Salkantay And Machu Picchu: One-in-life experience, maybe twice?

First day: Beginning the adventure

   Departing at 4:30 AM from "Inca Hostel", our guide; a friendly, great and young person, 24 years old, picked us up and then we headed to Mollapata (2 hours from Cusco) and then we had breakfast. Getting gears on and preparing to start off. Right away We departed from Mollapata around 8 AM. From a small town we suddenly entered into the mountain trail, a tropical surrounding, really common in central and south American countries. It was a long but exciting and beautiful way until Lunch. Going through uphills and so forth. We got to the Lunch station. On the way there were small houses on top of hills that I would never expect to see , to be honest, these houses were really far away from any type of market. People seemed to sustain all by themselves, in terms of basic daily supplies. Variety of animals and flora a long the way to the campground. We could see lamas and big empty fields that welcome our minds to peace and tranquility. Around 5:00 PM we reached the campground, a beautiful place surrounded by icy-top mountains that provided a good chance for a  picture shoot :)

Second day: Reaching the top of the heights

Waking up at 5:00 AM, we had half and hour to get prepared to the toughest day of the trekking. We had breakfast and then departed around 6:30 AM. It was a really physical demanding trip the first five hours, going uphill and in zigzag motion, just crazy! but we got to the highest point (4756 meter above sea level). After taking a break there, which was not really a break because my head wanted to explode literally due to lack of oxygen, We started to descend. After three hours downhill we reached a tent in the middle of an empty field and we had lunch there, every member of the group was really exhausted. Around 1:40 PM we started heading to the camping side, it took around three hours, a long downhill walk. While this, I had the chance to have a more extended talk to one of the member of the group. He was from Israel. We talked a lot about the Israel-Palestine conflict, he seemed not to be really radical and stubborn Israeli regarding whether Palestine should be or not an Independent country. We finally made it to the campsite and had popcorn for snack, sitting a side of the river, hearing the melody of the water stream :)

Third day: Back to a hostel room? 

A very long day, leaving a bit later, we departed at 6:30 AM, and beginning with an easy straight and plane walk, we started to go downhill, on the way down, we had the chance to pick Cranberries and Strawberries from plants on the side along the trail. We got to see a really typical tropical plant that has a trunk that can be used as flute, it was awesome, I got few but they got spoiled few days after :(   Around seven hours of walking, we finally made it to Santa Maria, the last campground I was going to visit during this trip :(   , but with a nice lunch over there, the group divided. But before this, on the way to Aguas Caliente (nearest town to Machu Picchu), we were on the bus and we almost crashed! it was hilarious, the group, we were all relaxed while the people in the other bus were yelling at us XD  . In order to get to Aguas Calientes, an Australian and I decided to walk along the railroad towards Aguas Calientes. Many people along the way on the rail, it was amazing how many people go and explore the nature of Peru. After three hours we finally arrived to Aguas Calientes, and walk well rewarded with a nice dinner and a long-waited shower (after 3 days without one) nice experience :)

Fourth and Final day: Escalating towards the ruins of great warriors, Machu Picchu!

Finally!, Machu Picchu!. just unbelievable scene. However, on the way to the top was really though, it was around 1200 meters just stairs up. My legs hurt a little bit XD , but I finally made it, it was a really tiring walking, but once I got to the ruins, It was all worthy; it was just unbelievable! , a lot of people around 6:30 AM, people all over the world making the line at the front gate, some people with their tongues out, many of them stretching and few other security guards at the door. Entering to the Ruins is a bit costly, it costs around 65$USD , even though it is one of the wonder of the world, the name itself can reflect that it has become a huge tourist attraction, therefore it has been properly managed, however, some people would say that it has lost its real beauties over time due to massive tourism that has taken place for decades. We waited around an hour until the gates were open, and once opened it was all Art! , such a majestic place where the structure of the constructions, the raising of the sun and the fog mixed with the clouds, made this place mysterious and gave a unique sensation of nature. Our guide gave us a short introduction to some of the buildings and short historical details of the temples. After this we separated and we were allow to walk around the ruins. I decided to go to the Sungate, the main entrance of the Machu Picchu which the Quechuas accesed through. It was a fifty minutes uphill walk. On my last post I referred to a really inspirational scene I saw on the up to the Gate, check previous post ;)      After being at the top of the this hill, where Machu Picchu temple seemed to be so far away, the sun above me just creates a perfect landscape. Once around this area,a tour guide mentioned that over time, the treks trip have lost their uniqueness and real challenge ,specifically physical challenge. He mentioned that tour were provided, but no mules were available to carry your stuff. Moreover the trails themselves lost their special surrounding due to the minister of tourism on maintaining these trails "beautiful". I could see some disappointment on his face, but as he said, it is how tourism has transformed places and affect place's uniqueness. After being at the Sungate. I headed towards the "Inca Bridge", oh my god!, Once there it was unbelievable! a really poorly constructed bridge that lied on the side of a gorge. It was really dangerous to pass by this bridge. It has been closed since years ago. After this, it started to rain :(    people started to leave, but I decided to stay a bit longer and see how the rains covered the walls of the rocky bricks that these constructions were built of. These temples were constructed in such a perfect way, that every brick matched so neatly with each other, that explains the strength of this buildings. Around 3:30 PM, I decided to go back to Aguas Calientes walking; together with one of the Australian of the group we made it back around 5:30 PM, and then a well deserved Dinner waited for me ! , and around 6:30 PM.

It was time to leave this wonderful and amazing place that indeed conquered my heart, I would definitely come back in the future if I have the chance. It gave me such a new perspective of travelling and being also in touch with other travelers that have shared with me their experiences, have shaped my mind over time to be aware that travelling is in its pure definition being a local and embrace anything that it involves. It can be really challenging because we may need to give up many facilities that we take for granted, but it is the risk of exploring the unknown for us, and willing to expose ourselves and go out of our comfort zone. As my friend Dereck Lammer said: "The world was meant for those who take the chance in life and confront the unknown".

Here are some of the pictures  :)  I hope you like them!
Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment :D

More than just a wonder of the world

    After three days of long trekking, finally I have the chance to go to one of the wonders of the world,  the Inca empire, Machu Picchu. It was a great day looking at such a incredible and majestic place, however, while in my way to the SunGate, which is the main entrance through which the quechuas used to go into Machu Picchu, I saw a more incredible thing than this place. I saw an old lady, I am not sure how old she is. But the fact that she had to use trekking poles and was helped to take every single step on every stair from the ruins to the SunGate, means that she was at an age that I am pretty sure many people would prefer not to go off home. When I saw that, I realized that it does not matter what, in this case age, if we want to achieve something, we can always make it, but this reminded me that we have to be motivated, and indeed appreciate  the small opportunities and seize them, because from these we can get the best.

Meal Menu Towards My Goal

Note: Click on image to maximized view.

     In this Meal menu, I represent my accomplishment, goals and priorities in a more metaphorical way. The point of representing these in such way is to show how mindfulness is one of the characteristics I rely on to achieve my ultimate goal, organize my priorities, and being aware of what I have achieved so far. In this menu, I start with appetizers, as in any restaurant meal, in this case, personally it represents how I have gradually become who I am through the different education levels. I added the little note indicating that if I am at this stage where I am seeking all the main entrances offered, means that I had to accomplish all the appetizers, that is why it is the "all-you-can-eat". The main entrances represents the present to me, I am majoring on Physics and Mathematics, and also working on the "Clinton Global Initiative University Program" and planning to work on Project for Peace. And finally Desserts represent what I want to be in the future and what I expect to achieve. The prices are just the mean to portray that every part of the meal (life for us) can become more and more expensive, and for us, more and more difficult to reach.In this way I portray how mindfulness has guided me to construct the path of priorities that I have to follow to become a volunteering engineer. I certainly believe that as long as we work hard, we can afford the whole meal.

Move around!, be active, take care of your essence

     Note: Click on image to maximized view.




      In this advertisement, I portray pictures of myself in many places, doing different kind of activities. It is a way to represent my perspective of how to be active. I chose to use a piece of advertisement in order to encourage other people to follow the same path by using simple phrases that explain some of the reasons why being active can be beneficial. In this case, I show my unique perspective of how I consider myself active, in this picture I try to highlight a characteristic by using my personal experiences. But more than highlighting, it is just a way to persuade other people to become active, not only physically but also in other areas.

My personal world map

       Note: Click on the map to maximized view.




      In this map, I reflect my personal opinion/view of different areas of the world. Some of them can have opinions that people would disagree with. However, This is only based on my personal feelings toward it. I have chosen to reflect this in order to somehow portray how I define myself as open-minded. I believe that it is an exercise that helps me to realize how I perceive different cultures/parts of the world. No matter how I try to explain it through words, what flows through my thoughts about these places can be slightly different, because it is a feeling that can only be experienced and not written down. I describe myself as an open-minded person representing my own map and giving my unique perspective of these parts of the world that since I started to travel around, I have been developing and remaking as time passes. Perhaps, you are disagree with some of them, however I believe that is what being open-minded means, having and accepting different opinions, no matter what your personal believes are. I have decided to do it on a blank map with no borders between countries, because I believe that in this world we are all the same and that geopolitical borders just restrict our minds to be open-minded, therefore this map reflects how I consider the world as one big area, and that boarders between countries is just a way to measure how many barriers there are to achieve open mind. As we keep crossing these boarders the more I will explore and extending my thoughts.

How I see myself in the future, and how I evaluate the way of reaching it

Every morning, when I open my eyes I stare outside the window and I ask myself “why I do what I do?” Then I realize that I prepare my future me, and I grow to become someone that I do not know yet. However, I believe that the way of embracing that future Jaime is by being ambitious. I look up and I see the future Jaime as a volunteering engineer travelling around the globe; one outreaching poor communities lacking basic engineering ideas and so in this way provide them better facilities to have a better place to live in. Some of my characteristics that I consider the stronger leading me to be ambitious are mindfulness toward priorities, activeness, open-mind to other people´s perspective and perseverance.

            By being mindful, I believe I will be able to know what I have to be ambitious for, and therefore contemplate my priorities for the future, which are becoming an engineer and an aware person that through travelling would like to help people in countries where needed. The more mindful I am the more I think what my priorities are, I encourage myself to look how I can help other people, perhaps through volunteering programs and humanitarian organizations. However, I would like to consider my first goal, which is being an engineer, and then eventually by using what I learn from this career, go to many countries as possible and help poor communities that lack of technology and engineering ideas. Mindfulness is an essential characteristic for me to follow the path of what I ambitious for, it develops my awareness of the thing surrounding me, but also shapes and pushes me to gradually build my future me.

            Another characteristic that I believe will help me to construct my future of becoming a volunteering engineer in other countries is being active. Activeness leads me to pursue and feed my ambition and therefore motivates me. Many people around me have highlighted my constant activeness. I think it is a complimentary but important characteristic that guides me to be engaging and participative in my engineering courses and eventually lead me be focus on these courses. Furthermore, I consider activeness to be an important feature in order me to be a good traveler and a true volunteering; it definitely keeps my liveliness up to be willing to move from one place to another and put myself available to do any kind of work required in poor condition communities. Therefore, being active to me is as important as being mindful in order to keep my ambition on and seek for that future Jaime.

            In addition, I consider open-mind another indispensable characteristic for me to build and assimilate my future, engineering interests, travelling experiences and volunteering views. Open-mind guides me to have a wider view of what I am ambitious for and what it involves. By being open-minded, I believe I will be willing to accept and consider traditional engineering ideas from any other complete unknown culture to me, and then strengthen my personal learning. Moreover, open-minded is a feature that when comes to traveling has to be considered. I think it is important to be up to expecting anything from anywhere; it is a diverse world, thus I feel that every single place has a particular fact. While volunteering in other countries, I hope to encounter cultural facts different from what I have experienced because it will help me to improve and extend my open-mind characteristic and be willing to accept not only engineering thoughts but also cultural behavior, traditions, perspectives and believe.

            Finally, another characteristic I rely on is perseverance. I believe it has helped me to put me where I am nowadays, and I follow it as one of the vital characteristics that will guide me to become a future volunteering engineer and that feeds and energizes myself to strive for what I am ambitious. Every new educational level I go to, I am challenged with demanding engineering course. However, despite these demanding courses, I finish them because I rely on perseverance, which fortifies me to keep on and achieve an engineering degree. Perseverance is also important in order to be able to travel and specially for volunteering. While doing volunteering, it can be expected to be under a situation of difficulty where I may not feel confident of finding a solution; however I trust perseverance to reinforce my willingness to finish any volunteering task and push myself to the most so to be able to overcome any difficulties. I am certain that perseverance is the base of my future and the nutrient that feeds me to keep being ambitious, if I would not have identify it then I would think my future cannot be achieved because then I would easily give up when difficult moments arise or  when going out of my comfort zone. However, once I identified it I realized it is the key to succeed achieving what I am ambitious for, which is that future Jaime; engineer, traveler, volunteering and helping.