Byee Amazon!
Dec 17th
It was painful to wake up this morning at 5am. I was nervous about meeting the people that I was going to be hiking with. I hardly slept all night, instead I tossed and turned wondering, “would I be the only solo traveler,?” “Would the hike kill me?- I really haven’t trained for this hike at all,” “Do I have everything I need?” I went to the dining room at 5:30am, the family was late and Hugo, seemed annoyed. The family and I both agreed that we were leaving way earlier than necessary though so I didn’t mind waiting. We left at 6am for the airport. The boat ride back to the busses was significantly shorter than on the way to the lodge, it only took us an hour and twenty minutes. We took the one hour bus ride to the airport in Puerto Maldonado and I slept almost the whole way.
We were dropped off at the airport at 8:45am. I was excited when we arrived to see that the airport wasn’t too busy. Hugo asked one of the airline employees if it was possible for me to jump on the earlier flight and they said it might be possible but that the flight was pretty full and I’d have to wait. I told Hugo I’d take the risk and at least try to get on the flight, so we said our goodbyes and he and the Gap Adventures bus drove away. Just as he drove away tons of people came in and waited in line. I followed suit and when I got to the counter I explained how I was nervous about getting altitude sickness and how I was going to be hiking the Inca trail and needed extra time to prepare myself. To my luck the airline employee understood and got me a seat on the plane (for no additional charge!). I went through security and met up with the family. Even though it was only 9am we were had all been up for hours and it was almost 100 degrees in the tiny airport with no air conditioning, so we all decided that ice cream was exactly what we needed. We only had a wait about half an hour before we could board the plane. I really lucked out because the airline changed my fight for free and they upgraded me to priority seating with extra legroom. I sat next to an interesting couple in their late sixties who had just gotten married and were enjoying being old, in love and adventurous together! It gave me hope!
The flight was only about thirty minutes and I met the family as we got off the plane. We gathered our luggage and said out goodbyes. I looked for a Gap Adventures agent to get a free ride to the hotel, but couldn’t find one. I finally gave up looking and grabbed a taxi for $10. I got to the hotel in Cuzco at around 11am.
I checked in and called the Gap representative to inform her that I had arrived and found out that our group would be meeting later that evening. I checked into my room and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I would have a single. The room was nice, a bit dated, but I was pleased! I spread out in the nice queen sized bed and enjoyed being in a hotel with electricity. I showered and went online for the first time in nearly a week. I skyped home and let my parents know that I was alive. At this point it was almost 1pm and I was starving. I dropped off laundry at the front desk to be washed and returned to me later in the evening and had lunch at the hotel restaurant. I knew that I would need some essentials for the trip so I set off to shop. I also realized that I had little cash on me and was waiting for my parents to transfer money into my checking account so I could withdraw money. I set off in hopes to find a store where I could buy everything that I needed (a headlamp, a water bottle, warm clothes, a hat, a day backpack, a pancho etc.) After walking around for almost two hours I realized that credit card machines in Cuzco practically doesn’t exist. I bought the essentials with the little cash I had. I felt stuck. I hate having money issues. I have money, but not having access to it is one of the most frustrating feelings in the world. I went back to the hotel and attempted to sort through my belongings to figure out what I should bring on my hike. We each have porters to carry our bags and we can only take 6 kilos worth of belongings- only about 12 pounds, which really isn’t much at all.
At 6:30pm I went downstairs and met everyone that I would be hiking with over the next 5 days. Everyone seems friendly. A majority of the group seems to be Canadian and they seem to know each other. There are sixteen of us in total. I was surprised that there was only one other American in the group. We had a briefing on what to expect and went over all of the information that we needed to know. I had to rent a sleeping bag, air mattress, and hiking poles, all of which needed to be paid for. I used up the tiny bit of cash that I had left and prayed that the money had been successfully transferred into my account. As my luck would have it, it the money didn’t go through. The other American, Chan, had been friendly to me at the briefing so we decided to go out and walk around the town together and grab some food. Not even thinking I assumed that the restaurant would take credit card but as my luck would have it, they didn’t. Luckily, Chan was a good friend and bought dinner for me. Stressed about my money situation we went back to the hotel to finish packing. I spend most of the evening on the phone catching up with friends and family. Then headed to bed at 1am just in time to get a few hours sleep.
Bye for now.
Love,
Katie.
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