As two coffee addicts this was a special day.
June 15, 2013
…Another glorious day hiking from the Colpa Lodge to the Lucma Lodge at Lucmabamba situated at a very manageable 7000 feet. Before leaving, Pepe took us on a tour of Colpa Lodge’s orchid garden, which was a great start to the day. The trek took us down the Santa Teresa River Valley with the sound of the river heard flowing below us. We passed through coffee plantations and banana and avocado orchards. The vegetation was lush and quite different from the vegetation we have been seeing for the past few days high in the mountains. After a picnic break we were met by a small van that took us to the beginning of the Llactapata Inca Trail, which is the original Inca Trail. It was then only a short thirty minute hike to Lucma Lodge. Once again we were greeted by the wonderful Mountain Lodges of Peru staff with cool cloths and cold fresh passion fruit drinks.
After lunch, off to the highlight of the day, the coffee plantation where the coffee beans were roasted, ground and filtered in front of us; can you smell that delicious aroma? No we did not ask for an Americano misto or a decaf latte, but we did buy two bags of beans to bring home to remind us of the day. Tomorrow will be our first sighting of Machu Picchu. Hard to believe that after months of anticipation and five days of at times exhausting hiking we’re almost there.
thechangingpalette 