A bucket list item for many...Machu Pichu and specifically Inca trail. It started as a joke with a friend of doing this "trip of a lifetime with girlfriends"it became a reality (if we ignore the two brave men or should I say brave souls who came along for the ride- Avinash and James)
How it came about?
Going to Machu Pichu and hiking the Inca trail was my idea...credit of doing this with friends goes to a special friend who could not make it herself on this trip unfortunately.
Facebook is a great tool, especially when it connects people who live halfway around the globe based on a common passion. Here is a quick rundown on the way our group came together. I asked Reshma- a school friend who inspires me via Facebook by posting her adventurous trip pictures. A one liner to her after 20 years asking her if she would be interested in going on a girls trip to Machu Pichu was met with an astounding "Yes!" It turned out that she had 3 other friend who would also join our group. I also posted on a whattsapp group and asked folks to spread the word. Before we knew it, 4 friends from PMM had confirmed Sangeeta, Shubhra, Sharmila and Sharmila. Shubhra pulled in her friend Jui, who would later turn out to be my tent-mate! And Sharmila asked to see if a couple, Avinash and Monica would join in. At this time since there was already one gent, one more would not hurt! Finally, at a Christmas party, when I mentioned this to a group of friends, Nisha and her daughter joined in! So it was, our fantastic group of 12 (and if you are counting, it was 10 ladies and 2 gents- brave souls, as I called them earlier) From concept to deposit, was about a month. The rush was because I floated the idea around Thanksgiving and it turned out that the deposit would need to go in by Jan 6 for April trip. Countless Whattsapp messages later, a company was picked- Llama Path. Dates at that time were dictated by Harshal’sMBA schedule. We were to leave from USA on April 20 and start our trek on April 23 2016.
There were many hiking practice trail organized and unfortunately, I could not join any of them. Finally, I decided to go for an REI trek to local mountain to get in that training hike- 4000 ft elevation in 4 hours was a great learning experience with thru AT enthusiasts. Not sure if I would put that on my bucket list ever.
My friend wrote an article in local Ninaad newspaper for Philadelphia Marathi Mandal and here is the link of our trek
http://nebula.wsimg.com/4181b0e3da5bee03b79d77f81adccf6a?AccessKeyId=0E5A85E91764632AAD26&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
We had a great time touring Cusco city and packing our bags prior to the trek. Jui and I took off like total tourists, trying to make most of our museum passes, while in Cusco.
After the trek, and back in Lima, we even toured Lima for a day.
This was a trek of a lifetime!
How it came about?
Going to Machu Pichu and hiking the Inca trail was my idea...credit of doing this with friends goes to a special friend who could not make it herself on this trip unfortunately.
Facebook is a great tool, especially when it connects people who live halfway around the globe based on a common passion. Here is a quick rundown on the way our group came together. I asked Reshma- a school friend who inspires me via Facebook by posting her adventurous trip pictures. A one liner to her after 20 years asking her if she would be interested in going on a girls trip to Machu Pichu was met with an astounding "Yes!" It turned out that she had 3 other friend who would also join our group. I also posted on a whattsapp group and asked folks to spread the word. Before we knew it, 4 friends from PMM had confirmed Sangeeta, Shubhra, Sharmila and Sharmila. Shubhra pulled in her friend Jui, who would later turn out to be my tent-mate! And Sharmila asked to see if a couple, Avinash and Monica would join in. At this time since there was already one gent, one more would not hurt! Finally, at a Christmas party, when I mentioned this to a group of friends, Nisha and her daughter joined in! So it was, our fantastic group of 12 (and if you are counting, it was 10 ladies and 2 gents- brave souls, as I called them earlier) From concept to deposit, was about a month. The rush was because I floated the idea around Thanksgiving and it turned out that the deposit would need to go in by Jan 6 for April trip. Countless Whattsapp messages later, a company was picked- Llama Path. Dates at that time were dictated by Harshal’sMBA schedule. We were to leave from USA on April 20 and start our trek on April 23 2016.
There were many hiking practice trail organized and unfortunately, I could not join any of them. Finally, I decided to go for an REI trek to local mountain to get in that training hike- 4000 ft elevation in 4 hours was a great learning experience with thru AT enthusiasts. Not sure if I would put that on my bucket list ever.
My friend wrote an article in local Ninaad newspaper for Philadelphia Marathi Mandal and here is the link of our trek
http://nebula.wsimg.com/4181b0e3da5bee03b79d77f81adccf6a?AccessKeyId=0E5A85E91764632AAD26&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
We had a great time touring Cusco city and packing our bags prior to the trek. Jui and I took off like total tourists, trying to make most of our museum passes, while in Cusco.
After the trek, and back in Lima, we even toured Lima for a day.
This was a trek of a lifetime!
