Gramma Barbie Goes Global

Without his encouragement and teaching, I don’t know if I would have made it.  He taught me the value of conserving my energy and encouraged me to go slow and steady, always reminding me that I could do it.  THANK YOU, RAMIRO!

The Sun Gate at MachuPicchu

This is the national drink of Peru – on the last night, 15 of us – the trekkers 13 and the guides 2 – passed the bottle around and had shots from the cap accompanied by a lot of good hearted laughter and fun.

This turned out dark because my flash did not work, but this is the whole group with porters.  The only ones missing are our guides, Ramiro and Willy who were taking the pictures.  This was taken when we honored our porters on the last night on the trail.  The youngest was Mario, our waiter during our meals, who was 19 and the oldest was 51!

The last major ruins along the trail.  Our last campsite was near here.  We arrived early so we could get some rest.  We were up by 0300 the next morning so we could be first at the checkpoint which was only 3 minutes from our campsite.  It did not open until 0530, but, we were able to be under cover with seats while those behind us had to stand or sit on very wet ground – it rained a lot during the night – while they waited for the checkpoint to open.  Don’t tell Ramiro, but, I was kind of glad he insisted we get up so early after seeing that.

This site had religious significance and was built to imitate the shape of the mountain.

This is Ramiro giving us a talk…in the background you can see Willy, the guide for the Spanish speaking group, giving the same talk to the rest of our trekking family.  The history they provided us along the way was very interesting and really made the trek come alive.