Here’s a collections of thoughts that didn’t really fit in with the narrative, but nonetheless might be of some help for folks. Trekking Company: We booked Enigma’s Classic Inca Trail to Machupicchu4 days / 3 nights – Group Service and we couldn’t’ve been happier. Relatively easy to book, their...
Inca Trail: Day 4 & Machu Picchu
It was raining at our 03:45 wake up. It was raining at our 04:00 breakfast. It was raining at our 04:15 departure time. It rained as we walked to the nearby Inca Trail checkpoint. It rained as we waited under a metal roof until it opened at 05:30. As...
Inca Trail: Day 3
By the third day we had become accustomed to our morning routine, and were easily on the trail by 06:30. Today was going to be a good day. Most of our elevation gain was behind us. We had one final low pass, then ~3,000′ of descent. The distance, too,...
Inca Trail: Day 2
Jaime and a porter greeted us in our tent at 05:30 with more bowls of warm water for handwashing and hot water for coca tea. Breakfast at 06:00 with tents cleared for packup (by the porters) and boots hit the trail by 06:30. Today was the day of two...
Inca Trail: Day 1
I wish I could begin with the 06:00 pickup at our hotel in Ollantaytambo. With how we waited with anticipation and first met our wonderful guide Jaime. And with meeting the other trekkers on the early morning bus. I wish. Instead, our Inca Trail trek began at 01:00 that...
Ruins of Monte Alban, Yagul, & Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico
In 2014 we visited Oaxaca, Mexico, for a long weekend with our friends Amity & Antonio. Although our stay was brief, Oaxaca has so much to do and see that we had days full of fascinating experiences. I love ancient cultures and I’ll make a point to visit as...
Annapurna Circuit: Part 2, Gorge-ous
We awoke to the bells of a donkey train getting an early start.
Hiking Upper Grand Gulch, Utah
The Grand Gulch is a normally dry creek that goes from near Natural Bridges National Park all the way to the San Juan River — about 25 miles as the crow flies. But because of the meandering canyons, the actual hiking distance is almost double that. And we were...
Annapurna Circuit: Part 1, Trekking 101
In the blue light that marks the start of dawn I'm drinking tea with Devendra, our guide, and Ari, our porter, at the empty dirt lot that is the Pokhara bus station.
Big Daddy Dune – Dead Vlei, Namibia
2 Oct 2006 We had the first footsteps on Big Daddy that day, nothing but a edge of sand between us and that clear blue Namibian sky. We awoke before dawn and Leslie, our guide, drove our group in the the Namib-Naukluft National Park as the sun started rising...
