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Showing posts from June, 2013

Backpacking Peru's Sacred Valley of the Incas

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The breathtaking view of Machu Picchu On my recent 4-month volunteer trip to Peru I decided to spend 6 days backpacking the country's beautiful Sacred Valley . The Sacred Valley lies in the mists of the Andes mountains, starts from the Incan capital of Cusco and includes everything between Calca and Lamay, Pisac, and Ollantaytambo. The ancient ruins of Machu Picchu top off the valley and keep a watchful eye over the sacred land. Surprisingly, I had never been backpacking before. I camp, hike, get lost in the jungle, etc, but have never taken my 10 most essential items, stuck them in a bag, and walked off into the mountains with only ideas to guide me. Well, that's exactly what I did, because I figured, what the hey, I'm in Peru and I tend to be braver in South America than I am in the states. That doesn't make a lot of sense but it's worked for me so far. Into a tiny school-grade backpack (hey, big ones are expensive), I packed a too