Livin' Life to the Fullest

Our last night in Peru was a wild one. So wild that we slept through our alarm. Our flight was at 10 am Sunday morning and Aaron just so happened, by the grace of god, to wake up at 8:30 am. We quickly grabbed all our bags, stuffed our clothes and whatever else we needed to put into our bags and ran out the door. We left so fast that I forgot to check out of the hostel and pay them. I'm sure they will just charge my card. Anyways, we hop in a cab and fly to the airport. We arrive at the airport at 9:30 am, the same time the plane boards! We hustle, make it through security in under 3 minutes and make it on time to board our flight. It was crazy. The flight from Lima to Cusco is only about an hour and a half. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes, like every flight we have had so far. We arrive in Cusco at about 12:00 pm, grabbed our bags and headed out. When we touched down in Cusco, we had a car waiting for us. I see a short man with a nice mustache holding a sign with my name on it. We thought that was pretty cool because we felt like royalty. We pulled up to Loki hostel after about a 20 minute drive, checked in and then decided, what the hell, let's go bungee jumping and try the famous reverse slingshot at action valley. We were pumped, excited, ready to go live life to the fullest. It wasn't until we got strapped up that that excitement we had turned into nervousness. Aaron went first and as I was looking up at him from 400 feet below, I got anxious and I was nervous for him. He stepped out onto the ledge, took a deep breathe, and flew through the sky like an eagle. I heard screams from below, then those screams turned into laughter and I knew everything would be alright. Now it was my turn. They strapped me up and sent me up into the air. My stomach was turning, I was nervous, scared, and had all of the above feelings someone has when they are 400 feet up looking down. I stepped out onto the ledge, looked down and said, "holy sh*t". The guy asked me if I was ready and I said, "no". He asked me again and I said, "bro, just push me". He said "3-2-1", and then boom! I was falling 400 feet to my death, or so I thought. It went by so fast and it was over within 3 seconds. It was a huge adrenaline rush, my heart was pounding, and my knees were shaking for a good 10 minutes afterwards. I once said that I would never bungee jump in my life. Then I went to Europe and everything changed. I've been thinking hard about life and what I want my life to be like, what goals I want to accomplish before I die, and what I want to be remembered for. Then it hit me. I don't want to be the person that could've, should've, would've done things with their life. You will be more upset with yourself for the things that you didn't do, than the things that you did do in life. That's why I travel and that's why I decided to bungee jump because even though I was scared out of my mind, life is about taking chances, taking risks. Sometimes in life, you just have to jump and take a leap of faith. After bungee jumping, we decided to continue our adrenaline rush and try our luck at reverse bungee jumping, aka the slingshot. It's exactly what it sounds like and I was up first. They tied me down and took some pictures before I was skyrocketed into the air. "3-2-1", he counted down, then boom! I was off into the air like super man. It was an amazing feeling until I got to the top and then gravity kicked in and sent me back down to earth. I felt my stomach in my throat as I was helplessly flung around like a rag doll. I liked the slingshot a whole lot more than bungee jumping but both were equally as exhilarating. If you ever get the chance to visit Cusco, you have to bungee jump and do the slingshot at action valley. You won't be disappointed.

When we got back to the hostel, we were exhausted. We were running on 3 hours of sleep and little/no food. So we showered up and went to eat dinner at a Peruvian restaurant called, Nuna Raymi. It is here that we tried some classic Peruvian dishes. Peruvian people are known to eat alpaca, which is one of their native animals. So of course I had to try it. It was an unusual taste, different than anything I've ever had before. I would describe the taste as a mix of lenqua (cow tongue) and pork. Needless to say, I ate the whole thing. We walked back to the hostel to get some sleep because the next morning we are hiking up to rainbow mountain and would need as much energy as possible.

Day 2- We woke up at 4:30 am on Monday and hopped in a van that took us about 2 hours east of Cusco. We had a real Peruvian breakfast in the middle of nowhere in this tiny hut. We had coffee, tea, a bagel looking thing, and some other dish that I couldn't even describe. From there, we drove another 45 minutes to the base of the climb. We started our hike at about 9:30 am not realizing the difficulty ahead. It was an intense hike that was all incline. Now mix that with the altitude and you have one ridiculously insane hike. Luckily, if you are in need of help the Peruvian people have donkeys that you can ride that will take you to the top. We, however, were not going to succumb to the incline or the altitude. I was struggling a bit more than Aaron, but we pushed each other and we finished the hike in 1 hour and 40 minutes (the estimated time of completion is 2 hours). When we got to the top we were 16,500 feet above sea level, needless to say, it was difficult to breathe. The view was unbelievable and was well worth the pain. When we finally got back to the starting point, Aaron and I were both physically and mentally drained. We found our shuttle bus, hopped in, and immediately passed out. When we awoke, we were back the place we had breakfast at and had ourselves a nice Peruvian lunch. It consisted of tea, a vegetable soup, and rice with some type of meat dipped in sauce. I'm not too sure what type of meat we were eating, but we were too hungry to ask questions. We hopped back into the van and continued our 2 hour drive. I slept for about an hour and the other hour I was trying my best not to piss my pants. I was trying my best to hold it but it got to a point where I was just going to explode and I'm pretty sure my eyes were turning yellow. If you ever held your pee in for a long period of time, then you know what I'm talking about. As soon as they let us out, I awkwardly ran into the nearest bathroom and it was the best feeling in the world, but the struggle was very real. We got into town at about 6:20 pm and at 6:30 pm we had a meeting with our Machu Picchu tour guide. So we ran about 6 blocks to the Inca Trail Reservation office and made it by 6:35. By the time the whole day was done, we had walked nearly 20,000 steps, 7.6 miles, and climbed 133 floors. Needless to say, we were exhausted. We got back to the hostel, showered, and went downstairs to eat dinner at the hostel. We met up with our hostel roommate, Lucy, and all had dinner together while we watched the warriors win their 2nd championship in 3 years. It was a nice relaxing night for us because the next day we would be hiking one of the wonders of the world, Machu Picchu!

Day 3- Once again we woke up at 4:30 am because today we are hiking Machu Picchu! Yes, we are crazy but we only have a short amount of time in Cusco, so we have to do as much as physically possible. Our ride, however, was late this morning. They were supposed to be at our hostel at 5am but they were 30 minutes late, which made us panic because we had a train to catch at 7:45 am. We hopped in a cab and asked him to call our driver before we jetted off and paid 100 sol to go to Ollantaytambo. Luckily, as we were getting ready to leave, a women comes running out after us shouting our names. We immediately grabbed our bags out of the trunk and ran uphill for about two blocks until we reached the bus. This was one train we were not going to miss. We passed out and when we woke up we were in Ollantaytambo. We hopped on the train and sat next to these older New Zealand folks who were quite funny and interesting to talk to. We rode the train for about an hour or so and got off at the 104 kilometer. This is where our hike begins. Now, unfortunately for us, we packed way too much crap. We didn't know whether it was going to be cold or warm so we brought it all. We hauled around our huge bags on the entire hike, which was not the smartest decision. We needed a good workout anyways, so we were up to the challenge. The beginning of the hike was the hardest because, once again, we found ourselves climbing a ton of inclined steps. The 2-day Inca trail hike is the hike we signed up for and I have to say it wasn't as hard as the rainbow mountain hike, but it also wasn't the easiest hike. It is definitely a must-do if you plan on visiting Machu Picchu. The views are incredible and just knowing that the Incans once walked the same path is unbelievable. We finally reached Machu Picchu after a four in a half hour hike and it was incredible. I've seen Machu Picchu before in pictures but nothing compares to hiking it and seeing it in person. It truly is one of the best sights my eyes have ever seen. A magical gift to the world and it comes as no surprise that it is one of the new seven wonders of the world. This should be on everyone's bucket list, to do lists, travel lists, etc. Tomorrow we will get to actually go inside Machu Picchu, visit the ruins, and hike up to the famous Huayna Picchu.

After our long, sweaty, and tiring hike, we took a bus to our hotel, Wiracocha inn, which is located in Aguas Calientes. It's not a bad place to stay if you plan on visiting Machu Picchu. Once we showered up, we went to dinner with our tour guide and our other "A-team" member, Maria. Other hikers called us the A-team because we were moving very quickly on the mountain and passed everyone up. After dinner, there was only one thing for us to do. No, not sleep but good guess. We needed a massage and we needed one bad. So we got ourselves a nice little massage to relieve some of the aches and pains from hiking 16 miles the past two days. It was amazing and will definitely help us get through yet another hike tomorrow.

Day 4- This should come as no surprise but once again we woke up at 4mam to catch a bus back to Machu Picchu. The only reason why we woke up so early is to catch the sunrise. We started our tour of Machu Picchu at 6 am. Our tour guide Victor was quite funny and kept calling us "pumas, chicos, and amigos" and told us that we are family now. The tour of Machu Picchu was phenomenal, that's the only way to describe it. You need to see it to believe it. If you visit Machu Picchu, make sure you hike up to it and don't be a chicken and take the train. After our tour was over, we had a bit of down time to explore Machu Picchu by ourselves. We explored all of Machu Picchu and took a ton of photos and videos that will last forever. Aaron and I were scheduled to hike Huayna Picchu at 10

The highest bungee jump in South America at 400+ feet

am, if you don't know what that is I will explain. I'm sure you've seen pictures of Machu Picchu and in those pictures you see that one huge mountain that is always in the background of Machu Picchu. Well, that is Huayna Picchu. So Aaron and I hiked Huayna Picchu, which is another grueling hike that is purely uphill. The satisfaction of reaching the top was well worth the pain, sweat, and exhaustion that it took to make it all the way to the top.

How did we do it, you ask? I don't know. Maybe because we are young, in shape, and have tons of energy, at least that's what we tell ourselves. We are just living life to its fullest because that is what life is all about.

Our next stop is Santiago, Chile! 🇨🇱 I will have another blog up once we leave Chile. So don't expect a blog every day but after every country we visit. If you are still reading, thank you and I hope you are inspired to see the world yourself because life is too short and no one knows when it'll be over.

#Cusco #Peru #adventure #machupicchu