My "bucket list" includes mostly the whole world and every adventure I've learned about throughout my life. The world's wonders, different cultures, ancient history and stepping into unfamiliar territory exhilarates me to my core.
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to see and explore the ancient city of Machu Picchu in Peru. I looked at photos and read articles about this mysterious abandoned city high in the mountains. "Someday" I would go there.
In 2018, Macchu Picchu was beckoning me. Around every corner I saw pamphlets or photos. Then, one day I got an advertisement for the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu. This trek would take me through mountain villages, coffee plantations, rarely-seen Incan ruins, Amazon rain forest and the Peruvian Andes mountains, just to name the highlights. The tag line on the ad read, "If not now, when?" Without much thought, I hit the "book it" button.
I enjoy a pleasurable hike, but I am not a mountaineer. Let's just say, my favorite hikes are not a tiring struggle and climbing a mountain has never been on my extensive bucket list. Training would be required for this 6-day trek through various climates and terrains in elevations above 15,000 feet. I was excited and up to the task.
I had 6 months to train for the trek and I did a very poor job, and very poor is an understatement. Before I knew it, the trip was only days away. I felt intense trepidation and tried to talk myself out of it - "It would be irresponsible to go - you didn't even train", "You really should re-schedule for next year" and so on. I decided to consult some oracle cards and asked for divine guidance about whether or not to go on the trip in 2 days. The card I received said something like, "You need to do something totally out of your comfort zone." Seriously?
After a full day of travel, I landed in Lima and took a wild cab ride to the hotel to meet some of the trekking group. In the morning, we boarded a small plane to Cusco where we would spend 3 days getting acclimated to the higher elevation, touring the historic city and visiting surrounding villages. Cusco sits at 11,152 feet and I could feel the elevation as our amazing tour guide, Wilfredo, led us on several tours for an authentic experience. The culture and history fed my soul in ways I cannot describe.
Our first day of the trek, we left in the early morning for our 4-hour drive to the trail head. We hiked to our first base camp at 12,700 feet to drop our gear then went on to Lake Humantay at 13,780 feet. A "moderately difficult hike" straight up from camp. I'm sure that means moderately difficult for people who actually hike. When I reached the top, I felt brave and accomplished. I took myself up to a cliff ledge and sat there to take it all in. I was overcome with immense gratitude that I was there, in this particular place on the earth, and I was in awe that I made it. That first night, I woke up short of breath in a panic. No phone, no lights, no civilization nearby, and a high-key "what the fuck am I doing" moment that nearly stopped me in my tracks. Am I brave or stupid?
In the morning, I pep talked myself about coming too far to turn around. Wilfredo explained I could turn back now but not if I went further which was a daunting thought but I committed to staying. On day 2 we set off on the steepest of our 6-day journey to Salkantay pass at 15,090 feet. The summit of Salkantay is breathtaking and sits over 20,000 feet. The mountain top peeked around the clouds between hail storms as we climbed. I was extra fatigued after a rough night and the high elevation left me short of breath every step. Sheer determination brought me to the top not far behind the true trekkers in my group. As I placed my rock on the victory pile, I was in awe of myself and the experience.
I could write a book about the following daily experiences of my trek in Peru, but this is a short story about being a badass so let me get to the point.
I was not conditioned to do this trip and I was so far out of my comfort zone it created panic in me more than once, but I kept going. There were times when I would tell myself "Just make it to that rock", "Just make it to that tree" to keep me going when I wanted to stop. I would follow the exact footsteps of the more experienced trekkers in my group and focus my mind on that alone to stay out of my "can't" mind. Although I felt weak at times, I kept going, which I see so clearly now as a sign of strength. There were many nights I looked up at the mind- blowing starry sky exhausted and incredibly fulfilled, thinking, "Damn, I'm kind of a badass."
One of our guides, Juvenal, would tell me, "Almost there, you're doing great" when he knew I was struggling. I learned around the end of day 2 that this was most of the English he knew and we laughed pretty hard about it. We were NOT almost there. Some of our longer days were up to 8 hours of hiking in difficult terrain so "almost there" on hour 4 was just lies - all lies. It still makes me laugh.
On day 6 when I reached Machu Picchu and climbed the final 1,000 feet (in the included photo) up the cliffside "stairs of death" to summit Huayana Picchu, the clouds below parted and the ancient city appeared like a dream below. I couldn't believe I almost bailed on this experience. I was incredibly grateful for every second of it, right down to the moments of panic. I showed up for myself and the team, and made a dream a reality. I conclude I succeeded not only because I wanted to, but because, clearly, I'm a badass.
"If not now, when?" A motto I try to live my life by.
I bet you are a badass too. Go ahead, click the book it button!
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