Burner Billy Adventures: March 2014

When you sit at your desk and look at pictures of something that is thousands of miles away from you, it's REALLY hard to imagine what it feels like to be there. Machu Picchu was this "something" for me. I never dreamed in my lifetime that I would actually set eyes to the magical Inca past-time empire known around the world as Machu Picchu (it stands for old peak), and when American Hiram Bingham discovered the site, people say he was looking for another lost Inca city in another location. Let's just say I probably felt the same way as him when I finally saw it for the first time too.

Most people venture up to Machu Picchu via Aguas Caliente were you can take a bus up to the ruins (some people hike it, but it's roughly 1500 feet to cover in less than 2-3 miles. NO thanks), spend the day there, maybe hike Wayne Picchu, and then venture your way back down to Aguas Caliente either to stay the night there or go back to Cusco. Well, I did things a little different. I hiked the ROYAL Inca trail for 4 days. At first the costs for the trip were higher than I would have liked to pay ($600 US dollars), and I wasn't really able to hike my own hike since there's rules that require porters to carry your stuff. However, when I turned that corner at the sun gate to get the first glimpse of Machu Picchu....worth EVERY penny. And don't get me wrong, the guides, the company of my other hikers, and the food totally made the trip special, but seeing Machu Picchu for the first time, it was the highlight of my trip so far. I am glad I got to do it with my pal Bobby and Jess, but I really enjoyed also hanging with Marian, Stef, Matt, Abby, Stephanie and Ben, the other people in the group. To say the least, the trip was filled with tons of ruins and history unknown to me, some great hiking and views, and nice company. It was as Macro would say "Mucho Wow-Wow".

Outside of Machu Picchu, I did a tour venturing around looking at other ruins such as Ollantaytambo and Pisac, but what I enjoyed the most was just walking out of Cusco and around the beautiful mountains that cover the city. It really is a special area and the Incas called Cusco it's capital before the Spanish destroyed it. The town square is great and you even feel at home when you go to Paddy's Irish Pub for a cold pint. Bob, Jess, and I met great people in Cusco and would recommend anybody to say there for a few days just to feel the spirit of the Inca tradition before heading to Machu Picchu.

From there, I flew to Lima (capital of Peru), but only stayed a night because I wanted to backtrack to Ica/Huacachina to see the desert and do sandboarding AGAIN. Huacachina isn't much of place to spend time, but I did enjoy the Bananas bungalow there and actually got to hangout with Jake who Bob, Jess and I met in Cusco. There's something about the desert that strikes me, and getting on that dune buggy and cruising the desert at dusk is pure cleansing for my body. I love sand! Again, I tried sandboarding, but it wasn't with a typical snowboard and boots. It basically consisted of a piece of plywood with valco straps covered in melamine to make the surface smooth. If I knew I could have rented a snowboard, I would have, because those Peruvian sandboards are dangerous. I am not much of snowboarder, but for some reason I LOVED going down 600-900 feet vertical drops in the desert. Even though I stumbled pretty hard (and probably got cussed) on the last dune we carved for the evening, I really enjoyed sandboarding and it was good to do with Jake, who was spectacular at it.

After Huacachina, I went back to Lima, hoping to stop in Huarez or Trujillo from there before going to Mancora (it's usually the last town before crossing into Ecuador), but time was against me. Knowing that I had to get to Quito for an amazon trek booked with fellow amiga Kathleen, I decided to take an 18 hour bus ride from Lima to Mancora. I was a little bummed because there's definitely more to see in north Peru, but I guess I'll have to go back (Bepper???).

Mancora, what to say? It's a mix of spring break and college put into one MTV-style hostel named the Loki. I did enjoy the sunshine, warmth, people, and amazing sunsets, but I could have stayed away from dipping back into my earlier twenties and trying to drink like I use too. 3 days and 2 nights was enough for me, but it was here were I meet Wendy and Charlotte from Holland. Little did I know I would be cruising with them on the same bus over into Ecuador. Thanks to Wendy, I enjoyed passion fruit mixed drinks at Hotel Wawa that were quite delicious. Peru was definitely a sweet time!

Trying on the porter's backs. 25kilos (~50 lbs)

The Inca Trail Crew

Me and Inca Ruins..pondering

Views and Llamas

Day 2 Camp of Inca Trail

View of Salkantay Mtn

Hikers and Porters

Chillin on a Inca Terrace

Hikers Bill and Bob juntas

Happy for Inca Ruins!

Matt blending in with the porters

First view of Machu Picchu at the Sun Gate

The one and only...MP

Llama Path crew...Michael Jackson did it (inside joke)

Top of Wayne Picchu with Stef

1/4 of my roots...in Cusco

Inca Ruins at Ollantaytambo

Inca Ruins at Pisac

Town of Ollantaytambo

Sand dunes in Huacachina

Jake and I in the dune buggy

Sandboarding!

This was just before I wrecked...

Mancora Beach

Mancora sunset

Mancora town after gorgeous sunset

Ciao,

Burner Billy

Leaving San Pedro de Atacama and NOT entering Bolivia was a little depressing. I just wanted to continue hanging with my new found friends, but in the back of my mind, I knew more great adventures lied ahead.

Crossing into Peru was quite a trek. I took a night bus from San Pedro to Arica, Chile (12 hours). From there, I hopped on a local bus that takes you from Arica to Tacna, Peru (about 1 hour). Since it was early in the morning and again my spanish was terrible, it took about an hour to figure out how to get on the bus. I was a little nervous my bag did not get on that bus because the bus station was a little sketchy, but once I crossed the border, my bag was sitting at the stoop. Relief! If anybody knows me, I was NOT calm during this trek and in my mind I was planning thousands of scenarios of how I was going to handle my bag being gone. Let's just say I hated my bus ride to Tacna. Anyways, from there I caught another was-supposed-to-be an 8 hour bus ride to Arequipa, Peru, however it turned out to be a 10 hour because the Peruvian police had to come on the bus at a local checkpoint to detain a woman. It was 100 degrees in the bus and the woman refused to get off. The adventures of traveling! After 24 hours (3 buses), I made it to Arequipa, Peru!

Once in Arequipa that night, I decide to book a 2-day, 1 night tour to Colca Canyon. Apparently, it's the deepest canyon in the world, and I will say it's really pretty, but it reminded me more of the vast valleys of the John Muir trail then say the Grand Canyon. We covered roughly 16km (9 miles) of hiking in two days and it was probably 1200m (4000 ft) of vertical climb in and out of the canyon. It was definitely beautiful and you stay at this amazing Oasis resort at the end of the trek. The whole tour was worth the $30 USD and that included a majority of our meals too!.

I met some great people like Tara from Vancouver and the lovely, mom, brother, and sister combo from Australia. Really enjoyed hiking with them and hopefully I can catch them on future adventures (Sam, I am crashing at your place in Buenos Aires. Ha)

Lastly, Arequipa (know as the La Ciudad Blanca, "white city") was the cleanest city I had seen on my adventure so far. The Plaza de Armas is surrounded by Spanish colonial architecture and engrossed with a gorgeous catholic church. On the free hike tour, I learned about the Santa Catalina monastery (it's a whole city block long and apparently was shut off to the outside world until somewhat recently), the last supper painting that is different from Da Vinci in Italy (Jesus is a little darker and the meal is of a coy [roasted guinea pig]), and learned that Mt. Misti is a very much active volcano that threatens the city of Arequipa if and when it has a big eruption (it's drawing comparisons to Mt. Vesuvius eruption in Italy circa 1944). Arequipa definitely has a lot of history and huge mountains to see on a clear day.