The Inka Trail to Machu Picchu

The Mission........ Trek to Machu Picchu along the Inca Trail and raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care

Mission status COMPLETE

The history bit......"Machu Picchu ("Old Peak" is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 50 miles northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is one of the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire. The Incas started building it around AD 1430 but was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was largely unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction and according to the Peruvians, the 7th wonder of the world. Machu Picchu was

The International Group.....
.......Scotland, Belgium, Australia, Belgium and England

declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural site and is considered a sacred place. Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu"

The Inca Trail is 25 miles in length and we treked it over four days and three nights. While there are loads of people actually walking the trail, it is reasonably remote and camping was the only option. Graham had never slept in a tent ever ever before so this was to be especially interesting for him. We had a fab group and a great guide and were allowed to pretty much walk at our own pace which was one of our big worries. We ambled along with everyone on day one and the total walking only amounted to three hours...we needed to find something to do in the afternoon so a poker school was duly organised and finally Graham learnt how to play Poker...long winter nights in Italy could become expensive The camp sites had basic facilities but the porters and cooks who were looking after us did a fantastic job......two course meals and a cooked breakfast every day.

We had really good sleeping bags so we were not to cold during the night although at 3,400 meters on the second night, we did feel the cold a little!

The walking itself was fine and we managed to get to the highest point (4,200m) at the Dead Womens pass before midday on day two....it was slow moving at that altitude but a great challenge. The next section was downhill so Graham was in camp long before anyone else that afternoon.

We would set off on the morning and sooner or later the porters with approx 20kg on their backs would run past us in order to make the camp for that night. The poor souls then got to sleep on the hard floor of the eating tent with little or no sleeping bags.

Reaching the sun gate at 6am in the morning after getting up at 4am! was well worth the horrible toilets and no showers along the trail ....the Sun Gate is where you get your first view of MP and it is picture postcard perfect. MP itself was built as a place of religious pilgramge and there were loads of ruins on the way where pilgrims would have stayed over for the night. It is the most visted Inca ruins for good reason and amazing to think that it was largey unknown until 1911 when it was rediscovered by an archaeologist.

The Inca Trail and Machu Piccu were the key focus for our trip and they did not disappoint. Thank you soooo much to everyone who has suported us with time, support, assistance, sponsorship and all the good wishes we recieved before our trip. The final sponsorship raised is likely to be 4,000 UK pounds which is awesome.

Take care, hasta la vista

Graham and Aileen
xxxxx

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