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Published: August 25th 2010
sabado, 12 de junio The long day. 17km of trail and absolutely no access to watch England's first World Cup game. That's commitment to culture. And another 5am start.
The first part of the day was another steep ascent in the cold of the unrisen sun. Yet again we split off, me opting for the enjoyment of a lazy dawdle whilst Hayley charged on. The honeymooners have all but vanished for us. Fair play for sticking with it. They eat alone such is the gap behind everybody else. Everybody briefly reunited for a quick lecture on the sun/moon shaped Runkuragay, a lookout over the ascent with spectacular views of the mountains that contributed to a very cold night.
At the top of the hill it got even better, glacial mountains off in the distance, just like watching people fall over, never gets boring. The top also inevitably means a downhill stretch which couldn't be more welcome if it was made of ice cream and nudity. Down into the cloudforest, the rainforest's underachieving little brother, which Rivelino warns us contains both pumas (who tend to stay away from people) and snakes that will kill you within 12 hours of a
Runkurugay
Sometimes Runkurukay. These Incas can't make their minds upsingle bite. Hate those ones. It took 2 and a half days to get here for chrissake and "amazing" Incas didn't even have the foresight to build a helipad. Tsk.
This downhill was much steeper and managed to bring out the vertigo in Cindy and Jasmin. Hopefully Machu is worth putting yourself through it. Over such terrain you can really get a sense of the incredibility of the construction of the trail. Incas only had little legs as well. Must have been a tough climb before they invented trains. At Sayaqmarka we found yet another strategic lookout with an anorexic staircase and high drop-off. Hug that rail. The group that was still together got more information about it (which we won't bore you with).
The subsequent walk to lunch was the best hike yet. Through the forest itself and out into valleys that would look perfectly at home in Jurassic Park it was an entire memory card alone. I had a long chat with Doug who taught him about the aboriginals in Canada and the claims they bring to the Government (it follows a whole gruesome story of enforced bording schools where they were beaten and raped). And
here was I thinking it was just the Australians who did that. Nope, the Commonwealth. Let's celebrate with a mini-olympics.
After lunch and a brief stop at Qonchamarka since 2 of the Norweigans are quite sick the group had to split again. This time Hayley and I conquered the 5,000 odd steps together, reaching Bjorn at Phuyupatamarka (he had run there) and nearly dying getting to the top. From there it was just ten minutes to camp - ours being the one farthest from the showers (yes!!!) and bar (yes!!! yes!!!) almost an Inca trail in itself.
Clean, with a beer in the bloodstream; life is good. We handed over our tip to the porters (thanks for underpaying them GAP) and said our goodbyes. Everybody went to bed early but Bjorn who had 14(!) beers in just 2 hours and stumbled in at 10.30pm and scared the cr*p out of everyone. He also sang the theme tune to The Cleveland Brown Show.
domingo, 13 de junio Good things come to those who wait. I usually start my Guinness before it's settled. Anywho, Machu Picchu today. The undoubted highlight of the trip - from here the wind down
until home.
At 3.30am our tents were picked up and us shook out of them like dinner money in a schoolchild's pocket. To be near the front of the walkers arriving today we needed to be queuing at the camp exit by 4.30. There used to be no restriction until one hapless tourist fell off the cliff in the darkness; somebody always ruins it for the rest. A metaphor for fascism if ever we saw one. Now we must wait until first light, and that means no Waina Picchu (the climbable mountain behind).
The hour long walk passed the landslide point where people were airlifted in December last year; a makshift bridge solved that problem until it falls down. We eventually reached the Sun Gate, a steep climb needing your hands to navigate, and there it is. Shrouded in shadow like anyone who walks behind Kerry Katona. We watched as the sun slowly illuminated the city and bagged as many shots as we could.
Rivelino provided us his final tour of a memorable trip. Machu Picchu was a city abandoned but no-one has conclusively shown why. 43,000 household artefacts were found here but next to no bodies.
Rivelino championed the city's discoverer, Bingham, which p*ssed Doug off since all Bingham did was pay a local to show it to him. A champion for the indigenous. Besides we saw sundials and other light-led buildings. You know what it looks like you don't need us to tell you. Amazing though.
By lunch the tour was done. Since only one train exists now we had to wait a full nine hours until our return to Cuzco, made perfect by the fact that Aguas Calientes (the train stop) is apparently moneyless. The all-day happy hours like a Chinese water torture to the Norweigans. We filled time with a trip to the Hot Springs (what would you expect from AGUAS CALIENTES?) in which we stayed too long and ended up smelling like an egg sandwich.
Our final dinner together included a taste of guinea pig (new animal no. 4) which was repulsive. Super fatty and scorched so it couldn't be identified by its dental records it was virtually inedible. Will not eat that again.
We got home at 2am. Killer.
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