ready for the hike!

I´m glad everyone liked my pics!

Aimee I will be wearing my zip off pants tomorrow, haha! I am not the only one that has them so I won´t be the only goofy looking one. I am glad you feel all better now :) good luck in chem.

Aunt Katie, yes that was me sliding on the rock.. i forgot to write about that, it was at one of the ruins and we got to slide down it. I forgot Jack is in Belgium! does he have a blog too? I doubt it, I know if Jimmy was in another country he wouldnt keep a blog. I only ate a bite of the guinea pig because we all just tried it. but usually if you order one, they bring it out to you in the shape of the actual guinea pig, it looks like it just died on the plate 5 min ago. haha. Also thanks Uncle John for posting too.. I will tell all about it when I see you!

Susan make sure you show Dolph the pics too! Whenever he is home..

John Im glad you like the pics, especially the one where you cant see my face, haha! I will post more after the hike.


So, on to my updates, last night, we didnt go to the Andean dance thing. I was disappointed but we ended up just talking a lot about the Inca trail and make sure everyone was ready for it. There were like 4 people who were sick today and didnt do the activities, so they may not be going on the hike.. depends on how they are doing tonight I guess. I still have not gotten sick, thank goodness! I hope I survive the hike. The hike is 4 days, 23 miles. We will have porters go with us and they run ahead of us and set up our tents and cook us dinner. They also cook us breakfast and lunch. Our guide said that they have races sometimes with the porters, and the record time is 3 hours 45 minutes to finish the Inca trail! wow. We get to go at our own pace, so that is a good thing. It is surprising how much you can feel the difference in the altitude. there is less oxygen here, so it is harder to breathe, and you can really tell whenever you run or go up a hill. The first hill I went up, it felt like I just got done running a mile. I think my body is getting used to it though. I have to get lots of sleep tonight because we leave at 6 from the hotel to head to the starting place of the hike! Day one is pretty flat, then day 2 is the hardest. I was told that it is like hiking up Harrelson stairs for the whole day (NC State people will get this)! So thats kind of scary. We can pay a porter to carry our bag on the second day since it is so hard, but I am hoping that maybe I will be able to do it. I think I will feel a lot more accomplished if I carry it the whole way!

Anyways, for dinner we went to look for a restaurant in the plaza last night. When you look for dinner, all these men with menus run up to you and try to get you to come to their restaurant. We had 3 at the same time trying to talk to us. Then you can ask them for free drinks or bread, its kind of like bargaining for dinner. They usually offer a free glass of wine or Pisco sour (the most popular drink here). but last night we got free lemonade AND garlic bread! then we had spaghetti, but it was kind of disappointing, it was pretty small for what it cost. Oh well, it was still good :)

Today we went to visit the ruins of Tipon. They were really neat, one of my favorites. Ruins kind of get old to visit, but if I had to pick 3 to visit, this would be one of them. Some of us walked up a bunch of stairs along this path to the top of the mountain, and the view was awesome! Before the ruins we visited a church, it was really pretty but once again we couldnt take pics. We also went to a bread factory, famous for its ¨oropesa¨.. the name of the bread. It was warm and fresh out of the oven. It was fairly flat and round, like a pizza. It was 5 soles for 2 of them, which is like less than a dollar for one. They are big too, Kathryn and I split one. It was really really good and thats what I am having for a snack tonight before bed.

After the ruins, John called me and we talked for a good while. He did figure out it is 68 cents for him to call me.. so that sucks, but at least it isnt 2.99 like verizon is for international calls.

After we got back to the hotel, we went to the bank to get more money because we cant change money for the hike, and once we get to Machu Picchu there will be things to buy and food, etc. Then we went to eat at this place called Jacks, that is recommended here in Cusco. It had breakfast food and basic things like sandwiches. 3 of us got the recommended french toast with strawberries and bananas, wow was it amazing!!! I am so full now I could hardly walk to the internet cafe, hahaa! After this I am going to buy a ton of water to fill up my nalgene and my camelback, also getting some snacks, then we have a meeting, then finish getting ready for the hike and go to bed early!!!

So I will be back on here in like 5 days or so, and I will have hiked the Inca trail! (hopefully)! I can´t wait for the moment when we walk around the corner and see Machu Picchu! So excited. After the hike it will be time for class though... booo! Wish me luck!

love, Rachel