We Leave For London Tomorrow

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**Posted on the 5th March**



Final blog post before we leave for London tomorrow…. Jabs update, the nurse managed to get my paper copy of my notes and turns out I needed the MMR booster in the end which I had just over a week ago, which knocked me about a bit for a few days. One of the side effects for adult women is aches and pains in muscles and joints 2-3 weeks after the injection which is smack bang in the middle of the trek so fingers crossed I don’t get those, well on top of the expected aches and pains anyway! Had my third rabies jab and the polio, tetanus and diptheria so thats nine in total in the past 6 weeks, I think it’s safe to say my needle phobia is gone!




Fitness update… I’ve been continuing to do Park Run on Saturdays and we’ve started doing trips up The Wrekin and a couple of other walks wearing my boots so have switched a bit from running to more walking in preparation for the trek. We managed to do a 20km hike/walk around the Long Mynd and Cardingmill Valley about a week ago using our walking poles for the first time. Things went well, I’ve established that going up steep inclines Steph is quicker than me and seems to handle it better but once I’m on the flat or downhill or just a slight incline I’m good and confident. So I already know that day 2 of the hike up to the Salkantay Pass will be my biggest physical challenge as its the hardest steepest and to the highest altitude (15,200ft). For a couple of comparisons, The Wrekin is 1360ft and Everest Base Camp is 17600ft. So really its just like 11 Wrekins on top of each other! Also been doing some 4min HIIT sessions in the evening.. Who knew 4mins could tire you out so much! I’m feeling much better confidence wise about my physical ability to do the trek. The last week I have barely done any exercise though as the “Beast From The East” hit the area so it was a struggle to finish up with my business as well as actually get anywhere to do anything plus I’ve never been so worried about injuring myself! Anyway I’m actually looking forward to continuing my fitness and weightloss journey when I get back so I’ve booked a few things to tie myself in to ensure I keep it up.




Hypnotherapy Update… I had my third session about 3 weeks ago with Christina from Snowdrop House in Shrewsbury. It went as well as the other two and I’ve now got a mixture of recordings which I’ve been listening to on a regular basis. These have helped me really start to get excited for the adventure, I’m not nervous at all at the moment, but whether that will kick in or not I don’t know. The feeling is very much that I can do the things planned and I will do them even if I do get scared rather than on previous instances where I’ve had doubts about me being able to do the things in the first place. I feel in control and like I will be able to talk myself through. The only issue I’ve had is having no real experience of heights or edges to test myself, we did have a trip up Snowdon planned but had to cancel as the weather is pretty snowy and icy up there. It has led to me trying to look out for edges and heights to try and stand on! So far there’s been a few edges on the way up The Wrekin where I’ve purposefully stood on the edge and felt fine and one instance of standing at the top of a glass lift in a multi storey car park looking down the lift shaft whilst waiting for the lift! :-) So far so good… although I think the first real test will be the cable car to Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio.




Plans… Alot of the focus for the holiday adventure has been on the trek but we’ve started looking more at our plans for all the other days. As we aren’t in one place for any considerable length of time we’re determined to make the most of the time whilst there whilst also leaving some time in for a bit of spontaneity. We’ve booked a few things to do and experience whilst in Lisbon, Rio and Lima but I’ll write about those in more detail in the blog posts whilst out there. Cusco is a bit of an unknown as it will very much depend on how we handle the altitude. We’ve got some altitude sickness tablets which should help us acclimatize better and more quickly so hopefully we can have some meaningful time there instead of just feeling ill. Acclimatization is supposed to take a couple of days as Cusco is at 3400m above sea level. The highest I’ve ever been before was I think in Death Valley or The Grand Canyon at about 2200m. The symptoms of altitude sickness are pretty similar to hangover symptoms and some of you reading this will know what I’m like with those :-( so I’m really hoping I won’t be affected!




Final Prep… Getting currency has been a bit of a headache, travelling to four different countries with different currencies and not knowing how much to take. Usually I would get a currency card and load it up as I go along but there aren’t any available for Brazilian Reals, Peruvian Soles or Argentinian Pesos. In fact I only found out last week you can’t get Argentinian Pesos in the UK, you have to wait in a queue in the airport when you land to get some money changed. Plus we have to pay for the trek in US Dollars so that’s five different currencies altogether.




We’ve sorted out a few transfers from airports to hotels as well as some of the areas are a bit dodgy so we need to be safe. A few weeks ago we had a bit of a realisation that we are flying out from Heathrow and back to Gatwick so had to work out how we were getting down there and back but managed to get train tickets in advance and a hotel at Heathrow so that’s all sorted, glad we spotted that in advance though! The more travelling I do the more I get a bit blaise about arrangements and plans which isn’t a good thing, one time its gonna trip me up!




Travel insurance has been sorted and has been even more important this time as we’ve had to research a bit more to ensure we are covered for the trekking at altitude which isn’t included in normal policies. Although I’m not happy that for the first time my insurance has cost over 30%!m(MISSING)ore than Steph’s just because I’m older than her! Wtf! We’ve also got a few medical bits packed like ibuprofen gel, headache tablets, insect repellant, plasters and stuff for blisters which are needed for the trek. In fact Steph’s backpack looks like a doctors bag! She gets blisters just looking at her hiking boots and has suffered badly with insect bites in the past where as I hardly ever get blisters and I’m normally one of the lucky ones that the bugs steer clear from. *fingers crossed*




So lists have been crossed off, packing pretty much done ( I managed a cool time lapse on my instagram @k8e37) and music has been downloaded, - and Steph, I’ve downloaded the Copacabana song this time which isn’t the instrumental version so we don’t have another “Amarillo” incident. I’ve just got to finish charging up my new go pro and ipad etc as well as learn how to actually use it and Steph has to check that we’ve got all the confirmations for everything which is currently looking like a book! I've been the usual stresshead over the last couple of days, and been trying really hard to try and chill out but its a struggle, usually once I get to the airport I can start to relax so we'll see....:-)



PS I promise the blog posts will have lots of photos in the coming days I know its a bit boring with all the text :-)




Our full itinerary is below




Tues Mar 6th -Train down to London Heathrow - Stay at Airport Hotel

Weds Mar 7th -Early Morning Flight to Lisbon, Portugal - Night in Lisbon

Thurs Mar 8th-Morning Flight to Rio, Brazil - Night In Rio

Fri Mar 9th -Rio

Sat Mar 10th -Rio

Sun Mar 11th -Evening Flight To Lima, Peru - Night In Lima Airport Hotel

Mon Mar 12th -Morning Flight To Cusco, Peru - (Acclimatization Day) Night In Cusco

Tues Mar 13th -Cusco (Acclimatization Day)

Weds Mar 14th -Cusco (Acclimatization Day) - Evening Briefing Ahead Of The Trek

Thurs Mar 15th -Salkantay Trek Day 1 - 12km Challacancha to Soraypampa with side

trek to Humantay Lake

Fri Mar 16th -Salkantay Trek Day 2 (Hardest Day) - 22km Soraypampa - Salkantay

Pass - Wayracpunku - Chaullay

Sat Mar 17th -Salkantay Trek Day 3 - 18km Chaullay - Collpapampa - Lay Playa -

Lucmabamba

Sun Mar 18th -Salkantay Trek Day 4 - 18km Lucmabamba - Llactapata - Hidroelectrica -

Aguas Calientes

Mon Mar 19th - Salkantay Trek Day 5 - Machu Picchu! - Night In Cusco

Tues Mar 20th -Morning Flight To Lima, Peru - Night In Miraflores

Weds Mar 21st - Lima - Night In Miraflores

Thurs Mar 22nd - Morning Flight To Buenos Aires - Night In Buenos Aires

Fri Mar 23rd - Buenos Aires - Night In Buenos Aires

Sat Mar 24th - Buenos Aires - Night In Buenos Aires

Sun Mar 25th - Morning Flight To London Gatwick

Mon Mar 26th - Land Back at Gatwick 4am. Train Back Home




Link to more details of what the trek involves: http://www.salkantaytrekking.com/trekking-in-peru/cusco/trekkingtomachupicchu-salkantay-llactapata-5days.html

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