Adventures of the Wandering Danasaur

Leaving our wintery dreamland (where it was actually the middle of their summer!) was bittersweet. We took a taxi to the airport, got one last glimpse of the ice capped mountains and chilly islands, and before we knew it we were landing in Buenos Aires and catching the next bus to Iguazu Falls. Going from extremely dry, cold weather to what felt like the most humid place in the world is not something that humans are meant to subject themselves to, but it is every bit worth it. The 2,130 mile journey between Ushuaia and Iguazu may have been the most shocking thing that we put ourselves through despite everything else. Suddenly finding ourselves in jungle again, with a humidity that hung in the air much heavier than anywhere else we had been, we visited another World Wonder. 

Iguazu Falls is really difficult to comprehend until you are there. This was Steven’s second time there and he had tried to explain its excellence to me, but I really never got it until I saw it for myself. Which makes trying to explain it here seem pointless, but oh well!

Imagine a peaceful river, no a lake with a current. Just work with me on this. There are fish, plants, jungle surrounding the water’s edge - everything is peaceful. Suddenly, the earth drops off to entirely different level of existence and the great masses of water come crashing down all at once! Nope…. doesn’t quite paint the picture to the right intensity. But it’s BIG, and powerful, and pretty much unbelievably massive. The number of waterfalls and the volume of water that spills over the edge of this cliff in all different places is absurd. To think that some places have droughts seems preposterous when you are standing in the midst of this waterfall. The mist hits you at high speeds because of the wind that is created by the force of the water. Taking a boat even close to the bottom of the falls leaves you completely drenched, unable to even open your eyes. People from all around have come to marvel at this Wonder, and it is no question as to why. 

We spent two days exploring the Iguazu Falls National Park, and it was equally as impressive each day. Our last big adventure. The jungle. It’s amazing how the beginning and the end can seem so alike.

We took yet another, and I’m not entirely sad to say our last, over night bus back to Buenos Aires. After one night in the city, we took the ferry over to Uruguay, and spent the remainder of our journey on the beaches of Punta del Este and relaxing to a lifestyle that felt oddly familiar. It rained a couple of the days while we were there which was somewhat of a disappointment. We did get some good weather though, and not to mention we saw the biggest sea lions alive. It felt so close and yet so far away from home, until we made our way to Montevideo and boarded the plane that would send us back. 

Time goes by so quickly. Sometimes, the most important things seem to escape our memories and suddenly come flooding back one day. My adventures in South America came flooding back to me today when I realized I have left my virtual story unfinished. 

After crossing the Straight of Magellan it became a dream. We walked through the frigid, dark streets to find our hostel, unaware of how much we would come to love this new and interesting place. We spent our first day in Tierra del Fuego exploring the city of Ushuaia -“world’s end”. It is a beautiful city, surrounded by canals, islands and ice capped mountains, and filled with souvenir shops and restaurants. We hiked to a nearby glacier topped mountain by way of a forested trail. It was truly shocking that we could work up a sweat hiking, but stopping for just a few minutes could bring a chill straight through your skin and into your bones. The view at the top of the hike gave us a picturesque display of the Beagle Channel, and the scattering of islands that lie between Ushuaia and the Antarctic. Soaking in our surroundings was incredible -we finally made it to the end of the world… 

The next day the dream world continued, as we woke up to snow falling outside our bedroom door. It snowed off and on all morning, and like the kid from southern California that I am, I was overwhelmingly excited, catching snowflakes on my tongue and the whole bit. Just to top off the day, we spent the afternoon visiting a penguin colony located on an island within the property of a huge ranch. The ranchers used to make their money by raising sheep and selling wool…. they dropped that and went into the tourism business when a colony of penguins decided to make their home within the ranch’s borders. There were an innumerable amount of penguins on the island. Gentoo and Magellan penguins in every direction, covering every part of the island. And one lone King penguin, normally found only in Antarctica, lost his way and came to call the island his home. He stood in the middle of the Gentoo penguins, as if declaring himself their king. But our guide told us it was really because he recognized them, as the Gentoo penguins migrate between Antarctica and Tierra del Fuego. We spent a good hour watching the penguins and taking as many pictures as we could while our fingers went excruciatingly numb. Those little waddling, blubbery birds were endlessly entertaining, I would have loved to stay there watching them… but of course I probably would have frozen solid. 

We continued our journey through the dream land by spending the next two days hiking through the nearby national park. The first day we hiked along the southern coast of the island, dipping in and out of cold winds and ocean views. After finding out way to the refuge where we would spend the night, we explored some more of the nearby trails and experienced more of what the park had to offer. We encountered a number of very impressive beaver dams, which have completely changed much of the surrounding ecosystem. The beavers are considered an invasive species in the area, so control of their population has become vital. The banks of the rivers which were dammed were surrounded by trees that had been trimmed down their stumps, each one carved into a perfectly shaped point. Unfortunately, the beavers themselves remained in hiding, but I can only imagine what it would be like to see them in action.

As we made our way back to the refuge, we stumbled upon a curious fox, hanging out by the roadside, hoping for a free meal. He was much bigger than I had imagined a fox to be, although of course there are different types of foxes, he could measure up to a medium sized dog! (For those of you who know her, Ruca is definitely part fox! haha.) He was more or less fearless, as occasional cars came by and slowed to check him out, he never showed any sign of uneasiness, and actually got uncomfortably close to Steven. It was one of those amazing experiences that you never want to be hopeful for, in the event that you will be disappointed by it never happening. While we knew there were foxes in the park, the likelihood of seeing one seemed slim. We walked back to the refuge is disbelief.

Our second day of hiking in the park was spent climbing and climbing and climbing what seemed like a never-ending incline up to Cerro Guanaco. The hike never truly did end, as we had to turn back early because it started hailing, snowing and completely soaking us in every way possible (I was really hating the guy who stole my hiking boots at this point!). 

After returning to town, we spent the rest of our time in Tierra del Fuego soaking up the culture and engulfing ourselves in the tourism of it all. We went into countless souvenir shops, wandered the town and ate warm soup to fight off the Antarctic chill. It was a beautiful experience, and one day I will make it all the way to Antarctica!

While pictures are worth a thousand words, I should explain all that has happened since the last time I updated in writing…

Santiago was a really nice city to explore. It was busy, as expected from any capitol, but it was pleasant and by far the most relaxing experience in a big city we have had so far. Steven and I took the metro all over town which made getting around easy and fun. I always appreciate a good public transportation system! We also went to a jazz bar one night and saw a small band playing the blues. We shared a bottle of wine and enjoyed the music way past our bed times. 

After a couple of days in the city, we made our way into wine country! We spent a couple of days in Santa Cruz wine valley. We hadn’t booked a wine tour before we got there, and then found out they were beyond our budget to say the least. But we enjoyed ourselves anyway and created a little wine tasting extravaganza of our own! Store bought bottles of wine from the nearby valleys and relaxing by our hostel’s pool made it a unique experience. It was super warm, as wine country is in the summer, and we fully indulged in and enjoyed our poolside wine tasting. It was a fun couple of days of relaxing.

We eventually made it to Pucon -one step closer to Tierra del Fuego, and our first step into Patagonia! Nestled in the lake district of Chile, it really is a special place. Our first glimpses of Patagonia were absolutely beautiful. On our first day in Pucon we walked to La Playa Grande: a big beach on Lake Villarica, just three blocks from our hostel! We walked along La Costanera for a while, and then decided to relax on the beach for a few hours. The lake is absolutely gorgeous; tuquoise-blue waters, contrasting the black volcanic sand, it was like being on a tropical island again! We rented a kayak and paddled around for a little while, swimming and relaxing in the clear water, letting the sun’s rays keep us warm. 

The next day we took a bus to Parque Huerquehue and went on an 8 hour hike. We saw six different lakes, beautiful forest, cascading waterfalls and an overall glimpse of majestic Patagonia. It was really amazing. Each lake is a different shade of turquoise, with clear, still waters. The forests were so different and yet sort of similar to home. The trees were big and covered with moss, creating a unique image. 

The following day we took a bus to Valdivia -home of the largest earthquake in recent history, and a number of German breweries. There is a large river that splits the city, and most of the city’s life is on its banks. We mostly just explored the city; we went to a festival at a park, and finished our day at the Kuntsmann brewery. 

From Valdivia we took a bus to Puerto Varas, another lake town. More beautiful lakes! We heard about a river that was near a volcano, and had waterfalls and came rushing through volcanic rock… Los Saltos de Petrohue. In Costa Rica we had tried to go see Rio Celeste, a waterfall with a similar description, with bright turquoise water due to the volcanic minerals. We thought that JUST MAYBE this one might be such a phenomenon. And it was! The water was a gushing bright turquoise unlike any other -celeste. There were calm pools, and rushing rapids throughout the area, it was a really beautiful sight. 

And that brings us to another border. Bus, cross through the Andes, exit stamp, extrance stamp… and we found ourselves in Bariloche, Argentina. The change in climate between Chile and Argentina was drastic. Chile had been green and lush, but apparently the rain doesn‘t come over the Andes into Argentina, leaving it dry and dusty, just on the other side of the mountains. We spent three nights in Bariloche, hiking around and exploring a new perspective of Patagonia. There were still gorgeous lakes in the area, and many beautiful views. We hiked up to a few different peaks (Cerro Otto, Cerro Campanario…), which in the winter time are all ski slopes. They even had the chairlifts running up and down the slopes for those who didn‘t want to hike up to the viewpoints. Most of the hikes were pretty steep and didn‘t hesitate to get you to the top of the mountain, so the chairlifts are probably necessary for some. One of the peaks we climbed to, Cerro Campanario, has a panoramic view of the entire area, voted one of the top ten views in the world by National Geographic. It was pretty great. We could see the lakes and islands fading off into the mist, a glacier towering above, and peaks on the rocky mountains that jutted straight up in a seemingly unnatural fashion. After that hike, we rented bikes and rode a 25 km circuit around a group of lakes and up and down to different viewpoints. It was really fun!

After exploring Bariloche we took a two day bus tour to El Chalten. It was a looong haul through Patagonia where the scenery remained more or less exactly the same for about 20 hours of driving. As we got closer to El Chalten some mountains and peaks became to pop out of the ground. As our bus entered the city we were able to get a view of Fitz Roy, one of the famous peaks in the area. This, unfortunately, was our only view of Fitz Roy because it was cloudy the rest of our time there, which apparently is the norm so we got lucky! The wind in El Chalten was incredible: freezing and unbelievably strong. We only got to go on one hike in El Chalten, but it was really nice. The wind was calmer along the trail, the scenery was really beautiful, and the hike ended at a small glacier… I say small because of what was to come, at the time it was pretty impressive.

Our next stop was El Calafate -the gateway to Glacier Perito Moreno. We went to see the glacier early in the morning, and spent all day simply watching it. It was quite possibly one of the most magnicifent things I have ever seen. The air coming off the ice was numbing, but the experience was beyond worth it. We took an hour boat ride where we got to go by the face of the glacier, it is AT LEAST 70 ft high. The crevaces in the ice glow an electric light blue, and the other parts of pure white. After the boat ride we watched the glacier from the observation decks. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. There would be complete silence, stillness… and then all of a sudden thundering echoes would explode from the glacier! Huge chunks of it were breaking off and crashing into the water. Small and large pieces alike plunged into the icy water, each time cracking through the silence. I don‘t know what other words to use… incredible.

At 3am we had a bus to catch that would take us to Rio Gallegos. From there we would get our connection to Ushuaia, 18 hours to the Land of Fire. We had to cross the Chile-Argentina border twice, each time going through customs and getting stamps. That came and went, and the best part of the journey was crossing the Straight of Magellan. We had to take a ferry across, so our bus and all loaded on. It was a short ride, but it was the perfect welcoming into Tierra del Fuego. We saw the most interesting black and white dolphins jumping and playing in the water. They looked like a cross between a dolphin and an orca, but smaller, if that were possible! As we were searching for more dolphins, we spotted some interesting little creatures floating on the surface of the water…. PENGIUNS!!! They were just chilling out, and as we got close to one we got to watch it dive down and swim deep into the water… or fly? It was really awesome. I swear, I must have looked like a kid at Disneyland for the first time, I was so ecstatic!

So that’s it! We made it to the end of the world… Tierra del Fuego.

We hiked up to the entrance of Machu Picchu while it was still dark out. The steep stairs up the mountain-side were quite a shock at 4:30am… but despite the exhaustion of having hiked for 4 days in a row, every member of our Salkantay group was up to the top before anyone else. We got into Machu Picchu and our guide, Bernie, gave us a tour of the Lost City of the Inkas. After that, Steven and I climbed up the very steep and very high Wayna Picchu. There, atop the mountain, is the Temple of the Moon, where the high preist would go to communicate with the gods… and drink tea made out of the trumpet flower, which gives you hallucinations. Which sounds like an all around bad idea to be hallucinating on the top of a very steep mountain where every edge looks like it drops straight down. Which it does. The grueling climb is every bit worth it though; the view of Machu Picchu from the top is surreal.

After climbing down, we wandered around the city and walked to the Inca bridge… In conclusion, the Incans were crazy and built walkways along the side of cliffs… and decided to also add bridges to that.

All in all it was a magnificent visit to Machu Picchu. The day started out foggy, the city was hardly visible through the mist. But as the day grew on, the fog parted and we were able to have beautiful views from every angle. Although I have been to Machu Picchu before (this was my fourth time!), it was still so magical, and I still saw things that I have never seen before. There is something about the Lost City of the Inkas that is so intriguing, no matter if it is your first or 100th time there.

After visiting Machu Picchu we took the train back to Cusco, the wonderful city where Incan and colonial Spanish cultures clash on an unimaginably level. The colonial parts of the city are literally built on top of Incan ruins. It is a disgusting, sad, and yet beautiful display of the diminishing of the Incan empire during the Spanish conquests.

We continued out journey on to Puno from there where we visiting Lago Titikaka. Somewhere I did not get to go when I was last in Peru. We learned that Titi means Puma and Caca means rock… so there is a method to the madness of its name. The most amazing part of this lake was Las Islas Flotantes de los Uros. There is a group of native peoples who have literally built themselves floating islands that they live on. They made the islands out of reeds by tying large chunks of the roots together and then layering more reeds on top of them. They also make their boats, houses, crafts and snacks out of the reeds. It was definitely was of the more bizarre things I have ever seen. But they are happy and they live in peace, which sounds pretty good to me.

The other islands we visiting in the lake were beautiful (and made out of solid ground ha). The water was a gorgeous dark turquiose, and very clear. The locals living on the islands were still very indulged in their native culture which they taught us about. They farmed the islands and raised animals as well. It seemed like such a simpler life compared to the city that was just a boat ride away.

This was our last real stop in Peru before making our way to the border with Chile. After a series of buses and car transport, we were taken across the border to bus terminal in Arica on the Chilean side. We had the day to spend in Arica until our next bus would leave that night, so we spent the day on the beach. Unfortunately we must have gotten too comfortable with our travels and that night in the bus terminal my small backpack got stolen. But we live and learn, and luckily I did not lose anything of any great value.

That night we took a bus to San Pedro de Atacama -the highest and driest desert in the world. This was a very interesting town, it was small with tourists abound. It had a Spanish hippy feel to it which was different than anywhere we have been so far. It actually reminded me of Granada, Spain… except in the middle of the desert. There was so much to explore surrrounding the town that everywhere we went it felt like we were almost the only ones exploring there. The first day we walked to some ruins of the Atacameños which dated back to sometime BC, I forget exactly. We also went up to a mirador and were able to see the surrounding landscape, which pretty much consisted of sand dunes and desert, with the occasional oasis. It was really strange how little there was that seemed to be alive there, which also made it seem weird that natives would have settled there.

The next day was incredible. We rented mountain bikes and rode to La Valle de la Luna. It is a national park which has lot to explore, and literally looks like it is the moon. It was a very strange place, but so much fun to explore. The entire place was made up of salt mines, and salt walls, and salt tunnels, and salt flats… lots of salt. The lack of moisture in the air causes the salt to create huge crystal-looking rocks and walls. We licked it… it was definitely salt. We explored all the different points on the little map we had which took us through pitch dark tunnels, to the edge of seemingly bottomless salt mines, to the top of extraordinary viewpoints overlooking sand dunes and huge craters. It was a landscape unlike anything I have ever seen. The overal bike ride ended up being about 30 miles which left us exhausted and sore.

The next day we walked to a nearby oasis and took a dip in its healing waters. Unfortunately we were still sore after that ha.

After exploring the desert as best we could in the amount of time we had there, it was time to hit the coast again. We took a bus to La Serena, and arrived relieved to have some moisture and the sound of seagulls in the air.

The city was really nice, and felt oddly familiar. It seemed like it could have been somewhere in the states. We enjoyed the beach, and explored the metropolitan city which had huge department stores and malls. We actually saw two movies at the movie theater in town, which was sort of a nice escape from the crazy world of traveling.

We then bussed to Viña del Mar for some more coastal life. The beaches were crowded with vacationers from different parts of Chile and Argentina. We relaxed on the beach (yes, remember it is summer down here, we have to have some beach time!) and explored the city. We attempted to enjoy the Festival de Artes 2012… but unfortunately navigating our way around the neighboring town of Valparaiso was not as easy as we expected, and with the festival spread all over town, it was harder to enjoy than we thought. We did get to see a great deal of the town though, which seemed to be older than Viña del Mar, and was painted with artistic graffiti. We took an old fashioned elevator up to a viewpoint, which climbed up a hillside on a rickety track. Apparently these elevators are scattered throughout the town, perhaps as a means of transportation from back in the day.

And now we are in Santiago. It is warmer than I expected, but I suppose we should soak it all in before heading farther south….

Sorry for the lack of pictures…. I´ll get some up soon! But for now, check out Steven´s haha.

Much love.

Ah to be back! It is a strange and wonderful feeling. We spent new years in Chiclayo on the roof of our hotel while fireworks and human sized scare-crows blew up all around us. 

After a long three days in Chiclayo, we were finally able to make our way to Pacasmayo. It felt good to be on the coast again. Pacasmayo is a rocky beach with beautiful sunsets where it seemed many Peruvians enjoy spending part of their summer vacation. We took a day trip out to Chicama -the home of the longest left of the world! It is not the right season, so the waves were fairly small, but it was apparent that the beach had potential for seemingly endless waves. Even the small two-three footers were rolling on.

After a couple of days on the coast we took an overnight bus to Lima. It was really weird to be back in Lima. We spent most of our time in Miraflores (where I lived in Lima two years ago). I also took Steven to Polvos Azules, the black market… haha we had a little bit of a hay day there, Steven was pretty astonished by the abundance of readily available questionable electronics, “brand name” clothing, and pirated movies. After too much shopping there and at the artesan market we were pretty ready to move on from the big city. We were able to have lunch with two of my friends, Leslie and Linsi, who have found themselves back amongst the Limeños before heading off to Nazca.

We took an overnight bus into the Nazca desert for a short visit. The Nazca lines have always been interesting to me. Their immensity and peculiarity is amazing -giant images of animals, shapes and mysterious creatures, that can only be seen from the sky, carved into the desert floor by an unknown source… I find it intriguing and so strangely mysterious. We signed up for a flight over the Nazca lines the same day we arrived in Nazca. Our tiny 6 person by-plane took us on a tour over the lines, dipping and turning and twisting sideways to make it easier to see the lines and to give me just enough of a hint of vertigo for me to be pretty happy after landing. Haha seeing the lines is one of those experiences that can’t be passed up, but I also can’t imagine ever feeling entirely comfortable with the experience. I figure I can say I have survived it twice now!

After a couple days in the desert it was time to shock our bodies once again due to exposure to extreme temperature changes. Haha it was not that bad, but going from the desert to the cold mountains of Cusco in one bus ride was pretty intense. The long ride from Nazca to Cusco was extended even more by derrumbres en la via. Rockslide, landslide, mudslide… whatever you want to call it, it was overtaking the entire road and our bus, along with at least a couple of hundred other vehicles, was blocked from going in either direction on the road. After about 4 hours, a tractor was able to clear a path barely wide enough for one vehicle to pass through at a time. It was slightly terrifying watching buses and semis squeeze through the tight space, but luckily we couldnt see that until our bus had already passed through.

We arrived in Cusco late and ready for pizza. Im not sure why, but for some reason Cusco is obsessed with pizza. About every other restaurant is a pizzeria. But we thoroughly enjoyed it, it was nice to have a good pizza (or a few) after this long. After talking to many different travel agencies about our options for backpacking to Machu Picchu, we were pretty strongly advised against doing the trek that we wanted due to bad weather conditions and the likelihood of a miserable experience. Despite their warnings, we signed up for the 5 day Salkantay trail. It is difficult to describe just how worth it that risk was.

Day one of our trek started at 5am. We got picked up from our hostel, and after a two hour drive we had breakfast in Mollepata, where are trek would begin. After meeting the other members of our group, we were relieved that our fears of being matched up with a Norwegian climbing team were not realized. Instead we had a quite an array of different people from different places and age groups.

The hike began in the town of Mollepata and we made our way steadily uphill through the countryside. Occasionally we took shortcuts that cut steeply up hills and then connected to the trail up above. Not to mention this was, as we were told “the easy day.” Although I think that was said just to prepare us for the next day. After lunch, we continued hiking and as we got deeper into the mountains the landscape improved with every step. Soon we could see snow capped mountains; waterfalls made up of snowmelt spilled from every moutainside, the green valley that lie ahead of us welcomed us as we got closer to our campsite. The valley that we camped in, Soraypampa, gave us spectacular views of the surrounding moutains, and most importantly of Salkantay. The entire day had been sunny and wonderful, the sights were beautiful, and now we were nestled into our little valley surrounded by beasts. It was just about freezing, but entirely worth it. We watched as the sun cast its last light on the giant glaciers around us as the day ended. Our cooks prepared us a wonderfully warm meal and hot tea, and we were in bed before we knew it.

After a chilly night, we were awakened at 6am with a steaming cup of mate de coca. Not a bad way to wake up in a cold valley surrounded by glaciers. After breakfast and readying ourselves for the day’s journey, we began our trek up the Salkantay pass. Day two was supposed to be the hardest day of the trek, no doubt due to the 750 meter ascent that lie ahead. Setting a steady pace put Steven and I among the first few to arrive at the top of the pass, which we were very happy about! We were able to relax at the top of the pass, with the giant Savage Mountain (Salkantay) hovering above us. The climb had landed us at 4600 meters above sea level. The sun was warming and the air had a nice chill to it. It was the perfect contrast. We each took a small stone up the pass with us and made an offering to Apu Salkantay with that and three coca leaves. Our guide, Bernie, taught us how the Incans would make their offerings to the mountain gods followed by a wish.

After the surreal experience atop the pass, we made our way down the other side. We had to pass a number of giant bulls, which Steven thoroughly enjoyed. Before coming on the trip he had read about wild bulls in the Andes that sometimes attack humans… so you can just imagine how that went over (no we didn‘t get attacked by any bulls haha). As we approached our lunch spot, on the other side of the pass, we experience our first bit of rain. It was only a very light rain though, and actually enjoyable. As we continued we made our way into the high jungle. Although much warmer than Soraypampa, the high jungle is still quite cold. It is considered a cloud forest, so as we walked along the edge of the mountain the mist passed through the river valley below us. At times we could only see our trail and then the next moment we could see to the bottom of the valley. Our next campsite was readily accepted by all of us. It had been a very long and strenuous day. Hot tea, delicious food and a warm sleeping bag were perfect.

Day three of our trek started with mate de coca and a good breakfast. The trek this day was easy, although I think that was ok with everyone after the previous day. We hiked through the high jungle for a few hours before getting to our lunch spot where we then would take a bus to Santa Teresa. We weren‘t really sure why a bus was involved in this part, but we were able to get to Santa Teresa with time to visit the hot springs, which was definitely enjoyable after two days of strenuous hiking. The hot springs were nestled up against the cliffside, with a river raging past close by. Not showering for three days and climbing up and down a mountain pass made the hot springs all the more welcomed (don‘t worry, we rinsed off before getting in! hah). Our campsite that night was a little strange because it was in the city of Santa Teresa, and for some unexplained reason there were not enough tents for everyone. Steven and I were randomly chosen to sleep in a room that was available at the guest house/hostel where our campsite was, which was pretty dissappointing because we were looking forward to the camping more than anything and this was our last night to camp. But regardless, we enjoyed the night, less exhuasted than previous nights, with a couple of beers around a campfire.

The fourth day of our trek was a full day hike to Aguas Calientes. We hiked along a dirt road until we got to a checkpoint where we had to register, as we were entering the protected area of Machu Picchu national park. We were able to see Machu Picchu mountain, as well as one of the Inca trails way up on the mountain side. We continued along the train tracks and a river that wrapped around the mountain and we could begin to see the first signs of Incan terraces. It started raining on us during the last part of the trek, but it had been hot during the day, and the high jungle rain was refreshing. We got into Aguas Calientes and I felt entirely beat. We were taken to our hostels and after relaxing our group met up for a delicious dinner at, yet again, a pizzeria! Haha Aguas Calientes loves pizza too. Peruvian wine, pizza and pasta was a great celebratory meal… we had made it. The next day we would start our hike up into Machu Picchu at 4:30 am…..