Titikaka and Machu Picchu

Week 1:

I made my way from Arequipa, Peru north to the small town of Puno which is on the shores ofLake Titikaka, the highest navigatable lake in the world. It is also home to the Uros tribe who live in the middle of the lake on man made, floating islands! There are around 900 families living on these islands, isolated from the rest of Peru. Only around 20 of the islands are open to tourism. The following pictures are of the people on the islands and their little huts made from reeds.



Besides going out on Lake Titikaka there isnt much to do in Puno. So I caught the next bus out of town and made my way to Cusco. Cusco, Peru is the tourism capital of South America. It once was the ancient capital of the Incan people. It is also the town that you have to pass through to get to Machu Picchu. I only stayed for two days before I booked a four day three night trek through the jungle to Machu Picchu. Man I didnt know what I was in for.





The first day was biking all day downhill through the jungle. By far the most fun of the trip. The bikes the tour opperator gave us were a joke. I'm supprised we all made it down with only one person getting mildly hurt. By the end of the first day we all had seriously sore back sides and were were all covered from head to toe in dust.



This is what my arms looked like by the second day. We were eaten alive by jungle flies. You dont even feel them biting you but I'm still scratching the bites.



In the middle of the first night I woke and felt the urge to run for the bathroom as quick as possible. Needless to say I got food posioning from something and was sick the entire second day of the trek. Try to imagine hiking through the jungle mountains in the humid heat while throwing up, sweating and no sleep. Yeah...doesnt sound fun does it. It wasn't. I still dont know how I made it through the day. We hiked all day but somehow I made it. Luckily it was only a 24 hour kind of sickness and the third day I was just fine.

We hiked into a little town of Augas Caliente for lunch and afterwards we climbed up a mountian to get our first peek at the ruins of Machu Picchu. It was an intense hike almost straight up this mountian but it was well worth it. This is a picture of some of the people in our group. We had people from Ireland, Austria, France, Israel.



See Machu Picchu behind me? This was our first look at the ruins. The following is taken also from the mountain top. After we decended we ate a quick dinner and got to bed.




We woke up at 4 in the morning to make our way up to the mountain. After a two hour hike we finally arrived.

Every day 5,000 tourists go into Machu Picchu. Getting there early is key to getting some good pictures and enjoying the place without crowds.

When you get up to the ruins you are in awe at what you see. These pictures do no justice to what you experience.






I'm writing from my hostel in Lima. I fly out next Monday to San Jose, Costa Rica. I havent taken many pictures here in Lima and I doubt that I will becasue its so dangerous.

I'll write again from San Jose. Thanks for all the email and prayers.