I seem to have lost BOTH of my pens! Also? I just took an extremely cold shower. I mean water out of the river formed by glacial melting cold. So cold that I originally wrote “hot” and only realized it after the end of the sentence.
Today was a pretty easy day, all things considered. We hiked up to Minas Victoria (sounds like a Tolkien thing, right?) and up to the pass over the mountain. The pass is at around 4,200 meters, which is like, half of Mt. Everest. That was cool! 🙂 There were a few times I almost got vertigo from the view – very high and very steep down to the rivers below.
Did I mention that my flights were scheduled one day too early? True story. My flight is scheduled for 9:30AM on the 1st. Today is the 28th. We’re still two days out from Machu Picchu. So basically I won’t have an extra day as I’d hoped. My plan had been: arrive at Machu Picchu, do my thing, back to Aguas Calientes to sleep, back to Machu Picchu to climb Machu Picchu mountain (vs Machu Picchu citadel), then train to Cuzco, sleep, flight.
Now I need to condense – get to Aguas Calientes the sixth night (30th) then Machu Picchu citadel + mountain (?! possible ?!) and a late train out of Aguas Calientes.
Either way I take the train to Ollantaytambo, then bus to Cuzco.
For the current plan, I probably won’t get back to Cuzco until late in the night/early in the morning, so I’ll just stay awake and head to the airport early. Better early than late, right?? 🙂 We’re going to pass through a town with internet/phones tomorrow, so hopefully we can see about pushing my flight, or at least confirm train times, etc.
More importantly I might find out how to get tickets to Cuzcotopia. Always wanted to go
there…
Seriously, though, even with the mishaps, like forgetting my water shoes, not changing my pants and therefore only having one pair for travel, getting an infection before I left, scheduling my flights wrong, cutting my fingers and getting hella sunburned the last day in Cuzco, and last but not least, f**king up my knee on the first day of the hike, things have gone really well, and I know that I wouldn’t have seen anywhere near as many incredible things if I hadn’t gone this way.
This is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, overall. I wonder if Nathaniel will want to come with me some day? Or “squishy”? Or if we have a third, that one?
I can’t help but think that Nathaniel and I would have a great time together, once he’s older of course!
My Life So Far 