CHAPTER 2
We began the trek on Monday with a group of 4 american study abroad students, one fellow from el salvador, and our trusty Peruvian guide, Edwin.
We hiked a total of 42km and reached an altitude of 4100m. It was grueling and incredible.
Here's an excerpt from my journal on day 3 of the hike:

Yesterday I stood on a cliff overlooking one of the most stunning vistas I've ever seen. It was everything one would imagine Peru to be: the dark, damp forest covering huge mountains muscling up against one another in tectonic bravado.
The clouds sailed past in different forms: as giant mists completely obstructing the view, or innocent fluffy shapes floating past the giant crags.
Looking past boulders, grass, and wildflowers growing out of the steep mountainside, I could see a lake- a tiny mirror reflecting the glory around it.
A humble lagoon was instantly transformed when, in its clear water, many dimensions of earth and sky were present.
Up on a hill, I felt the sensation of being caught between heaven and earth. The ethereal mists, plummeting depths of nearby valleys, and mountaintops astonishing in their greatness made th scene almost spiritual. As I sat, I thought about how my grandma was doing and the battle she fights as her soul hovers between heaven and earth...
I wonder if it has been surrendered to Heaven yet.
Surrounded by the sheer "big-ness" of the scene unfolding around me, there are no words to utter except an awestruck "thank you".
Breathing the thin, fresh mountain air as the sun warms my face, and curious clouds float in to glance at their guests, i feel only calm. peace. tranquility...

At the time of writing, i didn't know where the situation with my grandma lay. I had asked God to tell me if she passed while i was on the trek, and on Tuesday night I awoke from a bad dream and couldn't get back to sleep. The next day on that mountain I spoke to God and to her, and the strangest sensation of peace that made me comment to Anthony "not to be wierd or anything, but i wonder if this has anything to do with my grandma..".
It was only upon my return to cuzco two days later that I learned that was the night she'd been surrendered to Heaven.