Returning to the States

I made it back!!! I am still in the Americas but what a different lifestyle, culture and oh my gosh - heat and humidity!! WOW, UGH, Great to see my sisters, brother, new niece and friends..... but.....where the heck am I??? I can completely understand everything I hear and read. I can overhear background conversations. I understand the currency. I recognize food in the local (Brooklyn), and oldest, co-op in the nation. I can purchase Eugene Emerald Valley products, like salsa and bean dip MMMMMMM.
Last night I boarded a plane in Lima. The next thing I know, after some reading of a fantastic book - 1,000 Splendid Suns - and a good night sleep [Yes I got a good night sleep on a redeye flight. I actually had the whole row to myself. Sometimes it is good to be late. I was one of the last people to board the plane and when I did someone was sitting in my window seat. They were in the correct row but opposite window. I just told her for ease sake that I would just sit in her seat. Then serendiptiously, I ended up with all 3 seats and a good night sleep.], I ended up in New York City.
CRAZINESS!!
Did I actually really go to South America or did I dream it??!! So surreal!!
I had a great visit and stay with my youngest sister Amy and her 4 month old baby, Zazie. One of my other sisters, Jen, came by with my brother Bill, and we watched the World Cup (you see I did learn about futbol or soccer and it must have been down in South America), ate, talked and had fun. We celebrated Jen's birthday by having a picnic in my sister's bedroom, because it was the coolest room in the house. Jen and I then went out for a night of ping pong and dancing to club music. Great fun but would have never thought of combining those activities together in the same place.

































It is interesting to see how life changes. For me, I created a year of adventure. For my sister, she created a life. It is amazing what can happen in 10 months time. I love the diversity and roads that each person chooses to call their own. I feel sooooo incredibly lucky, blessed, fortunate for all the people I get to watch and share while they create their journey. It is in our diversity which we have the greatest strength.

Ohhh, the Places I went....

Planes, Trains, Automobiles
Boats, Buses and Feet

What a journey - life changing, expanding, incredible fun and much learning!! I loved it all - the landscape, the incredible Andes, the language, the people and cultures I met from all over the world.




















I am no longer the same having seen the moon from the other side of the world.




Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow way up high, There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue, And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly Beyond the rainbow Why, oh why can't I?



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KEEP DREAMING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dreams Really Do Come True !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My last Hurrah

My last hurrah, although a great idea, actually turned into quite the different adventure than planned...

So with having just under a week in Huaraz, I had to make some decisions. The first decision I made was that I will be definately be returning to this incredible well kept secret!! The second decision was to leave the exploration of the Huayhuash park, where you really need at least a week, until my return. With that being decided, I easily chose to do some more climbing.

As I was gathering information from the umpteem million different tour companies, I made the decision to climb the mountain, Chopicalqui, 6345 m. I wanted to climb above 20,000 feet and practice my ice ax and crampons skills. What a convoluted adventure it turned out to be!!

I chose Chopicalqui, "Chopi", because was right next to Huascaran, the second highest peak in South America. There were 3 different camp options: camp basico, camp moreno and campimento uno. Camp basico was only 30 minutes off the road, camp moreno was up on dry ground where the rocks meet the snow and campimento uno was up on the snow. The plan was to camp at camp basico the first night, climb up to campimento uno the second day, summit that night/next morning and then camp at either camp moreno or camp basico the third night.

So our adventure began with 3 problems right off the bat. The first one was easy and quick to resolve. Heath had forgotten his pass to the Nacional Park. He went back to the hostal and retrieved it without us having to wait too long. The second one was more time consuming. While we were in the micro heading towards Yungay, I realized I did not receive any crampons. We called the office when we arrived in the town and had to wait for the manager to bring us my crampons. Not too bad but it cost us about 2 hours of waiting. Luckily I remembered before we started hiking. The third problem was also minor with our guide leaving his cell phone in the taxi. We were all hoping that since we had three problems that we were all set to start and things would improve from here on out. But.....

We had some additional setbacks. One was weather - a snowstorm at higher elevations which led to snow and rain each day and night. Luckily there were breaks in the weather for some spectacular views of the mountains! But a bigger problem is that we did not have enough fuel to cook with for more than a day. So we had to stay an extra night at campo basico where one of our guides went back into town to get more fuel and some more food. In the meanwhile, we went for a dayhike and read a lot inside our tents when the weather was not cooperating.

Finally we were ready to go on the third day. We started trekking up and when we reached the snow, we got our crampons, ropes and ice axes out. HUGE problem - I was given two right feet crampons. I tried climbing with them and needed the guides to help tighten them 3 times. If that were not enough, the crampons were crappy and were shifting and moving beneath my feet. We all made it up to our camp amidst a snow storm. We set up camp and hunkered down until the storm broke and we saw one of the best sunsets of my life!!!

We decided to start climbing at 1:30 in the morning. It was slow going with all the fresh snow. As we started climbing steeper parts, my crampons were slipping and sliding. The guides tightened them but to no avail. After about 4 or 5 hours, I decided to stop. It was a hard decision but I was too preoccupied on my gear (or lack of good gear) to really be able to focus. I did not want anyone to get hurt or stressed out due to me. So one guide and I turned back. We got a little lost on our way back but found our trail within 10 minutes or so. We stopped and watched an incredible sunrise in two different spots. The rest of the group did actually summit but it took them 15 hours for both summitting and the return. Impressive!

Although a little disappointed that I did not summit or surpass 20,000 feet, I feel good about my decision. I feel wiser for not letting the testosterone and the ego drive me perhaps to a very unsafe place. My last hurrah was a laugh on me but a good healthy one. I at least have my life, and my fellow climbers lives, so I can try again some other day.

Our first camp with Huayscaran in the background:












































Huascaran:
































































Our second camp














One of the most impressive sunsets I have ever seen!














The sunrise was also damn spectacular:

Huaraz

As my good friend Tyler said, “Sounds like you might have been bitten by the climbing bug” Well he was correct. So I headed up to Huaraz, Peru.

Huaraz is an adrenaline capital for the mountain enthusiasts - hiking, climbing, rock climbing, mountain biking, hot springs etc. It is the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas with 22 peaks over 6,000m. There are 3 different mountain ranges - Cordillera Blanca, Cordillera Negra and Cordillera Huayhuash and 2 parks - Parque Nacional Huascaran and Huayhuash within an hour of this town of about 100,000 people. A small town, snow capped mountain views from town, hiking from downtown, sounds perfect right??!! The only problem I was facing was not having enough time to see it all.

A view from my hostel terrace:





























My Australian friend, Heath, and I decided to go for a day hike up to Laguna Churup in Parque Nacional Huascaran. The lake itself is at 4450msnm. A great day hike with views of Huaraz, brown rolling hills, rocky cragged mountain tops, snowy peaks and waterfalls.

















































We started up the hiking trail from a small village, Llupa, north of Huaraz. The town was comprised of houses, gardens and a walkway up into the mountains, Quebrada Quillcayhuanca. On the way up, about 40 people from the village were working on the trail. They were maintaining the trail as well as clearing the irrigation canals which gave their town water from the glaciars above. I love seeing groups of people working together towards a mutual goal. It reminded me of home :-)
But I thought it was strange that not only did the children ask for caramelos (small candies), food, money etc but so did the adults. I was shocked when a grown man of about 50 or 60 asked me for some caramelos. I had a hard time with the requests at first, but let go of my own judgements and finally when we got into the microbus for Huaraz, I got a good laugh, made some jokes and even made the women laugh, when they asked for my earrings and shoes.
I know it is a common practice for tourists to give candies/lollipops to the children throughout Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. I have not engaged in this practice for the main reason of me not liking children learning to beg for things. I also worry about their teeth and the lack of money for dental care. But I feel like I got a confirmation of my thoughts in this village. I do not like the locals thinking that all tourists are rich, better than them and will give out handouts when asked. What do you all think??

The view of the outskirts of Llupa, with the water canal or water source flowing down in the middle of the trees

Machu Picchu

Welcome to Machu Picchu!

Machu Picchu was built by one of the 2 reigning Incan brothers, Pachacuti, back in the 1500's. Between the Inca Civil War and the Spanish conquistadors in the 1520 - 1530's, Machu Picchu became overgrown with vegetation and was not seen again until an American explorer and an 11 year old local boy discovered the site in 1911.
Machu Picchu was built on a narrow ridge between the mountains Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu at an elevation of 2,450 m. The Urubamba River, down below at 450 m, surrounds the site on three sides and eventually joins the Amazon.

My first views just inside the main gate. HuaynaPicchu is the mountain, the agricultural terraces, some of the houses and temples. At this point the sun had not risen up and over the beautiful surrounding mountains.


































We woke up at 3:30am so that we could start hiking up to the Machu Picchu site and arrive before sunrise, as well as be within the first 200 people so we could hike up to Huaynapicchu (HP). I also have seen it written as Waynapicchu. There are only 400 people a day allowed to hike up HP in 2 groups - one group starting at 8am and the other group starting at 10.

Gosh I have never done so much hiking in the dark as I have here in South America!! But it was worth it. Equipped with our headlamps, we walked to the bridge from town, showed our tickets and climbed up in a little over an hour. We were all able to choose the 10 o'clock time, which our guide said is the better time because sometimes in the morning, it is a bit foggy. Within 20 minutes, we were allowed to enter the site - wow!! We then received close to a 2 hour tour of the ruins from our guide, Cesar. Incredible ingenuity went into the design and construction of the town, buildings, abundant terraces for gardening (there were more terraces than buildings) and temples. The Incas were so in tune with nature and I loved how they were able to create several stone replicas of the landscape.

We made it!! Up 500 stairs and 2,000m in a little over an hour.



















Cesar explaining the history of this incredible site


















The sun is starting to rise. On winter solstice, June 21st in the southern hemisphere, we were told that the sun rises in the middle of the V formation in the rocks. The winter solstice is an important time of the year for the people down here and signifies the beginning of the year. They do not really celebrate the summer solstice in December.















Here is one of the rock sculptures they created, depicting the ridgeline of the mountains behind it. Do you see the similarity?


























The open Sacred Plaza in the middle of the buildings with some terraces in the background



















Huaynapicchu's path was a narrow and steep staircase winding up this mountain which gave an amazing overview of the town. At the summit, we were granted a bedazzling 360 degree view of the valleys and mountains surrounding the site.

Halfway up HP















If you look closely, to the right of the bus road, you can see the Incan stairs and pathway that we hiked up.



















How do you like the staircase on the side of the walls??!!



















View of the Machu Picchu site from HuaynaPicchu:





























The Temple of the Sun was a curved tower with a rock cave down below. You can see the steplike altar with the three ridges. In the Incan culture, as well as many of the native cultures of Bolivia and Peru, they used symbols of crosses with 3 steps on each side. The 3 steps or 3 sacred niches are explained in multiple ways. The first being their faith in the natural world - the sky and world above, the earth and what you could see atop of it and the living world in the dirt down below. They also associated animals with each of these steps: the Condor (which represented the sky above and new beginnings), the Puma (the earth and the present) and the Serpent (the world below and death). Another explanation for the 3 steps is a calendar, with each of the seasons having 3 months. The last explanation I have heard explaining the importance of the 3 steps is a visual depiction of the 3 rules to live by: Don't Lie, Don't Steal and Don't Be Lazy



















The stoneworkers created all the windows and doors with a slight angle, with the bottoms being slightly wider on the bottom for more support.














The Temple of the Condor:














The aqueduct system



















Some of my favorite views were from the Sun Gate or Intipunta. If you hike the Classic Incan Trail, you first arrive at the site at Intipunta.

The Salkantay Trek

The Salkantay Trek is a five day hike, 78 km hike, to Machu Piccu. It passes the sacred mountain, Salkantay(6,271m) at a 4,600 m pass, hikes down along the edge of the jungle and spends 2 days on the Inca Trail. What an adventure and what a hike!
I ended up joining a group of 24 people, eventhough the office had told me a maximum of 7 people, from all over the world. We were an amazing mix of personalities and nationalities (Japanese, English, South African, New Zealanders or Kiwi, Chileans, Argentino, Australian, Spaniards, German and me plus the peruano guides, cooks and helpers). It was fun and I had many more memorable experiences than I had ever imagined.















Day 1:
Well our trip started off with a bang, shudder and little sleep. The tour was originally going to start at 4:30 am with a van coming to pick me up at my hostal. Instead, I received a phone call at 7 pm stating that we were leaving in 3 hours. We had to leave at 10pm that night because there was going to be a strike the next day and all transport was going to be cancelled - roads, planes etc. The local people were striking for more water rights. Quite the organized strike. The local people all knew it was going to happen and it only lasted for one day. Then back to business.
Anyway, we ended up arriving at our original breakfast destination around 2 am. Instead we ended up sleeping on the dining room floor and then having breakfast around 6:30am.
We hiked 22 km along the Valley of the Apurimac River up to the Soraypampa campsite. We started at 2900m and camped at 3850m. It is a cold and sometimes windy campsite, near the base of 2 glaciars - one being Salkantay and the other is Huamantay. Since it is so cold, they have an tarp enclosed structure where our tents were set up and tables for mealtimes. It was an incredibly clear night and some of us were stargazing. I learned the quechuans and incans have constellations that are within the band of the milky way galaxy and are comprised of the spaces between the stars. I saw the llama constellation. A decent day of hiking - a steady incline, blue sunny skies and beautiful scenery.



































Day 2:
We had another early start - our wakeup call was at 5:30am. But we had tea served to us in our tents. Nice!!! Day 2 we hiked up to the 4,600 m pass - on the flanks of Salkantay or Savage Mountain as it is understood in Quechua. There have been many attempts to summit Salkantay but only a Japanese group has been successful. We started off early in the morning to the 750 meters in 5 km. It took us about 2 - 3 hours in total. My climbing skills are definately improving and I even surprised one of the guides. I can't wait to see how this training will impact my summer ski climbs in Oregon. After the pass, we hiked down another 3 hours to our lunch spot and then down another 2 - 3 hours for our campsite at Colpapampa. This campsite was along a river and we were lulled to sleep all night long to the sounds of the rushing water. Heaven!





















































































Day 3:
An easy hiking day, considering we only hiked for 5 hours and had some free time in the afternoon. We camped at Sahuayaco in the town of Santa Teresa. It was a beautiful hike down another 1000m along the edge of the jungle and/or cloud forest (I heard it referred to as both) on one side and a river valley on the other. We saw avocado, coffee, banana, and passion fruit trees growing. We saw tons of waterfalls and an old hot springs pool that is no longer active because of some mudslides a few years back.
After lunch, a group of us played futbol. Now I have never really played much soccer but I prefer to be doing things rather than just lazing about so I joined in. After about 5 minutes, I ended up as the goalie on my team by default (our goalie had taken the ball up the field and I defended the goal just in case). I rather enjoyed it, in a terrifying way, especially because my team was more of a defensive team than an offensive one. So I got a lot of experience defending the goal. Well at one point, I blocked the ball from going into the goal but it bounced forward onto the field. So I dove on top of it so no one would kick it in. Well, all the guys, on both teams, just burst out laughing and then cheering. I did not know how to take it at first. But once they started cheering, I knew it was okay. Now I do not know what was so funny but my guide described me as a "wild tiger". I guess they are not accustomed to women who actually play sports. Our team unfortunately did not win but I learned a lot about being a goalie and we definately had fun!
That night, instead of our typical camp dinner, most of us chipped in an extra 20 pesos for a special pig dinner (Pajimama??). A local pig was killed (while some of us watched), cut into pieces, seasoned with garlic, vinegar, hot pepper and salt, and then cooked on a hot stone fire. What an experience. In the middle of the road, they dug a foot down into the earth. They collected some big stones and created a domelike structure in which they made a fire. The fire was to heat the stones and 4 iron rods. When the pig was all cut up and marinated, they wrapped the pieces in a butcher paper. Our cook and some locals first put the potatoes in the bottom of the fire, then knocked down the stones down in a frenzy while randomly placing the butcher wrapped pieces of pig. They covered all the pieces with rock, then some big palm leaves, then a plastic tarp and then some earth. There was still steam coming up so they got another tarp, placed this on top and then covered it with more earth. They cooked the meat and potatoes like this for about an hour or so. They uncovered the layers, pulled the meat and potatoes out and we feasted on some scrumptious food. The next day, two of the women picked the rocks up, filled the hole in with the ashes and dirt and the road was back to business as usual. I love the spontaneity and instant creation.





























































































































































Day 4:
Another long day of gorgeous scenery and hiking. Today, we had to carry our full packs (or pay to put them on the bus and train as most people did) while we hiked up, up and up for 3 hours and then down and only down for 2 hours. We got our first glimpse of Machu Piccu - both the mountain and some of the ruins before heading down into the valley. It was hot and most
of the hike was in the direct sun but we managed to do all right. I basically ran , or more accurately trotted, down the hill. What with the weight of my pack on my back, it was easier to be lighter on my feet if I sort of ran down the hill.
We had 5 hours of gorgeous hiking until we came to the hidroelectric dam. It was really strange to be one moment in this incredible lush, green forest and mountains with a wide river at the bottom and then the next at a construction site with noise, pollution, garbage and machinery. As I was taking photos of the worksite an explosion went off right across the river and I must have jumped 5 feet back. I was shocked. The company is building a tunnel across the river and want another road put in. Then we came to the railroad tracks where there is a fully operational train running from the dam to the town of Aguas Calientes. It was disconcerting to say the least bit. There was this incredibly huge waterfall which was generated by the turbines of the dam. At first I thought wow how beautiful but then I remembered our guide telling us that it was generated by the dam. Then I looked at the river bed and saw that the water filled less than half of the rvier bed. It was really sad to see. Especially knowing that it is drawing water away from the Sacred Valley and Machu Piccu site.
Anyway, we ate lunch near the train station and then hiked 3 more hours on flat, level ground - what a treat - to Aguas Calientes where we stayed in a hostal for the night. What an interesting day of hiking - between the difficulty of going up and then only going down, carrying our backpacks and the shock of destruction right near a World Heritage Unesco site. I barely could stay awake at the end of dinner and during our nightly briefing. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was sound asleep.























































































































Day 5:
MACHU PICCHU!!! WOW! Magical! WOW! Incredible! WOW! Amazing! WOW! Ingenious! WOW! Peaceful! WOW! Garden Terraces galore! WOW! MACHU PICCHU!!!




















Machu Picchu's Double Dozen: