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Friday, January 24, 2014

Inca trail trek

Raging river - looked like chocolate milk!
start of the Inca Trail
First checkpoint
Here is where I thought, we are really doing this! Then 10 minutes later... I think I've made a serious mistake ;)
Crossing of the raging river
Passing some locals
The intrepid trekkers 
Our first site of ruins
Our group taking a break
Wishing we had this guy to carry our packs
Resting after our lunch
The "Facilities"
First Base Camp
The scenery
the hike explained
Glaciers
taking a much needed breather

Woohoo! We made it to the top of 'Dead Woman's Pass', which is at 13,000 feet



T and our guide, Janeth at the top of the summit



The little yellow dot in the center is T... you can see we had much of the trail to ourselves



Inca ruins in the clouds



The stunning scenery




Our hiking group with the incredible chaskies (porters)



Llamas grazing nearby



Llamas - just another hiker on the trail





We saw many varieties of orchids along the trek



Did we mention the amazing scenery??!!



On cloud nine :)



So. Many. Steps.  We literally climbed thousands stairs!




Our first view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate! After 4 days, this was a very welcomed site... and it is truly breathtaking.





Exhausted, but so happy to make it to Machu Picchu!



Machu Picchu looks even more spectacular when the clouds roll in




We got our passports stamped at each checkpoint along the trail, with the final stamp being from Machu Picchu.

We finally make it all the way down to Machu Picchu!


The precision that went into cutting and placing of these stones is incredible!


This landslide happened a few days before and cut off access to the bus route


After Machu Picchu, we stopped in Aguas Caliente, where the train runs down the middle of the main street!  Very cool little town.



Our trekking group celebrated the completion of our journey with Pisco Sours, the famous Peruvian drink.  Cheers!

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