Follow the Journey

Unfortunately, we´ve been having trouble putting up pictures of our recent endeavors, which truly pains us because we´ve wanted to share our trek with you. As an alternative, we asked everyone to tell us their most beautiful moment on the trek to try and paint as clear of a picture for ya´ll as we can. After we got everyone´s responses, we figured out the blog. Enjoy!

From Andy, this novel that he was kind enough to type himself:

A story…so last week I found myself trekking in the Cordillera Blanca outside of Huaráz, Anchash, Perú. In the midst of one of the most beautiful ranges I have had the pleasure to traverse. surrounded by jagged snow-capped peaks. glaciated cliffs. majestic waterfalls. mirror lakes. surreal clouds. massive boulder fields. subtle flowers and crystalline rivers. Yet, despite the natural beauty and the high altitude, I was feeling down. disconnected from my spiritual self. my goals. my practice. tired. drained. discouraged. and so, before closing my eyes for sleep on the last night of our trek. I determined that I would arise early in the morn and plug into the flow. follow what feels right in an effort to tune-up. tap-in. turn-on 🙂 So I arise with the sun. go for a walk and meditate on top of a rock. situated between the sunrise and Taulliraju I sit for some minutes before returning for breakfast. When I arrive I find a little five year old boy in our camp peeking out from behind some boulders. while we eat he comes closer and we laugh as he freestyle walks all around our camp. jumping off rocks doing 360-heel grabs. so full of smiley playful energy just bouncing all over the place. I suppose I should not be surprised when during our morning handstand/cartwheel time he jumps right in and plays along. In fact, he jumps right into our circle and starts break-dancing! somersaults. headstands. handstands! (5 years old!) crazy-rolls and butt-drops in one of the most creative displays of movement and body control I have seen…let alone in a five year old! I am urged to battle him by the Carpe Crew, so I jump in and do some breaking of my own and like this we take turns stepping it up until we are both so out of breath (13,000ft) that we flop on the ground together. Feeling really kindred with this boy…I lean over and say…¨oye, bailas super bien. ¿como te llamas amiguito?¨… to which he replies…¨Andy.¨…and my heart melts. Tocayo I say, and he jumps up and leads me on a follow-the-leader freestyle tour of our camp. again exhausted, we flop to the floor. and I invite him to fly. with full trust and joy he lets me fly him all over the place. on my feet. head. shoulders. hands…we have a blast! When the time comes to head on I say goodbye…by tossing him up in the sky…and spend the rest of the day…synchronicity abounding…blissfully high.

From Anna:

There were so many beautiful moments of the trek so it´s difficult to decide. One of the most magical moments for me was finally reaching the highest altitude. I reached the top of a difficult climb, couldn´t breathe and then caught sight of the most amazing glacier. Trekking was an incredible experience. Also, I really like all my pictures – that look fake…

From Austin L:

Hi guys, I´m Austin Maine.

Looking back at the gorgeous valley that we´d just hiked up from the top of Punta Union was one of the most amazing things I´ve ever seen. It felt incredible to see what we´d just done, and there were amazing views in every direction. The pictures that I took can´t capture how beautiful it was – that image is gonna stick with me. Holla.

From Austin N:

My most beautiful moment of the trek was when we were all dying from altitude after climbing for four hours and we came to the archway at the summit. Coming through the arch, we could see the entire valley in front of us and the snowy glaciers behind us. Nothing was more satisfying than standing on top of the 15,500 ft peak and all screaming together at the top of our lungs.

From Catherine:

Mom, Dad, you know that color I´ve been always wanting to paint my room? That bright cyan blue? From the highest peak on our trek there was the most breathtaking lake that was that color. I believe I could spend my entire life in rooms of that hue.

From Claire:

My most memorable moment during the hike was one day when we ate an amazing lunch of chicken and sweet potatoes while to the left of us were amazing snow-capped peaks and to the right was a massive lake with water so clear you could see the bottom from 50 feet away.

From Emma:

My moment was on the fourth day when I´d been walking for four days. It was a really great feeling to just be walking and loving it! I haven´t walked just to walk in awhile and I found out that I miss it. Plus the views that day were of amazing waterfalls and wild horses. It all inspired great, deep thought.

From Jessica:

My best and most memorable moment on the hike were the incredible views!!! And made all the more enjoyable by good health and minimal affects from the altitude!!! (Have you seen the pictures?!? Doesn´t do it justice… and I feel special to have had the opportunity to observe and absorb its immensity and beauty!)

From Jim:

The most beautiful part about the trek was (obviously) Terrance. But the second most beautiful part was the sincerity of our guides: Epi, Javier, Miguel, Walter and Emerson.

From Joe:

Good day everyone,

I am the tall lanky skinny white guy with glasses in all the pictures! The one without the sweet ginger beard. I´m so glad that our group was able to come together as one and decide on doing this super amazing trek of the Cordillera Blanca. Every little aspect of the trip collectively made it an incredible experience. We walked amongst giant snow-capped peaks that towered over us in every direction. We walked through open valleys full of wild horses and the occasional crystal blue glacial lake. From a 360 degree panorama at the top of the ridge on Punta Union (4,750 meters) my eyes witnessed the most spectacular scene. On that clear day you could see just about every mountain throughout the range. My second biggest highlight of the trip was when I would sit down to tea with Terrance in the evenings. Terrance was the strongest and bravest of the mules on our trek and I will miss him dearly. Hi mom and dad!

From Megan:

My most memorable moment during our trek was the moment we sat at our very highest peak at 4,800 meters looking out at all the massive peaks surrounding us. Being able to have a 360 degree view of the Cordillera Blanca pulled the soul from my chest. I felt on top of the world and very much at peace. Although we were all out of breath and had to take each step at a time, I felt more alive than I have this entire trip.

From Mia:

The trek as a whole was really beautiful, but my favorite part of it was when we all hiked up to the summit. We were like 4,700 meters or so high, and we could see all the peaks. The whole group hiked upto a vantage point for a group pic and there were just lots of shenanigans. It also marked the end of the hardest uphill hiking – which I was very glad about. I just can´t even explain the view but hopefully we can get some pics up on the blog. We were so high we all had headaches!

From Natalie:

Of the many incredible views we experienced on our trek, one of my favorites was the glacier we camped beneath on our first night. Waking up to such a sight (once the fog cleared) was unlike anything I have ever seen. The trek was awesome, and – Mom and Dad – my knee didn´t even swell up!

After our fourth day of trekking we returned back to Huaraz to pick up the rest of our stuff. We stayed one last night nearby the beautiful mountains. The next morning we hopped on a bus back to Lima. After eight hours on a bus, we arrived in the biggest city in Peru. We stayed in a true backpackers hostal filled with people from all over the globe. Twas a noisy hostal, but not noisy enough to keep us from sleep.

The morning after, we woke up at the crack of dawn to catch our Halloween flight to Cuzco, Peru. We arrived without problems, despite the uneasiness brought about by watching our pilot manuver between two collosal hills on the outskirts of the valley of Cuzco. We were picked up from the airport by our lovely Spanish teachers from FairPlay, our super cool Spanish school. We were taken to our two homestays and introduced to our host famz for the next two weeks. The thought of being separated into two groups for two whole weeks is a sad, sad thought for all. Really the only times during the week that we have been seeing each other are during passing periods in classes. We are all looking forward to this weekend that we will share together so we can reconnect once again.

After moving in that first day, we went to the school for a Halloween party that was put on by our teachers of both Spanish and salsa. We got to experience some of the local customs. Including a ceremony which involved baptising a baby made of bread, celebrating through dance and then slicing it up for consumption by all. Afterwards, our salsa teachers put on a little show for us. They were fabulous dancers and got us all excited for lessons the following week.

Going into the week, we had to get back on a standard school schedule – we haven´t missed it! The structure of our school includes two hours of grammar and two hours of practical. Grammar is taught typical classroom style. One teacher, two students, one white board. Our teachers really know their stuff and know how to make the classroom fun and interesting. Practical is sort of like taking a field trip around Cuzco for two hours everyday. We really enjoy this! So far we´ve gone to the marketplaces, Plaza de Armas (the main plaza), visited the 12 sided rock (see below), museums, el Cristo Blanco, the laundromat and places with great views of the city. Our teachers are easy to converse with and are great city guides. Both types of classes are very helpful and entertaining.

After mornings spent learning, we get a break to eat and relax at our respective households before returning to FairPlay for spicy salsa lessons. Salsa is also taught with one teacher per two students. This enables us to learn more quicklyer. Writing this now, we are not taking salsa classes anymore. It is fair to say that we are all going to miss our teachers and classes very much. This make us feel like this: :´( but we are equally stoked to begin volunteering with Aldea Yanapay (http://www.aldeayanapay.org/) next week.

Friday we had our orientation at a restaurant that supports the Aldea Yanapay project, where we were able to meet the founder and soul that built Aldea Yanapay from ground up when he was 17; his name is Yuri. We got invited to a party to celebrate at 8 that night, key point: BUFFET! After our final salsa class we had just enough time to get home and change before heading back to the restaurant for a tasty mexican-peruvian fusion style buffet yumyumyumyumyum. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay an hour.

From the restaurant we headed to the discotec where we were able to show off what we had learned the past week in salsa class, as well as watch our teachers blow our minds with many spectacular salsa performances. We got to learn some more moves group style and try those on for size because when in Rome… We were in the club until one in the morning (or twelve for the sleepy slumbersons).

This weekend we are planning an exciting tour of the Sacred Valley and its many Incan ruins. We are oh so very excited to walk the same paths as the Incas did many moons ago.

Mucho Amor,

Jose y Emma