ris and I woke up and spent some time together, then we packed up our gear and headed out to breakfast. Everyone was already sitting and pretty much done eating when we arrived. Unfortunately we got the times mixed up and were a tad late to the party. They had all scheduled zip lining and we were not originally going with them. As we all sat around chatting with one another, they convinced us to join them, and we were so glad we ended up going. What an adventure!

Everyone waited for us to finish ordering and eating. They all got hot beverages to sip and enjoy so we felt relaxed instead of rushed. Again, we could not have gotten placed with a better group of people. All the other groups we saw had tired tourists with sores all over their legs from bugs and bushes. The other adventure enthusiasts said their guides had such a quick pace that they could hardly keep up! Needless to say we were so grateful to have Papi as our guide. He was so patient and waited for all of us to go at our own pace, take pictures, and talked us into pretty much all the excursions. When we finished eating, we were on our way to a great experience.

Upon arriving at the zipline course we saw a foosball table. Everyone in our group had a turn as we waited to sign up for the ziplining. There were 3 lines we were going to try and one was super long and the other very fast. The first one was a warm up to get to the longer one’s destination. Chris got the nickname superman after the second one. He decided to try the monkey pose where the person on the zipline is upside down hanging from their waste harness. He thought our guide said to pull up after he saw the river and there was a grave misunderstanding. As I saw him plummeting to his beheading I threw my arms up and screamed “pull up!” Well, he could not hear me because he was too far away and he just gave me a thumbs up, like yes, this is fun! He pulled his head up at the last second, literally, and I almost watched him get beheaded on our honeymoon. The others in our group got it all on tape which was nice because he did not believe us until he saw it. So the name stuck and he became Superman for the remainder of our trip and still to this day. If you ever go ziplining please double check with your guide on what they say to do.


At the end of the last line, our friend tripped over a rock and hurt herself. She had to go to the hospital and Papi had to give us to another guide. This is why I told you all about the other guides and he was no different. The pace was fast and tiring but Chris made sure we went at our speed and stopped for breaks. He said, they won’t leave us here, Papi will be mad. Papi was scheduled to meet us at the entrance to Matchu Picchu and he told this guide we better all arrive in one piece, and we did. So we continued to take breaks but did not meander as much or take as many photos for the last stretch to Aguas Calientes. I feel we took plenty though and had an amazing time. We were glad because everyone in our group decided to stick together and make the guide wait for us so none of us got left behind. They were wonderful people.
Have a Marvelous Monday and thank you for reading! Tomorrow will be about the walk back to Cusco! If you would like to read about our time at Machu Picchu, you can click on previous blogs! All on the Inca Trail.
-Karen Hilliard


Also, if you would like another way to show support, I have a few options. “Buy me a coffee” which is a way for anyone to contribute to the creative process behind the paintings. Fuel the artist so to speak. Here is the link if you are interested. The funds go to supplies and gas to get out to the trails. I truly appreciate the support and the fact that you are liking these blogs, as well as my art posts. I am working hard to bring you all fresh content! Here is the link to my Instagram where I try to post daily. You can also find me on Facebook at my art page Karen Hilliard Art.
If you would like to, please leave your Social Media handle on the “Buy me a Coffee” page so I can thank you in my Instagram/Facebook Stories! 🙂
Thank you again for all of your support!



The other blog on Machu Picchu is “Love for Peru” where I write about my experience with llamas! Check it out.