Hey Friends,
Last time I checked in my team and I had just arrived in beautiful Cusco Peru. Every month is a little different on The World Race. The Lord continues to reveal himself to me in new ways and teach me new things through these new experiences. I spent the month volunteering at a small café dedicated to furthering God’s kingdom, called The Meeting Place. For me, ministry in Peru was a little slower than the previous two months. Most days I wouldn’t start volunteering until 1:00 and would finish around 5:00. This left me with a lot of time to go to the market, explore the city, and spend some excellent quiet time with God! For months, I had been incredibly hungry to further my relationship with Him. I had spent most of my twenties not walking closely with Him and anxiously felt like I needed to make up for lost time. Having so much time with Him in Peru not only helped me get closer with him, it also relieved my anxiety and helped me learn to rest in Him. It’s nice to be able to look back and see how far He has brought me in just a few short months, and though I hope I never become complacent in my relationship with the Lord, I am now perusing him purely to get closer to my Heavenly Father rather than trying to reach some imaginary threshold of where I think I should be at in my relationship with Him. It’s a blessing to have God walk alongside each of us through our daily lives and to be able to speak to him in any given moment.
From the time, I was a small boy I have had an appetite for adventure. I spent my summers dreaming of being an explorer, tussling with pirates, or discovering ancient treasures. As I grew older and learned of the Nazca lines, Lake Titicaca, and Machu Picchu, I longed to go to Peru and to see these ancient wonders for myself. For most of my life, seeing Machu Picchu was only a dream but last month I had the opportunity to do just that. When I found out my team would be serving in Cusco, (the city that tourists fly into before traveling to Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu) I became determined to go! Having very limited financial resources, I began scouring the internet for the various options to get there.
Option one-The High Roller: Take a train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, stay the night in a hostel, bus up to Machu Picchu in the morning, stay the day, bus back down and take the train home. The train tickets alone can cost a couple hundred bucks. Combined with the $46 entrance ticket, and I’d already be way over budget. Too expensive!
Option two-The Average Joe: Take an eight-hour bus ride from Cusco to Hydro Electrica, hike two miles down the train tracks to Aguas Calientes, stay the night in the hostel, wake up early and hike the hour and a half up the 2,000 steps to Machu Picchu, hike back down and back down the tracks to Hydro Electrica, to catch a bus back to Cusco. This is the route that most tourists and most of my squad mates who went chose. They sell all-inclusive packages including your bus tickets, dinner, hostel, and entrance ticket for about $100. Darlin and Cristen were able to find it for $85. All in all, a pretty good deal. It seemed like a decent way to go but lacked the level of adventure I was hoping for. Too traditional.
Option three-The Daredevil: If budget is your primary concern, why not go for free? I read a blog about some guys who hiked from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, waited for nightfall, and snuck past the guard house. Being sure to stay in the shadows they then scaled along the side of a bridge over the raging river to the base of the mountain. Because the steps up the mountain are difficult to navigate even in the daylight and they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves with headlamps they opted to walk up the road used by busses. If a guard would come by on patrol, they would avoid being spotted by simply jumping into the jungle and hiding behind the trees. Once they reached the top they hid in one of the temples all night and waited for a group of tourists to pass in the morning. At that point they were able to casually sneak out and blend in with the crowd. While this option had the level of adventure I was looking for, I couldn’t bring myself to sneak in, risk getting caught, thrown in jail, or kicked out of the country. Too crazy, too dangerous, too unethical.
Option four-The Explorer: I found another blog where a couple took a bus to Ollantaytambo, (a town a few hours outside of Cusco) got on the train tracks, and hiked the 18 miles to Aguas Calientes. They purchased their tickets to Machu Picchu and camped out overnight. The next morning, they hiked up the 2,000 steps, spent the day enjoying the site, hiked back down, and began their hike back to Cusco. They packed food that they could eat along the way so other than the $46 entrance ticket, their only expense was the $1 bus ticket to Ollantaytambo. Bingo! I found the Goldie Locks zone! This option was not too expensive, not too traditional, not too crazy, it was just rite!
I’m incredibly blessed to be on team Los Mensajeros. I can imagine that many people on our squad would laugh at me if I proposed an 18-mile hike down the train tracks, but it didn’t take much to convince Dara, Luis, and Cal to come with me. We were all excited to go on an adventure. We each wanted to explore Peru, spend time in God’s creation, and experience the thrill of not knowing what obstacles we would encounter along the way. Our last day of ministry was on a Saturday, and as soon as we were finished closing the café, we grabbed our packs and hit the road. The rough plan was to find a bus to Ollantaytambo, hike all the next day and meet up with Darlin and Cristen in Aguas Calientes Sunday night. We would all wake up early, spend Monday in Machu Picchu together and catch busses back to Cusco that evening. We didn’t have anything scheduled until Tuesday night when we were invited to a friend’s house for dinner, so this plan left us plenty of wiggle room.
Our first obstacle came moments after we left the café, when we realized we didn’t know where to catch a bus to get us to Ollantaytambo. No big deal. After asking around we were pointed in the general direction of the bus stop and after a short walk a man in a 15-passenger van waved us over and offered to take us to our destination for about $3. An extra $2 to ride in a van instead of a bus? Sold! We all piled in and waited for him to fill the rest of the seats with locals all heading that way. We arrived in Ollantaytambo around 9:00 pm and were met with pouring rain. We made our way to the train station grabbed some dinner and started asking around for directions. I had read that if we tried to get on the tracks at the station, the guards would stop us but there was a path that would take us a few miles down where we would be able to get on the tracks unopposed. Most of the locals we encountered were shocked that we planned to walk to Machu Picchu from there. We were told that “it’s too far”, “it’s too dangerous”, and “you’ll never make it”, but we didn’t let that detour us. Shoot, if those people who blogged about it on the internet could do it, there was no reason we couldn’t!
By 10:00 pm we managed to find someone who pointed out the path that would lead us to the tracks. It was still pouring rain so the four of us took a few moments to discuss our options. We could pay for a hostel and start our hike in the morning or we could start hiking and try to find a camp site outside of town. We decided to hike down the path to see how far down the tracks it would take us and try to scope out a camp site. We were a little frustrated when the path took us directly back to the train station. There were very few people at the train station that late at night and the only guard we encountered was too busy playing on his phone to notice us as we walked right past him and hopped onto the tracks. This was it, no turning back now, we were off. We couldn’t help making comparisons between the four of us, in our rain ponchos, hiking into the pitch black unknown, and four little Hobbits, in their cloaks, leaving the shire for the very first time.
The new plan was to hike for about two hours, make sure we were far enough out of town, and start looking for camp sites. Once we were out of site of the train station we turned on our headlamps on, cranked up some worship music, and off we went! It was thrilling for our hike to finally be underway. The rain continued to pour, and about 45 minutes down the tracks our excitement began to dwindle. We were now all completely soaked and starting to get a little tired. Around midnight we started keeping an eye out for campsites. It proved to be a lot tougher than we anticipated. We passed through small villages with houses scattered close to the tracks and were only able to see about 10 feet on either side of the tracks in the few clearings. When we finally found a site that we thought would be suitable to spend the night, someone seemingly very agitated, with a flashlight and a whistle scared us off. Wanting to avoid confrontation we continued on. Around 2:00 am, starting to question how much longer we would be able to continue, we took a detour off the tracks into a little village. We came across a party were the entire town (4 dudes) was hanging out, blaring music on speakers the size of a sedan, and knocking back cold ones. Judging by the number of empty bottles and their slurred speech they had been at it for quite a while. They offered to let us set up a tent behind the house but because of the loud music and the lack of dry ground we were a little apprehensive. One of the men remembered there was an abandoned campsite about 15 minutes down the road and suggested we try finding a spot there.
We hiked another hour, finding no sign of the campsite and becoming more and more discouraged, when we came across another town. We had heard of the town before. Most of the people we had talked to in Ollantaytambo had suggested that we try to get a cab there in the morning. Still unable to find a suitable campsite or a hostel we decided to set up camp in an open-air artisan market. There were small covered stalls where people could set up tables each day to sell their goods. They made a perfect spot for us string up a couple of hammocks and lay out some sleeping mats. I slept on the ground underneath Luis’s hammock and Cal slept under Dara’s. Now that we had found a place to lay our heads for the night, our bodies, in shock from the hike in the pouring rain, finally gave in to natures call. Cal unable to hold it any longer found a place to squat in the corner of the market. Dara woke up a few hours later shivering cold to an urgent gurgle in her stomach. Afraid that she was going to have an accident in her hammock that may go through and land on a sleeping Cal, she scurried out of bed to relieve herself. As she attempted to put her shoes on, it became apparent that she was running out of time. She abandoned her shoes and made her way to another corner. Time ran out just as she began to assume the position. Her shorts were saved but her socks and underwear became casualties of the hike. The market was soiled two more times that evening and when we woke at 6:00 am the next morning, we remorsefully gathered our things and hit the road.
The four of us were in rough shape as we staggered through the town that morning. We were all tired, hungry, feeling pretty under the weather. We didn’t know exactly where we were heading and started asking for directions. Most of the locals were pretty shocked to see us wondering around and we received strong feedback from an official that we were not permitted to hike along the tracks. She told us that we would be forced to turn around and the only way to get to Machu Picchu was to hike back from where we came and catch a bus. Not willing to accept what she had to say we pressed on. We started hiking up a hill on road parallel to the tracks. We had only been hiking for a few minutes when a young girl came up to us and asked us where we were going. “They’ll stop you if you try to go that way” she told us. “but there is a path you can take over there” she pointed out. As we started down the path, the sun came out and our spirits lifted. We were all feeling good, loving life, and enjoying being in God’s creation!
The more I grow in my relationship with the Lord, and the closer I get to Him, the more I am able to see Him in the little things. I always feel closest to God is while spending time in His creation. Something about feeling the sun on my face, gazing at towering mountains, or feeling a breeze rushing over the water lifts my soul. From a little girl pointing us in the right direction to an elderly woman giving us kind words of encouragement, I could see his fingerprints in every step of the way. We spent the morning listening to worship music, snacking on apples and oranges, having fellowship with each other, and taking in the scenery. The path we were on took us through hillside villages, over mountain passes, and into ancient ruins. We were exploring routes very few non-natives have ever had the privilege to see. My childhood dreams were being fulfilled. We stopped for a lunch of baguettes, canned beans, and tuna fish shortly before noon. Not willing to rest too long, we hiked on.
By 2:00 pm, wet socks and lack of sleep started to catch up with us as fatigue started to set in. Though our bodies were weakening, our spirits were still high. How could they not be hiking through a beautiful landscape high in the Andes Mountains? The path we were on ran along one side of the tracks and a very large, very strong river ran along the other side. Though we were always able to hear the river, the path would often diverge from the tracks to take us over a pass or through a village adding many miles to our journey. Around 3:00 pm, the path brought us down to the tracks. We would be forced to walk along side of them the rest of the way. Every kilometer there is a marker on the tracks. We had started our hike at marker 65 the night before and were now at marker 95. We knew that Aguas Calientes was at marker 112 and estimated that if we were moving at a decent speed we would be able to do about 5 kilometers an hour. We planned to stop, rest, and regroup every 5 kilometers. By the time, we reached marker 105 our team was feeling defeated. We refueled on granola bars and strongly considered setting up camp for the night. Wanting to get to Machu Picchu early the next morning, and knowing that we wouldn’t have the energy or motivation to finish the hike in the morning, we pressed on.
We arrived in Aguas Calientes around 6:00 pm hungry, tired, and in desperate need of a shower. We have no way of knowing for sure how far we had actually hiked. We set out to hike 18 miles but the fitness app on Cal’s phone recorded that with all our detours through the mountains we had hiked 30. Our first order of business was to secure tickets for the following morning which went smoothly. We ran into Darlin, Cristen, some others from the squad who had taken the bus. They were staying at one of the hostels and served as a friendly reminder that we needed to find our own place to sleep. We originally had planned to camp out overnight but seeing as some of us were barely able to walk and we all needed showers, we decided it was worth the $5 a person to get a hostel. Time for dinner. Cal, Luis and I ventured out to a little “Mexican” restaurant. The food was a little bizarre, and though we ordered three different things from the menu, our plates came out looking identical. Luis and I were pleased with the food but Cal was less than impressed. We brought back a 4th identical looking meal for Dara. At this point the plan was to wake up at 4:00 am and hike up the mountain to be at Machu Picchu at dawn. I had seen several recommendations online to hike up first thing. They said it was an excellent way to beat the crowds coming from Cusco and try to capture the iconic photo of the Machu Picchu sunrise.
At 4:00 am we were met by the sound of my alarm clock and drizzling rain. None of us were feeling rested nor did we want to hike in the rain so the decision was made to go back to sleep. Dara wasn’t feeling up for hiking at all so she decided that she would wake up at 5:30 and catch one of the buses going up the mountain so she could still be there when the gates opened. Around that time, Cal started vomiting from his dinner the night before. Because he was leery of it the night before and Luis and I were seemingly fine, I insisted it was all in his head. About an hour later I was vomiting as well. The three of us slept in until about 9:00 when the maid informed us it was time for check out and we had to leave. Our day was off to a rough start. We spent the next hour or so searching for and ATM that would accept Master Card and discussing the plan for the day. Luis and I were determined to hike. Cal was still feeling awful and because he had heard that guests were not permitted to bring their big packs into Machu Picchu, he decided to rent a locker and take a bus to the top of the mountain. Still not knowing how to get to Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes Luis and I asked an official looking woman in an orange vest for directions. She informed us that it was about an hour and a half hike and pointed down the railroad tracks. This was the same railway line that we had been hiking on the previous day but on the other side of the city.
Luis and I have been close since training camp. We spent a lot of time gathering wood together to build fires and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each other over those ten days. It was clear to me at the time that I was making a lifelong friend and I was thrilled to find out that he would be my team leader. As we began to hike down the tracks that morning we got to have some one-on-one time we hadn’t had since training camp. We spent the first part of our hike discussing our faith, The World Race, and vision casting for our futures. After about an hour and a half we started looking for signs for Machu Picchu. We had to be getting close! We didn’t see any signs and as we continued there were fewer and fewer other people hiking the tracks. Two hours had now passed and we were starting to get confused. Although we were sore from the day before, we were keeping a good pace. We should be there by now. We were stopped by a guard at a train station. I knew by the look on his face he was confused to see us. “where are you going?” he asked. “Machu Picchu” we responded. “You’re going the wrong way” he explained. The guard proceeded to tell us we had just hiked more than two hours in the wrong direction. We were now in Hydro Electrica where the rest of our squad had been dropped off by the bus the night before. Our hearts sank. “You have to walk back from where you came. It’s about two hours down the tracks.” It was now 1:00 pm. We had a two-hour hike back to the base of the mountain and 2,000 stairs to climb which takes most people an hour and a half. Machu Picchu closes its gates at 4:00 pm. each day and the last guests are forced to leave at 5:00 pm. The numbers weren’t adding up. We weren’t going to make it.
I can’t begin to describe how heart breaking it was to hear we had just walked six miles in the wrong direction and that we weren’t going to be able to see Machu Picchu after how far we had come. I didn’t have enough money to buy a new ticket for the following day and even if I did, that wouldn’t permit us enough time to make it back for dinner at our friend Sonia’s house. Luis was upset too. He was bummed to hear the news but was more upset for me than he was for himself. He knew it had been a dream of mine for a long time. We began to hatch a new plan. We figured if either we made it down the tracks in an hour and a half instead of two or we made it up the mountain in less than an hour that would get us to the top of the mountain rite at the gate was closing. We had to hustle! That first half an hour we were flying, fueled by adrenaline and fighting through the pain! Luis had blisters on both of his feet twice the size of quarters and my hips were feeling so week I could barely lift my feet. We passed Darlin, Cristen, and other squad mates heading down the tracks to catch their bus in Hydro Electrica. We briefly told them what happened but had little time to chat. By the grace of God, we reached the guard house at the base of the mountain at quarter to 3:00 pm. The Guard told us it was possible to make it up the steps in time but we really must hurry. He strongly recommended that we come back the following day. Up the steps we went.
My body couldn’t do it. I was moving at a snail’s pace. Luis was very encouraging. He wouldn’t let me quit but he also knew I wasn’t moving fast enough. He suggested that he take my ticket and my passport to the top so that he could let them know I was coming and plead with them to let me in after 4:00 pm. That didn’t sound good to me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to even keep the pace I was at without having him there to encourage me. I was starting to give up. “What’s the point if we only get to see it for fifteen minutes” Luis stayed positive. “I think you’d be pretty disappointed if you didn’t get to see it at all. Fifteen minutes is better than none.” He was right. We kept climbing. A few minutes later, Luis offered to carry my pack for me. I wouldn’t let him do that. I knew the pain he was in and the blisters he had on his feet. I couldn’t let him carry my burden. I had the idea to hide our packs in the jungle. Luis found a dense spot where we were sure no one would find them and we were sure we would be able to find them again. The rest of the steps were a struggle but we made it to the gate at 3:45 pm! We had a full hour and fifteen minutes before we had to leave.
As we shuffled through the gate and around the bend, Machu Picchu came into view. It was absolutely breath taking. Seeing this ancient city nestled on top of the mountains left me at a loss for words. I had finally made it. My childhood dream had come true! We sat for a few minutes enjoying the view and taking it all in. As amazing as the ruins were, God’s creation, the mountains and the clouds surrounding us were even more awe inspiring! We continued forward into the ruins. Too weak to climb the steps to our left to capture the iconic Machu Picchu photo, we enjoyed staying as level as possible, walking along one of the terraces, and gazing at everything around us. We explored different buildings and eaves dropped on a few tour guides explaining different sites. Admittedly our time in Machu Picchu went by too quickly. The guards started whistling us along and began to grow impatient as we took our time finding our way to the exit. I could spend weeks there, learning about the history and examining the different sites within the city. I’m sure I’ll be back someday but for now I just feel so privileged to have simply set foot within those walls.
The hike down the steps was far less strenuous. We were able to locate our packs and began to hike the trail we should have taken that morning back to Aguas Calientes. We couldn’t help but laugh when we discovered it was only a ten-minute walk back to town. We hadn’t seen Cal or Dara all day and because we had given Luis’ phone to Cristen and Darlin, we had no way to call them. We found a pizza joint with free WIFI and managed to send the team a message to let them know we were safe. Each of us ate our own full sized pizza, which had real pepperoni and sauce, something we were finding was very rare in South America. It was now close to 8:00 pm and neither of us had the energy to walk the two hours back to Hydro Electrica that night to catch a bus. Our search for a hostel didn’t go as smoothly as the night before. Most places were out of our budget and the ones that weren’t looked pretty gross. The night before we paid 15 soles (about $5) and that is all we could afford while still saving enough money to get back to Cusco the next day. An elderly woman greeted us at the front desk of the third or fourth place we tried. There was a picture of the last supper hanging on the wall in the lobby and it looked relatively clean. Luis asked her in Spanish how much a room would cost us. She told us that it would be 25 soles a person. We politely declined and told her we were only willing to pay 15. She laughed at the offer telling us “you won’t be able to get that price anywhere in town.” “We were able to get that price last night.” Luis explained. “Where? What’s the name of the place?” She demanded. “I don’t know. It’s on the other side of town. We can just go there though.” Luis conceded. She followed us as we staggered out of her lobby and out onto the street. “Where are you guys from? What are you doing here in Peru?” She questioned. She could tell we weren’t the average tourists she was used to having come through. “We’re from the United States. We’re missionaries.” Luis explained. “Come on in.” She sighed. She gave us the room for 15 soles and once again we had warm beds and hot showers.
The next morning, we were up early and hiking down the far too familiar tracks to Hydro Electrica. The first buses didn’t leave until 3:00 pm which would put us back in Cusco after 10:00 pm far too late to make it to Sonia’s house for dinner. Sonia is a friend we had met our first day in Cusco at her ceviche stand in the market. We had spent a lot of time building a relationship with her and sharing Christs love with her and her family. Not willing to miss dinner we caught a cab to the next town over and loaded into another 15-passenger van. It was a more expensive route home but worth it. We reunited with our team in Cusco and made it back just in time for dinner at Sonia’s. On the way home, we reflected on our adventure and how God had been with us every step of the way. We had just spent two days and hiked nearly fifty miles for 75 minutes at Machu Picchu. We pushed our bodies to their limit and had our fair share of bumps along the way but I wouldn’t change a thing. Getting there was an adventure and just as rewarding as the destination itself. It’s a story we’ll remember and be able to share for the rest of our lives. God is good!
