Here’s a rough outline of the plan she hatched for their wedding anniversary trip to Peru…
– Fly into Lima
– First stop: Cusco
– Second up: Hiking around Machu Picchu
– Days 3-5: Hiking, hiking, and more hiking! Super Mega Day of Llamas, (unplanned) Secret Waterfalls. Horseback riding through dreamy Peruvian Hills, to high altitude lakes, and some starry night astrophotography. Sunrise above the clouds in the Andes (16,350 feet up!) and lastly, reaching Rainbow Mountain.
Like, this is not a dream trip; it is THE DREAM TRIP! And the visual opportunities made sense because Cara is also a photographer. They’re even from Utah too, so after Cara filled Dallin in on their anniversary trip, we met up for tacos and to get to know each other. From there on out, it was all stoke which we needed because we woke up well before 5am and stayed out late almost every morning and night of the trip.
We all flew into Lima, Peru and were extremely jetlagged and hungry, so naturally, I did as all do late at night in a new country and found both pizza and (surprisingly good) Burger King. I loaded up on food and brought it back to Dallin and Cara as a surprise – which they were all about – and we bonded over our love of junk food/jet lag induced euphoria.
The next day we got to Cusco (will never not think Emperors New Groove) and immediately got a huge kick of energy to explore down every little street. This place is fascinating with amazing architecture everywhere, hundreds of different restaurants with really unique food (serving up both llama and guinea pig), and such amazing people. Everywhere felt like a party that night with people crowding town squares, playing music and dancing late into the night.
The next morning we woke up at 4am to catch a train to Machu Picchu. The weather here is intense, and we walked out to the heaviest rain I’d ever seen in person. Luckily, we were able to snag some used $1 umbrellas before heading out of town to explore the ruins.
We were worried the rain would completely block our views of Macchu Picchu the whole day, but thankfully the clouds cleared just enough to give us the best photos of Machu Picchu we could have imagined. Llamas dotted the surrounding hills and clouds floated through as Cara and Dallon walked hand in hand high above the ruins, hiked on cliffside walkways, and took some time just to sit down and take in the most beautiful scenery in Peru. Also, we’d gotten there earlier than all the crowds which I highly recommend doing whenever possible as it makes the experience 100x more fun. This trip was coming together perfectly. We spent the rest of the day walking around aimlessly, hanging with llamas, learning the history of Machu Picchu, and taking tons of photos before hopping back on the super long train ride back to Cusco.
Before we get to the next part I want to say something about these trips; there was plenty of (as my friend Abbi Hearne likes to call it) type two fun to be had. This is the type of fun which is not exactly “fun” in the moment but creates life long memories to the extent which you (sometimes it takes enough time passing) can laugh about things like altitude sickness and giardia (both of which we experienced on this trip) and think in the moment that these things are not fun, but they are very much part of the adventure.
This type two fun greeted us the next morning as we woke up at 3am and headed up in altitude for a three-day backpacking trip through the Andes. The end goal was to reach Rainbow Mountain. Our guides were these amazing, badass, short-in-stature huge-in-personality Peruvians without whom we probably would not have reached our end destination, or mid destination, or likely wouldn’t have known where to start from day one. Seriously, they were so good at helping us, but also just tons of fun with huge smiles – they made the freezing cold and altitude sickness bearable.
We were combatting our altitude issues as best we could with plenty of coca tea. Ultimately, we all broke through it with clear views of the stars and thoughts of what we had coming the next couple days. We started a fantastic day by hopping on our horses and heading out into the Andes. We made our way through grassy hills with streams into rocky trails before finding ourselves in the foothills of red sandstone. Our guide pup was this dreaded out work hound who absolutely smashed passionfruit for snacks whenever we stopped.
We saw some of the most beautiful high altitude lakes I’ve ever seen, stopping to get pictures of Cara and Dallin above them. Then we hiked up around some more llamas before resting for dinner. Later in the night, we were all exhausted, but the stars of the Southern Hemisphere were so beautiful and clear we absolutely had to get out and do some astrophotography!
The next morning was one of my favorites as we woke up at 3:00am and hiked up to about 16,350 feet. I think this was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life. I could barely feel my camera in my hands. It was seriously painful as I fumbled around the dials and buttons, but around 4:00 am the sky lit up completely purple, and I realized it was all so worth it. We were eye level with the surrounding peaks to watch the sunrise as clouds rolled over a glacier in the distance. I get to see a lot of beautiful things, its one of the huge benefits of the job, but I admit I often find myself stuck without words for a moment like this that completely blows my mind.
The rest of the day we rode out on the same high as we started with in the morning, going to Rainbow Mountain, wrapping up the trip. Dallin and Cara had such a fun time playing around on the colorful terrain, jumping over little streams around lakes with snow in the background, and soaking up every last little bit of Peru before packing up and heading home.
Traveling to photograph couples like Cara and Dallin in these beautiful destinations is so much fun! I love setting my own goals to go to Ireland or Morocco, but I also love getting invited to places like these, type two fun and all. I can’t wait to see where 2020 takes us!
First stop : Cusco
We woke up at 4am to catch a train to see Machuu Picchu and we were greeted with the heaviest downpour of rain I’ve ever seen. We bought used umbrellas for $1 while we waited in the rain.
We were so ridiculously lucky to see the clouds part to catch a glimpse of the ruins.
Heading into the mountains to start our 2 day backpacking trip on horseback through the Andes.
Jay catching a snooze, it was our 3rd day in a row waking up at 4am.
We found a secret waterfall surrounded by cactus tucked away on the road. There wasn’t another soul in sight for miles.
One of my all time favorite landscape photos I’ve ever taken.
Our cute little sherpa guides! They were so badass.
We told her we wanted to hold a baby alpaca, so she ran off after one chasing it around a field until she finally dove and caught this little guy. We laughed so hard.
From horseback :
A lunch break with our guide pup, goin ham on passionfruit.
Good luck stacks.
It was so ridiculously cold while we were taking these, but the stars and lightning were too incredible not to gaze at.
3:00am wakeup call. The altitude sickness is real. 16,350 feet up.
Clouds rolling in over the glacier.
