I (Melissa) had quite a bit of anxiety about this 4 day, 26-mile, high altitude, 10,000 step, no shower Inca Trail hike. But each day, we heard the same answer from our guide – today is today; tomorrow is tomorrow. As I started to think about this saying when we returned, I realized it was quite fitting for the entire last year…more updates on that after we share about our stop to the 6th continent.
We arrived in Cuzco, Peru a few days before the hike. We followed our fearless unofficial tour guide (and friend) Jeff around the city and hiked to the top for a magnificent view. As you can see, it was a gorgeous day with blue skies all around.
We even ran into some furry friends along the way – llamas, alpacas, and lambs.
After touring Cuzco and Ollantaytambo, we (Warren, Mel, Jeff, Sam, and Jung) prepared ourselves to start the hike. We experienced every kind of weather from the scorching summer sun to mysterious clouds to the winter rains. It kept the trail alive and challenging. The “screensaver” nature backdrop seemed to change from minute to minute.
There were lots of emotional & physical ups and downs throughout the hike, but we all made it to the summit at Dead Woman’s Pass on Day 2 and emerged at Machu Picchu for a great tour on Day 4.
The scenery was beautiful and there were some interesting Incan sites along the way. (And yes, we do know there’s a train that goes directly to Machu Picchu.) “Finding” the lost city after hiking the trail made visiting the site a huge reward!
What the pictures cannot show are the awesome hours of conversations, the bonding experience of camping in the woods, playing Big 2 during our downtime, or our delirium by the end.
But here’s a picture that does capture our excitement for the trip.
(Errr…and some bloopers below.) We are so grateful for a safe and amazing trip to Peru!
---About life ---
One year after we finished the last stop of our peregrination, I’m quite surprised to find ourselves in a relatively normal life in San Francisco. Warren landed his dream job directing a summer program for students from under-resourced backgrounds at Stanford. (Note that it’s his dream job, NOT dream school). =P I am working in human resources at a start up called Meraki. It’s a great role for me and actually my 2nd job in Cali after a false start. We are living in community with our dear friends and old housemates from Boston. Similar to the anxiety of anticipating the challenges of hiking the Inca Trail, the last year has held many unknowns as we were “homeless and jobless”. I’m thankful where we landed even though there were many ups and downs. And who knows if we will continue to like our jobs or our new city, but I know that today is today; tomorrow is tomorrow. And that’s enough to know for now.
