Machu Picchu - Nature Girl - Day 3...

Since we were not as high, the night before, I slept much better. Our campsite the night before was at Colcapampa, 3,200m and it was much warmer than the 1st night. From here, we were trekking to La Playa for lunch and then to Santa Teresa where we would be camping.

I chose an alternative trek, the Salkantay trek, to Machu Picchu. By that, I mean an alternative trek to the "classic" Inca trail. The "classic" Inca trail is only 4 days and does not reach the elevation we did nor is it as far. My trek was chosen because it was recommended and because in order to do the "classic" trail, you have to have a permit and there are only a limited number of permits issued. Based on my timing, I was too late. I am so happy with my choice. For the 1st two days, we didn´t see any other tourists - just us and some locals running up and down the trail...and I do mean running! Amazing!

By day three, we are starting to see more people on the trail. We were decending from 3,200m to about 1,900m. There is a definite change in climate, now, we are heading into rainforest terrain. The weather was great, no rain. We trekked through rivers and rocks. Waterfalls were abundant. Jaime gave us a lesson on the Inka religion. We have all heard about the Aztecs and Mayans and the many sacrafices of human beings. The Inkas would only make a human sacrifice when there was a dire need for it - ie. major earthquake, drought, etc. In 1532, the Spanish came and they wanted all the Gold and Silver from the area. The Inkas did not understand this. What value does this metal have? You can´t eat it. With the coming of the Spanish, so came the eradication of the of the indiginous people. They fled to the jungles of Perú.

Trekking along, we stopped at the "Inka Shopping Center" and Lewis discovered the face on the Machu Picchu mountain - ha, the wonders of photoshop.

We made our way to La Playa for lunch. Great food, again - thanks Martin! After lunch, we were hanging out by the Mules and proceeded to get devoured by mule flies or sand flies or some other crazy bug and mosquitoes. I didn´t feel them at all. I looked down and my legs were covered in bites. I had repellant on too! Lewis and I got the worst of it - sux!

After lunch, we said goodbye to Julian and the mules (take those flies with you...) and we jumped on a mini bus to Santa Teresa. Our route to Santa Teresa was interruped by a land slide...what?? The road we were taking was a new road cut into the hillside and it hadn´t settled yet. If we were 5 minutes earlier, those big rocks coming down the mountain would have been hood ornamants! Our driver was crazy. He put the bus in reverse and was speeding down the road, backwards! I was hanging on tight all to the blaring music of Gloria Gaynor´s, I will survive and Amy Grant´s Knock on Wood...uhh...maybe not! Natasha and I were trying to make the best out of it, singing along! It was a random scene. We took an alternative route which took a little longer, but we made it there...whew! There were quite a few other campers at the site and the cutest thing ever...we met Pancho! A cute little monkey like animal (according to Lewis, he´s not a monkey, he´s a different kind of primate, but he looks like a monkey...). There were loads of bugs at this campsite - more bites...ahhh!!!

After setting up camp, we took the bus to the Hot Springs. It was amazing. Huge pools of hot water all of different temperatures. The backdrop consisted of the gorgeous Andes mountains where you could see waterfalls (not landslides...right Lewis?) in the distance. At the pools, we met Steve Strider, yoga guru from Arizona - hilarious - it´s always the coo coo birds that gravitate toward me! Why is that?

We had dinner and were entertained by some local children. They sang and danced and roped Lewis into joining in. Now that was pretty entertaining! We hung out by the bonfire where we were slightly annoyed by the presense of another group - 1 guide and 3 tourists - it was the 2 guys from Brazil that bugged for sure. We called it a night and I slept really well because it was our warmest night so far.