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Morgan Goes to Peru: Part Two

And now for the fun part of actually being in Peru and starting our trek to Machu Picchu! If you missed my first post about actually getting to Peru, you can check it out here. Part Two is all about the first two days of our four day Inkan Trek with Lorenzo Expeditions!

This is not a sponsored post, but holy cow y’all. If you ever want to go to Cusco/Machu Picchu I would HIGHLY recommend Lorenzo Expeditions. By far the best tour company I’ve ever worked with. They were always on top of their game and made our trip absolutely incredible. Plus their prices are hard to beat considering ALL that you get to do.

Day One

Our first day started with being picked up from our hotel around 5:30am. Unfortunately I woke up feeling not-so-great and that plus a three hour bus ride up a mountain for a girl who gets motion sick really easily? Woof. It was a rough. Thankfully we reached our destination (14,000 feet up!) and that made me feel instantly better. Fresh air always helps, right?

First activity: mountain biking. But not like “mountain biking.” This was a leisurely ride going downhill 99% of the way which is 100% my favorite way to ride a bike. I don’t think I’ve ridden a bike that isn’t stationary in 3 years, so it felt so good to have the (very cold) wind blowing in my face. As for Chan who hasn’t ridden a bike since age 6? Well, let’s just be thankful she didn’t fall off the mountain. Which she actually almost did and they have drone footage of it. LOL. “Lunch” consisted of Oreos, mango juice, and a fruit that is in the same family as a passionfruit. Or maybe it was a passionfruit. Still learning my fruits in Spanish…

Once we reached the bottom of the mountain, they brought us to where we’d be spending the night in Santa Maria. They told us we’d be staying in a basic hostel, but we ended up at this cute little cottage that Lorenzo owns with private rooms and a personal chef. Like, what?! So cool. The rest of the evening was spent white water rafting. I had never rafted before and wowza it is so much fun but was scared the whole time about falling in. Large bodies of water kinda freak me out a little bit…

One of my favorite parts about traveling is getting to meet new people from all over the world. Our little tour group consisted of me and Chan, Daniel (France), and Mietra/Flor/Rolo (a mom, sister, brother trio from Uruguay) and I wouldn’t have wanted to adventure with any one else!

Day Two

I am ALL ABOUT random fun facts, so when our tour guide started spewing off information on drug trade in Peru, I was fascinated. Any other Narcos fans here?! Did you know that cocaine is made from coca leaves and coca leaves are grown ALL OVER Peru? Yeah, I didn’t either. It apparently takes 600 kilograms of the actual leaves to make 1 kilogram of cocaine. However, if you chew on 3-4 leaves and let them sit in the pocket of your mouth, it actually helps with altitude sickness and gives you energy. Only downfall? If you are drug tested within 48 hours of chewing on the leaves, cocaine will show up positive.

Anyway, enough about illegal drugs. Today was 14 miles of hiking. FOURTEEN. Like more than a half marathon. And in the mountains. But it was along the Inkan Trail so it made it a million times cooler.

We got a visit some local families along the way where we hung out in hammocks and learned about different crops and what they use to make tribal tattoos… a plant that when mixed with water turns orange! Check out my sweet tat. Also I don’t know if there’s ever been a more accurate picture taken of me (coffee + adventures = life). 

And here’s some pics from our hike because cliche –> words can’t even describe it. 

At the end of our hike, we had to cross the river and did so by sitting in a mining cart and they propelled us across. And then we had to hike through a cave to get to our final destination – NATURAL SPRINGS. I would also like to give a shoutout to the 40+ bugs that decided to bite me today despite using 2 cans of bug spray. Almost two months later and my legs are still healing…

And incase you wanted all of these recapped in video form, here’s my Insta story from day two ;) 

 

What’s the favorite place you’ve ever hiked? If you could hike anywhere, where would you go? I think Patagonia, Chile is next on my list of outdoor adventures!

12 comments

  1. Passionfruit look so gross…but the first time I convinced myself to try one I was amazed, they’re SO DELISH!!
    Your trip looks amazing so far!

  2. I love hiking in national parks each summer with my husband!

    • My family never went hiking growing up, but thankfully I have awesome friends who will go hiking with me. The only National Park I’ve been to is Big Bend, but I would love to go to more! Which ones would you recommend?

  3. i did this!!! the Inka Trail hike is amazing! but our version was just hiking – no cool bikes or whitewater! regardless i highly recommend the whole experience in Peru including the coco leaves!

  4. Sounds like an amazing adventure! I’d love to go and do the same hike one day! My husband and I did a trip to the Canada and the US this summer and my favourite hikes were: the Berg lake trail (Mount Robson) and a 5 day hike in the Alaskan back country!

    • AHHH that sounds incredible! I did a hike in Whistler, Canada while wearing Chacos and then it started snowing on the way back down the mountain… fail on my part but it was my first time ever in falling snow so I couldn’t complain haha!

  5. Duuuude, this sounds way cool!!! Also, I literally could’t relate more to “coffee +adventure=life”
    Like…YES! The tattoo is awesome, and the cocaine factoids are so cool LOL! So weird how in different cultures, something that’s so taboo is totally commonplace. I mean, Coca Cola once contained cocaine, so it’s not that crazy ;)

    http://www.laughingmyabsoff.com/wish-id-known-starting-freshman-year-college/

  6. Pingback: Morgan Goes to Peru: Part Three – Yeah…Immaeatthat

  7. The best alternate route to machu picchu with lots of adventure and adrenaline could do biking, rafting, hiking, hot springs, zipline, fruits directly from the tree an unforgettable experience cusco peru.

  8. La mejor ruta alterna a machu picchu con mucha aventura y adrenalina podrá hacer biking, rafting, caminata, aguas termales, zipline, frutas directamente del arbol una experiencia inolvidable en cusco peru

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