The more you travel, the more you discover that the world is beautiful everywhere.I half expected all the answers of life to strike me like lightning as I looked out to the snowcapped peaks, the mighty glacier, the rolling hills, the rivers below leading out to the Tasman Sea. The four hour climb was well worth the view. But, there was no epiphany in that moment. Just really, really wobbly legs. Another adventure, another moment of accomplishment, another stunning view, another picture no one would believe. The epiphanies would have to wait. My new 40L backpack arrived in the mail much earlier than I expected. I had decided to take my minimalism to the next level: From a big duffel on wheels down to this. Everything I truly need stuffed into an impossibly small space. Because the more I live, the more I discover what holds me back is the idea that I need anything specific to make it through. Yes, it has memories, good times, great looks all attached to it. That doesn’t mean it belongs in my future.

Perhaps the idea that even sentimental value is worthless is a cynical one, but I find it cathartic to focus on who I am now. Who I need to be for today, to be true to myself, to be true to who I want to be tomorrow as evaluated by my actions in the present. Keeping a jacket that doesn’t fit into that because I’ll think fondly of it once it’s gone doesn’t make any sense. Today is not the day for that jacket anymore. (Because, everything is temporary, right? Even the good things.) Here’s goodbye to my jacket. When you travel, you meet people. You take the “real world” and condense it down into short, intense experiences and it’s up to you to squeeze as much out of it as possible. And you do, because you’re in a different place with different people going through the same thing. You find solidarity and commonality with people you never would have bothered getting to know otherwise. But, if life is a journey, why do we wait to do that until we’re in the midst of some insane sounding situation?

What happened to framing your own life in such a way that makes you want to make the most out of your day because you never know what lies ahead? Why have we stopped finding the commonality with the people around us? We take so much for granted. Our family, friends, partners. We assume they’ll be there, that they’ll always care about us the way they do now. It’s so easy to go through the motions. The events and circumstances of life are not a guarantee. Today was a roll of the dice, a deal of the cards, a step forward on the trail. dakine campus pack laptop backpack smBut the weather is fickle and what’s around the next turn is unknown. kokosina backpackIt’s easy to shake your head no, close your eyes, and keep walking blind. kokosina backpack

You don’t have to be afraid of the edge of the cliff if you don’t see it coming; if you refuse to acknowledge its existence. Hopefully the fall is quick and painless. My epiphany came in a bittersweet goodbye kiss before watching the bus disappear on down the road. It was less a sudden epiphany, and more a quiet realization. It sat in my chest as a sort of sadness at first, but the words to describe it have found their way out. You may follow your heart around a nation, or across the world only to find that believing in something doesn’t make it real. backpack als handbagage ryanairNo matter how hard you believed in it. golite breeze backpack for saleBut, you can’t stop believing in things, you can’t stop opening yourself up, you can’t stop trying.  campus essential laptop backpack + free raincover

Because even those experiences take you somewhere you were meant to be. You will find the people who deserve your attention, your time, your friendship. If someone makes you feel undeserving, misplaced, or less-than in any way, you have no obligation to keep them in your life. There is never a circumstance where you deserve to be treated that way. Your existence and your feelings are not to be mocked, scoffed at, or belittled. Experience teaches you lessons about the sort of people you don’t need in your life, and the sorts of people you do. Experience teaches you what’s worth sacrificing for, but also when you should hold your ground. Experience gives you the strength to find who you are and what’s important to you.  At the end of the day, you have to keep believing in something, and to keep pursuing whatever that is. Stay positive in the face of negativity. When you follow your passion — even misplaced — passion will find you, somehow.Hiking the Inca Trail: Logistics and Tips

Read about days one and two of my trek here, and days three and four here. While the Inca Trail is one of the most popular treks in the world, it can be surprisingly hard to find solid information on the logistics, breakdowns of complete costs, and reliable reviews on trekking companies. If you’re panicking about whether to run out and buy hiking boots or how much you’ll need to tip, read on. We hiked the trail from October 27th, 2013 – October 30th, 2013 with Llama Path. This was the start of the rainy season. High season is June-August, and for treks during this time you’ll need to book at least six months in advance. We booked about three months ahead of time and chose the first dates available. Treks depart from Cusco, Peru — plan to arrive 48 hours ahead of time to take care of last minute arrangements and acclimatize to the altitude. • Don’t skimp on your trekking company. I saw prices starting from $500 but was happy to pay $600 to go with a company that was personally recommended to me and that had a reputation for excellent porter care.

Once you’re paying so much, you might as well pay a bit more for quality. • Rent sleeping bags and walking sticks independently. Renting through Llama Path would have cost us $38, instead we paid less than $17 by renting from the camping stores on Calle Plateros. However, check thoroughly before agreeing to anything — our sleeping bags were great but our walking sticks were seriously subpar. • Hire a porter unless you are absolutely sure you can do without. Through Llama Path, hiring an extra porter to carry up to 7kg of your personal belongings cost $70 per person. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to make it without! Out of our group of fifteen, eleven hired porters. Out of the four who didn’t, one had to give up and hire a porter en route for 100 soles per day (about $36). • If you do hire a porter, remember that about 3kg out of the 7kg allotted will be taken up by your sleeping bag and sleeping mat. The rest is what you have left for clothing and toiletries.

Anything you want access to throughout the day (camera, first aid, sunscreen, etc.) will go in your daypack, which you’ll have to haul yourself. • Dress like an onion, in the words of my guide. Nights are incredibly cold and it will likely be quite chilly when you get started in the morning, but chances are you’ll be sweating by midday. I would wear running shorts under my leggings, a few layers on top, and always have a hat and gloves near. Camelbak for easy hydration. This was the single thing I was most grateful for. • Newspaper for drying out shoes overnight. • Plastic bags for dirty and wet clothes. • Snacks — but not too many. Llama Path kept us well fed and snacked and had I brought too many treats I would have resented the weight. I recommend nuts and protein bars — the latter is impossible to find in Cusco, though, so bring from home. • Baby wipes — though again, not too many. Llama Path provided us with warm water and wash clothes for “showers” each night.

• Small change for the first and last days. On the first day, there were pay-for-use bathrooms and vendors selling cold drinks and snacks, and on the last day at Machu Picchu there is a charge for everything from using the toilet to storing your bags. • Flip flips to change into at night — your toes will thank you! • A headlamp to navigate camp in the evenings and pre-dawn mornings. • Tissues or toilet paper for the bathroom — they aren’t provided. I was so grateful for my Eagle Creek Afar Backpack — I was probably carrying twice the weight of some others who were using less appropriate packs, and felt half the pain. • Something to read in the evenings. I brought along a Machu Picchu inspired book and it was the perfect thing to drift asleep to in the evenings, and to finish on the train ride back to Cusco.I’m the first to admit I never would have bought this for myself, but I’m so thrilled that I received one at TBEX — it’s the best hiking accessory!

I stash my chapstick and face sunscreen stick in one pocket, my iPhone and earbuds in another and my cash somewhere else and boom — I have my most commonly-needed items within arms’ reach. • A small first-aid bag with blister pads (difficult if not impossible to find in Cusco), pain killers for sore muscles, and coca leafs or coca candies for altitude symptoms. • A poncho and bag cover. I had a poncho but wished I also had a rain-proof bag cover to stick on my bag when it was just lightly drizzling. In those times I didn’t mind getting a bit wet but I didn’t want my bag to get heavier being weighed down by rain. Simple ponchos cost about 3 soles in Cusco. travel pillow  It might seem frivolous to some but I credit the excellent sleep I had on the first few nights to that pillow, and earplugs were necessary due to the different sleep hours of various group members. • A note on shoes. When I announced I was hiking the Inca Trail in sneakers, it was met with a bit of hand-wringing.

I stuck to my guns and in the end I’m so glad. For me, they were the right choice: I was bringing them anyway as I like to run when I travel, and didn’t want to carry an additional pair of heavy hiking boots. Also, I didn’t want to spend the money and I feared I wouldn’t have the time to break them in and blisters would result. Sneakers turned out to be perfectly adequate, though they did get a bit soggier than hiking boots might have on our rainiest day. If you go this route, I recommend always keeping dry socks in your daypack and bringing newspaper to help dry them out at night. • Highlights: Making fantastic friends, completing Dead Woman’s Pass, relaxing at Winay Huayna, each and every meal with Llama Path, the views at Intipata • Lowlights: The bathrooms (seriously what the heck was going on there), the race to The Sun Gate, the weather on second and fourth days, the crowds at Machu Picchu • $600 to Llama Path • $12 in Paypal fees to send our deposit (this was the lowest-fee option we could choose)

• $40 tip for guides  (we were recommended to tip $5 per day to the head guide and half that each to the two assistant guides) • $37 tip for the porters and cook (we were recommended to give, as a group, 65 soles to each of the 22 porters, and double that to the 1 cook) • $17 for sleeping bag and walking stick rental (12 soles for walking stick, 35 soles for sleeping bag) • $70 porter services (Llama Path provided us with complimentary porter services as a media perk, but I have included it here) Other costs not listed here include supplies baby wipes (5 soles), warm clothes purchased in Cusco including as a knock-off North Face fleece, fleece-lined leggings, and a hat (105 soles), snacks (10 soles), breakfast on the first day and lunch on the last.Choosing a trekking company can be overwhelming. Llama Path was recommended to me by two separate friends who used them during their own Peru treks, and I was impressed with their reputation for having the best porter care among all Inca Trail-licensed agencies.

The biggest plus for Llama Path was the logistics. Camp was set up expertly, sleeping tents were warm, and the food was some of the best I’ve had in Peru. Seriously, I can’t overemphasize how much I looked forward to mealtimes. I was blown away! There were some in our group with special dietary needs and I was amazed how sweetly they were accommodated. Though this was never confirmed for me, I suspect that Llama Path’s long standing reputation gave us preference when things like campsites were assigned. Other companies were assigned different campsites and therefore had different itineraries, and I was very grateful for our schedule which got the pain out of the way on the second day rather than spreading it out. The one area where Llama Path could improve is in the quality of guiding. In terms of giving technical trekking advice and motivating the group, our head guide was fantastic. But when it came time to give historical background or answer questions clearly, we were often left scratching our heads. 

From talking to trekkers in other groups this seemed to be a universal issue and I wonder if it comes down to a language barrier — the Quechua language is incredibly complex and less similar to English than Spanish, the native language of guides I had elsewhere throughout Peru. If there were two things I wish I had known before I started the Inca Trail, they were these: 1. I could do it. I spent a lot of time pre-trek worrying about my physical abilities, probably related to my turn-back from the Rinjani summit earlier this year. I hope this trek has instilled a bit more confidence in me. 2. Train train train! Every second spent preparing will pay off tenfold when you’re on the trail. 3. Cherish the pre-Machu Picchu sites. I was understandably very focused on the final destination, which in a lot of ways was a bit of an anti-climax thanks to insane crowds and crappy weather. In retrospect, our secluded time at the Inca sites along the trail were actually the more memorable moments.