Andean Twilight

So i have made my way down to peru where i have met up with my friend dylan. He was only here for about 10 days to do this trek with me through the andes to machu picchu. Well when we first arrived into Lima peru i was a little shocked to see how developed this city is. Even though it is the capital city of the country. As we made our way to our hostel we were meeted with a mcdonalds, starbucks, and pizza hut on almost every corner, along with fancy highrise buildings and other modern things. the only thing that seemed to keep it different from any other major city is the amount of peruvian kids begging for money or wanting you to buy their packs of gum and they wont take no for an answer. The next day we headed to a big mall just a short walk down from our hostel which was situated into the side of a cliff overlooking to sea shore. Everything in this mall was super lush and extremely expensive for south american standards, but they had this really cool state of the art arcade in which we spent most of the day playing video games.
After hanging out in Lima for a bit we made our way over to a city by the name of Cusco which was alot less modernized and a waay cooler city in my opinion. It yousta be the capital of the Inca empire and alot of the buildings still have the original Inca foundations. After hanging out around the city for a bit getting to know it we soon booked a tour to do river rafting the next day. It was actually really fun and exciting and we got to do some cool stuff like paddle into a huge drop coming the opposite way and have this mini watefall just pummle us with water and we even got to flip the boat, on purpose that is. The next day was when we head out for our 5 day trek through the Andes ending in machu picchu.
The first day of the trek was fairly tough as we walked for about 7 hours of the day and mostly uphill. I was fine but on the other hand dylan was hurtin bad and almost couldn't do it. There was one part for me that was really bizzar and strange because as i was walking for a few hours on a flat section i began to fall asleep while i was walking. I don't know why but i just couldnt keep my eyes open and apparently i was walking in zig zags, swaying back and forth on a narrow path on the side of a cliff, in which if i fell i would have died. After about 40 minutes of zombie walking dylan said something to me like check out this horse poo and i suddenly snapped back into reality and was pretty shooken up. The whole experience was a really strange feeling, falling asleep while walking, especially on a cliff. We made it to our campsite before dark where it was situated next to a glacier and fairly high up with the altitude, so therefore was extremely cold.
The next day we set out for another 7 or 8 hours of walking, where we had to all make our way up to this pass next to this glacier which was about 4600m above sea level. Dylan had to use a horse to make it up to this pass or otherwise he didn't think he would be able to make it. Me being the super human that i am i made it to this pass about 45 minutes before everyone else did and even the same time dylans horse made it. After at the pass you can tell the oxygen was significantly less than at sea level and any bit of exertion meant difficulty breathing..Because i was early i had to way for everyone for about 45 minutes in the freezing cold temperatures with high winds, but being the super genius scientist i am i sought shelter under a huuge boulder from the winds while i waited for everyone else. After the pass we continued for about 4 more hours till we made it to our second campsite.
For the third day it was fairly easy because it was mostly walking downhill, but still a full day of walking. It was really cool because we made our way down through the andes and started to make our way through the edge of the jungle and you can see the gradual change as we descended. Me and dylan stopped by a nearby river for a quick swim only to find out that the river was ice cold, It was still really refreshing after being all sweaty from walking. When we made it to our third camp we met up with a ton of other groups doing the trek and had a small party. There were also these natural hot springs nearby that we all made our way to and relaxed. At the campsite they had this really cool monkey named Pancho that would hang out and play with everyone and jump up on your shoulder and on your head and stuff.
As for the fourth day we started off with a car ride to this hydro electrical place where we had lunch and continued walking along these train tracks for about 3 or 4 hours until we made our way to the town of machu picchu called aguas calientes. After wandering the town looking for something to do we quickly headed to bed so that we could start our day early and get the first bus of the day up to machu picchu.
When we arrived to machu picchu i was overwhelmed with the pure beauty of it. It is located high up in the Andes, built right onto the cliffs of a mountain. After walking around exploring and wondering to myself how these Incas built such a huuge city out of stones on the top of a mountain, I made my way to this lookout point where i sat down and listened to music just gazing at machu picchu. Before i knew it almost an hour has passed since i sat down. Me and dylan made our way to this mountain just behind machu picchu called waynapicchu where we began to climb a gruelling 45 minute climb with some parts that are extremely vertical. After we made it to the top we had views over the whole complex of machu picchu as well as a view almost into infinity through the Andes mountain rage. After we made our way back down we headed to some more hot springs where we relaxed and then cought our train back to Cusco.
The whole journey was simply amazing and is something I will never forget in my life, as for Dylan, he has heading back home to Canada because he has to start work. As for me I continue my adventures heading down south for Bolivia. Thanks for reading!

Justen Ortiz