Last stretch (days 4 and 5)

The last day of hiking was rather tiring to say the least. We woke up at 430 to beat the heat of an uphill climb. The first 2 hours was steep and hot but it was really wet( we were in a jungle). It was rather peaceful and good exercise. We stopped at some tiny ruins after the uphill and then began the downhill trek. About 2-3 hours later and slips from pretty much everyone, we reached the bottom bridge and passed by a huge waterfall. Unfortunately we still had about 45 minutes to our lunch. Luckily I had my ham and cheese sandwich as a snack and Claire's, the nice english lady's. It was hot and i was tired but we finally got to our lunch spot by the train/hydroelectric station and had our final meal from our porters. I even treated myself to an ice cream (we had sort of reached civilization). After lunch we hiked back on flat terrain next to the train tracks. It took about 2.5 hours and i was so sore, wet, and chaffed. Luckily i somehow made it. It kind of felt like the hike that would never end. When we got close to aguas calientes (where we stayed in a hotel with showers!) it took like 20 minutes to get from dirt roads to the beginning of the town and then what seemed like ages to walk the 10 minutes (past lots of shops and hotels) uphill to our hotel. But when we got there i showered and felt like a million dollars. I have never been that dirty. I had to buy pants and socks at the market since i for some reason packed poorly and had nothing left! Once in clean clothes, claire and i skipped the hot springs (big hot bacteria filled baths 10 minutes away) and had wine and cake. I hot chocolate cake and she got vanilla but we both ended up with banana bread , mine with chocolate frosting. It was still good(as would absolutely anything). I think i might have a tapeworm as i have been eating massive quantities of food (wait for macchupicchu dinner...i am on a train back to cusco btw). Well we returned to the hotel and realized we had wifi! What a treat. We all went out for dinner at some touristy restaurant (the only option in aguas calientes) fell asleep in a real bed for the first time in what seemed like weeks. The next morning was a 5am wakeup...breakfast at the hotel and then waiting in line for the bus to machupicchu. Mp was neat and we got there early enough that it was not too hot. Raul, the tour guide gave us a 2 hr tour. We all agree he is kind of boring. He speaks well but his words are a little uninformative. Raul and JJ left around ten and then we were on our own. I hung out with
claire, the nice american couple from maryland/dc and the 3 students/phds from havard. It is funny how the americans tend to stick together.
We decided to hike up the sungate and boy was it sunny!!!It was nothing compared to our trek (maybe 40 mins up and 30 mins down) but
we all were super exhausted. It is great because everyone on our trip is about the same fitness level. The american couple runs a lot and the
3 bostonites are all super outdoorsy. The chilean couple and australian couple were also quite fast. I really enjoyed being among the first to
finish everytime, not sure why as i am usually not competitive but it was just really fun. Anyways the sungate was so rough and i got so
sweaty (and no hotel left for us) but it did feel good to get one last hike in even though it was not necessary. I doubt i would have done it had
the others not wanted to! After the exhausting mini hike with way too much sunshine, I took the bus back with Claire and the american
couple, bryan and katy (they are so cute...27/28 ish and so cool...they run a lot and are just so nice and down to earth and love each other
so much) and we went back to the hotel to change(them) and a restaurant for a snack (me and bryan). We were meeting most of the others
at 330 to have dinner/lunch but i was starved. I got a ginormous veggie omelet and was soooooo happy. We were all pooped but food
made it better. We then tried to find internet and a drugstore for cipro (katy had gotten some diarrhea bug). It is so weird how u can buy whatever meds u want here that are prescription in the us. On the trek people would be sharing antibiotics...all i could think was how stupid that was-how antibiotics dont work one at a time but as a whole with loading and maintenance doses-but luckily i shut my mouth since i cant exactly prescribe meds or answer any questions. Anyways i liked when people asked me medical questions but i didnt always know the answers (aka a lot) like "lauren, lonely planet says to take cipro and Imodium while the box says dont mix-what should i do?" my answer: i would go with the box. I honestly could not remember any interactions between the drugs but prefer playing it safe always with a "i dont know but i would...". Regardless, I am excited for the day when random people ask me questions and i am really a dr and I can answer!
After the hotel we met the others at the hotel and went to some touristy place(as i said they r all touristy in aguas). I had pizza and beer and was so happy. Since we still had time to kill until our train we all went to get dessert (my tres tres leches of the trip). We had to go back to the hotel to get our bags and then we went to board the train to some little town. I ended up in a different car than the others (probably because the 3 harvards, american couple, and claire all booked way before the trek-unlike me.) it is nice to be alone for once in probably a week! I just caught up on some of my blogs (downloaded earlier from the hotel via google reader <3 ) and now just typed for a solid 40minutes. Wherever we arrive we catch a llamapath bus back to cusco. We are being dropped off right by the office which is luckily just a few blocks away from kim's apartment! I have a flight tomorrow morn at 940 am to lima and then will either go into town for a couple days or try and catch an earlier flight home (mon v wed) since i am so pooped and could use some home relax time before third yr. I have orientation thurs at 730 am and then get my teeth crowned friday morning (oh broken jaw when will u be done?) and fly out of gville to nyc fri at 6 to mon at 6 to spend the weekend with barrie and lindsay (yay!). Then vascular surgery tues morn at god knows what time! So much to look forward to. I do wish i had more time to relax and enjoy peru but i am lucky to have the opportunity to have done this! All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip and am very glad to have done this alone and met such neat and different people from all over the world. I hope that I get
the chance to do a longer backpacking trip in 4th yr!!!