Wandering with Watson: Peru adventure begins

Just getting to Peru was an adventure - starting with my cancelled overnight flight from LA to Lima. After a sleepless night in a fancy hotel in Los Angeles, I had to spend the following night in Lima which I'd been dreading. (The LA hotel, despite being probably a 5-star, included drunks who returned to a room next door to me at 3 a.m. and proceeded to party for several hours.) I was able to contact niece Carie by email to let her know that I'd been rebooked, so wouldn't be arriving in Cuzco until a day later. Bless her - she went to work & booked me a place to stay in Lima & arranged for a taxi to meet me at the airport (knowing how anxious I was about Lima.) It was late - close to midnight - when the flight arrived in Lima. I was concerned about getting out to baggage claim as soon as possible as I'd been told the taxi driver might leave if I wasn't there on time (& the flight was a bit late). I hadn't exchanged any cash, so stopped quickly at an ATM. Between trying to interpret which button was which (all in Spanish & no choice to switch to English) & how much money I would need, I didn't realize my ultimate blunder until the next day. The next morning when on the way back to the Lima airport, I realized I couldn't find my debit card. Then, realized the machine had "eaten" it - it wasn't a simple swipe in and out like my hometown ATM. (Apparently, I was not the first gringo to make this mistake, as I later read on some online travel comments. There is a button one is to use when completely finished with transactions which then ejects the card.)

Arriving in Cuzco, I practically kissed the ground. Again, Carie had set up a taxi to meet me at the airport and take me to the hostel; and once again a driver stood outside the airport waving a sign with my name on it. Things were looking up! In my broken Spanish, I exclaimed how I was soooo happy to be in Cuzco, and not in Lima!.(Me gusto Cuzco - No Lima" is what I said, but he seemed to understand) Then, I sat back and enjoyed the ride.

-------------------------
I'd read that about 4 days acclimatization in Cuzco would be optimum before starting out trek. I'd also read, on several blogs, descriptions of new arrivals becoming winded walking to their accommodations in Cuzco. Wow! Was that ever true. Carie and I walked down to the main Cuzco plaza early that evening to find food - which meant walking back UP a cobblestone street, then cobblestone, pedestrian-only steps UP and UP and "Oh, my God, I think I ate took much!" No, Carie assured me - it's definitely the altitude. She laughed and said her first day in Cuzco she got winded just brushing her teeth. (Oh, course, a slight exaggeration, but not a huge one.) It was very humbling. But, going from sea level to 10,000 feet is no sneezing matter.

With four days until our hike, we decided upon several excursions. I had read about mountain biking in the Sacred Valley, and also had read that the ruins at Pisac were well worth a trip. (See Pisac-Sacred Valley post).

Team Puma (see entry above) met at the orientation meeting the evening before our Salkantay trek adventures began. However, quick introductions were made and we didn't get a sense of whether we would gel or not. Rodger introduced himself, gave us an overview of each day on the hike, and stressed that we were to pack only essentials for the trip. (As is the case on most of these type of hikes, we would hike with a small daypack and a packhorse would carry the rest of our gear. On the Inca Trail, a human porter carries the extra gear.) As Rodger was describing the first day's hike, my ears perked up. We would arrive at our campsite at lunch time, and after lunch and a nap (we'd find out later how important that was), we would hike up to a lake at a higher elevation (over 13,000 feet) as a type of acclimatizing activity. We might want to cool our feet there, he suggested, but also added that occasionally some people swam. The tone of his voice suggested that those instances were rare and the people slightly crazy. I immediately thought: There is no way I'm not going to dip in that lake! I have developed a propensity for jumping into cool mountain tarns in my middle age. (Sort of my own Polar Bear Club). I looked at Carie. She looked at me. "We’re going swimming,” I declared. (I knew she'd do it.) (Below is the proof)

Tired, after a few questions we all took off, ready for bed as we’d been told to be ready at our hostels by 5 a.m. for our pick up.

Okay, I'll wade in to my waist, says Kerry (right) to Carie (left)

________________________________________________________________

Geez....this is fffffreeezing! (cleaned up verbiage) Quick, let's get 'er done! (After which, Carie basically told me I had to dive in all the way, or I was a wimp and definitely not an Alaskan.)