On Thursday morning we woke up dark and early (we had another long day of hiking ahead) and headed to the eating hut for breakfast. As it turned out, Claudio DID bake a cake for Andy's birthday! When we asked how on earth they came up with ingredients for a cake, Chino told us "Anything possible in Peru." I think maybe he's right.
We attempted to sing Happy Birthday and it went absolutely terrible, but it's the thought that counts, right!?!?
We think maybe this is meant to say "Feliz", and then it also has a mountain, a sunshine, some edge decor, and some strawberry slices. There's even a sprig of something green to give it contrast. The cake was a bit dense, but the frosting was A.MAZ.ING. We're pretty sure the pink part was dyed with strawberry puree, and I'm not sure what was in the rest, but Connie and I basically licked all the frosting off the entire plate, and between all of us we ate almost the entire cake for breakfast, in addition to our actual breakfast. This was such a cute thing for them to do. It really started off our day well. I mean, how many people on earth can claim they had a 40th birthday cake baked by a Peruvian kid (well, kid to us because he's only 26) in the Amazon jungle? I'm guessing that number is extremely small.
After breakfast it was time to say goodbye to Claudio. On Day 4 our end goal was Aguas Calientes, which is the town at the base of Machu Picchu, and we would be eating at a restaurant and staying in a hostel, so we had no more need of a cook. Claudio gave us each a hug before we departed.
When we asked Chino "where are we going today?" he pointed to the top of the mountain we were on and said "up this mountain. Down other side. Then mostly flat to Aguas Calientes." He makes it sound like no big deal. But "up this mountain" turned out to be about 3 hours of more up, up, up. According to our map it was only about 3,000 feet of elevation gain though.
We headed off on a jungle path near our camp. Our hike was supposed to be 19km, which is 11.8 miles. I'm not going to lie - I'm totally calling baloney on this total. We walked FOREVER up this mountain, then FOREVER down the other side of the mountain, and then when we finally reached the lunch stop there was a sign that informed us that Aguas Calientes was still 10km away. I'm not complaining - it was a beautiful hike - but I think their measurements of km may have been off.
I don't know if Andy was just really enjoying his birthday, or he realized that our trek was almost over, but he made quite a few videos on Day 4, so enjoy!
This trail was a lot like the one from the first day. It had some parts that were packed dirt, other parts were grassy, and all of it was steadily uphill.
Just in case anyone is feeling like being in the middle of nowhere is not the trip for them -- don't worry! This little jungle hut has Starbucks Coffee for ya!
At one point these huge turkeys were blocking our path and making a lot of noise.
We weren't sure what to do, but then Chino whacked them with his hiking poles and they ran away so we could pass.
As we headed up the mountain we kept passing cornfields. These things are way high up and they are on such a steep hillside! I would not want to be the person to plant or harvest this corn, but I bet they are in really great shape!
We kept getting higher and higher up the mountain and you could see for miles. We were even higher than some of the other clouds off in the distance. Alas though, we were actually nowhere near the top.
Somebody build this shade structure in case anyone needs to rest from the sun for a bit.
Chino told us that there are several varieties of these wild orchids that grow in the mountains around Machu Picchu.
The photo below is NASTY. We passed several of these things. It was like a living, writhing mass of nasty little worms all intertwined around each other. We thought maybe they were eating something dead, but Sugi dispelled that theory by getting a stick and pulling some of them apart (during which I almost barfed and had to look away).
Along this trail we kept passing these plants that looked like pine trees but were shaped like cacti. They were super interesting.
Here's me standing by one so you get an idea for how tall they were.
This trail had quite a few stone staircases. Little did we know that it was great practice of our hike up Machu Picchu mountain the next day, which included never ending stairs!
It's hard to tell from the photos, but in some parts of the trail the trees were so thick on the sides and overhead that it was actually dark, like going into a tunnel. It's crazy that the vegetation can be so dense.
When we got to what we thought was the top of the mountain (it wasn't - Chino burst that bubble when he told us that we still had about 45 minutes of uphill to do), there was a rest stop that actually had a little store, camping, etc.
The coolest thing about this rest stop was that up on the cliff above it they had built a wooden swing that you could try out for only 1 sol (about 35 cents). The swing was on the edge of the cliff above the rest stop, so if you fell you'd really only fall about 15-20 feet, but because of where it was, it made it feel and look like you were swinging clear out above the canyon. It was amazing! The boys didn't try it, but Connie and I did. It's quite the amazing feeling to be swinging high up above the clouds and mountains!
After we left the rest area we headed uphill some more, which is our favorite thing to do! About 5 minutes later we reached a curve where you could look back and see where we'd come from, and the rest stop was already far below.
We passed another little shop that had seating on a balcony to overlook the canyon as well.
This home and farm were way up on the top of the mountainside. I can't imagine living in a place where you have to hike for hours to get anywhere or buy anything. It's just a totally different way of life.
And finally, at long last, we reached the top! Chino told us that soon we'd be able to see Machu Picchu from across the valley. We assume that's what this sign is referring to when it says "magnificent view only 3 minutes".
And this is where we are going! Llactapata is another site of Incan ruins, and then the Hidroelectrica train is the set of tracks we'd be walking along to get to Aguas Calientes after lunch.
This huge tree had ?recently fallen over, and it's huge ball of roots was still super wet and muddy.
Our first view of Machu Picchu! You can't actually see it in this photo though, because it's on that other mountain range you see way off in the background, but we could see if off in the distance. We still have to walk over there today.
This is the point where Chino told us that the pointy mountain you see on the right of this photo is Machu Picchu mountain, which is what we'll be hiking tomorrow. We were like "how far up the mountain does the trail go?" And his answer was "To the top!" We began to wonder what we were thinking.
I love that there is a street sign in the middle of the mountains announcing that we have arrived at Llactapata.
The ruins at Llactapata were cool because they have not all been exacavated yet. The main structure was mostly uncovered and restored, but when you walk around the sides and back you can see that there are quite a few smaller structures still buried in jungle foliage that they just haven't gotten around to digging out yet.
This is another instance where the photos just cannot even begin to compare to what this looked like in real life. There were mountain ranges upon mountain ranges upon mountain ranges as far as the eye could see in every direction. We could even see the snowy peak of Salkantay Mountain from here, though it was way off in the distance. It was amazing to realize how far we have walked in the last 3.5 days to get to where we are.
According to Chino, the snowy mountain we can see here towards the middle-left is part of Salkantay.
Here are some of the smaller structures still buried in the jungle.
After leaving Llactapata we headed down the mountain, and soon came to another rest stop where I believe backpackers can stop to camp. I would LOVE to come back and camp here someday.
From here we could see the Urubamba River way down below. That's where we're headed now. We need to walk down off this mountain, then follow the railroad tracks along the river all the way over to the next set of mountains. The smaller pointy peak on the left-middle is Huaynapicchu, and the one on the right is Machu Picchu mountain. We had tried to to get tickets for Huayanapicchu but it was sold out. The ruins of Machu Picchu are between these two peaks.
Andy took quite a few panoramic photos in an effort to try to capture what we were seeing. It was just incredible.
Connie took a video to try to show where we'd been and where we were going.
I took about a million photos and could not actually get Connie jumping. Finally some other people there suggested I take a video and then screen shot the perfect moment. Success!
After we left this stop Chino told us that we would be zigzagging down the mountain for "quite a while". Yep. It was another brutal descent. Steep and rocky. But as brutal as it was, I wouldn't change anything. We were there for an adventure, and we surely had one!
Finally reached the bottom of the mountain! This huge suspension bridge was going over the river, and Connie was nervous. It was pretty bouncy, but it seemed a lot less sketchy than some of the other bridges we'd seen, so I was totally fine with it. However, looking back at the photos now, it does look a little more rickety than what I thought. Maybe I was just so happy to be there I was overlooking all the danger we were in?
Like this rotted out board and hole at the end...I'm not sure I noticed that before. Ah, well.
We kept passing these huge leaves on the ground. Finally Connie took a picture of one with her foot by it to show just how big they were. We're not sure what kind of plant they come from.
As we were passing through this area there were a ton of waterfalls coming down off the mountains again, and they had signs up telling you to keep walking and don't stop in this area because there is great flash flood danger. Luckily it hadn't been raining recently!
Once we passed this sign we figured we were almost there! But...it's deceiving. We were almost to our lunch stop, but we still had 6+ more miles to go after that.
Here we go! Only 10.4 km more to Aguas Calientes!
After walking way more that .1 km we passed this sign. Connie was not amused.
We arrived at our lunch stop at the Hidroelectric station, and Chino told us that we could lounge in the hammocks while they were making our lunch, and for 30 minutes afterwards as well. It was heaven! Who knows how many gross sweaty people have been in there before us. I thought about that for approximately 5 seconds before I just hopped right in. We actually ended up having cell service here as well, so I called my mother to see how the kiddos were doing. It was pretty much the first time I'd thought about them all week, I'm not going to lie. It's kind of nice to just take a total mental break from all the things.
For lunch at this place we had soup, beans & rice, fish, and passion fruit juice. I'm pretty sure that Sugi ate everyone's fish. I didn't even attempt to try it. The soup was also very strange. I was already missing Claudio's cooking. At least he gave us a large enough variety at every meal that there was always something to eat. The one great thing here was the passion fruit juice, though. We actually asked for another pitcher of it because it was yummy AND moderately cold.
This right here is the face of someone who cannot bring themselves to even attempt a bite of the fish, and who has a mangy homeless dog sitting at her feet waiting for crumbs to fall, when she hates dogs. It wasn't my best moment!
After lunch and rest it was time to head to Aguas Calientes. All we have to do is follow the railroad tracks and the river now!
This is the Urubamba River, which, according to Chino, is one of the two main rivers that eventually forms the Amazon River. According to google, the Urubamba flows for 450 miles, meets up with the Apurimac River where it forms the Ucayali River, and the Ucayali River is the main headstream of the Amazon. So there you go. We walked along this river for the next 6 miles (or longer, who knows if their measurements are accurate), and it was raging the whole time. We wondered if anyone has ever attempted to kayak it when it's this crazy. It kinda seems impossible.
Here we are, just strolling along the railroad tracks!
A couple of trains came by going the opposite way that we were. Apparently the train going TO Aguas Calientes was in the evening. Claudio got to sit at the station and wait for it so that he could bring all our stuff, and Chino went to the station to get the stuff when the train arrived and then bring it to us at dinner.
Our kiddos love trains, so we took a couple of videos for them.
Some of the train bridges had nice walkways on the sides of them (and by some I really mean just the one above), and others were just slats that you walked across. To be fair though, this green one was the only one that actually crossed a big river. The rest were just going across smaller rivers that were feeding into the Urubamba.
In the video below you may suspect that I tripped and almost fell in the river at the end. You would be correct. After that I figured I probably ought to watch where I'm going and NOT make anymore "here we are crossing the sketchy bridge" videos.
The "trail" beside the railroad tracks was odd. Sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn't, and sometimes it would disappear and then just randomly reappear on the other side. Sometimes it was just easier (and more fun) to walk on the railroad ties.
At some point Sugi decided that balancing on the rail itself was a good plan. He was actually pretty good at it.
Another fun bridge. At least this one is not over water!
These plants were so cool! They were super bright red and then had yellow things that kind of looked like corn, but they weren't.
Just taking a little rest stop at the side of a raging stream.
Hey look! We could walk all the way back to Cusco from here. It's only 115 km! The sign below Aguas Calientes here actually says there is a waterfall that is only 1 km in that direction. I really wanted to go see it, but we had to continue on our way.
We reached one part of the trail where Chino pointed out that we could actually see Machu Picchu on the mountain up above us. This is way zoomed in, but it was cool to see it!
When we were right on the outskirts of Aguas Calientes we stopped for one final rest, and this creepy caterpillar came crawling up my leg. I might or might not have screamed extremely loudly about it, and Chino kindly flicked it off for me.
Here we can start to see buildings. We're almost to town!!
Connie is super happy we have made it! Andy and Chino were up ahead, still walking. The rest of us paused to bask in the fact that we had finally made it to the town at the base of the mountain Machu Picchu sits on. We totally could have just hopped on a train or a bus or a van from Cusco to here, but instead we had just spent 4 days traipsing up and down mountains to reach this point, and we were so proud of ourselves!
The river actually runs right through the center of town, which was kind of awesome.
As we were passing through town we were passing a bunch of really nice hotels and we were like, "Oh boy. We're staying in a hostel. Is it going to be ghetto? Are we going to wish we had upgraded to a hotel?" (Hostel is what was included in our trek pricing.) However, we soon learned, to our utter delight, that our "hostel" was actually a very nice hotel. We each got our own room with bathroom, warm showers, etc., and it was right on the main street of town. We were so happy!
Out the windows we could see one of the big markets where you can go to buy souvenirs. We ended up heading out there later.
For dinner Chino met us at a local restaurant and ate with us. This dinner was also included in the price of our trek, and I began to seriously wonder how they make any profit at all. Everything that was included for the price that we paid is INSANE. I had this pizza, and it was yummy!
Here's the outside of our hotel.
After dinner we headed out to the market to shop. I very quickly learned that this is NOT my thing. I hate crowds, and I hate that they're speaking to me in rapid Spanish and I don't understand, and I hate bartering. I really, really, really hated this shopping experience, and I quickly gave up attempting to buy anything because I was feeling overwhelmed and extremely anxious. I've always known that I hate in-person shopping (I much prefer to order things online), and this was that x100. It was absolutely awful. But hey, we found a dog wearing clothes, so...there's that!
After shopping we headed back to the hotel to get a shower and some sleep before embarking on our final day -- Machu Picchu! I asked Andy "did you ever think you'd be spending your 40th birthday trekking through the mountains of Peru?" Of course not. But we're so glad we did!
