An Adventure? Alpaca My Bags…
Today did start with quite an adventure. We decided to head forty-five minutes east to the town of Pisaq, a colonial village known for fortress ruins and it’s daily market. We learned we could make the trip much cheaper if we jumped into a van carrying other passengers, known as a collectivo taxi. We decided to give it a try since the cost was equivalent to $1.50 USD versus a $40 USD cab ride. I was sandwiched in between two older Peruvian gentleman in the very back row and Brittany was in the middle of two Peruvian women in the next row and neither one of us had an option to wear a seatbelt. We were the only English speaking people in the van and I felt like we were on a crash course. Our driver was flooring it around hairpin turns with no guard rails and a straight drop down to the valley floor… I was terrified and all of you who know me, know it takes a lot for me to be terrified when it comes to driving fast. Now I’m not so sure I’d fit in here… these Peruvians would drive circles around me.
Anyway, somehow we made it there alive… luckily for the people of Pisaq because we came with a wad of Soles ready to shop! After fifteen minutes of walking row after row with every other stall selling the exact same stuff and being hounded constantly by each vendor, I suggested we wear a sign reading, “Don’t talk to us, we’ll talk to you if we’re interested,” lol. However, a few of them were able to wear us down enough that we came back to Cusco with so much loot, we had to buy a duffle bag to get all of our purchases home.
Once we were out of cash, and this included two more ATM max withdrawals (don’t judge!), we commuted back to Cusco… again, as the only gringas in a collectivo taxi. Our timing might have been perfect yesterday… today, not so much. We had decided to forgo carrying umbrellas and as a result got caught in a torrential downpour with all of our new prized possessions. We tried to tough it out, but looking like wet dogs about three minutes into the walk, we hailed a cab.
We took advantage of the bad weather to enjoy our last showers for the next four days. We leave at 4:30am tomorrow for our Inca Trail hike. And packing for this trek was much more difficult than we could have ever imagined. We each hired a half porter to assist in carrying our belongings, but they can only carry 6kg p/person, which is 12 lbs… not that much. We both lift 12 lbs in dumbbells at the gym on a daily basis, so not sure this service was worth the extra money. But after many hours of deliberating, unpacking, repacking, etc… we’re ready!
We took a break from from all this to go out for dinner and had another great meal, this time at Uchu. They serve your entree on a stone plate and you finish cooking your meat/seafood at the table. We also tried our first Peruvian ceviche, which was delicious. We started chatting with the two ladies sitting next to us… they were from Canada and they’re not hiking, but they will be touring Machu Picchu on Monday, the day we arrive at the site from our hike. We were laughing, saying we’ll have to connect with them then, although we apologize in advance for the way we’ll be smelling. I’m almost embarrassed that we actually met someone we could possibly see again after four days of sleeping outside in the wilderness with no shower. Ick.
Here we go! The hike is on the other side of four hours of sleep. We obviously won’t be connected with the outside world… no wifi or cell phone service, until we get to the Starbucks at the end of day two. Just kidding… can you imagine? LOL
I’ll continue to blog and will post each day’s experience when we return to civilization very late Monday night. Wish us luck… this is going to be interesting!! Our hike map is below…
This blog entry was originally posted on www.MayerTwinsTravel.blogspot.com