Hi everyone!
So tomorrow is the day!! I met with my group tonight and they all seem great. Its actually a really small group; me, a middle aged woman named Angela from Philly, and two other girls my age from Chicago, Kate and Laura, then 8 or 9 porters, our guide and a cook. There's gonna be another private group of 11 that may or may not be hiking with us? I'm not sure, but ill find out tomorrow!! The agency that I went with is called Chaska, a little on the pricey side, but it came highly recommended in my guidebook, SAE, and also Diego!! He (Diego, from Mancora) does "freelance tour guiding" and has worked for Chaska before. The food is supposed to be amazing - full 3-course meals, vegetarian options, dessert...and all really well-made!! They are also very eco-friendly and follow the Leave No Trace rule. There apparently has been tons of problems with litter and pollution along the trail in the past few years bc its gotten so popular so fast. One of the things that Peru has done to try and control it, is to limit the amount of people that can enter each day to just 500 - that includes tour guides and porters! Which is why you normally have to book your hike months in advance. I totally lucked out and got one of the very last spots in November. (They were only 24 spots left when I confirmed!)
So to give a little background on the trek... Almost every single person I've talked to here has done, or is going to do, some variation of this trek. Its kind of like a rite of passage if you plan on travelling to Peru, and is usually one of the first things anyone ever brings up in conversation. I am doing the most popular one, the 4-day Inca Trail. Each day is gonna involve about 4-8 hours of hiking, lots of time for breaks, meals and of course, photos!! Our porters will be speed-hiking ahead of us to set up camp for each of our meals, sleeping arrangements, and even porta-potty tents!! (Btw, I didn't pick a super fancy agency or anything, this all usually comes standard with any agency.)
So the kicker of it all, is that my tour guide's name is Navidad!! As in Feliz Navidad!! Just in time for Christmas. I am kiiinda already inspired to name my next pet Navidad.
I don't know of they've installed cell phone towers in Machu Picchu yet, so there's a small chance you won't be hearing from me until the 25 de Noviembre!! Man, I was hoping that by this point I'd be able to say a whole bunch of fun things in Spanish but I really haven't learned much. Besides, "donde es el bano?" (Where is the bathroom?) And I also like saying, "muy amable!". (You're very kind!) Ooh and I feel very cool and non-touristy when I say "no gras" which is short for "no gracias". Okay now I'm just typing bc I can't sleep bc I'm so excited!!!
So, good night and I love you!!!!
Aileen :)
PS
Pic attached is my dinner from tonight!! I know, boring pic. But don't worry, I'm already at about 700 pics on my Canon. After Machu Picchu, it'll probably be at about 1400 so they'll be pllllenty of pics to look at then!!
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