Showing posts with label Frank the Travel Cat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frank the Travel Cat. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
My Carry-On Gear For Three Weeks in South America
Note: This post has been updated July 22, 2013, to reflect what I did not use or need.
I had a couple people ask me what I was taking on my trip since I will be both in the mountains for days and then in much warmer weather later in my trip, so I figured I'd just blog about it to share with anyone else who might be interested. (If you are just tuning in, I am going to Cusco/Machu Picchu, Peru for ten days, Lima for three more, then Easter Island for a week.) I will be carrying my things in Patagonia's MLC Carry-On bag
and REI Purse (not this one but similar).
Clothes
2 Columbia sleeveless shirts - this shirt is very similar to what I own
1 Patagonia Capilene 1 stretchy long-sleeve shirt
2 Patagonia Capilene 1 stretchy t-shirts
Columbia Back Beauty pants
Columbia Back Beauty capris
Patagonia Houdini jacket
North Face Venture rain jacket
North Face Venture rain pants
SmartWool NTS Mid 250 zip-neck sweater
SmartWool NTS Micro 150 bottoms
Columbia Global Adventure dress
- (Update: ended up wearing this once, so I could do laundry)Board shorts - bought in HI
4 pairs Patagonia Capilene Underwear
Columbia hiking shoes - no longer in stock, but they're Omni-Tech hiking shoes
Teva sandals - no longer in stock, but they are water sandals
Swim suit
3 bras
Socks
Patagonia Better Sweater hat
iTap gloves
Cameras & Electronics
Canon PowerShot S100 Digital Camera
- Not seen, taking these pictures ;o)
- Not seen, taking these pictures ;o)
4 rolls of 120 film
14 rolls of 35mm film (Update: did not use all of it because my LCA+ wrist strap broke.)
Miscellaneous
Lots and lots of sunblock :o) (Update: did not end up liking this sunblock much.)
Extra quart-size bag
Cash
Water bottle
Toothbrush
HeadlampInsect repellant (Update: do Peruvian bugs not realize what bug dope is? This stuff didn't work.)
Deodorant
Cellphone charger
Passport and holder (Update: passport holders are cute, but I didn't use it.)
Trip papers (copy of passport, copies of trip info, etc)
Sunglasses
Lady time stuff
Coconut oil
Toothpaste
Mascara
Headphones (Update: did not end up using these at all.)
Razor
Earplugs
Dr. Bronner's liquid soap
I'm also bringing two pairs of work gloves, protective eyewear, and knee pads for the Machu Picchu part of the trip. (The ranger ladies at SERNANP ended up being SO thankful to have the gear donations from those of us who didn't need to keep our things. It made me feel good that they were appreciated.)
Snacks!
Note on the snacks: I didn't end up eating a lot of this stuff because we had so much food on the trip anyway, so maybe less snacks would be good.
ProBars
Chocolate chips
Dried apples (Update: I wish I'd had more of these! When hiking Waynapicchu these were PERFECT.)
Packets of almond and peanut butter
Almonds, both raw and wasabi-seasoned
Voila!
My bag weighs exactly 17lbs, which is the amount I can take as carry-on on LAN Airlines. I know it will be a bit lighter on the way back because I will have eaten all the snacks and will leave the stuff I used at Machu Picchu for someone else to use, as I have no use for it at home.
There you go! Everything I am bringing with me for three weeks in South America!
Update: So how do you think I did? I think I did pretty good as to figuring out what I would use or not. There were only a few items I didn't use at all. What would you have done differently?
There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through them and place an order I will get a very small commission, which goes toward my Antarctica trip in January!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Peru: Exploring Machu Picchu
The ladies of our group... :o)
Welcome to Peru week on Pro-Soup Propaganda! In case you missed it, this week I'm talking about my recent volunteer vacation to Peru with Conservation VIP and REI! Monday of next week I'll cover Jonathan and I's week on Easter Island.
Today I'm covering our travel to and around Machu Picchu! It was so exciting I could hardly stand it. Yesterday I covered getting to Cusco, meeting my new group, and our first explorations together, but today we made it to the big MP.
We got up early in the morning and met in the hotel lobby. A mini-bus was picking us up to take us to Ollantaytambo to catch the Peru Rain trail to take us to Machu Picchu. The train ride was a little over two hours long and when we got to the train station we were all thrilled. We walked the few blocks to our hotel, waited a bit to check in, and then got our rooms. We stayed at the El Mapi by Inkaterra and it was beautiful. We got ourselves settled and found out that happy hour was at 5:30pm every night, something that we were determined to keep, and life was good.
The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, packed our lunches, and headed to Machu Picchu. Seeing the beautiful sight that I have seen for years in photos was absolutely amazing. Knowing that we were going to spend a lot of time in the area was pretty great. We hiked a little bit and then talked about what we would do while we were staying at Machu Picchu Pueblo and then some of us had to get ready because we were going to hike Waynapicchu.
What IS Waynapicchu, you ask?
Waynapicchu is the tall mountain behind Machu Picchu. It is a 2720m mountain that legend has it was the residence of the high priest and the local virgins. These days it is a very steep hike up Inca trail that sometimes requires the use of steel cables to pull oneself up. It took our group a little over an hour to climb and we frequently had to stop and rest and let others by, but the views...the views were totally worth it! We ate lunch up there and snapped a few photos and then it was time to head back down. Only 400 people are allowed up the mountain per day and we needed to get back by 2pm.
After we got back we continued our sightseeing. Hearing about Machu Picchu from Dr. Bill the archaeologist and Santiago, our local guide, was SO interesting. I feel so very thankful that we had both of them there to tell us all about MP! When the park finally closed at 5pm we loaded into the buses back to town, very thoughtful with everything we'd learned, ate a delicious dinner, and headed to bed, as we had a very exciting and long day ahead of us the next day, although we didn't know it yet...
At a viewpoint on our way to the train station
Rainbow over the Urubamba River
Beautiful Inca terraces! See those zig-zaggy floating stairs on the left?
Made it!!
Oh, YEAH!!
View from the hotel room of Putucusi
Our first Inca stairs! Beginning to hike part of Putucusi...
Machu Picchu Pueblo is a beautiful little city!
Frank is at Machu Picchu!!
Listening to Dr. Bill
Nikki's almost to the summit of Waynapicchu! Last little cave!
A well-earned sandwich!! Best lunch view ever!
These ladies were amazing!
Our little group who climbed! So proud of us!
Machu Picchu from Waynapicchu looks very small
We could have done Huchuypicchu, a beebee mountain, but why not go big?
Ancient storehouses
Baby alpaca!!
Beautiful Inca wall!!
Cutey biscacha!
Funny, Waynapicchu doesn't LOOK so high here...
Past posts:
Monday: Exploring Cusco and Sacsaywaman
Check out the rest of my photos from my trip here!
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