Peru

My friend Susan had taken the last week of April off originally to go to Hawaii for a conference with her husband. For whatever reason, the trip was cancelled for Susan, but she had taken the time off, and wanted to go somewhere. After throwing a few ideas around with our friend Danny (including Costa Rica, south of Spain, Egypt, and Las Vegas), we decided to do the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu in Peru.

After about a million e-mails and phone calls, we were all set to go. After an 8 hour flight to Lima, we took a domestic flight to Cusco. After a day of sightseeing and shopping in Cusco, we had to get up at 4am to catch our bus to KM82 to start our 4 day hike on the Inca trail. Overall, I’d say we were happy with Llama Path tours, and would recommend it to other people: http://www.llamapath.com.

The 45K trek ended up being a lot tougher than any of us had anticipated. Danny started out carrying his own pack, and ended up using a porter part way through the first day. For those who are contemplating doing the trek in the future, here are a few tips/comments:
• Practice climbing up stairs with a 10-20 lb backpack
• If you’re not planning on taking the cocoa leaves in some form, take acetazolamide with you to combat altitude sickness
• Take Immodium and Gatorade powder with you just in case you get sick
• Bring insect repellent if you’re a mosquito magnet like me
• Bring lots of layers that are breathable and synthetic, sunscreen, a hat and hiking boots
• TRAVEL LIGHT!

After spending half a day in Cusco, we flew to Arequipa. There are a lot of adventure trips in the area, and we decided on mountain biking down a volanic mountain. Although it was tough at the beginning, it was a lot fun, and Susan and I had nice bruises to show for it at the end. On our last day in Peru, we made the regrettable mistake of going to Yura. There were about a million bugs, and I got eaten alive. It was so bad that we had to end the trip very prematurely. All in all, I really really enjoyed the trip to Peru and would recommend it to anyone. The people are very friendly, the food is good and cheap, and they respect nature as well (BIG bonus for me there).