Artist Description

I took this photo on the first day of hiking the Salkantay Trek I'm Perú. My two brothers and I finished this hike in 2018 deciding to complete it without hiring a guide. We researched the hike and downloaded GPS data to follow planning to hike what we thought was 70 kms over three days. The first day was an easy ~15 km, then 25-30 km for the next two days. What we didn't realize was that data we downloaded had been submitted as kilometers but it was really miles, so we underestimated the distance. We found out the last day when we ended up having to hike 52 km instead of 30. About a kilometer from Aguas Calientes, we walked by a little cart selling cheese sandwiches and Inka Cola and we stopped for some food for the first time since breakfast. That was the best sandwich I'd ever tasted! We continued on and finally got to town after around 17 hours of hiking. We dropped our bags off and found the nearest restaurant to order some more substantial food. Then we crashed in our beds to get up early to make it for our Machu Picchu permits the next morning.