Back from the Choquequirao trek

Hola amigos! After two taxis, 8 hours on buses, 40 miles, 4 vertical miles, 5 days, 4 nights, a bunch of bug bites, and 4 sore feet we have arrived back in Cusco from our trek to Choquequirao. Since I have been trying to update this thing everyday I will do my best to give you an idea what we did on a day to day basis. To give you an idea of situation out there, we were with 3 other hikers and 5 (yes 5) guides, cooks, and mule guys. We had mules that carried most of our stuff and a cook for all of our meals. So there were 10 of us all together and 5 mules. Anywho, here´s the breakdown of the trip.





Day 1
We left at 5:20AM to catch a bus to the city of Cachora, Peru. The town consists of one road in the absolute middle of nowhere. Jenny and I were a little skeptical riding the bus- seeing as though it brokedown half way through and the ride was 2 hours longer than our guide told us it would be. Nevertheless, we made it to Cachora. Here´s a link to a google map of the place: http://maps.google.es/maps?q=cachora+peru&hl=es&ll=-13.597939,-72.542725&spn=2.76014,3.510132&sll=40.396764,-3.713379&sspn=8.648031,14.040527&vpsrc=6&z=8
After lunch was served we headed out and marched for the next 5 or 6 hours to family´s shack more or less in an immense canyon. After hours of traveling we were spent. We had dinner and passed out at about 8pm. Highlight of the day: when the bus broke down I was standing outside the bus and an old Peruvian lady squatted 4 feet from me (in plain view of everyone on the bus) and peed. Got back up and cut in front of me to get back on the bus. It was hilarious.

Me and Jenny on the hike in

Day 2
Unfortunately, Jenny got sick that night and day two was the hardest- having to travel down a few thousand feet to the Apurimac river and then about a vertical mile up to the next campsite. Jenny, proving that she is an absolute trooper, busted out the 6 hours of hiking straight up to make it to our destination. This was definitely the best campsite. We were on the side of the canyon wall where flat spots were more or less carved into the earth. There were about 4 families living here. It´s hard to describe, but these families have no electricity, no communication with the outside world, no roads (mules are the only means of transportation other than your own feet), basically no money, and from my point of view they seemed really happy. These families allow the guides to cook meals in a shack made of mud bricks and bamboo, and sell water to people hiking. Their chickens, dogs, and cows roam around the area without fences and the only toilet is a hole in the ground. It was AWESOME seeing how different life is for these people and how little they can live on in an extremely remote, rugged landscape. Makes you wonder if you really need that new big flat screen. Anyways, we made it to the camp and relaxed the rest of the day. Jenny felt better after a long nap and we had a nice dinner with everyone by candlelight (because of the lack of electricity). Highlight of the day: having the afternoon off before dinner to relax after that rough hike straight up from the river.

Day 3

We made the trek to Choquequirao and checked out all the ruins. They estimate that only 30% of the ruins have been uncovered and that these ruins are much larger than those at Machu Picchu. I was completely blown away at the number of terraces there were built into the side of the mountain. These terraces were used for farming on vertical canyon walls. The pictures don´t show it well, but the walls that these terraces are on are more or less straight up and down. This ancient civilization lived and farmed (and propspered) in a vertical landscape. Simply unreal. I forgot to mention that all the terraces were equiped with irrigation, and the ruins had lots of fountains. These people were geniuses.... and then the Spanish came. Again, bad job Spain. Anyways, we hiked around and saw all there was to see then headed back to camp at the same spot again that night. We enjoyed some cards, lots of tea, and a very nice dinner as we watched the sunset over the Andes. Highlight of the day: We saw a mosquito flying around us at the ruins which I thought was a hummingbird. Yes, a mosquito the size of a small bird- I don´t need to see that ever again.

Me and Jenny in front of the ruins

The group with our two guides!

Jenny with the Apurimac River in the background

Ruins at Choquequirao

Day 4

We started our trek back to Cachora. We spent the whole day going back down to the river, then back up to our last campsite. Long day which made for a great last dinner with everyone. Highlight of the day: the people we were treking with cut down some natural sugar cane and brought it back for us to taste- natural candy. So good.

View from the last campsite

Day 5
Finished up the last few miles of the hike and scored a ride back to Cusco with people we met on the trail! No bus for us! WOOO!!! Despite the strange, often worrisome, driving habits of the driver we all made it back to Cusco and finally a SHOWER! After cleaning up and resting, Jenny and I went out with our guide and a few of his friends to the local bars. Really really fun. Glad to be back in civilization. Highlight of the day: our guide caught a guinea pig on the trail and brought it back to Cusco. It was a present for his Mom, who was going to fatten it up and eat it ofcourse. If only I had a pic of that guinea pig and our guide!

Well, that is breakdown of our adventure in the Andes Mountains. The experience was certainly eye opening for more reasons than I will be able to explain here. The first, which I mentioned above, was how families survive and live happily with next to nothing out in the middle of nowhere. The kids laughed, the parents smiled, and everyone seemed to work hard. They all had a small plot of land for crops, a bunch of chickens, and no electricity and everything seemed to be just fine. The next thing that really blew me away was that all the Pervians on the trip had a profound respect for Pachamama (Mother Earth) and had a deep knowledge of it´s plants and animals. For example, when Jenny was sick that 2nd day they gave her tea which relieved her symptoms almost immediately. They didn´t open up any tea packets, they walked over to some shrubs, cut some leaves off and boiled them. They explained a dozen or more different uses for varying greenery around the hills as we walked through the canyon. One would relieve joint pains, another was good for your teeth, others relieved stomach issues. Simply amazing. I don´t know many Americans who can go walking through the woods and point out plants that will cure their upset stomach. Anyways, those are only a few of many things I took away from this trip. It was an great experience and I very grateful for having spent 5 days in that canyon with all the people who were on the trip.

Back in Cusco for a day or two!