Fat Camp, Continued.

Bianca and I are now convinced that we have been enrolled in Fat Camp unknowingly.  This is the Jenny Craig Express.  Thanks to the abundance of white bread and other crap snacks, however, not a pound is to be shed.  We are hiking almost all day and never have enough food.  I`ve learned my lesson now, and will never go anywhere without a pack full of snacks at this point.  I am trying to avoid the junk snacks but then if you don`t plan ahead, you`re screwed with nothing.   I`ve conveniently figured this out now that our 4day trek has come to a close.  Sharp as a basketball!

But let`s get back on track, shall we? I left off after the first day in Hostal from Hell.  Even the dogs were hungry in this town.  In a hungry haze, I almost smacked Bianca when she threw a precious Clif Bar for one of the doggies. 

After a hygienically questionable breakfast, we started our hike.  We hiked up through the trails of some big mountains.  It`s an interesting area because you`re surrounded by absolutely enormous mountains, but it`s essentially a jungle region. Lush lush lush! So beautiful. The trails were quite steep but the views at the switchbacks were delish.

It felt quite remote, but we would pass by an occasional small home. This friendly woman welcomed us and playfully showed off her pet monkey and some other large-snouted creature that we are still not sure whether it belonged in the pet category or future soup.  At any rate, she squealed with delight as the little dude jumped around. 

When I squealed, he let me know who was in charge.  Loudly.

The pet monkey was going to town on the mangos.  If you look closely, you`ll find that the little guy was a wee bit excited.  Good to know I still got it.

We continued on through some really beautiful terrain.  The photos don`t do it justice, but I`ll try anyway…

I always suspected it, but I was able to confirm that I have a wicked fear of heights on this trip. Some of the paths were very narrow, and right along the edge of the cliffs. We stopped for lunch at a small home of a family living off of one of the paths, and they prepared a nice lunch for us. It`s really amazing what can be prepared with such a limited kitchen.  We continued on and figured we`d be coasting for a while, but alas the magic of Peru meant that everything you think and predict is not what happens.  Our lovely path immediately and drastically came to a stop. I looked up and it looked like the large cliff had just puked a bunch of mud.  Landslide.  Again.  There was truly nowhere else to go.  My fear of heights was intensified and my legs were literally shaking. My guide was trying to balance on one of the very unstable rocks and told me to just hang onto the wall and inch across.  Um, there`s a safety net below right? This is just like the rock wall at the local gym, right? Wrong.  Don`t ask me why I went first.  I am the biggest wimp when it comes to these things. I think I figured that at least I wouldn`t have a bunch of people disrupting the landslide before me, though.  Sorry guys; survival of the fittest.   I would put my hand on the rock wall and see it crack like a nice fault line, and just pray that it wouldn`t break off.  Every time I moved, more small rocks would slide down.  FREAKY!!!   Once I crossed, though, I was quite the martyr . . . waiting on the other side, serving as the group photographer . . . ready and willing to selflessly capture any death falls on camera.

This is where our path ended and the fun began.  You can see the smaller rocks falling. What you can`t see is how big of a drop it was below. 

Alive and elated, we then crossed a bridge in fabulous condition. Watch where you step.

. . . And then another bridge.  Why do these things freak me out so much!? They swing and sway, but don`t seem to phase the locals.

And a cable car crossing . . .

OK gotta run. Our train leaves for Cusco in 30 minutes and then Bianca and I are taking an overnight bus (god help us) to Puno.  We are excited to explore Lake Titicaca tomorrow. Will try to keep up with being a good little blogger and continue the rest of the trek to Machu Picchu story tomorrow.

Thanks for the nice emails and thanks for checking in!  Please everyone take a nice, long, hot shower for us tonight. We are nasty.