We started our camino Portugués today and I have to tell you, it was painful but very beautiful, the coast line remind us much of San Diego.

As I said the coast line is beautiful with a lot of need restaurants. Diana and I stop every 5 miles to get refuel, I mean beer.

In the camino it is alway good to admire what people create to amuse the pilgrims or amazing buildings and gardens that make you say, WOW.

At the end of the day the total steps for the day, the total steps were 39,236. And my feet hate me right now, going to bed with hope that tomorrow I can move 🤣.

On September 1st, we start an 11 days Camino Portugués from Porto following the Coastal Route. We are now in Porto drinking a lot of Vino Verde and eating natas. Portugal has an amazing food and the portugués people welcome you with smile and a sign of gratitude for you being in their country.

I will try to right everyday on the experience of the day. To begin, here is a light reading from a book that Sheri found:

Today, we got our credentials (Camino passport). The cathedral in Porto is an amazing place:

The schedule we are going to follow is the following:

This is about 274 Km or 172 miles

When we arrived to MachuPicchu, the whole place was covered by a thick fog and we couldn’t see very far. We climbed to the top of MachuPicchu’s ruins and waited for about hour. Looking at the disappointment on my daughters faces made my heart shrink. I felt that we have done this trek and at least deserve to see the beauty of this special place in all it’s glory. And then, it happened !!!! 👏🍾

At the end of walking Machu Picchu, we all took a picture together to remember the end (left to right, Elena, Diana, me, Diana and Jorge)

Machu Picchu is magical and you can feel it as you walk around the place. I went the first time in 2014 with my wife and since that time to today, there are many changes to ensure it is protected. I took a picture of a stone that My wife and I took a picture in 2014. This is now and then

Thanks for following the adventure with my daughters. It was a very nice time with them and I wouldn’t change anything. THE END

Today is another 13 miles trek, However, the first part was a bit of climb and then downhill. The downhill was worse than the second day downhill. Elena, pulled a muscle on her right leg and she arrived to the lunch site going down backwards. We stopped for lunch at the house of a local farmer Marco. He got yuca out of the ground for us to have with our lunch, just fantastic. We left for the last section to Aguas Caliente, another 8 miles or so. We connected our walking poles and started. Soon, we found the Indiana Jones Bridge

We were now in the thick of the jungle

Tomorrow Machu Picchu

Today was an “easy” relative flat 12 miles walk. I used my hiking sandal to let my toe nail get some relief. The walk was mainly through the jungle and we enjoyed great vistas an unique vegetation, like the “forever young Orquídea”. It got this name because if blooms year round and it always has a new flower at the end of the stem.

The vegetation change was interesting to observe with the elevation change from 9500 ft to about 6500 ft

We got to our destination and took the the time to go to the thermal waters, which was a wonderful thing. The chef prepared a fantastic dinner, including a cake without having an oven and we found beers to wash it down.

Tomorrow is another 12 miles to Aguas Calientes and the first part includes a significant steep down hill

Our second day was a very tough trek that I have done in a long time, nothing in El Canino compares to this. We started at the sky Domes camp located at 12,795 ft and climb to the Salkantay pass 5 miles with almost 3,000 ft elevation gain. The air gets very thin. Based on the elevation impact the day before climbing to the Humantay lake at near 14,000 ft, they recommend to take the mule to the Salkantay pass, which I did. Now, let me tell you, while it was a relief going up on the mule, it is not an experience for everyone, specially people with vertigo challenges. The mule goes through very narrow path with deep cliffs. Also, the amount of strength to stay on the mule is significant and by the time that I got to the pass my legs were clamp and my upper body stress. The Beaty of the pass took away my breath.

As we enjoying our Coca Leaves tee, we took in the magnificent of the Salkantay peak at more than 21,000 ft elevation. The next portion of the day was 10 miles downhill with an elevation change of about 5,000 ft, yes, you read this right, 5,000 ft in 10 miles. Again, this is also another experience that I never had. The downhill wasn’t just steep, but we were walking on loose gravel, the walking poles helped but it was very difficult. My large muscles above my knees were really tight and as start using the tip of my boots to release the pressure from my front muscles. I got blood under my big toe nails which added additional pain in the downhill. Here is we’re my experience from El Camino, helped me again, I blocked the pain and kept telling myself, one more step!!!. The guide (Amoroso) stayed with me and we arrived to the camp about 40 minutes after the rest of the group, in the dark. Being in the jungle in the dark is another experience.

After dinner, I did released the pressure on my big toe nails by releasing the blood under the nails. Two ibuprofens and rest took care of the sharp pain. The night was another experience. The roosters in Peru are really confused, they start crow at 1:00 in the morning. What happen with the crow at sunlight? Definitely they didn’t get the memo.

We were energized to start our trek. Climbing from 10,000 ft to 12,000 ft before lunch. It was an steady climb and I started to feel the altitude. The scenery was just beautiful

Lunch was great. The dining area was a dome with a killer view of The Valley toward Salkantay. After lunch, we started climbing to a lake locared about 4 miles round trip at an elevation of a bit over 14,000 ft. My body said NO at about 3/4 of the climb 13,000 + ft and I told the group to keep going and I went down hill.

We had a private Sacred Valley Tour with a great guide from the Salkantay Trekking company (Ricardo). It was wonderful and very educating about the Inca settlement and the Spanish arrival to the area. The first stop was a small Alpaca/Llama fabric production place. Upon entering the house, we saw the guinea pigs (Cuy) house and the Llama and Alpaca enclosure. The host spent great amount of time going through their process and the organic coloring sources they use from bugs to plants

We then went to different Inca ruines and we were so impressed with each one of them. We had to climb more than 400 steps (good training day)

By the end of the day, we were exhausted but with a better understanding of the Inca culture, their capabilities and amazing accomplishments. Thanks to our guide Ricardo

We had a private Sacred Valley Tour with a great guide from the Salkantay Trekking company (Ricardo). It was wonderful and very educating about the Inca settlement and the Spanish arrival to the area. The first stop was a small Alpaca/Llama fabric production place. Upon entering the house, we saw the guinea pigs (Cuy) house and the Llama and Alpaca enclosure. The host spent great amount of time going through their process and the organic coloring sources they use from bugs to plants

We then went to different Inca ruines and we were so impressed with each one of them. We had to climb more than 400 steps (good training day)

By the end of the day, we were exhausted but with a better understanding of the Inca culture, their capabilities and amazing accomplishments. Thanks to our guide Ricardo

Cusco, or Cuzco, is usually what causes the problem for most visitors to Machu Picchu. Cusco sits at an elevation of 3,399 m (11,152 ft) above sea-level. However, we live at a mile high and we felt just right, so we continue our eating and tasting of different flavors of Pisco Sour. Our favorite was the Maracuya Pisco Sour. It is made with infused Pasión fruit in the pisco for 2 months. Absolutely delicious. A couple of them and you will have not sleeping problems.

My daughter Diana favors the Burgandy pisco sour (red wine infused pisco)This is pretty much our last alcohol consumption until we get to Aguas Caliente on Thursday

Cusco is a beautiful place very well preserved with an Andalusia-Spain architecture. It looks like old Sevilla-Spain