The Urubamba River Valley
April 19, 2010 Cuzco is not a place you want to casually visit if you have altitude sickness. The ancient capitol of Peru is perched in the Andes highlands at an altitude of 11,200, and takes a bit of adjustment to get used to. Back in 2008, a bunch of us braved a 2-day hike to Macchu Picchu and did another two days of level-5 white-water rafting in the Urubamba River, one of headwaters of the Amazon River.
Unfortunately, I grew very sick during my first day in Cuzco, so I stayed behind the group. On the second day, the expedition company graciously sent a cab to pick me up in the city to have me catch up with my friends at the rafting company 60 miles away. During that drive, I saw some incredible landscapes, narrated by my Spanish-speaking driver. Although my Spanish is limited, I was able to understand some of the Incan folklore associated with the river valley. These are two of my favorite Urubamba River valley images of ancient mountains named after the eagle and the puma.
I will go back to Peru any day.
