Out of Control Fatroll

Hola!

Know it’s been quite some time since my last blog post, but I finally have some down time and a working Internet connection. Yay for hostels.

Apologies up front; but this one might be a longer entry than usual.  I’ve been out of the U.S. for officially 15 days and there’s a lot to catch up on.

Since my last post, I’ve traveled through a good portion of central and southeast Peru. From sandboarding to Machu Picchu to Cusco, I’ve seen and experienced so much. This country is captivating.

If you’ve been following my Facebook or my Twitter feed, you already know that I had the pleasure of  fighting off a cold/stomach bug.

When I arrived at Cusco, I pretty much slept the entire day while my travel bud, Michael, bought me a crap load of antibiotics. Bueno for selling medication over the counter here. Who needs some Riddlin? J/K

In any case, the recovery was a speedy one. Well, sort of – I had no choice. Due to a looming bus strike and tight schedules, we moved our trek up to Machu Picchu by a day.

Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m on the “poor man’s” trip through Peru. So, instead of the usual pleasant train ride to Aguas Calientes, we decided to travel via public transport and our own two feet.

Beginning our trip at 7:30 pm, we reached our first stop (Santa Maria) at 1:00 am and needed to get to Santa Teresa before the bus strike was in full swing. We took a colectivo (a cross between a bus/van) up the mountains. It was like a real life roller coaster. At one point, everyone was asked to get out of the van in order for the driver to make the small hump without falling off the edge.

At 3:00 am, we arrived in Santa Theresa; no bed and me feeling awful. Bus rides plus nausea plus fever plus stomach pains equals a pretty bitchy Kristine. Michael found us bed – and that’s the nice way of putting it.

The next day, we stopped by the hot springs after a 30minute hike down to the river. Then, finally at 3:45pm we started the real trek to Aguas Calientes. According to the Internet, it would take two hours to walk from the hydroelectric plant. We had 2.5 hours until the sunset. Cutting it close. Yeah, that’s us.

We followed the train tracks. It was great to walk through the mountains and really enjoy the scenery. Plus, the conversations were always entertaining between the four of us. Nearing the third hour of walking (with our 25-30lb backpacks on), we still had not reached our destination. It was dark and the mosquitos were out for blood (I have 62 bites to prove it).

Finally, we saw the Pepsi sign and moved off the train tracks – great! 30 more minutes to go. When we finally reached the hostel, my body was in complete pain. I think we clocked over 12 miles of hiking that afternoon.

The following morning at 4:00 am, we awoke to begin our walk up Machu Pichhu. The goal: to beat the tourist buses, see sun rise and get a ticket to WaynuPicchu. It should take 30minutes – NOT. It was pretty much a 1.5 hour sprint up the steep mountain steps of Machu Picchu. A stairmaster has nothing on that mountain.

We hung out for about six hours at the top and then finally made the trek back down. It was a beautiful site, and I can’t even begin to explain it. I’ll let the pictures do that.

I highly recommend the entire experience to anyone who’s a bit loco too

Since then, I’ve treked through the entire Sacred Valley visiting sites in Ollaytatambo, Urrabamba, Pisac  (six hours of hiking in one day) etc.  If my shoes could talk, they’d probably say: you’re killing us.

Not sure if all the walking is actually helping on the @fatroll mission. I’ve been eating pretty much fruits, chicken, potatos, rice and quinoa! The food here is great, but I’m making a conscious effort to watch everything I eat. It’s still a competition after all. IN IT TO WIN IT.

With less than two weeks left, we’ve got a pretty packed itinerary. First, to the Amazon! I can’t wait to see crazy animals, fight off yellow fever and be on a boat (sans the flippy-floppies).

I miss everyone like crazy and am so proud of the continued fat ass kicking! (not very PC I realize).

Til next time!

Ciao