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Published: October 21st 2007
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The inca trail is behind us now. We knew it would be touch but I didn't realise quite how enjoyable it would be. The sceneries are absolutely stunning and here are lots of inca ruins along the way. We were also incredibly lucky with the guides (Juvenal and Percy our guides were funny and very knowledgeable) and group of 16 (+19 porters 😉 we were in:
* 4 canadian girls (Monique, Danielle, Julie and Donna) on the trip to celebrate Moinque turning 50. Fit as anything and really showed me up (yeah, yeah, I know going to the gym to prepare would have been really sensible...)
* Mary and Patrick, a fifty something couple from Seattle, who were without a doubt the fittest in the group (as Patrick pointed out admiratively about Mary: 2%!b(MISSING)od fat!)
* Jo and Andy, a young English couple on a year out too who had just come from Bolivia, and were going back there to work in a zoo for a couple of weeks.
* Maude and Greg from Switzerland on a holiday
* 2 Norwegians who go me throroughly pissed on the night before Machu Pichu and again in Aguas Calientes, thanks boys...
* Barry and Marcos respectively from Ireland and Spain who travelled with us to La Paz via Puno and Copacabana, more on this in another posting 😊
* Grahame, patient as ever, waiting for me along the way through the huffing and puffing (sometimes F...ing and blinding...). The slow pace was good for him though as it allowed him to talk all the way (giving me an incentive to walk faster 😉
The Inca trail we did was the tradditional 4 day one, the first day being a fairly easy 12 km walk, followed by the dreaded day 2, another 12km hike mainly goind up (+1100 in one day) and culminating at the Dead Woman Pass at 4250 m. Day 3 is suposed be be enjoyable 16km walk mainly through the cloud forest and day 4 the remaining 6 km to Machu Pich via the Sun Gate.
Here my take on it: day 1 was indeed enjoyable and fairly easy. Everyone was very excited and so the walk was great altough I had to complain to Juvenal that he had lied and that it wasn't flat as promised. I was told with a smirk that he meant 'Inca flat' which is different from 'gringo flat' 😉. Didn't expect 3 course meals but this is was we got from day 1 'til the end (yum 😊
Everyone was dreading day 2 as it is the one everyone warns you about. In reality it was incredibly tough but the amazing scenery and great company gave a welcome distraction and meant that by the time we reached the 4250m pass, everybody was in good spirit and joking around. I was also very happy that after the pass was all downhill all the way to the camp. Well I was wrong. Turns out that in my hurry to get down I actually busted my left knee which meant having to go downhill like John Wayne... Wheather, sunny up until then turned in the evening and torrential rain started pourring down whilst we were having dinner. A run to the tents at 7pm to realise that a bit of water was coming into the tent. I had to wrap myself into my rain poncho to stay dry but was still very cold and didn't sleep much (camping is really overrated anyway...)
The first part of day 3 was my favourite of the trail. The temperature rose, there were loads of butterflies and orchides growings in the cloud forest, we climbed up high again... and then I was told that the next part was call the 'gringo killer' because of the 1000m descent on Inca steps (read incredibly high and uneven). My knee started to make me suffer and within minutes, I was limping. I must have looked a sight because Juve gave me his walking stick despite his own knee problems. I went down for a while John Wayne like but had to reassess and adopt the crab technique in the end. Grahame told me that he pitied me and took pictures of me on the way down with me swearing at him and shouting that it wasn't funny and if only I didn't need it so badly, I would throw my stick at him 😉 Got to the camp late at 5:30pm and felt instantly better after I'd had a beer. A meal and shower later, I was reborn. We waved goodbaye to the porters and cooks and Grahame did a great little speech in Spanish which got him loads of applause and a few bleary eyes from the porters not used to heartfelt speeches in Spanish. There was a bar a the camp so a handfull of us (the terrible Norwegians 😉, Danielle, Juve, Percy, Grahame and I) went there for a few more beers to chat, laugh and share stories. Went to bed at 11:30 and slept like a baby...
3:30am rise on day 4. The race to Machu Pichu is on! We all hurry up and woolf down breafast and are the 1st ones at the camp gate! Hurray!! Joy shortly lived though as a bunch of overzealous an ultra competitive Ozzies (sorry if I offend anyone here), start telling us that we won't be at the front for very long. Machu Pichu fever has struck and everyone is behaving like a bunch of 6 years old. As soon as door is opened, we all start running, having forgotten that there are 6 kms to go. 3kms in and I've had it. I slow down and let people go past, I've even lost the will to push them off the edge 😉. One final push later and we reach the sun gate from where we see Machu Pichu emerging from the mist. Magical moment which makes eveyone go quiet (yes it is possible...). Another 2 km down and we are in the lost city (or rediscovered city according to Juve 😉. We walk around the various houses, temples and gardens in the heat and sun and by 11:30 am, we've all had enough and jump in the, joy oh joy, air conditioned bus all the way to Aguas Calientes. 8 of us stay there overnight and enjoy a good old soak in the hot springs by the stars. Back in Cusco in the evening where we purchase bus tickets to go to Puno (on lake Titicaca) the following morning with Barry and Markos.
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