Hola!

We left Cusco long before sunrise, trading city lights for a winding, bumpy road that climbed steadily into the Andes. By the time we reached the trailhead, the sun was out and so were the mountains. The serac-laced slopes of Humantay and Salkantay both standing over 20,000 feet stopped us still. Today we met the rest of the team who will make this journey possible. Diego is joining us as a guide, and Pancho is our head chef (he's already far exceeded our expectations by serving up trucha, local trout, for lunch that we all deemed the best we’ve had this whole trip.) After days of travel, packing, reorganizing and checking gear, it was a relief to finally shoulder a pack and start hiking. We quickly settled into the simple rhythm of the trail: one step after another through mountains that people have called home and traveled across for generations. The highlight of the day was arriving at our camp at nearly 15,000 feet. We’re right at the foot of Salkantay — the mountain towers over our camp and we couldn’t stop looking up. Watching the clouds and the fading sunlight in a dance across the jagged slopes.

A pinch me moment for every single one of us.

We piled in the dining tent for an early dinner. One full of laughs & ease. After getting our hot water bottles (a necessity, it’s brrr cold up here) we headed for an early bedtime. But not before seeing the Milky Way and one million stars holding the sky.

What a dream.

Jess and the Machu Picchu team