Day 1

17/10/09

Woke up and had a shower, last chance to wash my hair!!
Packed and dressed and went down to breakfast, a lovely fluffy pancake and bread
SO DAMN TIRED!!!!

A lorry had blocked to road to Km82, the start of the inka trail
we had to wait for it to be cleared.
when it was we all hopped on the minibus and headed down lots of little roads to the start.
we gave our stuff to the proters and they packed up
then we went to the checkpoint to get our passports stamped and start the trail!

It was pretty much all uphill! So breathless!!!
The scenery was beautiful though, really really beautiful!
We kept stopping at points to ctach our breath.
I had made a huge error and put thermals and waterproof trousers on as it was freezing cold and a little rainy when we got up.
I was BAKING hot!!
ended up stripping to just the thermals, which would have been ok if they hadnt got a pattern of little holes on them!!!!
oooops!!
deff to many clothes

We passed a few ruins on the way, one big one called Llactapata was very impressive

We stopped for lunch at 130 ish in a valley. we were greeted by the porters who had run the trail and got there along time before us!!!
They gave us a drink of squash and little stools to sit on. we were amazed to find that lunch was served in a tent on a table!!!!
they gave us each a bowl of water to wash our hands in before we ate
the meal was unbelievable!
Aspargus soup to start YUM!!
then chicken and veg and pasta!!
then tea/coffee/hot choc

after eating we set off again and withing minutes we were overtaken by the porters !! Its crazy!!!
they carry bags that weigh 20kg!!! they have sandles on and they run along the uneven trails!!
madness!

We walked up and along another massive hill and eventually we arrived at the campsite
The tents were all set up and they had boiled water for us to wash in
It was so lovely

The boys went off to play football, the rest of us chilled
At 5 we had tea time which was crackers with honey/jam/marmalade/spread and tea/coffee/hotchoc etc
and popcorn!!!
yummy!!!!
the jam here is made by a company called ´Fanny´. the boys found it hilarious to ask us to pass the ´fanny jam´. Imature eh!!??

we all chilled and hung out till dinner at 7
dinner was a maize soup
the main was trout, rice and potatoes
we even had pudding tonight which was a poached spiced apple!! delicious!!!

everyone was making a right fuss about the toilets so i was pretty scared about using them
they werent at all that bad!!
yes it was a hole in the ground loo and it was pretty dirty but it wasnt that bad!!

wish i had a friend too, its weird being the odd one out!
Hopefully make better friends with them tomorow

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Part of trip: South America

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