I DID IT!

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Wow! I can’t believe I did it! The Inca Trail! It’s just something else.
Day 1: A Gentle Start
The bus picked us up from our hostel at stupid o clock and it was a couple of hours before we reached our first stop, a little village called Piskacuchu were there were hundreds of locals all selling big sticks for walking, coco leaves, water and snacks. We grabbed a quick breakfast and when i went out the back of the restaurant there was a big cage full of guinea pigs! No doubt headed for the dinner table that night! aaww!! So after we were suitably fed and watered and had bought enough snacks and chocolate to gets us through 45km of mountains reaching 4200m we were off. The road that takes you to the famous Km82 starting point was closed for roadworks so we had to start walking 2km early! We had all bought big sticks (they were only about 70p) and happily trotted along the flat road enjoying the scenery. There were 12 people in our group, Two couples from South Africa whose names now escape me, and an older couple Helen from Australia and Paul from Wales, an English couple Amanda and Dave, and a guy from California Johnny, who was at UCSB the same time i was, how random is that?! and then us three. We had a guide Carlos and an assistant guide Socrates. Carlos spoke better English than Socrates but there were both excellent, really patient with all our questions (mainly "are we nearly there yet") and they seemed to really enjoy their job. We also had 14 porters in tow who carried our luggage, the tents and all the food and camping equipment. These guys were truly exceptional. The youngest was only 19! They ran ahead of us everyday and set up the camp before we got there. While we were huffing and puffing up the mountain carrying our tiny day packs they would just scoot past quietly carrying a gas stove, 12 camp seats, a diningroom table and an eating tent big enough 12 people amongst other stuff. If we were blocking the path they would wait patiently for us to notice them before trotting past. After the first day we got used to shouting "Porter!" and moving out of the way for them.

The first day walking was fine, it’s mostly an acclimatization day so we took it easy and Carlos would stop us every now and again and describe the flora and fauna. There were also a couple of pre-Inca ruins along the way that were really beautiful. The surrounding scenery the whole time was just stunning and as the light changed during the day the mountains grew more and more majestic. We stopped for lunch after a couple of hours walking and i was expecting a sandwich and if we were lucky, a cup of coco tea but when we arrived the eating tent was up and there was what can only be described as a 4 course banquet waiting for us! I haven’t eaten so well since I´ve started traveling! Before starting the trail I´d met quite a few people who had done it and all they talked about was how difficult the second day was and how tiring it was and how they’d had people in their group who had to turn back. They really filled me with confidence! But none of them ever mentioned how fantastic the food was! They also had tomato ketchup called "fanny" which was a great source of amusement for us Brits but was a bit lost on Johnny. The walk after lunch was a bit harder but we were well fuelled and soon enough we reached our first campsite. All the tents were set up facing the most spectacular view of the valley and mountains. There were also donkeys in the field next to us. We had bowls of warm water and were told that afternoon tea would be ready in half and hour! Afternoon Tea! On the Inca Trail! This is heaven! So despite having major worries about the trip (due to the horror stories from other travelers) things were certainly looking up! After tea we had more of a chance to chat to the others in our group (without huffing and puffing) Dave caught us up on what had been happening in Desperate Housewives and Amanda caught us up on what was happening in Neighbors! Brilliant! Dinner followed a couple of hours later and again was fantastic. We couldn’t believe how well they could cook with how little they had and the porters were so courteous, it was just great. After being briefed (or warned) about the next day’s difficult trek we were all in bed by about 830. They were two man tents but Laura, Naomi and I decided to bunk in together for warmth (a decision which Laura, who was in the middle, would regret)
Day 2: The Dead Woman’s Pass
The next day I awoke at 530am to a porter serving hot coco "wake up tea" after a good nights sleep i was refreshed and content, Laura and Naomi awoke grumpy and crumpled, claiming I had taken up most of the tent (utter rubbish!, well, maybe a bit! he he!) We got bowls of hot water again for washing and the donkeys watched while I brushed my teeth! After breakfast (3 courses) we could see the first part of the ascent to the peak of Warmi Wanuska and the "Dead Woman’s Pass" It was about 7km and so so steep, first winding through forests and then on open mountainside. All I could think was "Oh bugger" Carlos said to take it slow. I trusted his judgment. The first part was pretty hard but taking small steps and having regular breaks helped. I was so grateful for my oversized stick! After a couple of hours we came to a clearing and could clearly see the final ascent to the Dead Woman’s Pass. It’s so called because the top profile looks like a woman on the feotal position. The name wasn’t very comforting and I joked with Carlos about me being the dead woman! He reassured me that the worst was over and lunch was waiting for us after the summit so we pressed on. I´m not sure how long it took, all i remember was that it was bloody hard but reaching the top was just fabulous. It was the highest part of the Inca Trail, 4200m, and the hardest part was over, now we had a very steep descent to our campsite. We descended about 800m in only 2km, the steps were really big at parts and for once i was enjoying being infront of everyone! There was a gorgeous waterfall and river that continued right to our campsite. Once again we had a room with a view although this time Laura decided to take a tent to herself so she'd have more room! After such a hard days hike it was great to be able to indulge in a huge lunch and then nap afterwards. We also had a dip in a smaller waterfall next to the campsite.

That night after dinner we played cards with some the porters. My favorite porter Juan (he had funny hair and brought us the wake up tea) taught us a really complicated game that involved far more counting than any of us could be arsed with so with my limited Spanish i explained Idiot and Black Five. After a while Johnny joined us and he speaks Spanish really well so could explain a bit better. The campsite was at about 3500m and so was absolutely freezing, we didn’t realise that the porters slept in the dining tent so most of them were waiting patiently outside in the freezing cold to go to bed! Eventually they all trickled in and watched us play. We seemed to be a great source of amusement for them; they got quite excited when any of us won!

Day 3: A Needle on an Inca Trail
Anything had to be easier than day 2! From the campsite we could see the initial steep ascent up the mountainside but Carlos assured us that it was quite gentle and looked harder than it was. I preferred not to look! Once we got going though it was fine, however there were two false summits so every time I’d look up and think "oh we’ve only got that much to go until the top" then I’d get there and there’d be a whole other lot of steps to climb! But the views while having lunch at the summit were totally worth it (as was the 4 course lunch!) The 3rd day was by far the most beautiful. Alot of the path was original so it was alot wider and smoother, with steep cliffs at either side. At one point we were walking along and arête between two stunning valleys. This area was alot greener, more tropical. We could also see the Sun Gate for most of the way. It was hard to believe that by this time tomorrow we’d be in Machu Picchu. As we approached our final campsite there were two of the most fantastic examples of terracing I’ve ever seen. Totally random and almost out of place in the mountainside but totally perfect. One had a little abandoned village attached. After dropping our stuff at the campsite we went to investigate. Naomi and I had a good look around. The irrigation system was even still working! The sun was beginning to set so we headed back to camp.

Laura and Naomi have had a small hard dot thing on the soles of their feet from when they visited the Pantanal and had asked Carlos (being a tour guide) what they might be. One of the porters Santos was quite confident about what they were because he had had one himself and said that he knew how to remove them, all you needed was a needle and some tweezers. The girls had put off their "operation" until now incase it hurt while hiking and strangely enough one of the South African guys had found a needle on the Inca trail and remembered that we needed one and kept it, talk about a needle in a haystack! What about a needle on the Inca Trail! So we had what we needed and this was the girl’s last opportunity. Laura had disappeared (to what we assumed was the one hot shower on the Inca Trail) so Naomi was first. She started trying to do it herself but then freaked out and told me to get Carlos, who then got Socrates to fetch Santos who then brought along his friends so while Naomi was sitting in our tent with her foot on Santos lap there were 6 porters, two guides and me all watching. Naomi asked if it was going to hurt and Santos (who doesn’t speak English) said to Carlos "yes it will probably hurt a bit” Carlos in turn translated to Naomi "no, he says it wont hurt" I just shut up. It was so funny to watch all the porters bent over Naomi’s foot, then when Santos extracted the tiny tiny sack of eggs they all went "oooooohhhhhh" and Naomi looked relieved. and so it was time for tea and we relayed the story to the rest of the group.

Half way through afternoon tea Dave mentioned that Laura was having an awfully long shower and then Amanda mentioned that she'd just come from the showers and that Laura wasn’t there. Thinking she’d fallen asleep while reading or something I jumped up to check her tent, she wasn´t there. Laura had been lost for about 3hrs and nobody had noticed! Naomi and I panicked and while she checked the rest of the campsite, i ran along to the terraces again thinking she’d gone to take pictures, she wasn’t there and it was getting really dark fast. I ran back to our campsite and Laura was standing with Carlos and Socrates gasping for breath because shed just run down and up the mountain looking for the terraces! We were so relieved and when we arrived back at camp the others had organised a search party and were standing with torches ready to go! So after she got her breath back and had a cup of tea she relayed her story of running after us to see the terraces and ending up at the bottom of the mountain! Everyone thought it was quite funny that Naomi and I were able to lose our friend and not notice for so long!

Since it was our last night we had dinner and then thanked all the porters and the guides for such a great trip. Carlos said it might be an idea to donate clothes, coco leaves, and extra snacks etc to the porters so we all had a good rummage and came up with quite an array of gifts including Laura’s obnoxious bright orange waterproof trousers she acquired from Dan in the salt lakes (again that blog is still a work in progress, sorry) later that night i heard the porters laughing and joking about who they suited the most!

Day 4: Machu Picchu
Wake up tea at 330am! My goodness! We wanted to be one of the first groups through the gate so we could make it to the Sun Gate (Intipunku) for sunrise. There were about 10 groups of 14 people at our campsite and the path is narrow and winding so we didn’t want to get stuck at the back. We were at the entrance half and hour early and there was only one more group in front of us. Carlos briefed us before we went in and it was like he was briefing troops about to go into battle. Although it was still the middle of the night he advised us to walk in T-shirts! He was right though because when the gate opened everyone took off at full belt, it was crazy! We were all still knackered so Paul kept our spirits up by making up funny blues songs about our Inca trail woes! It took us 45mins of half walking half running to get to the Sun Gate and when we arrived we looked out over the valley and Machu Picchu was covered in cloud! aarrgghh! We waited around for a while for it to clear and then Carlos took us to another vantage point. When we reached the second point the clouds began to lift and as the sun rose over the mountains the city came into view.

The sight was utterly fantastic, it just seemed so unreal. A totally random city in the middle of stunning lush green mountains. We headed to where the postcard pictures are taken from and had group photos done (mines didn’t turn out!) Then Carlos took us into the city and did his tour guide bit. He explained all about the city and the sun temple. He was so funny because he would explain all about something and then finish with "probably" so I´m not sure how sure he was about his facts!

After his tour everyone was pretty tired and the sun was really hot. We had the afternoon to explore the city further but I chose to climb Hauyna Picchu, the bigger mountain you see in the background of Machu Picchu. We were warned that it was a really hard climb so the girls decided to have more of a look round Machu Picchu and go back to the Sun Gate to take pictures, as did most of the others. Only the South African guys (who were really fit) and Helen and Paul decided to go. So while they were faffing about I got a head start because i figured they’d catch me up pretty easily! So off I went, I'd been climbing for about 15mins when I reached a sort of mini summit and couldn’t se which way i was meant to go. There was an English couple taking photos so once I'd got my breath back i asked them and they said I'd come up the wrong mountain! aarrgghh! So I quickly ascended in time to meet the others going the right way! The fit South Africans stormed ahead and I kept up as best as I could but it was such a tiring climb. There were alot of VERY steep stairs, at some points there were ropes to pull yourself up with. After about half an hour I heard an American girl up ahead saying to her friends "my god, do you remember when we were this far on the way up, do you think if we'd known what we were in for would we have continued?!" Just what I needed to hear! So I said back "oh don’t say that!" and she replied, "Oh my god I´m so sorry, i didn’t mean that, well, it’s a bit hard but totally worth it" so i decided to press on. It was very pretty the whole way up with nice vegetation and every now and again a nice view of Machu Picchu. At the top there was more terracing and some sort of temple but there was a higher summit so i figured i might as well go the whole way. There were huge irregular rocks at the top that you had to scramble over. It was really high and quite scary but the views were just absolutely breathtaking. Machu Picchu looked totally different and just as beautiful. Because Huayna Picchu is so narrow and tall I got a perfect 360 degree view of all the valleys which lead to Machu Picchu. Also at the summit there were some pretty trees with humming birds and butterflies. It just all seemed so totally surreal. I could have stayed up there for hours; it was so peaceful and gorgeous. It really did feel like i was on top of the world. I took a couple of photos but they too haven't come out! aarrgghh! On the way down I offered encouragement to every exhausted looking trekker on their way up!

After descending carefully and then getting lost in Machu Picchu I headed for Aguas Callientes, the main town next to Machu Picchu where I was meeting the girls. They have natural hot springs there (hence the name). The bathing areas weren’t too great but they had Puma heads carved in stone on the wall that spouted out hot water like massive showers. It was so nice to be clean, scrubbing 4 days worth of dust and grime away and then putting my dusty grimy clothes back on! Lovely!

So after 4 days of trekking I’m knackered and the walk up the close to our hostel wasn’t any easier! I think the highlight would have to be climbing Huayna Picchu. Seeing Machu Picchu from such a different perspective was fantastic. I’d do it again in a second

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