Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

Hey all!!

Just arrived back yesterday from the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu!! It was an absolutely amazing adventure.

Friday we took a trip to the Sacred Valley, stopping at lots of old Inca ruins on the way, abley guided by one Julio Cesar!! He was our guide for the Inca Trail too. We started off at Sacsaywaman above Cuzco, which was cool. Cuzco was built shaped like a Puma (one of the old Incan animals for strength, representing the land) and the ruins are at the head of the puma. They were the old Incan fortress and it was here that the Spanish were nearly (but not quite) routed from Peru. We went on to more Incan ruins at Pisac in the Sacred Valley and at Ollaytantambo. On the way we stopped at a ´living museum´where we saw all the different typed of llamas, alpacas and vicuñas, and got to feed them too!!

At Ollaytantambo, us Inca Trail-ers (Pedro, Tamara, Lisa, Laura and myself) said an emotional farewell to the Lares Trek people. They would start their trail the next day from somewhere completely different, hiking up the Lares Valley and finishing in Ollaytantambo. They would have a less touristy trek but we would be hiking to Machu Picchu and they had to get the train and bus there!! We stayed overnight in the town to be picked up the next day. Also realised today that I would be home in a month, crazy!!!


Saturday we were picked up by Julio and brought to Km82 to start the Inca Trail. We met our 7 porters and 1 cook and gave them our duffle bags (5kg) to carry up for us, along with tents, chairs, food, cooking equipment etc!! Felt bad and like I was cheating but thank God for them in the end!! I did carry my own 35L rucksack too. We got our passports stamped at the forst checkpoint and we were off!! We walked 10-11k I think the first day, which was fine apart from one hill covered in inca steps, which was a killer!! We made camp by lunchtime and the porters set us our tents and bowls of warm water to wash in!! We had lunch there which was incredible- soup, rice, meat, veg, salad all washed down with tea/coffee/hot chocolate!! The chef even carved a flower shape out of a tomato to sit on top of the rice!! We napped after that, and woke up in time for afternoon tea- popcorn and drinks. Chatted and wrote up our journals til dinner- more soup, meat veg, pasta etc. We ate in our own dining tent with tablecloths, lantern etc!! Talk about luxury camping!!

Sunday was the hardest day, we were awake at 4am thanks to a rooster even though we didnt have to get up til 5!! We started hiking at 6am from the valley floor (3000m). We hiked 7km of mostly constant uphill slog, with no end to the damned inca steps that were everywhere with varying degrees of steepness!! It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, I hiked up 1200m to 4200m at the first pass in 4hours, and nearly pased out when I made the top!! I was up forst surprisingly, as Pedro had steamed ahead of me at the start!! Everyone else made it to the top of Dead Womens Pass within the next 40-50mins, and Laura had just made it up when we spotted Pedro on the last stretch!! Turns out he took a wrong turn somehow and nearly got lost- had to turn back! It was hilarious, especially as he had done thr trail before and it was our first time!!

From the top we had to walk down the inca steps to the camp another hour which reduced our legs to jelly!! The campsite had the most disgusting toilets I have ever seen on my trip so far (saying a lot!!).


Monday was our longest day but was mostly downhill after we reached the second and third passes!! We hiked 13k in 5 or 6 hours, hard to remember!! Our calfs were cramping up at the end, it was at least 2hours of constant downhill inca steps!! It was raining gently all day and we were scared that we wouldn´t be able to see Machu Picchu when we made it the next day!! Julio started making comments about sacrificing the youngest girl to stop the rain- I wasn´t impressed!! :)


Tuesday started off misty and slightly rainy, though the rain stopped as we hiked. We hiked 2km to the Sun Gate and reached in at 7am. Success, we were at the top of Machu Picchu mountain!! Unfortunatly we couldnt see anything it was so misty!! As we hiked down towards machu picchu though the mists cleared and the sun came out. By the time we got down to the site it was really warm and beautiful and we got brilliant photos!!! It was a great sense of achievement, despite the pain and the dead legs!! Julio gave us a guided tour of the ruins but all we really wanted to do was get our boots off us and have a shower!! It was so painful to walk around up and down more steps, especially when we stopped for a rest!!

Finally we got the bus to the nearby town of Aguas Calientes, where we met the others!! Had lunch before getting the train to Ollaytantambo and the bus to Cuzco. I had the best shower I have ever had and stank the room out taking off my boots and socks. The poor person who has to open my laundry bag to clean everything... :) It was a very early night after dinner!!

Slept like a baby last night and even managed to sleep in after 4am!! It´s gonna be a lazy day today until I can walk and get up withour wincing!! We leave Cuzco friday for Puno and Lake Titicaca, and then it´s onto Bolivia!!

Time´s a flying!!!

Orla
xx

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