We hiked to the second pass today. After lunch I was feeling even better, which made the hike so much more fun. The scenery continues to astound me. When we got to the top we could see Machu Picchu in the distance (the mountain, not the city).
Unfortunately, the last two hours today were straight downhill and seemed like they would never end. My knees kill. The camp we stayed at, however, had showers and dinner tonight was amazing.
At dinner, I was sitting next to Simba. He is hilarious. But he started telling me about some of the remedies they use in Peru for various things. Like skinning a cat and placing the hide on your back if it hurts…or drinking urine for a stomach ache. I totally didn’t think I was being judgmental at all, but he went on to make some comment about how I wouldn’t understand because I’m from the United States and things are different in Peru. Which is obviously true, I just thought it was a little crazy the way he was stereotyping me.
After dinner he asked us to organize a tip for our porters and one of the Spanish ladies got really upset. Apparently you don’t have to tip in Europe unless you absolutely loved your service. She thought it was ridiculous that he asked us. Everyone ended up throwing in the equivalent of about $3 for our eight porters to share. Margo and I felt horrible about it, but there wasn’t much we could do.
We’re off to bed rather early to prepare for our 4am wake-up call.
Here we come, day 3!
Just a glimpse of the beauty that surrounded us
Looking back at Dead Woman's Pass
Chatting with Simba at the top of the second pass
Gansta style
Heading down before heading back up to the final pass
That is Machu Picchu in the distance
Mind the Light 
man, i’m glad that pass didn’t kill you in the end…