Altitude Sickness, 29 Miles, and one Machu Picchu later...

So, I'm finally getting a chance to blog about my recent trip to Peru. No need to worry, I went a few days after the earthquake hit. It actually didn't affect the major cities of Lima and Cusco where I had been. As part of my pre-MBA preparation, we Chicago students got a chance to go on what is called a Random Walk -- which is just a fancy way of saying a bunch of 1st year and 2nd year students get to go to cool, exotic places together before school starts.

I chose to go on the RW to Peru, which, unlike most of the other nice, relaxing, beachside trips, was a grueling 29-mile, 4-day hike through the Andes, taking me up as high as 15,000 ft (where we camped overnight at the foothills of one of South America's highest mountains, and btw, it was 0 degrees F that night) down to 6,000ft where Machu Picchu was. The trip, though, was amazing. We hiked along one of the old Incan trails -- and those trails are tough! I had muscles aching where I didn't know I had any muscles. Unfortunately for me, I got altitude sickness the first day we landed in Cusco and had a rough first couple of days hiking, trying to adjust to the altitude. In the end, though, I can say that I hiked the entire trail and now you get to enjoy some of the pictures!

There's hundreds of different things I could tell about the trip, and it would take me too long of a post to write them down here. You'll just have to look at some of the pictures I have here. Machu Picchu was incredible and if you don't know anything about it... I've even provided a video you can watch from the series "Digging for the Truth" (yeah, I know, nerd side coming out).


The main square in Cusco

In front a church built on top of old Incan ruins (it's also in the show!!!)

Some cute Llamas

At a local market

Our group as we started our hike

Camp on Day 1

View of the mountains

More hiking

Hiking through rivers and waterfalls...

One of our other campsites (in warmer weather)

View from the hike

Machu Picchu is in the distance (on the left)

Plaque as you enter Machu Picchu

The view you see as you enter

Some more pictures of Machu Picchu




And, as promised, the video of "Digging for the Truth: Machu Picchu". Josh Bernstein is my hero.