For the first eight days of the trip, Abby´s father, Steve, traveled alongside us. Father and daughter were supposed to spend four days hiking the Inca trail, and I was to entertain myself for that time. Long story short, things didn´t work out for them, and instead we spent a glorious week together exploring Inca ruins, hiking and wandering Andean towns in and around the Sacred Valley of Peru. Esteban left us a few days back, and while we are enjoying romping about on our own, we miss our father/father in-law and travel companion. Here are some of the highlights of the first week of the trip.
Abby and Steve atop their first Inca ruins in Pisaq.
Steve perched above the Pisaq ruins.
Steve and Abby with our hiking companions, Mateo and Elvis.
At Saqsaywaman; one of the stones weighs an incredible 300 tons! This one seemed like a likely candidate.
A few days later we watched the fesitval of Inti Raymi at the Saqsaywaman ruins. Among other things, we cringed as the actors sacrificed a young llama and burned its entrails.
Steve and I ended up on a 20+ km hike on our own a few days after arrival; Abby wasn´t feeling up to snuff, so we set off on one of the most amazing day hikes I´ve ever done. We started by walking under snowcapped mountains, past flowing wheat fields...
...and cemetaries...
...livestock...
...and ponds...
...to the unique and beautiful agricultural terraces of Moray; this was the first destination of our hike, and a nice spot for lunch.
Steve descending a set of Incan steps, cleverly integrated into the terracing.
The salt pans of Salineras; Steve and I ended our hike descending above and through the thousands of open salt pans making up the Salinas mines.
Steve balancing his way through the salt pans.
The massive fortress of Ollantaytambo guards one end of the Sacred Valley
Trains stopped on the rails to Machu Picchu; a derailed train led to a couple hours of waiting; after disembarking from our train, we sat in an Incan ruin waiting for a train to take us to Aguas Calientes. When we finally left, night had fallen.
On the high terraces above Machu Picchu as the morning mists cleared; we had raced the busses to the top, starting at 4:30 that morning, to be in the first 400 entrants so we could hike the famous Huayna Picchu; the peak of Huayna Picchu is still shrouded in clouds.
Steve and Abby descending the sheer stairs of Huayna Picchu.
Sitting atop the rocky summit of Huayna Picchu.
No comments:
Post a Comment