Life Lessons During Hike Up Machu Picchu

I am very grateful that I got to see one

of the Seven Wonders of the World - Machupicchu. 

When initially planned my trip to this famous site, I told family and friends that I will take the bus up to Machupicchu , but  while  volunteering in Aldea Yanapay im Cusco, I met another volunteer Alessandra from Mexico and she said "Kaye promise me you are going to hike up Machupicchu and not take the bus. It will be worth it." Since she had been to Machupicchu last July 2013, I trusted her. So my journey to hike Machupicchu begun.... on January 18 - 19, 2014, it was not just a simple journey but a metaphor for life lessons.  

Life Lesson 1 : Surrender - Life's Journey is Unexpected

One of the things I have learned the past decade is surrender. As a recovering control freak, i have gotten better with dealing with unexpected things in life when they do not go as planned. 

I booked this 2 days/1 night Machupicchu  trip for US$100. Such a great deal that it included roundtrip minivan ticket from Cusco to Aguas Caliente (near Machupicchu) , 1 night at the hostel, 3 meals, entrance to Machupicchu with a tourguide. 

We left at 8:30 AM in Cusco and  after 30 minutes we stopped because there was a mechanical problem with the van. We waited for over 1 hour before another minivan arrived and we got to continue with our 6 hours journey to Machupicchu. 

I made the most of the delay in the trip - I got to talk to the other travelers, took a nap and simply relaxed. 

Life Lesson 2 : Life is an Adventure - Have Fun ! 

I am so grateful that we 1,440 minutes each day and we have the choice to use these moments to grow or to miss on the opportunities. 

January is one of the months that rains a lot in Cusco area. Because of all the rains, they had been a lot of landslides on the road to town of Machupicchu. We had to be dropped of further than we should have been and we had to hike down to the hydroelectrica. The hydroelectrica is used to transport passengers from one side of the river to the other on an open cable cart that is pulled manually by 1-3 men on each side of the river. Sat on a open cable with 3 other people and the very high and rapid gushing water underneath us. It was an exciting and scary experience at the same time. I chose to be excited about this new experience.

Life Lesson 3 : Age is Just a Number - Don't let it define you ! 

Often times society puts us in a box based on our age. They say, In your teens it is ok to be crazy and wild. In our tweenties, it is ok to drink and party hard. In our thirties, it is time to get serious and get married and have children. In our forties, focus on work so we can provide for our families. In our fifties, it is the time to slow down and get ready to retire. In our 60's and older, time to retire and wait to die. These are stereotypes that I totally do not agree. It limits us based on our chronological age. But I have seen people in their 60's more active and have more energy than some in their 20's. I say, age is just a number and do not let it ever define who you are. 

Another evidence of this new "norm" in our society was when I met two Brazilian ladies of our 17 persons tour group. These two women hiked with us from the railroad tracks at Santa Teresa in the dark for 2.5 hours. We had to cross several bridges with big gaps between them so we had to be careful not to fall in the river below us. They did not complaint, whine, or slowed down the group. They just kept going and going on this uphill hike using the railroad track as our guide until we reached Aguas Caliente, the town closest to Machupicchu at 10:30 PM where our hostel was located. 

Honestly, I hiked slower than these 2 women but when I wanted to complaint and  "bitch" about the long difficult hike in the dark, I look at them and I got inspired to keep going. 

Life Lesson 4 : One Step at a Time to Reach the Goal

I have been taught early in life to set goals. I have written a 101 goals , bucketlists as well as goals or "prayer intentions" on my birthdays and  I write "vision" plan on New Year's day for the past several years. I am constantly asking God to guide me , "to speak to me in words that i will understand" through my prayers and meditation to lead me what my life purpose is and how to fulfill it everyday. 

One thing I have learned from all of these goal setting, is that it takes time, commitment, effort to get to reach my goals but all it takes is one step at a time. And this is again a lesson I learned as I hiked up Machupicchu  on January 19, 2014.

We woke up early Sunday morning at 4:30 AM to start our journey up this world famous site. We waited for our tourguide to give us our passes to get us in Machupicchu park at 6AM. As soon as we got our tickets we started hiking up, I was with 4 Brazilians from my tour group that included Bruna and Leandro. The hiking started...going up those stairs.    As we got higher, the air got thinner and I was getting tired. I am not a hiker / trekker at all. The elevation to reach the top was an added challenge but that is part of life, there are challenges and we just need to keep going.

 My bag was an issue too, i brought too many stuffs for a difficult hike. Just like in life sometimes we bring the past hurts, childhood traumas, failures and carry these "baggages" with us to our present and future  when we should have let them all go a long time ago. 

I saw so many other hikers / tourists/ travelers passed me by while I took frequent breaks. This is like in life too, there are people that got to their goals fasters than I got to my goals. I have to remember, not to compare myself and focus on reaching my goal because when I achieve them, it will always be the perfect time. 

After 2 hours of hiking up this huge mountain, I got to the top - Machupicchu !  Wow! It was an amazing view. What impressed me more is that each of these rock was carried and built with the hands of the Peruvian ancestors , not machine made. Getting to see this up close and touch it was a great memorable experience. Getting to see Machupicchu reminded me, to get to our goals it is truly one step at a time.

Life Lesson 5 : This Stranger can be your next Amazing Friend

I have been traveling and doing my "VolunTourism" annually since 2011. I have learned so many things from traveling solo but I have also enhanced skills that I already had. One of those is my social skills that i think I genetically got from my mother who has amazing social skills, I call her "Mrs. Congeniality". I do not mean to brag and sound conceited but I do have great social skills. I can talk to anyone from Europe to Asia to South America. Not knowing the language they speak has never been an obstacle either. I can point, act out or try to do something to communicate with this person if she / he  do not speak any English. And with God's divine intervention I often get my point across and "communicate" with this person. I am also not shy which has been very helpful during my solo trips since I can make friends easily.

My 2 day trip to Machupicchu was an exception. I get to meet Bruna Mattos, a Brazilian girl in her 20's who was travelling with her boyfriend, Leandro for 2 weeks from Presidente Prudente, Brazil  . We all started talking when we had a stopover for lunch. We started hiking Machupicchu. I even got to meet them down the hike to Santa Teresa because we were the only 3 people in our group who did not have any train ticket from Aguas Caliente. Then we continued to get to know each other on our minivanj ride to Cusco. Then 1 month after I met them, I visited Bruna and stayed with her family for 2 days at Presidente Prudente. Her family was amazing and great hosts. I got to go to their farm - fed the cows, ate so many mangoes. Bruna even had a party on a Saturday night so I get learn to dane samba and forro. This experience had once again proved that the next person may just be a stranger but with just one "hello" this person can be your next close friend. 

Couchsurfing in Colombia

    

     In the fall of 2010, as I was planning my very first VolunTourism in 2011, my sister's friend Krystle suggested that I couchsurf in Europe to save money. I was immediately very resistant and said "No, thank you but I saved up enough money to pay for cheap hostels in Europe". But one night in October 2010, I decided and now I have been couchsurfing for 4 years. 

            I would like to share my couchsurfing in Colombia in January 2014. I was hosted by German Garzon, a Colombian peditrician and very active couchsurfer. He is a very nice host - he picked me up at the airport at 2 AM even with my flight being delayed and he also had to work in a few hours. That's when I know that this host is one of the most hospitable that have ever hosted me.

                                                             

 First Impression 

            I have heard the reputation of Colombia and most of those were negative. However, as we drove down the streets at 2 am in the morning, I saw that the streets are clean, no homeless sleeping on the streets and the streets are empty - very few cars around and no people walking. 

Transportation 

               There are taxis at the airport. I did not take any taxi during my stay but my host, German, said that taxis are relatively cheap and you can even use an app called Tappsi (the taxis on this app are safe and registered). I get to use Transmilleno bus system. This transportation system is like a subway but instead they use buses. There are 2 lanes assigned specifically for the buses. You get to transfer to different lines to get from north to south, east to west. And even get you to and from the airport to your host's or hotel. You need to have a Transmilleno metro card which you can get for free but you need to put in money in the card. It cost about 1,700 Colombian peso ($0.88) each way. This was really easy to follow. If you are not sure where to go there are uniformed metro staff in each stop and you can ask for directions.  

Food 

          My couchsurfer host, German, is a foodie so he knows Colombian food. These are the unique foods that I had in Colombia that I have not had in any other country. 

1. Tamal / Tamales. Colombian tamales are different from the Mexican tamales. Inside is rice and chicken or pork or some kind of meat. It is a whole chicken leg with the bones and rice wrapped in banana leaves. While the mexican tamales is usually with a corn "masa" / flour with shredded piece or meat, or cheese with spicy salsa. 

2. Toston - a pizza like with cheese on top but instead of flour as dough , the dough is plantain (banana). It was really yummy and we ate this at Andres D.C. 

3. Crema Vena - dessert with a circle shaped thin cracker and they put different fillings like dulce de leche , cheese, fruit jam with different flavors, dried coconut then cover it with another cracker on top. Very delicious sweet dessert. 

4. Lulu juice - lulu is a typical fruit in Colombia with seeds that are also sour then they add lime and water to create this Colombian drink. 

Places Visited 

        During my visit during the first week of January, it was still their holiday so it not crowded and German also had the time off to show me around. 

1. Museo del Oro - thr museum of gold is beautiful. You get to see different sculptures, jewels, stones, statues, paintings made of gold. The entrance fee is 3,000 Colombian Peso ($1.56) but on Sundays admission is free. 

 2. Catedral de Sal de Zipaquira - The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquira. The admission fee is 23,000 Colombian Pesos ($11.94). The cathedral is under a huge cave. You can see Jesus Christ stations of the cross and the cathedal with a enormous luminated cross. This place is about 30 km from Bogota.  

3. Cerro de Monserrate - this is a church on top of the Monserrate mountain. This is a very famous tourist spot when visiting Colombia. The admission fee is 15,800 Colombian Pesos ($8.20) for roundtrip ticket of cable car to get you to /from top of mountain. It is a little cheaper on Sundays 14,500 Colombian Pesos ($7.54). The view of Bogota is beautiful from the top. But it is also beautiful to look Monserrate church from below especially during the christmas holiday because the entire church is decorated with gorgeous lights.

       I get to meet another couchsurfer Carolina, as well as another Colombian guy, Tony. The four of us had dinner and went dancing at Andres D.C. On that Sunday night, Carolina and I became honorary Colombians and they gave us a crown and sash. That was a really fun night. We partied until 2 AM - lots of stories, laughters, dancing and yummy foods. What I found very interesting in this restaurant is that the free appetizer they serve in each table is a plate full of fruits - mangoes, grapes, coconuts, and other Colombian fruits. A very healthy and unique appetizer compared to what they serve in other countries. 

       On our last night at German's house, Carolina and I cooked a meal for German, Tony and Senor Garzon (German's father). Carolina made Chilean empanadas and I cooked pansit (Filipino noodle dish) and jello dessert. Tony brought passion fruit cake and also made Lulu juice. It was a great "despedida" (bon voyage) as well as a "gracias" dinner to our amazing couchsurfing host, German. At dinner, we talked and shared our opinions. We may be from different countries, different genders, different age groups but our hearts felt the same love and connection with each other. 

        These are my 5 days of couchsurfing in Bogota, Colombia. A fun, happy and memorable experience.         Muchas Gracias!!!