Monday, September 5, 2016

Cusco (I) [Perú]

The road to Cusco is full of literal ups and downs.  I'm in the mountains!!!

I leave Nazca with a MASSIVE day of climbing... in the first day alone, there is a vertical gain of 3,600 meters (nearly 12,000 feet).  The next several days are full of the same... 1,500 meters, 2,000 meters, 1,800 meters...  In a single week, I climb nearly 13,000 meters (42,000 feet).

In that week, I spent five entire days above 4,000 meters (13,000), climbing to a maximum height of 4,500 m (15,000 feet).  It's cold and windy and lonesome, and I love it.

One night I slept with alpacas to keep warm.  Another night, I ask to sleep on the concrete floor of a farmer's shed.  It's bitter cold at night dropping from 20 degrees to -15 degrees Celsius (70 degrees to 5 degrees Fahrenheit) in just a matter of minutes once the sun goes down.

And that's how I roll into Cusco.  Tired, but strong.  In fact, the strongest I've ever been.  It feels good... and I'm ready for a break.

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