The Inca Jungle

After my time in the city I embarked on a four day adventure that would head through the jungle and arrive at Machu Picchu. We were all picked up at the hostel early and driven to a unnamed pass at 14,000 feet which marks the border between the sierra and the selva, the highlands and the jungle. This is where we started our 10,000 foot mountain bike descent. I was amazing going through so many different environments in only two hours. Every 2,000 feet we went down, the ecosystem was completely different. There were snowy peaks all around when we started at the pass, including Salkantay which is one of Peru's highest at 20,691 feet, then banana plants as well as a good amount of humidity when we finished. I started biking with two jackets and finished wearing only my shorts. In two hours it was like we had traveled between two different planets. We had time for the rest of the day to get to know the others in the group a bit. Our troop was truly international. There were people from Israel, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, the US, and Uruguay. Our guide's name was Abraham and he is a new father who lives in Cusco. He was excellent and knew the answer to every single question we asked him about the Incas, Peru, or the region.

The next morning we started to walk along an only recently discovered part of the original Inca Trail towards the town of Santa Teresa. This is one of the few sections that is considered completely original and without improvements. It was carved into the side of the mountain face over 600 years ago and still stands today. We hiked along this trail through the "seja de la selva" literally the "eyebrow of the jungle" which is the phrase Peruvians use to describe the region where the mountains and the jungle meet. Our journey was always fueled by a lot of water and a lip full of coca leaves. Abraham made sure to inform everyone that coca itself was not cocaine, was not illegal in Peru, and would not harm anyone who chewed it. The coca functions like a 5 hour energy ad. It is a great energy booster for a long time and there is no crash later. It does make your mouth quite numb though. Our day finished at the hot springs in Santa Teresa where we all enjoyed a nice dip despite the air being the same temperature as the water.

Getting up the next morning, the whole group was excited for the zip lines. They were set up all throughout a canyon outside of Santa Teresa where we got to fly over the Urubamba river at 50 miles an hour. It was good fun and cut off a significant chunk of the distance we would have to walk if we didn't use them. From the zip lines we started hiking again towards Aguas Calientes, the town closest to the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.