I Dreamed a Dream in Days Gone By… When I was a little girl, I had a subscription to a magazine called Children’s Digest. It was like Reader’s Digest, only for kids. It had book excerpts and informative articles about different countries and cultures. I devoured every single article. (This was back in the days…
Category: South America
Ford Every Stream: The Salkantay Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Part 5–Days 5 and 6
This post will be more photo essay than essay, as we let the beauty of the mountains and valleys speak for itself. Day 5–Everybody Lucmabamba! As Day 5 dawned, and we prepared to trek from Colpapampa to Lucmabamba, we were sorry to say farewell to the breathtaking views from Colpa Lodge: But we knew that…
Climb Every Mountain: The Salkantay Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Part 4: Day 3–Crossing the Salkantay Pass, and Day 4–The Cloud Forest
Day 3–Up the Airy Mountain The day dawned drizzly and cold, but the weather didn’t dampen our spirits. Our group was buzzing with nervous energy. Day 3 was considered to be the most physically gruelling, the most personally challenging, and we were ready to get on with it. Some in our group had come primarily…
Climb Every Mountain: The Salkantay Inca Trail to Machu Picchu Part 3–The Trek, Days 1 and 2
Day 1–Trepidacious Trekkers I was so nervous that I didn’t sleep much the night before. Nagging self-doubt about my ability to manage such a strenuous trek kept me awake. We were picked up in a van from various hotels, and our group slowly came together. My first impression of the group as each boarded the…
Climb Every Mountain: The Salkantay Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Part 2–Cusco
We flew into Lima on Air Canada Rouge and stayed at the airport hotel (Costa del Sol Wyndham) as we had arrived at about 1 a.m. and most flights to Cusco leave later in the morning. Then, after a good sleep and breakfast, we caught a short flight to Cusco, where, on good advice, we…
Climb Every Mountain: The Salkantay Inca Trail to Machu Picchu–Part 1, Preparing for the trip
If you’ve ever uttered the words “Bucket List” or “Carpe Diem” and then settled back into your armchair, this blog is for you, my friend. For those of us over fifty, it can be daunting to get out of our comfort zones–or, less charitably, out of our ruts, even if we want to travel. In…