass full of snow flurries on our second day. The Salkantay Trail is through the Cordillera Vilcabamba, and is less-traveled and more difficult than the Inca Trail. Plus, you don´t need to book it six to nine months in advance. We hired a friendly guide named Miguel, who found a horse and mule to carry our heavy tents and equipment, along with a super-human ¨horseman¨, a seventeen-year-old named Loquito (little crazy guy en español),
who fearlessly guided our cargo team through extreme temps in nothing but sandals sans socks.
Along the way, Miguel taught us all about Pachamama, the Andean Mother Earth goddess. Pachamama resides over planting and harvesting, she causes earthquakes and storms, AND she has the power to answer prayers. Luckily, like the Chicago song, when you´re good to (Pacha)mama, Mama´s good to you. So before we hiked over the Salkantay Pass, Miguel led us in a traditional offering to pray for good weather and safety. First we each picked out three perfect coca leaves. Coca is big here - it´s a little medicinal miracle known to ease altitude sickness and ward off hunger, so the locals tuck a few leaves in their cheeks like chewing tobacco (they call chewing tobacco ¨gringo´s coca¨). Then we added a tasty dulce de leche piece of candy, said our prayers for a safe and happy time together, and hid our offerings under rocks before starting up the steep incline.
While climbing the pass, we saw condors in flight, a pack of wild dogs, and a real Texas cowboy. Brandon was the smart one who didn´t test the altitude, and instead rented a little
Is that guy Mexican?
oh no hes just from Texas phillie to ride to the top. We had a quick celebration at the summit and from there, the climate changes were crazy. We descended from the snow to walk through a few valleys and pastures in sleet, and then were surprised to enter the cloud forest where the weather was downright steamy. In the cloud forest, we hiked past waterfalls and hot springs, and tip-toed across treacherous bridges that hung over the raging river (see the video of Brandon testing the old cable transport). Jocelyn picked us all wild berries that tasted like strawberry Skittles along the trail, and Miguel made us taste fresh passion fruit. It was like peeling an orange eggshell to reveal a marshmallow center with gooey, sweet seeds inside. We saw a pierced-nose pig, chickens, llamas, horses, and guinea pigs (a favorite Peruvian dish). We also saw lighting bugs on our second night at over 2,000 meters!
Since we woke up before 6 a.m. and hiked five to nine hours each day, the week might´ve been more like Latin Boot Camp than the vacation our visitors had hoped for. Luckily we evened out the hard work with happy hour at each campsite, along with lots
The goody bag from B
Christmas comes early in Peru! of laughing along the way. (Our happy hour frequency and alcohol intake increased significantly when Jocelyn and Nick arrived). Pachamama likes liquid treats too; before enjoying our happy hour drinks, we had to poor a splash on the ground to toast to her health in Andean tradition. The typical toast is called "challa" with chicha, the Inca drink made my women who chew the maiz to mix it before fermenting it, but we´re sure she also enjoyed our whisky and wine as well. We pitched our tents in valleys at the foot of mountains where friendly native families let us use their kitchens to make soup and pasta for dinner and huge pots of oatmeal for breakfast.
When we finished the trek, we spent the night in Aguas Calientes, a town just as touristy as Cusco but without the glitz. We woke up at 4:30 a.m. on our final day to finish the journey to Machu Picchu. We walked out of town and across the Rio Urubamba, where we snubbed the $6 tourist bus, and instead climbed straight up the Inca steps to what is known as the greatest archaeological site on the continent. Once we entered Machu Picchu
(Old Peak) we hit more steps another 360 meters up to Huayna Picchu (Young Peak) for the best views. Of the more than 100 flights of stone steps at Machu Picchu, we must´ve climbed 99. How the Incas built an entire city of polished stones without the wheel or mortar, we will never know. We´ll also never know where our sea level amigo, Brandon, got his amazing endurance. He tackled every vertical incline in front of us, and won our trip MVP award.
From our Huayna Picchu perch, we marveled at water fountains, gardens, parks, houses and temples dedicated to each of their gods. The Incas even created an entire irrigation system back in 1450. It´s no wonder this is a one of the Natural Wonders of the World. We also climbed around the top structures like mountain goats (again, something we would never be able to do at home), met two Chicago medical residents and regulars at the bar below Trev and Brandon´s Old Town pad, and stumbled over some hippies enjoying lunch in the middle of the dizzying return trip down. After we explored the rest of the forgotten city and tried to pet a llama or
two, we did board the tourist bus back - and saw another wild sight. A local boy of about 13 raced our bus down the mountainside. While our bus wound down the road, he sprinted down each set of steps and shouted war cries when he saw us. We gave him several soles that were well-deserved.
We road the train back to Cusco and our return was another holiday celebration - we finally found Nick´s lost luggage full of American gifts. Brandon came bearing goodies like 18 Keystone Lights (the 30 pack was too heavy to check), candy and tobacco. Jocelyn and Nick brought us Kentucky bourbon, candy corn, Haribo gummies and more deliciousness that we can´t find in South America. For the next few days, we saw the Cusco sights and stuffed ourselves with the taste of home. We also palled around with our resident pups. We knew Brandon would miss his bulldog, Winston, and that Joc and Nick can´t live without Wrigley for long, so we arranged some substitutes; two Scottish terriers - one large, one small. The puppy named Pepa is only four months old. I tried to sneak her out in my backpack, but my
Big mtn
Our first campsite was at the base of this beast failed attempt and our friends departure were sad, sad days. We were sorry to see our amigos return to los Estados Unidos, and we´re still praying to Pachamama that she´ll send them back...
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Val
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Wow!
What breathtaking views! So fun you all got to hike together! What's w/the knee socks though?! :)