Finally an update on the 8 trek

Pic... me and the aussies

On last monday, the first day of the trek was a very early morning, the first of many, we were picked up at 4Am from our hostal. We were all a very tired and stood have a sleep waiting for the minibus to pick us up. It was about 30mins late.... we could have slept in. I feel asleep at 11pm and was awake at 3am... ya 4 hours.

Anyways... I was excited but kind of scared to go because I havent been hike in^a while, but many adventures a wait. I havent completed an over night hike before so this is all new to me. I am expecting this journey to be as much of a mental battle as a physical challenage.

There was a 4 hours drive to the starting location of the trek, and I was hoping to catch up on sleep but the bus was freezing (note to self... bring sleeping bag on to buses) and trevors shoulder wasnt overly compfy.

The most exciting point of the drive was when we briefly stopped, I introduced myself to the aussie girls that were on our Trek. And guess what.... They are from Melbourne, and I am going to have friends to visit there already.

I have been trying to keep a journal but i rarely find the time or put in there time to write becasue i find that there are always better things to do. It reminds me of when i was in school because i would rather clean house than do my homework.

So the start of day one

When we arrived at this small little farm house and yard we unloaded the minibus and Isedro (the peruvian cook) ran happily and started making us breakfast while the 7 our us began to get to know each other and put sunscreen on. I swear, throughout the days I wore 45 or 50 spf sunscreen and u should see my nose (its a little scary). Any who... breakfast consisted of french toast buns, buns and jam/butter and COCA TEA (we have had it with most meals). I ate until I was somewhat fully, I regretted not over eat that morning becasue bu 11am I was hungry again and lunch wasnt until 2pm. Lucky we bought chocolate and cookies the night before.

The day of hiking wasnt to bad thinking back now, but at the time it was challenaging with barran surrounding that allowed the hot peruvian sun heat us all up increasing the difficulty of the hike.

To start me and John ( the calgarian we met 2 days before the hike) headed up the pack where we talked about shcool, summer jobs,and life in general. He was a very carsmatic person. He seems to be the perfect traveller because he knows tge right questions to ask to get to know ppl and he wanted to make sure that he knew everyone. Throughout the day the pack order changed allowing everyone to interact on a one on one basis, which was awesome. The more I learnt about the aussie the more I am excited to visit them in feb 2007. Dympna and Emma (the aussies) acted like sisters, they are very much one person, its funny.

On the hike, the funniest site was cows munching grass in the middle of a very very step slope. (Mom its a good thing you weren{t on the hike, the slopes were cliff like and the paths very small). We stopped at 1pm to wait for the horses to catch up and for Isedro (the peruvian cook) to make up a lunch. We started with soup, and I was disappointed because I thought that would be the only thing we were eating, but to my surprise be also got spagetti and more coca tea. It seems that we are going to be getting lots of 3 course meals made over a 2 burner camp stove. Isedro{s cooke is amazing... i want to pack him up and bring with home with me.

We arrived at camp about 1hours after lunch.. and there was going to be a shower, we were all excited... that was until i saw it. It was made of bambo that wasnt tightly woven so it was pretty much see through and there was also a groupe of peruvian aged school boys camping with us... so i didnt want to shower but it was going to be the last one before Machi Piccu. So I showered in my shorts and tank, but that didnt stop the stares because the door of the shower consisted of a half ripped tarp that was only about 2 feet in lenght. Dave and john brave the shower naked. The water wasnt even ice cold... it was only luke cold. The bano ( bathroom) was even more questionable because it didnt even have walls and it was a level below the boys camp site. The bathroom consisted of a hole in the ground that have a few logs to stop you from falling into the hole and there were a couple logs making a tipi structure around the hole... but it scared me... I waited until it was very dark.

We played are first game of asshole with Freddy ( our guide), john, trev and dave. Freddy was asshole both times with Johns help. Then as the sun was gone (around 6pm) it was tea time with popcorn (yummy) and crackers with carmel sauce. No coca tea this time... i had hot chocolate.

After my shower Dympna french braided my hair... she was one of the first girls i have meet that can actually french braid.

During and after snack time John led a discussion on movies, books, but i was so tired that i half passed out chillen at the table. Dinner was serve just before 8pm. The cook put together a meal starting with yummy soup and of fryed fish, rice veggie and some thing else but i cant remember. As soon as food was served we all silently consumed the amazing food and shortly after we all retired to our tents for an early night after the first of many long days.

Day 2

It was another early morning because the canyon we are hiking up is difficult and if we leave early we will avoid the sun. So up at 5am we were woken up with tea...we all though that tea was waiting for us at the table.. but it was actually brough to up. We were served tea in the tent. And shortly after that we had huge breakfast with fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, maybe a pancake too.

The hike down to the river was tough on the knee but it was only an hour down. The river was extremely fast and bright blue... I wish we could have swan in it, but instead we crossed it in the only real constructed bridged of the trip. After that it was a growling 2 or 3 hours zig zaging up to the first farm where we found a small waterfall that we all soaked our heads in. It was extremely hot even with out the sun. IT was at this break that we met 4 ppl, 2 from south afria and 2 from the states, they were only completing the 2 day hike to the rune and then hiking back the same way. I couldnt do that because that would meet retracing steps and the hiking was hard the first time, I couldnt do it... i like not knowing what is coming.


We hiked for anoth 2 hours or so until zig zaging up hill. I was tired and bored out the same surrounds so the time dragged on. We couldn{t talk or sing becasue we were all out of breathe. It was a challenge not to just sit down and stay there. At one point, me dympna, emma, me and dave as sat down and were content staying there, but some different ppl from the states walk down informed us that we only had 15 more minutes to go.. so that encouraged us to continue. the last little bit took the longest amount of time because we had been hike for 4 or 5 hours already and we were exhausted. Me , trev or dave were the end of the pack taking it one step at a time (very slowly), but even if we made it to the top were quickly, we would still have to wait for the horse to get lunch... so i didn{t see the point or being fast.

The view from the lunch break point was amazing (i have pics) and the grass was bright green and very compfy.. i had a little nap with the aussie, dave read and trev wrote in his book. I think lindsay and john were off talking to the other trekers and little kids on the farm. Lindsay and john are getting allong very well, they have everythuing in common.

Lunch was good, soup and then a second course finishing with more tea, but it was celery tea... it was actually very good, but it had lots of sugar in it.

We hike for bout an hour or so, but the path was always changing, up, down, FLAT and we could see towns, and farm land on the slopes across from us, as well as the runes and our camp site.

We all helped set up the tents and put our stuff in the tent. We all felt bad that the horse handlers and the cook did some much work. I opted out of hiking for another30 down and 1 hour up to see runes. I was too tired, dave opted out too. Instead i had a shower, but that was a mistake because the water was ice cold and the sun was got so it couldn{t warm me. I layed in my sleeping bag for over an hour, but i was still cold when me and dave played crazy eights... I kicked his ass twice.

Snack time was popcorn and cracker again with tea. That night i had brought my truth and dare poker card in hopes of playing asshole, but instead we played truth and dare... just truth thou because it was fairly cold and noone wanted to move. It were learn alot about each other there. After another amazing meal i headed straight to bed because it was going to be another diffucult day.

Also dymna was turning 20 the next day... a birthday in the anden mounain that doesnt happen everyday




Trevor is bored and dave is done so i have to sign off for now, but we are spending the day relaxing in Puno and waiting for john, lindsay, nat, keith and Val our new friends.

until later

Adios amegos