Tag Archives: outdoors

salineras de maras.

IMG_2588The Salineras de Maras have been around since pre-Incan times. Fed by a natural, underwater spring in the neighboring mountain, the ponds catch the water as it makes its way down into the valley, and the locals wait for the ponds to dry. After, they harvest both natural table salt and fancy pink salt that can be used in cooking delicious items, or if you are really creative, you can carve figures out of the salt…

hundreds of salt ponds lined the narrow valley.

hundreds of salt ponds lined the narrow valley.

salt lining the sides of a pond. there were so many fascinating salt formations to be seen.

salt lining the sides of a pond. there were so many fascinating salt formations to be seen.

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huayna picchu.

IMG_2449to begin our day at machu picchu, we decided to hike huayna picchu. it is the tall, looming mountain above machu picchu. they only allow 400 hikers a day, and the ascent is only 1,000 feet. what they fail to mention is by “ascent” they mean “near vertical climb” and one uses a metal cable install only 7 years ago, to help you reach the top. and guess what! it was TOTALLY worth it! it was quite the accomplishment, and though i had altitude sickness problems, i still loved it. i highly recommend it.

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beginning our hike…and the last picture until we just about reached the top…i was too busy trying to not fall off the side of the mountain…

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there were more ruins found at the top, where the high priest and many of the virigins lived.

we made it! it was only raining a tiny bit....ha...

we made it! it was only raining a tiny bit….ha…

 

to reach the true summit, we had to crawl through a tiny cave. quite the adventure!

to reach the true summit, we had to crawl through a tiny cave. quite the adventure!

the clouds parted a bit, so you could see the road that the busses take to take visitors to machu picchu.

the clouds parted a bit, so you could see the road that the busses take to take visitors to machu picchu.

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the clouds parted for a brief second, and i snapped a picture of the view of machu picchu from above.

the clouds parted for a brief second, and i snapped a picture of the view of machu picchu from above.

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mp looking over the ledge.

mp looking over the ledge.

this was a super safe stairwell...especially when it was wet from all the rain.

this was a super safe stairwell…especially when it was wet from all the rain.

making our way back down the mountain.

making my way back down the mountain.

another quick cloud parting.

another quick cloud parting.

WE DID IT! and you know, it was difficult, but sosososososo worth it!

WE DID IT! and you know, it was difficult, but sosososososo worth it!

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march to the penguins.

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this past saturday some friends and i finally decided to see if the rumors were true…that there are penguins in puerto eten. being the great planners we are, we started our adventure by asking people where the combis were for puerto eten. why did you have to ask multiple people? wellllll….let’s just put it this way, we got about 10 different directions, so we slowly put it together. once we got there, we just started on a path on the beach. this was my first time to the ocean since being at site, and oh my goodness, it was needed…and i will probably start needing to frequent it.

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our path along the beach was, apparently, the path less traveled as we were going up and down a lot hills and cliff-sides  but i will say that it was probably the prettier of the two paths. we also made sure to be super safe in our adventures, ergo of course we climbed on the rocks!

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eventually, we reached a strange looking shack with bags around it with a penguin-looking symbol drawn on it. so we asked where the penguins were, to which the guy replied, “do not get any closer, there are dogs. and the penguins are at the bottom of the cliff.” so, we hurriedly made our way down the cliff. as it turns out there is an obnoxious green fence surrounding them, as they are an endangered species and they working on repopulating the breed. so, the view from above was great, and you could make out their outline on the ground. but the best part of this adventure was being the only three people on such a quiet beach. we ended up chasing some waves and just hanging out and getting sunburned from our fun in the sun. needless to say, it was a little day-cation…or really half-day-cation, but even that much made all the difference in the world.

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i will be back there in just a few short days. in less than two days my first visitor arrives and i could not be more excited. i am excited to share my day-to-day nuances with someone, have them meet my community, and i am just excited to spend some overdue time with them. so if you don’t mind. i think this is my sign-off until the new year. i hope your holidays are merry and bright. i know mine will be, and i will update you on all that happens between now and then, but for now i have a dream boat to attend to.

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keep the mercado day holy.

there are lot of low hanging tarps there, even i have to duck while walking through.

during my walks to the carraterra to catch a combi on sunday, i walk through the market, which is exponentially large on sundays, with much more people. this must be the day that everyone comes in from the caserios as well. additionally there is another two story building on top of the 3 blocks of the outdoor part of the market.

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