My roommate and friend, Becky, and another llama friend, Danita, broke away from our group today. Yeah, I guess we were rebels. We hung out with the llamas at Machu Picchu for over an hour. This was my highlight of our trip! Many of our llamas at home are descended from llamas in Peru. So this was like seeing some long lost family members. These llamas were so used to people being around them that I took lots of photos. (See photos.)
After today, I believe Becky is a llama whisperer. One of the llamas came up to her, and they kissed llama style. When llamas greet each other they put their noses together and blow. Some more affectionate llamas may nibble at a person's face or sniff it all over. Everywhere I go, including here in Peru, llamas go to her first. It's like they know her. So today, Becky had quite a conversation with a llama named Layla. Layla must have told her some secrets about Machu Picchu! (See photo.)
Total, we spent three hours at Machu Picchu today. It is such a large place with so many beautiful views that it's overwhelming. I took 165 photos yesterday and strangely enough, 165 photos today. The stairs can be difficult. I helped my friends when there wasn't a wall or railing to steady themselves. We took plenty of rests when any one of us had to catch our breath in this high altitude of 8000 feet. We were so proud to say that we conquered Machu Picchu!
After lunch, we left Machu Picchu. Sigh... We took a one and a half hour train ride. Then we switched to a bus for two hours to arrive at Cusco. All of us are dog-tired.
Tomorrow we will take a walking tour of the area around our hotel in Cusco. Then we'll visit a popular jewelry maker and his shop-more shopping! The afternoon is ours. I'm going to a craft market across the street from our hotel or to the art section of Cusco or both...such decisions.
Have a great day!
Questions of the day:
Wesley Mott- "What is the top elevation that people can go up on the mountains?"
Answer- This is a great question for you to look up on Google! There are villages in the highlands of Peru at 11,000 feet. People can go higher, but if villages aren't higher than that then it probably is uncomfortable to breathe for people born there.
Kiley Shannon- "Was the hike long and hard to do?"
Answer- We hiked for three hours yesterday and for three hours today. It didn't seem too long because everywhere I turned there was something wonderous to see. We would stop often so that helped. The big thing was breathing in the high altitude. The air is thinner, which means there is less oxygen than what we are used to. So during exercise, we start huffing and puffing for air. My friend, Becky, has scar tissue on her lungs from a bad case of pnumonia. We stopped with her more than everyone else did. Also, this is when chewing the cocoa leaves help. Becky said it felt like her lungs opened up when she chewed them. My muscles did not hurt at all from hiking. Today my ankles started wobbling when I went down stairs. I'm glad I had hiking boots that came up to support my ankles.
Chris Salinas- "What feelings did you feel when you got to the top of that stone entrance?"
Answer- Climbing to the top to view Pacha Mama was an overwhelming experience. First, I couldn't believe I was there. I've wanted to do this for so long. Also, with all the spiritual significance at the site, I was in total awe.
No comments:
Post a Comment