Today, we spent most of our time hiking! The highlight was this morning when we visited the Auditorio Guelaguetza, a prominent cultural venue. Situated on the hillside of Cerro del Fortín, it offers panoramic views of the city and showcases vibrant folkloric dances and music that celebrate Oaxacan heritage and traditions.
Happy Thanksgiving from the Water Boils! These petrified waterfalls formed from calcium carbonate and other minerals present in the waterfall. There are only two petrified waterfalls in the world: one in Oaxaca and the other in Turkey.
This morning, we visited several local mercados where we had a traditional Oaxacan breakfast. I wish I could say that I enjoyed it, but I didn’t. The meal itself was fine, but I was seated in front of all this raw meat, and the pungent smell made me nauseous. Fortunately, I was able to wash away the feelings of indigestion with hot cocoa and bread, which gave me the right boost to power through the rest of the day.
Had breakfast and ordered this bagel, guacamole, and egg sandwich. Much better than the avocado toast we have in San Francisco, mainly because they are more generous with the avocado.
My lack of sleep these last few days finally caught up to me. I slept about 8 hours last night, then another 4 hours in the afternoon. Now I’m feeling. After further exploration, we decided that Oaxaca is a very Instagrammable place. It’s very colorful, and the weather is perfect.
Day 1 of our trip to Oaxaca! We kicked off our vacation with a red-eye flight to and a 10-hour layover in Houston! Why Houston, you ask? Because I didn’t have enough points for a direct flight, and I couldn’t afford to pay the difference.
It was the last day of summer as I barreled down California State Route 111 on my way to the Salton Sea. The region had weathered a dry and torrid summer, with one notable exception: a visit from Hurricane Kay. It made landfall as a tropical storm in Baja California, moved north and brought heavy rainfall, triggering flash floods throughout Southern California. The storm damaged roads and uprooted trees. However, by the time I visited two weeks later, there were few, if any, signs of this disaster. The desert is a place that recovers quickly, but the same cannot be said of the Salton Sea.
This is our last full day in Peru. Ironically, this day came as a bit of a surprise to us. After being away from civilization for the better part of the last week, I got confused and thought that we would be leaving today for San Francisco. Fortunately, we actually have one more night in Cuzco and one more day to explore this beautiful country. As a final hurrah, we spent most of that time exploring the neighborhood and streets around us.
We finally made it to Machu Picchu! We woke up at 4:30 AM to get ready and spent the whole morning exploring the ruins. It was pretty amazing to see for myself just how breathtaking the views were from the top of this mountain. Also, as I mentioned in my previous posts, the weather is very dynamic and changes quickly here. There were instances where I would look out into the distance and I could watch the clouds and fog cover swallow the canyons below me and just as quickly dissipate. These ever-changing weather patterns and high mountaintops provide some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever encountered. Below are my pictures from today.
Today, like yesterday, was relatively easy. We had a big breakfast and went zip-lining all morning. Eventually, we finished the evening hiking along the railroad tracks that led to Aguas Calientes (the city just below Machu Picchu).
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