Marcahuasi!

What a fabulous, much-needed weekend. Matt, Rebecca, Kalli, and I took an adventurous trip to a place called Marcahuasi. It was quite the adventure just getting there! We took a bus from Lima to a town called Chosica, only to find out buses to where we needed to go had stopped running for the night. Instead of going back to Lima we just decided to stay in a hostel for the night in Chosica. It was fun - we went to dinner at a great pizzeria and hung out in our room watching an old Al Pacino movie before going to bed early. 

We woke up early on Saturday to get to the bus station by 8 am - we took a bus from Chosica to San Pedro, a VERY small pueblo in the mountains. The bus ride was 2 or 3 hours, including the time stopped in a pueblo changing a flat tire. When we got to San Pedro it was freezing - even with a sweatshirt and fleece on. While on the bus we happened to meet 4 people around our age (all Peruvians) who were also trekking up to Marcahuasi. Two of them had been up there before so we got some details before hiking up. We found a man who agreed to rent us two of us donkeys (yes, donkeys) to carry our stuff up to Marcahuasi. 

All ready to hike up to Marcahuasi - my huge hiking backpack! (borrowed from a friend)

A little boy getting our donkeys ready 

Getting packed up...

Although a man had offered us his horses to ride up the mountainside, we decided to walk. I was exhausted after 5 minutes! There was so little oxygen up there... I think San Pedro is at about 3000 meters elevation. However, the eight of us, including our "guide" and his 3 donkeys, powered through it and after 3 long hours we made it to Marcahuasi. We stopped a lot along the way to catch our breath and take pictures! 

Picture of San Pedro from above

Flattest part of the hike

Beautiful flowers all along the way 

I couldn't believe my eyes when we finally got to Marcahuasi. I was breathless - from the amazing beautiful scenery around me AND from hiking for 3 hours up to 4100 meters. The thing that surprised me the most was the unbelievable amount of silence that surrounded us. Over the past two months I've become accustomed to the constant honking, yelling, and other noises of Lima. My ears didn't know what was going on when there was absolutely nothing around me. We were the first people to get there so we set up camp. Kalli and I had bought a "2 person" tent at Wong (the supermarket) for less than $12 and set it up - it was tiny but it worked! Unfortunately Rebecca and Matt, who paid like $25 for their tent, had some bad luck... their tent was broken! But after a lot of time and creativity they made it work. 

Kalli in our tiny but functional tent

Marcahuasi - beautiful rock formations

The fog came and went SO fast - one minute we could see for what seemed like miles and the next we could barely see our neighbor's tent. I couldn't believe how cold it was up there. I was cold with a sweatshirt, fleece, and raincoat on... Kalli and I were so poorly prepared due to doing zero research before the trip so we didn't have hats or gloves - I guess we'll remember for next time! After snacking and drinking lots of water to help with the altitude, a bunch of us decided to go on a walk. There were around 5 groups of people up there, including us, the people we met on the bus, and a whole Peruvian rock band! 

Of course we went exploring and got lost in the middle of the Andes in the dark. At least I can check that off my bucket list! We could see where camp was but just couldn't figure out how to get down due to the crazy dangerous rocks. I was scared but tried to stay calm... at one point we saw this hazy orange light on the horizon. I'm pretty sure it was some type of UFO - Marcahuasi is known for UFO and alion sightings! It was probably just my imagination but I'd like to think we saw something. We eventually found our way and I was soo relieved to be back at our campsite. The band that was there played us a mini concert while we sat around our attempted fire (it had rained a ton during the day on our firewood). 

Campfire - kind of. 

That night in the tent it was sooo cold - I was bundled up in 2 layers of pants and 2 sweatshirts and warm socks and still freezing! Between the cold and Kalli and I squishing into the world's smallest tent (with our two huge backpacks) we probably got 2 hours of sleep between the two of us. That's ok, because as soon as it got light out we got up and saw this:

"campsite"

Marcahuasi :)

Me in front of the famous rock structure

We took a hike - this time safely during the day and without loads of fog - and ran into our Peruvian friends. Oh, and our dog! This stray dog had walked all the way up from San Pedro with us and stayed with us the whole trip. We named him Lobo or Bobby, I'm not sure, everyone kept calling him different things. He guided us all over the place and would occasionally get rowdy and chase a donkey or cow on the mountainside. Here are some of the pictures I took on our gorgeous, relaxing hike:

In the clouds

Kalli and I - still not believing where we actually are!

Dog chasing donkeys...

Kalli, me, Lucia, Rebecca, Melissa - having a rest in the sun!

Even found ruins on the walk. Kalli, me, Rebecca, Matt (and of course our dog)

Looking into the campsite

We had originally planned on camping for two nights, but by Saturday we were almost out of the 7 liters of water and loads of snacks we brought. Also, the cold weather and cramped tents didn't persuade us to stay, so we decided to head out on Sunday with our new Peruvian friends. We didn't use donkeys this time for our stuff - although it was all downhill, it was still tiring to walk on rocks with a huge backpack for an hour and a half. The eight of us (nine if you count our dog!) got back to San Pedro just in time to catch the 2 pm bus back to Chosica. After a long ride from Chosica to Lima I finally got to shower and have a good night sleep in my own bed! Back to the chaos of Lima... but Marcahuasi was definitely rejuvenating :)

Rebecca, Kalli, and I - all ready to hike back down to San Pedro