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Published: February 12th 2007
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Inca Trail
The group at the start of the trek - legs fresh at this stage. I had been wanting to do this trek ever since i saw some pictures of Macchu Picchu (MP) and some other Incan sites as a kid, and again every time (many times) i saw similar images...so my expectations were about as high as they could possibly be. I am happy to say that this is one of those very rare occasions where extremely high expectations are overwhelmingly exceeded.
Could not have asked for a better trip. The tour group (SAS) was excellent and our guides, Javi and Juan were top notch. The info they gave us about all aspects of the location and the culture gave you a much greater appreciation of where you were and the path you were walking.
Food - think i actually gained weight walking 50km over 4200m passes with a full backpack. Some achievement.
The group - got along great. Plenty of time over 4 days to chat, except when walking up hill, and on the last night had a chance to knock over a few stubbies in the mountains which was tops.
The porters - those guys are freaks. They woukd jog past you along these narrow paths carrying 25kg on
Inca Trail
The view from the campsite on day 1. their back. They'd be waiting at camp with everything ready to go. Then they'd take off again and make sure we got pole position at the next camp site. There was a bit of competition between the porters from the different travel groups. It was almost a point of pride for them to get to each camp site first and get the prime spots.
We were up at 5am on the first morning of the trek, to meet with the rest of the group at 6 for the bus ride to the starting line. At this early stage it was hard to tell what the group was going to be like, it was way too early in the morning to be socialising. Group was made up of 6 aussies, a couple of yanks, a canuck and a few europeans.
Jumped on a bus for a few hours to the beginning of the trek - kilometre 82. The trek that you do these days is not the original, that starts back in Cusco. But the last day and a half hooks onto the original trail and you can tell the difference in the stonework between the old and new
Inca Trail
At the top of dead womans pass - legs not so fresh anymore. paths.
The first day wasn't too bad with a bit of a steep climb towards the end. We had a fairly young group and our tour guide pushed us on a bit further on the first and second days, which meant we virtually had campsites to ourselves - camp sites with views second to none.
The second day is by far the toughest. It begins with a climb to Dead Woman's Pass - named because one of the peaks that you head towards looks like the nipple on a woman's breast. Ahh, a simple people the Inca's. The walk to this point involves climbing 1000m in around 2 and a half hours to an altitude of 4200m. The views from here are incredible, which is lucky because you are physically unable to move for some time.
You then hit the downhill section. All the boys with old sporting knee injuries bonded during this part. The second day is where you start to see some cool Inca ruins built for various purposes.
We got really lucky with the weather. It's the wet season at the moment but we came thru relatively unscathed. It was belting down on
Inca Trail
Dead womans pass. Elevation 4200m, with a climb of 1000m to start the day off. the second morning but eased off not long into the morning and by the end of the day everyone was pink - sun at altitude has a good amount of sting to it.
The third day was very cruisy because we'd pushed on during the first two. This also meant we had a couple of massive Inca sites to ourselves...not another tourist in sight. Played some cards and drank some beers atop one of them, joking about offending the Inca gods.
Thought the joke may have been on us when we arrived at MP the next morning...fog covering everything. Cleared early on and in a way the fog added a little to the experience. MP is an amazing place. It's huge and was constructed over more than 100 years and yet it is incomplete. There are different sections for farming and religious purposes.
The hill that you se in the background of MP photo's is Huanay Picchu and the climb to the top is the steepest of them all. There are ruins at the top and the view down to MP is spectacular, although the clouds needed some encouragement to move aside and give us a look.
Inca Trail
The group at the top I can't say enough about the whole trek and would recommend it to anyone thinking of going. There is a sense of achievement as you wander around MP, soaking up the atmosphere - until the busloads of Americans arrive on their day trip from Cusco. It was at about this time that we made our exit - to the bar.
Forgot to mention in the first blog, there is a section for comments at the end of every journal entry. Good way for everyone to keep me updated with any news.
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David O' Callaghan
non-member comment
Oh my god!!
Its great to hear you are doin good. Those pictures look amazing. Not much news back here. I am wrecked from the drink, went out for the Ireland-France rugby match, we lost by 3 points in the last few seconds. Did a good 9 hours of drinking and then came home and drank a half litre of Jagermeister. God was I a sick puppy at work today. I have set up skype here so if you can find me then buz me. navydave40 is my username. Well take care and keep me posted. Say hi to Renee for me. Later bud!!!