The Chapel Hill Mafia Returns from Peru
Joe Duarte is back from his two-week trip to Peru, and has posted some great notes from his trip. He begins:
I’ve been back for a couple of days, and only now am I starting to feel normal and rested.
The four-day trek up the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu was awesome. It was a full service guided trek, with porters, cooks, and all. The company provided the tents, sleeping pads, and all the meals. For an extra $15, they rented sleeping bags. They also provided a personal porter service, which I did not elect. Bad move. Almost everyone paid for the porter, meaning they only had to lug around a small pack - like a college backpack sort of thing. The personal porters took care of the sleeping bags, pads, and I think 5 kilos of whatever gear you wanted to give them.
I, on the other hand, humped it for four days with a 41-pound load in a full-size Kirezzian hand-me-down backpack.
Which instantly reminded me of this photo of Kirez from Kathy’s and my wedding.
Read Joe’s full post for the tale of how he was almost kidnapped.
And if you don’t get the “Chapel Hill Mafia” reference, just keep on reading down the main page of his blog. 
