Day Thirty-Nine: A Hike to Pueblito

Our yoga studioWe are going a hike today to an ancient city.  Our 6:30am wake up is not pleasant, but I'm looking forward to it.  We have a big breakfast and head off on the trail.  I thought the hike was 3 hours each way, but it turns out it is going be 3 hours total, so not bad, but every fiber in my body is sore from yoga.  L's classes are intense.  She pushes us.

I love L's story.  I feel like we share such a similar experience.  She worked at one of the large investment banks in Sales.  She hated her job but for a long time she was reluctant to quit.  A number of compounding factors and people finally drove her to quit and then she started a yoga studio.  She wants to help people and to teach people.  "Everything happens for a reason," she tells me.  I couldn't agree more.  We've learned the same lesson:  If you're not happy, identify the source and change it.

Meghan gets a ride on our hikeA one and a half hour uphill trek and we arrive at Pueblito, the "ruins", to learn that they are not ruins at all.  It is a city from the 1500s built by the natives. About 2,000 people lived here.  The terraces that the huts were built on are all that is left.  The lost city we thought we were seeing is actually a three day hike.

There is one family living here in a hut.  A man shows us how they turn the coco leaves into powder, which we know as cocaine.  We chew on the coco leaves and it numbs our tongues.

Coco leavesThe natives would chew the coco leaves while working in the fields.  It gave them energy to work all day.

The hutWe spend about 30 minutes in the town before heading back to the villa.  Beach, lunch and siesta on the hammocks before yoga.  Yoga is especially hard today.  My muscles ache, but I push myself to get the most out of it.  I have a drink after dinner and put myself to bed.  See more pictures.

Me Tarzan