Project 365: Days 146-159
146/365: I bought all of Target to prepare for 14 days in South America, four of which we spent hiking the Inca Trail (God bless wet wipes).
147/365: I made some iced coffee and feverishly wrote blog posts so my one fan (my dad) would have something to read here while I was gone.
148/365: We went to REI and bought some last-minute trip necessities, but don't think I didn't consider just filling my suitcase with astronaut ice cream.
149/365: Please accept this ugly photo of my new hiking shoes as proof that I spent most of Memorial Day packing for our trip. Our flight was at 11:20pm, which ended up not being as horrible as I thought.
150/365: Our first day in Cusco included some wandering and a lot of vintage Volkswagen Beetles.
151/365: We explored some ruins just outside of Cusco's city center, including Saksaywaman, an Inca citadel that is a stunning example of their impeccable stonework.
152/365: We took a half day tour of the Sacred Valley, including a wool-dying demonstration, Moray and the Maras salt ponds.
153/365: The first day of our hike!
154/365: Day two was so hard, but worth it in the end.
155/365: Please excuse this horrible photo, but I couldn't not show you Guinea Pig rock!
156/365: We made it to Machu Picchu! After the intense hike, it was sort of anti-climactic but still pretty remarkable.
157/365: We spent the first half of the day exploring the tiny town of Aguas Calientes before catching a train to Ollantaytambo and then a bus back to Cusco.
158/365: We spent most of the day flying—from Cusco to Lima, from Lima to Bogotá and finally from Bogotá to Cartagena, Colombia. The warm, tropical air was instantly soothing to our dry, Andean bones.
159/365: I finally got my act together and researched cemeteries in Cartagena. I hit the jackpot and found the most amazing one ten minutes from our hotel. It reminded me of the cemeteries I fell in love with in New Orleans, but way better (and with so many exposed human remains).
It's been a few weeks without a Project 365 post, so I didn't want to just dump them all here but I'll be caught up by next week's post. Can I just say how glad I am to be back in New York?? I'm staying put for at least a little while, and the Coney Island Mermaid Parade is this weekend, which is one of my very favorite New York events. You can check out my previous photos from it here and here, if you're into that. Have a wonderful weekend!