I survived! (Huge honeymoon NSV!!!)
 

Yes, I’m back. I weighed in at 174 this morning and I find that to be a bit of a miracle considering what I’ve been eating. Then again, I have been walking/hiking a lot lately.

Well, I did get married. The wedding was one of those wonderful disasters. Everything that could go wrong, did! Our cook had a freak out and showed up 2 hours late, it was too hot for the flowers so we had to shove them all in our room because of the air conditioning, the balloons in the pool flew away, the beer showed up right before all of the guests, the groom got his haircut on that day and it looked like a mullet, my Mom fainted, my Dad almost fainted and then got drunk, we had a bunch of uninvited guests show up, the cake got in late and with the wrong decoration, the sound system showed up at the same time as the beer and would cut out when the groom talked...

Whew! But it actually did go great and everyone had a really great time.

I was too nervous to eat and two weeks later, neither the groom and I had a bite of the cake, which was supposedly delicious.

I still don't have any wedding pictures on my computer, so what you get are honeymoon pics!

We went to Cuzco for our honeymoon and this is where our great NSV comes in. We did the Inca trail, a 4 day 3 night from outside of the city of Cuzco to Machu Picchu. The trek isn't really that hard, I mean it's not for the people who have never hiked, but if you have some experience you'll be fine. The good thing is that it isn't that steep, and it just feels like a lot of walking in some wonderful scenery. Anyway, our guides and some locals were carrying our food, so it wasn't like we had 60 pounds of stuff on us. The hardest part was getting accustomed to an altitude of oh, 11,400 feet above sea level and go up and down, up and down, and then a loooong way up to Machu Picchu which is a bit above 8,000 feet.

And then what did we decide to do? Why, we just hiked around for 4 days, Huayna Picchu (that tall mountain behind the site, see the pic) doesn't look that hard. Yeah, right. It's a steep way up to the top, and then we decided to hike around the mountain to look at other ruins. So, steep way to the top, steep way to the bottom, and steep way back up. Huayna Picchu did what the Inca Trail did not do, leave us sore from head to toe for two days!

Cliff overhangs where you had to hold your weight with your arms, slippery stairs (over 500 years old!), heat and then cold, but we survived Huayna Picchu! I would have never, ever been able to do that at 220 pounds!

We had a honeymoon that was very physically exhausting (;)), something that I had dreamed of, but knew was outside my reach at 220 jiggly, not so fit pounds.

Outside of the Inca Trail, I tried to forgo the diet but the altitude caught up. Since your digestive system slows down at altitude, anything heavy or slow to digest really made us get acquainted with the toilet. Let's just say that we ixnayed the broccoli after the first night!

I ate alpaca, guinea pig, llama, corn the size of your toe nail, and cheesecake (which was a mistake, trust me!) and tons of cheese and ham. Whatever. I survived Huayna Picchu!

Here are two of the pics! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

http://picasaweb.google.com/E.Pajuel...54546918838066

http://picasaweb.google.com/E.Pajuel...54538328903458

Edit: Here are the links, since I can't seem to link it with Picassa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/E.Pajuel...54538328903458

http://picasaweb.google.com/E.Pajuel...54546918838066

Way to go! Sounds like a wonderful honeymoon! :)

My wedding went perfectly... almost too perfectly though :( It sounds crazy but I feel as though I missed out on something without having anything go wrong. Strange huh?

Your pics didn't work (I see "x"s)

archy! Yay! Congratulations on getting through it! What a tale to tell for years to come!

It could be your pix are too large... Not sure... but I went to the links!

Jay

Oh my gosh, that sounds like so much fun! What a great NSV, and I'm sure memories to last a lifetime.

Sounds like an amazing honeymoon and my dream vacation! I've always wanted to do the Inca trail so I'm incredebly jealous! My aunt just did Kilimanjaro and now I want to do that too!

As far as wedding disasters go at my sisters wedding the ring barrer was told that he was NOT to give the rings to anyone they were his to guard. Well when the pastor asked for the rings the ring barrer screamed NOOOOOO, THEY'RE MINE at the top of his lungs and ran out into the church lobby and refused the give the rings to anyone. The groom had to buy the rings back from him for $40. So the pastor had to ab-lib for almost 10 mins while the groom bartered for the rings. It was hilarious.

Wow, archy! I was just wondering how you were doing yesterday. What a fantastic experience. That switchblade trail in the background doesn't look all that easy.
Congratulations both on your marriage and your fantastic voyage in health and fitness to be able to do that trip :bravo:

And wishing you two many years of happiness!

Mel

Congrats Archy!!!

Those pics are gorgeous! The trip must have been amazing. What a fantastic NSV. :)

Congratulations! What a great way to start your marriage :)
Fantastic pictures!!!

Ahh I see the pics (clicked the links, I must have been blind lol).

Beautiful scenes!! I'd be hyperventilating where you were, I'm absolutely terrified of heights :) But I'd deffinately get used to it after walking it though :)

You look fabulous!

archy - Despite all the mishaps, your wedding sounds wonderful, and your honeymoon - amazing! You sure have some stories to tell! :lol:

Best wishes, and congratulations on your NSV!

Congratulations!!!! It sounds simply fantastic :D

archy -- Thanks for sharing your story and your pics! Sounds simply amazing. And you have an amazing attitude to deal with all those wedding probs! Congrats!!!!!!

Hi there Archy. So good to hear from you. Your wedding sounds like a parody of sorts. But of course, you just roll with the punches. Congratulations and may you spend a long, happy life together, being all fit and active and HEALTHY. Your pics are so nice. You are GORGEOUS girl!!

Stunning!!!! And I'm not just talking about the scenery behind you! Congratulations!!!

congratulations! May you have a long and happy marriage :-) I'm off to check out your pics!