Read about Dan’s travels around the world.

Natural Energy Centers, Real Mountain Men, and Exhaustion

July 31, 2007
Day 671
Choquequirao-Machu Picchu Trek Day 3

Stats for the day: 300 meters up, 1200 down, then 800 back up, so we barely made any progress!

During breakfast today, Kim broke the news to us that she didn't want to continue any further. She would rather stay at Choquequirao another… Read More »

The Wonder's Kid Sister

July 30, 2007
Day 670
Choquequirao-Machu Picchu Trek Day 2
Just 650 Meters Uphill Today (6.5 times the wingspan of the Spruce Goose)

Chantelle and Kim spent a good portion of last night and this morning inquiring about getting mules to take our stuff the… Read More »

A Testing First Day

July 29, 2007
Day 669

Choquequirao-Machu Picchu Trek Day 1
Stats for the day: 22 Horizontal KM Walking (half a marathon), 1300 Meters Down (equivalent to going from the estimated roof of the Burj Dubai tower to the ground, twice), 550 Meters Up (as high as… Read More »

Choquequirao Is a Reality

July 26-28, 2007
Day 666-668

I met with the teaching gang some more, but unfortunately, they were getting sick just as I was starting to feel better. They were the most interesting group of people I had met in a long time, a hodgepodge crew assembled from different corners of the globe to teach… Read More »

The Pisac Ruins

July 25, 2007
Day 665

Zach, Tina, Q, Helen and I all piled into a taxi before sunrise this morning and went to the Pisac ruins, far above the town. Nobody was there yet, including anyone checking for tickets. It was great walking around the ruins as the sun came up… Read More »

Holistic Healers With Money

July 24, 2007
Day 664

There is one more set of ruins near Ollantaytambo called Pumamarca, and you don't even need the tourism ticket to see it because it's not on the radar of the big tour groups yet. I went there this morning, but there was a problem: I barely… Read More »

Ripping Off the Tourists

July 23, 2007
Day 663

I decided on a change of venue for a few days. Last time I was in the area, I briefly went to the Sacred Valley of the Incas on my way to the Inca Trail, but I wanted to see it more thoroughly this time around. I took a… Read More »

An Olinda Reunion

July 21-22, 2007
Day 661-662

Today I met up with Katie, a French girl I originally met through Couchsurfing back in Olinda, Brazil. She was traveling around with several of her fellow countrymen and happened to be passing through Cusco at the same time I was there. We got caught up and all of… Read More »

A School Parade

July 20, 2007
Day 660

This time of year is graduation in Peru, and today there was a large parade in the central plaza of Cusco to celebrate it. The director of the private schools in town began the proceedings with some announcements, and then the kids began… Read More »

Trek Preparations

July 18-19, 2007
Day 658-659

I saw an article about Choquequirao a few weeks ago and decided it was somewhere I wanted to go. The ancient Inca site has been known about for a long time, but archaeologists have only recently discovered how important it really was. In fact,… Read More »