I CHOOSE YOU MACHU PICCHU

Here's the whole story of our experience at Machu Picchu: enjoy!

We stayed for two nights in Ollantaytambo and it was my favorite place so far. It's small, cute and has running water all throughout the cobblestone streets. And to make it even better, there was a Cultural Celebration going on in the main square--FOR TWO WHOLE DAYS we heard music, saw traditional dancing and even got woken up by fireworks in the middle of the night. It was crazy. It seemed like the entire town participated in the show because they had SO many people march through the square, each in different clothes and costumes. I personally loved the young kids dancing, there's just something about children honoring the traditions of their culture that is so sweet!

our view from our hostel. WOW was all I could think as I brushed my teeth every night

After Ollantaytambo we stayed in Aguas Calientes for a night, just to be the first ones up the mountain in Machu Picchu on Friday morning. (bad decision in rainy season I'll tell you right now) So we woke up at 4:25 AM and then hiked our way up to the entrance gate.

--Ok, so this hike was actually really cool. So there are buses that take people up to the entrance of Machu Picchu but there is also a free walk (hike straight uphill) to the entrance too! Mike and I love saving money and also our friends told us it made the experience of getting up to the ancient city more personal because you feel like you earned it after that hike up. So that's why we hiked up. Anyway back to our experience!

We got up to the gate entrance and were beginning to get cold (our sweat was drying and making us shiver). This was bad because it was raining and very cold because of the mist. But we didn't care that we were cold--we were in Machu Picchu!! WHOO HOO!!---that attitude lasted about 30 minutes haha.








For the first hour we walked around the ruins and listened in on some tour guides. The mist was so thick noone could see more than 10 feet any direction so this made seeing the ruin difficult. It began pouring when we got close to the Sacred Rock site so we huddled under some huts and waited out the rain. We were SO cold at this point-like freezing. Mike's jacked was soaked through making him shiver, plus he had shorts on. And my poncho kept me warm over my jacked but my leggings were just not thick enough to keep the cold out. We were miserable and so sad. We couldn't see any ruins, or the majestic mountains. The negativity and sadness settled in and I think I cried a little bit. We wished we were still in our warm beds and that we had not come so dang early in the morning. The sun wasn't even up yet so the mist wasn't going anywhere.

--This is where we want to say DON'T GO SO EARLY DURING RAINY SEASON! Seriously the better plan would have been to stay all morning in Aguas Calientes and relax, THEN go to Machu Picchu at like 12PM to have a sunny, clear day without the rain or cold. But the bugs did come out around 2PM when we were leaving so that's something to look out for.


We sat in the hut for an hour watching the downpour. Then we decided we had to move in order to get warm again. We hiked up to the Sun Gate and walked along the path to see the Inca Bridge-a secret bridge on the other side of the mountain where the Inca army could enter and leave-so cool! We warmed up and felt a little better.





Then--out of nowhere-the sun came out and shined down on us. The mists parted and Machu Picchu opened up before us. It was clear, beautiful and just gorgeous! The mists still swam around the mountains but it made for the most amazing photos! It felt as though we were in a floating city way up in the sky. Mike and I went through the entire city again just to see it all in it's glory. We hung out with llamas, ate lunch on a garden terrace and got some great video shots. We were smiling and laughing and dancing around the city. It was so much fun and so beautiful.

is this not the most incredible shot?? Mike was so brave.

There was such a Spirit to be felt there at Machu Picchu. It is mind blowing to me that we are allowed to run around and touch these ancient ruin(for a price but it's so worth it) I just can't believe that I got to stand in the same place where an Inca priest or king made a speech to his people. I got to touch the same stone sundial that astronomers used to plot the time. I got to look through the same window and see the same mountains that kids, mothers and families saw.

It just overwhelms me that people from all over the world are allowed to visit this ancient archaeological site! I feel so lucky and blessed to have been able to visit this sacred site twice in my lifetime. I'm so happy that Mike got to experience the awe of Machu Picchu. It was an unforgettable experience and I'm so glad we did it!

Colca Canyon

Idk why there's so much space up here on the blog but whatever. I dont have time to make it pretty

Mike and I have spent the last two days trekking through the 2nd largest canyon on the entire planet, Colca Canyon in Peru. We heard about this trekking tour from our hostel here in Arequipa and decided to take it on! It was incredibly challenging but oh so worth it. 

We took a 4 hour bus ride at 3 AM just to get to the trailhead--that was pretty awful. We began our hike extra early because once the sun hits, it's excruciating to hike in the heat. 

We hiked down the canyon wall during the entire morning--it began at an altitude of 10,760 feet, and we descended down to our lunch spot in a little town--which was at about 7,545 feet. It was so easy going downhill, Mike and I just ran the entire way.

So then after lunch we had to hike to the Oasis which held our dinner and sleeping huts for the night. We trekked for 2 more hours to the Oasis which was at like 7,000 feet. 

The oasis was truly an oasis. There was a gorgeous blue pool(that Mike and I totally jumped in even though it was raining and chilly) which was surrounded by big palm trees, a grass hut for our dinner and other huts for us to sleep in. We ate dinner and went straight to bed because our hike back to the summit began at 5AM.

To reach our starting point back at the summit, we had to hike straight uphill for 2 1/2 hours. It was so challenging but we pushed through it like champs! Mike and I had the lead on our group the entire time, well except a little at the end because the altitude began to mess with our breathing. But we finished strong in 2nd place! haha but it really wasn't a competition because the locals can hike that mountain in 45 minutes with no breaks or clif bars.......

We were so happy to be done! Here are some pics of us at the summit celebrating being done hiking! Oh my gosh our poor muscles were so sore all our pictures look stiff haahahaha

So then we walked over to the local town Chivay to eat our lunch. It was such an easy walk but so hard because we were all so sore haahaha. We were SO glad to get on our bus ride home.

chillest woman sheep herder in the town Chivay

Alpaca sighting on our way back to Arequipa!

Paracas

Our time in Paracas!

This was the opening to our hostel--so cute. We came to find quickly that Paracas was a very calm beach town nuzzled next to the Ballestas islands. We arrived at night and hung out in our hostel, which was right on the beach! Their back yard had beautiful hammocks which you could see the ocean from. The town was very quiet and small--quiet because it's off season and no tourists are really here in Peru.





Here are the hammocks--soooo nice. 

except when Mike's feet are in my face lol

I love all the kitties and dogs here. They way cuter than the ones in Cusco or as I remember....haha

Onto the Ballistas Islands(or Ballestas idk):

It was cloudy and overcast on our full day in Paracas but we still had an amazing experience sailing to the islands Ballestas. We went to the dock with our group and boarded a speedboat. Our guide took us around the rocky islands while telling us the history and legends of the place. We saw the famous candelabra line which points directly south to all the Nazca lines-mysterious!!

When we arrived at the islands Mike and I were blown away at how amazing they were! I mean we had low expectations going in but wow we were overwhelmed with how the cool the tour was. We saw penguins, sea lions, pelicans, crabs, sea-stars and five million kinds of birds. The sea lions were so funny, lounging around and being all fat. Reminded me of San Francisco sea lions! Our guide took the boat SOOO close to them laying on the rocks-everyone was freaking out and wanting to pet them haha. Then it was so sweet to watch the Penguins- That was our favorite part. It was mesmerizing to see them in the wild, waddling and diving in the water. 

After our boat ride we lounged in the hammocks and kayaked in the ocean. Then we packed up around 5 of bags and left for Arequipa! We settled into our bus for our 14 hr drive and fell asleep in the middle of our world movie Jurassic World-  we were soooooo exhausted and sunburnt. Haaha we forgot all about sunscreen because it was so cloudy but silly us. Here's a pic from my snapchat story:

Anyway, Paracas was a nice little treat for our one night stay there. Off to Arequipa!

8 YEARS LATER!

Ok so when my family and I visited Macchu Picchu back in 2007 we found this hilarious poster for altitude sickness pills. Like my whole family and I thought it was the funniest thing ever! We decided to re-enact this when we got to the ancient city and we did.

So tonight, (eight years later!!!!) while walking back from dinner by the ocean, I ran into the same poster!!!!!!!!!!!! Peru doesn't recycle advertisements very often I guess haha I mean like when something works don't break it right?

 I laughed so hard remembering my 13 yr old self loving this poster. I took a photo and now you can enjoy our silliness as well. 

South America: Day 01-Lima

After 27 hours in airports and airplanes we finally landed safely in Lima last night. The weather here is so nice! It gets warm during the afternoon and cool in the evenings. It's absolutely perfect. I loved today because it gave us a tiny taste of all the amazing things we will see on our adventure here. Our first item of the day was exploring the historic old city. We took the bus down and walked all around.

We went through the catacombs of the Museo del Convento de San Fransisco de Asis de Lima. (I love saying long Spanish names really fast. It's so legit haha) This was the same catacombs I went through when I came here in 2007. It was like Groundhog Day-Lima version haha. It was so fun to hangout on the steps of the cathedral and watch the pigeons. 

This screenshot is from my snapchat video when Mike jumped into a huge mass of birds. Follow along if you like: @ishelb

Oh, this was funny--Mike made me pose here so he could listen in on a tour guide group haha 

We walked all around the plazas and streets. It was so chill and pretty uneventful. It was kind of a prep day before we get to the more rugged (and my favorite!) parts of Peru! We're excited for tomorrow and the next day and the next day and well you get the idea lol