HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY PERU!
It’s trekking time! From the hostel in the middle of
nowhere, we continued our trek up a steep mountain. The views were spectacular.
The Conde Travel guides are, for the most part, knowledgeable about certain
aspects of the trek; although, they don’t speak English too well. I understand what
they’re saying when they speak Spanish but they consistently break the group up
by those who speak Spanish (which are a small group of Chilean guys and two
Peruvian girls) and those who do not (which are the English, Australians, and
Americans).
During these recaps of my 4 day/3 night trip to Machu Picchu
with Conde Travel I wasn’t planning to include the list the things I’ve learned
and experienced; however, after some thought I think it’s easier to just list
things that happened rather than just write everything out in paragraphs. It’s
easier to read too.
So, without further ado, here are some of the things I
learned and experienced:
1 1. Small portion sizes seem to be a recurring theme
around Peru. I know the U.S. has huge portion sizes but here the portion sizes
are way smaller than any other portion size I have experienced in another
country. Meals usually start with a small portion of soup or salad, and then a small
plate of rice with some soupy concoction like: pumpkin sauce with potatoes,
peas and/or a tiny bit of shredded chicken in the center to be mixed with the
rest of the food or something similar. I understand that coca has a way of
deterring hunger, but I fear I may be losing weight again – especially with all
of this hiking. :/ The food is pretty good though!
2 2. There’s an English group of about 6-7 guys
traveling within my group that are total sports jocks. They’re hilariously
rowdy and bring a soccer ball with them everywhere to play with. They almost
lost “Wilson” a few times during the trek, but somehow Wilson keeps coming
back. In our small hostel, knowing that we had to get up tomorrow at 5am, one
of them apparently got super drunk, puked in the hostel common area, went to
his room and puked on the floor, tried to get on his top bunk but failed
miserably and fell into his puke. =_= I felt so sorry for the people sharing
the room with him.
This is Wilson trying to escape. Unfortunately he failed and was caught.
3 3. We went to hot springs after our looonnngggg hike
up and down mountains and through the jungle. It was AWESOME! It reminded me a
bit of Iceland’s Blue Lagoon, although the water was the same temperature all through out the spring. The warm water made me a little nervous because there were
sooo many people in the spring. The spring did not have any current that I
could detect and, without chlorine or any other cleaning agent, the water was
the perfect temperature for harboring bacteria. L
Some of the water did get in my mouth after having a chicken fight with one of
the girls (I won, by the wayJ).
My throat feels a little weird.
4 4. After a long day of trekking, we got to our
hostel in Santa Teresa. Apparently, the hostel had not planned accordingly to
our group’s size. In the end, many of the girls had to SHARE BEDS with someone
else (the guys weren’t having it)!! I have to admit, after finding out about
the sharing bed situation I kind of gave the guide a hard time, when it wasn’t
his fault, about the hostel’s poor planning. In the end I slept in my own bed
but shared a room with two other girls. ;)
5 5. Had dinner at a small restaurant in the Santa
Teresa town. Again, everyone went to bed hungry because the portion size was
super small. By the way, meals are, for the most part, included in the Conde
Travel package.
6 6. After a fun ice-breaker exercise with the group,
my nickname is officially “Panda.” Apparently my interpretations of pandas are
weird and not accurate. I stand by my interpretations though! >:/
7 7. Hung out with people from my residence that went
on the trek with me and some Chileans and saw 3 shooting stars and the milky
way. :D Funny how you can still see so many stars in the city.
PICTURE TIME!!
This is just about everyone from my residence who went on the trek with me.
This is just about everyone from my residence who went on the trek with me.
Hiking throughout the jungle,
This bridge was uber scary. Although in this pic there's a fence on the sides, the first half of the bridge did not have it.
There were huge holes in the bridge. 
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