Day one of Kara and Nate Buchanan's multi-day Machu Picchu trip (with Mountain Lodges of Peru). They travel by van from Cusco through Pisac to high-altitude villages (around 13,100–14,200 ft), choose a hiking itinerary, meet locals (e.g., Sarina with donkeys), experience traditional Pachamanca earth-oven cooking (mushroom ceviche, guinea pig prepared underground), and return to their lodge.
Sam.
Sa.
Day one of our trip to Machu Picchu with mountain Lodges of Peru. It's going to take about five days to get there, but I am just as excited about all the stuff in between as I am Machu Picchu.
So we just got picked up from our hotel. It's about 7am and we are getting in the van to drive to the Sacred Valley. The way that Mountain Lodges of Peru sets up all of their trips is that every day you have a choice of multiple itineraries. So you can either do like something cultural or you can go hiking. We haven't decided what we're doing yet.
It's hard because the not hiking option is feeding llamas like wild llamas. So we're having a really hard time because it's sunny and beautiful. So we kind of want to take advantage.
But I envision myself hiking at every opportunity. I know. We'll have to talk to our drivers on the way and get the details.
We're getting one last beautiful view of Cusco. The sunlight is perfect.
A decision has been made. We are getting in the hiking van doing the hike.
We just got our first views of the Sacred Valley.
It is awesome.
So we just stopped in the town of Pisac for a quick bathroom break because this is the last place that we'll be before we start our hike for the day. Yesterday we discovered this delicious like popcorn stuff. We picked up some for the trek. It's like literally the kernels of the corn that have been cooked and they kind of taste weirdly like popcorn with like a harder outside shell. I'm.
To eat everyday. Potatoes, corn, fava beans, quinoa. That is their diet. They don't eat other things. These people are still practicing natural medicine. Yeah, they don't go to doctors. They have midwives.
They have.
Since their childhood. They know what kind of herbs to take for different diseases.
So we just got to the town of Amura. I think that's how you say it. We are currently at 13,100ft. We're gonna be hiking up to a pass that is at 14,200ft. Our guide just told us a little bit about the town and how the people here live.
We met a nice local lady named Sarina and her two crazy donkeys. They're coming with us.
Already breathing hard. We are heading somewhere up into those clouds.
We just got our first sight of the pass that we're going to be walking up this low point between these two mountains. We're at about 13,5 right now. Feeling strong.
How you doing.
Good?
We're almost there.
So close.
We just got to the top of the pass. It's been super nice. They brought us snacks. The view is amazing. And now we're about to hike back down the hill about an hour to this town where we're going to have lunch.
Is it a hill?
The mountain.
Sam.
Look at him going over the wall. Carol.
Oh, my gosh. That lamb is the sweetest thing.
There goes the neighborhood. Time to leave. Look at that little boy.
He's just a little.
He'll make it.
Yeah.
Where's the donkey?
We're currently walking down into the village where we're going to have lunch. This has been the most awesome five minutes. As soon as the donkeys saw the village, they started going nuts, honking at their friends. Over here in the farm, there's a lady herding pigs. We saw a tiny baby lamb that still had the umbilical cord, only like two days old. I already love this village. And there's like a billion.
Look at the sheep dog.
The camera is not capturing the coolness of these little houses.
And with the flower.
So you can leave your day packs if you want. No cancer.
No strap for my hat. You need to cover up your other one. Yeah, I'll have to work on it. Yeah. Way more Peruvian these days. I just have to cut my leather one off. He's the world's worst negotiator.
So we were told that today for lunch, we were eating something very special that's only cooked at very special events such as weddings. And I'm not exactly sure what it is yet because it's still under the ground. But this is the special method that they use for preparing it. So there's rocks and then there's charcoal in the middle of the rocks. And I'm pretty sure that the food that we're going to eat is underneath the charcoal. So I'm really looking forward to whatever comes out of the ground.
This is what we call pachamanca in Quecha means earth oven. It's like a pan made from earth.
That was a much more educated explanation of the earth stove. He told us that for us, they've wrapped the food in aluminum foil, but normally they would just throw it straight into the ashes and eat it that way. But they didn't want us to get sick, so we're not eating it the traditional way. But he did tell us that they use this oven a lot. And if we picked up a rock and we licked it, we would still be able to taste. That's the donkeys.
Taste what they were cooking.
Lunch was amazing. My favorite part was the ceviche. They have these little corn nuts that we had with our dinner yesterday that you put on the ceviche.
Same ones I bought at the market.
It was so good. I bought two or I had two bowls.
And because we're, like, nowhere close to the ocean, we're in the mountains. They made it with mushrooms instead of with fish, which I had never thought that you could do that before.
It was amazing. All of the meat and vegetables were cooked in the ground.
It redeemed guinea pig for me. If you watched yesterday's vlog, you'll know that we tried guinea pig for the first time, and it was terrible. And I had it today, and I liked it.
It was a lot better.
So apparently it all depends on how it's cooked. And they cooked it awesome here.
I can't believe we even tried it again. Like, that's how much we didn't like it yesterday. And we learned you can eat the skin.
It was delicious.
Great experience.
Now we're jumping back in the V.
That's not a good angle.
One of them might be in heat or something, you know.
Got out of a system.
