Machu Pichu and Trujillo


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South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu
July 20th 2013
Published: July 20th 2013
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Machu pitchu !! By Laura!

We've had this trip booked for months because I knew I wanted to spend my birthday at Matchu pitchu.

Looking on the Internet round at Mikes, I found this company called 'Lorenzo expeditions' on trip advisor and every single rating they had was 'excellent 5/5'. Sitting one night reading through all these reviews with Mike we got so excited and emailed the company and provisionally booked for the 18th June on a 4day and 3night 'inca jungle trail'. A bike ride on the first day then hikes through the jungle and along ancient inka trails until finally reaching Machu Pichu at the top.

We arrived in Cusco on Father's Day and skyped my Dad and Mike's Dad Pete from the bus station whilst we waited for someone from the hostel we had booked into to pick us up. After a while a lady arrived called Heidi and she flagged us a taxi down and told us it would be 10 soles (£2.50) "oh?? Erm...... I thought that you were picking us up?" "No" she said "we just like to meet people and make sure they get to the hostel ok and so you don't get ripped off with the taxi fare". Ok fair enough, we thought Heidi was really nice and she said Lorenzo's company that we had booked Machu Pichu with was one of the best ! We checked into the hostel which had a great view over Cusco and the surrounding mountains and caught up on a bit of sleep after the 22hour bus from Lima. The bus wasn't actually too bad, fully reclining seats and food but Mike got woken up 2hours in by the stewardess asking him to put his chair forward because an 8foot giant of a man had just got on the bus and he was sat directly behind Mike so he couldn't recline his chair the rest of the journey! 20 hours sat up straight on a night bus watching Batman in Spanish!

After a kip we went out into Cusco to explore and we had a few things to sort before Tuesdays departure to Matchu pitchu. The town was bustling with dancers in the plaza, live music, people and colours everywhere. We found the Lorenzo expeditions office but it was closed with it being Sunday so we'd have to pop back tomorrow. We printed off our return train tickets to Cusco that cost a bomb but apparently its the only way to get back and Peru rail is a really nice experience plus we haven't been on a train yet in South America.

When we met James and Laura in Bolivia they kindly offered us some flight vouchers they had been given by StarPeru for a flight they booked but didn't take. The idea was we could change the name on the ticket and use the vouchers to fly back from Cusco to Lima instead of another 22hour bus. Mike was bang up for this! Walking into the StarPeru office in Cusco we didn't hold out much hope that

1. They would let us do it

2. We could explain it in Spanish, or

3. They would speak English

To our surprise the woman spoke perfect English and we didn't even have to go into much explanation she weirdly seemed to know all about it ? All we had to do was get James to email a letter giving his permission for us to use the vouchers and a photo copy of his and Laura's passports. We called James on Skype from the office 'no bother ill do it for you now' he said. What a legend! 30mins later we were booked on a flight to Lima, we had to pay charges for the name change, airport tax and the difference in flight cost but it still came out cheaper than the bus and was 21 hours quicker ! On the way home we got a few bits from the market for tea and dinner tomorrow and walked back up to the hostel with a few stops on the way to catch our breath ! After 10mins or so of walking here especially up hill your chest gets really tight and its so hard to breath but we are 3400m above sea level !

Heidi explained when we got back that the town is so busy because the Winter solstice is celebrated on the 24th June so the week leading upto it is the busiest time of year. It's a big celebration and people go wild with dancing, live music and fireworks but unfortunately we had booked our flight for the 23rd, never mind. Cusco at night is freezing but luckily we had 2 think wool blankets on our
bed to keep us nice and snug. Breakfast the next morning was immense, looking out onto Cusco we had pancakes with jam, scrambled eggs and drank plenty of coca tea ! Coca tea is just hot water and leaves from the coca plant and it's supposed to really help prevent altitude sickness and its good for your digestive system. After breakfast we headed to Lorenzo's office where a guy called Ronald told us all about what we would be doing for the next 4 days and it sounded unbelievable. We sat like giddy kids in the office until we had to go and draw all the money out the ATM because they didn't accept our credit card. We had to meet at 6am tomorrow in the plaza where we would get picked up and taken to Lorenzo's house for breakfast. The only thing we needed to get ready was a small backpack with our clothes, water proofs and camera, etc. All the food and accommodation was included in the price, so was the entry to Matchu pitchu. The things that weren't included were water, but you could buy it in shops along the way, food on the last day, extra activities like rafting and a zip line and the return train journey. In total it cost us £150 each after we paid an extra £6 each to climb Matchu pitchu mountain aswell. Matchu pitchu mountain is 3,083mts higher than Cusco and offers unbelievable views, so naturally we said we'd do it.

We got back packed and let Heidi know we wouldn't be having breakfast because we had to leave at 5.45am. She did offer to pack us up some sarnies but we explained we would be getting breakfast at Lorenzo's, I just hoped it would be as good as her pancakes! She said we could leave our big back packs in our room with our dirty laundry and she would have it ready for us when we returned on Friday, such a nice lady ! The hostel by the way is called Piuray hostel for those of thinking of visiting Cusco.

I didn't get much sleep that night with being paranoid the alarm clock was set to the wrong time and kept waking up every hour to check we hadn't missed the alarm !

Finally it went off 5:15am and it was very cold ! We quickly got dressed and put on our new matching alpaca hats and we were off. We arrived at the meeting point at 5:58am with nobody to be seen. Then two girls turned up and one of the girls noticed my northern accent straight away, as per usual. Ruth, she was called, was from Darlington but she lived in Buenos Aires with her Australian friend Carly. Then another two couples showed up with the van that was to take us on to Lorenzo's house. Out stepped a guy from the tour group who introduced himself as Wilbert and welcomed us all into his 'family'. I turned to Mike and said 'remember reading about Wilbert ? He's in all the reviews on trip advisor' After 20 mins we arrived at Lorenzo's house or breakfast. We had cereal, yoghurt, fresh fruit, toasties, homemade cake and Mike's favourite peanut butter !! Washed down with THE strongest coffee I've ever had. The guy did warn us it was strong and to dilute it with more water and a little milk, it tasted lovely. The coffee came from Santa Teresa, where we would be sleeping tonight. I asked if we could buy some but he explained all of it is imported to Europe, so I'll have to have a look in Tescos when I get home. We were encouraged to eat as much breakfast as possible as we needed the energy for today's 3hour bike ride. The other two couples in the group were Jessy and Chrissy who were on their honeymoon but sadly they had only booked the 3day, 2night tour so would be leaving us after today and Tom and Gemma who were from Leeds and had been to South east Asia before South America. Tom was a maths teacher and taught at a school that Mike worked on in Leeds a few years ago, such a small world ! Everyone in the group was really nice. We really did drop on.

We got measured up for our bikes and fitted with free Lorenzo t-shirts. At this point we had to decide weather we wanted to do the extra activities, either zip line or the rafting or both. I definitely wasn't keen on the rafting and talked myself out of doing the zipline or at least I wanted to see it before I paid money to get up there and chicken out ! Mike surprisingly was well up for it and paid straight away ! The zip line was 2500m long consisting of 4 lines and the highest was 800m! The highest zip line in South America. No thanks.

So we set off on the 2hour incline in the van with our bikes strapped to the roof. When we finally reached 4350m everyone was feeling a little queasy not sure if it was the altitude, winding roads or all the cake and food we'd been eating for breakfast ! We all got geared up and were all a little concerned we couldn't see anything, the fog and the clouds were so think but after a pep talk and our first South American safety briefing we were all a lot more confident. Wilbert would ride in front then all of us at least 3 meters behind each other and the van and Ronald behind us all. With all the safety gear on we looked the part and were rearing to go !

The bike ride was brilliant, definitely one of my favourite parts. Starting from 4350m in the freezing cold and fog, eagles soaring beside you, getting caught in hale storms. It was so peacful except for the occasional truck passing by who'd pip their horn to warn you they were there but sometimes it would make you jump and wobble ! Then as wet got further and further down the climate and scenery began to change, plants and trees were getting bigger, passing waterfalls, through tiny villages, sounds of birds and it was getting warmer and warmer. We had frequent stops for photos and a drink, Wilbert even gave us some fruit he'd picked called Grandilla. It didn't look very appetising but tasted delicious! They're part of the passion fruit family and are very good for hang overs apparently so we will bear that in mind !

We arrived for lunch in a tiny village and ate a 4 course meal of chicken coleslaw, veg soup, meat and veg with rice and a jelly for pudding. After lunch we had a short drive to Santa Maria at 1430m giving you some idea of how steep the road was after starting at 4350m ! The hostel was very basic but nice and clean with great views over the Rio Vilcanota. We had a few beers and played cards whilst doing a bit of bird watching with our binoculars. Again for dinner we had a lovely meal while Wilbert told us about the plan for tomorrow. He told us that we would get to the top of Machu Pitchu on the 21st June which is THE most important day in Inca history, the Winter solstice ! It was also Carly's birthday the day after mine, so celebrations all round !

The second day was definitely the hardest. A total of 8 hours hiking through the jungle until we reached some hot springs.

Trekking that day was amazing and our our first proper taste of the jungle. Wilbert showed us all sorts, coca plantations, coffee plants, banana, pineapple, avocado, mango and orange trees. We stopped at a cocoa farm where they made coffee and 100% chocolate ! Apparently it's very healthy for you so naturally it tastes disgusting, give me dairy milk any day ! We all had our faces painted with red dye from the seeds of the Annatto plant, proper tribal like, really getting into character. We followed an ancient Inca trail up up and up to 2600m. Now, these Incas were small people and these trails are very narrow with slippy rocks on a massive cliff edge ! There was definitely some squeaky bum moments but the views were incredible as long as you didn't look down ! We marched on like true Inca warriors back down through the jungle to a place by the river where we ate lunch. We saw humming birds and loads of butterflies flying round the flowers while we relaxed in hammocks. A few hours later we arrived at the hot springs ......oh my word they were an absolute god send ! Just what everyone needed, it was paradise. In between huge mountains and the jungle, floating in hot volcanic water, pure heaven ! After we caught a ride to Santa Teressa and checked in our surprisingly nice hostel. This town was a little busier and after tea we grabbed a couple of pre-birthday happy hour cocktails. Whilst outside reminiscing on the days events Ruth spotted Wilbert across the street darting in and out of all the shops. I jokingly said 'he must be looking for candles for my cake' everyone had a little laugh and we finished our Pisco sours and said good night.

The next morning Mike surprised me with a beautiful hand made necklace and bracelet he had sneakily bought in Bolivia. Then at breakfast of scrambled eggs and fruit, Wilbert came strolling out of the kitchen with a big pink birthday cake in hand singing to me ! I was so touched and over whelmed and obviously I cried ! God knows where he'd got this cake from and how he'd got it decorated with my name on ? It was delicious and the 7 of us nearly polished it off ! What a lovely start to my 25th. After breakfast it was zip line time!

Mike was bobbing his pants and I definitely chickened out. After a quick safety brief Mike was harnessed up ready to go, Wilbert had a word with the guy and fixed it for Mike to do the 'super man' across the highest stretch of the zip line. Mike went off in a van to the other side of the valley where he hiked upwards for an hour. To watch him we climbed up this side of the mountain so we could see him 'flying' across the valley. Well, we could hear him before we could see him! This tiny dot flying towards us, his face was an absolute picture ! When he touched down he could hardly stand up, he just clung to the guys feet. Two lines down, two to go, while he set off on the third we made our way back down to base to watch him finish. Coming through the trees I could hear him singing 'when I was just a little boy I asked my father what would I be, would I be Wednesday, would I be Leeds, here's what he said to me.....' Finishing in style with a high five from Wilbert, definitely worth the money !

We set off with a 6 hour hike in front of us to Aguas Calientes. This was a much easier hike along the train line. On the way Wilbert showed us a site that had been taped off by the government recently for excavation studies. He pointed out to us a sacrificial platform surrounded my huge stones covered by the foliage. Wilbert said this was exactly how Machu pitchu looked when it was first discovered, how exciting ! When you looked up to the sun we could see the watch tower on top of Wamu Pitchu perfectly, this place has got to be something !

We reached Augas Calientes around 4.30pm, the town was bustling with restaurants and markets all very touristy but that's exactly what it is, a town made for the tourist. Running through the centre of Aguas Calientes in the middle of the street was the train line, all very surreal. A main road with a train track and trains travelling back and forth straight down the middle of the road! After a quick nap at our hotel we met at a restaurant for dinner and the food was outstanding ! It was like something you would order in a fancy London restaurant, way above what we expected ! It has been really weird sharing my birthday with only the people in our group and not speaking to any family or friends but they really couldn't have made it any more special ! When we arrived back at the hotel Jessy and Chrissy, the American couple who left us after our first day, were sitting in the lobby a little tipsy. They had climbed Machu pitchu that morning but their train had been canceled due to a land slide affecting the track, so all the trains had been canceled ! Wilbert reassured them it often happens and they would clear it soon enough, he said the trains would depart through the night to clear the back log of passengers so we should be fine for tomorrow but it would be a long night for those two. We said our goodbyes to them and set our alarm for 4.15am and tried to get some sleep.

We more or less jumped out of bed that morning, got our stuff together and were in the bus que for 4.30am waiting for the 5am bus that would take us to the entry to Machu pitchu. I should have mentioned that every day since we left Cusco it rained, sometimes a heavy down poor, sometimes that fine rain that soaks you through, either way its been wet. Even though it was still dark by the time we got to the bus station we could tell the skies were clear, we could see every star up there !

There was another option to reach the top, we could have woke up even earlier and hiked a 1.5hours trek in the dark to the entrance but we all chose the bus and thank god we did ! Every person we passed on the bus just confirmed that. We all got to the entrance excited and fresh faced watching the people one by one who'd walked up red faced, out of breath and stripping off when they got to the top. 6am and the gates opened and Wilbert quickly ushered us through like VIPs to his favourite spot where we took the most amazing pictures and had a moment. At one point I admit I got a little emotional at Wilberts speech, he was so passionate about this place it was hard not to. Just when we thought the moment couldn't get any more special we heard the unmistakable sound of a champagne cork popping ! So we sipped on champagne and sang happy birthday to Carly quietly as Machu Pichu is considered a religious site your not aloud to make and loud noises, run or take your shirt off (as we later found out) which I suppose is reasonable you wouldn't do those things in a church right? We watched the sun rise in the clear blue sky and it was incredible, as the light hit the buildings it brought the place to life. The snowy topped mountains in the background turned from pinks to oranges.

Wilbert had to leave us at 8.30am to get the train back to Cusco, we were all really sad to see him leave but before he did he gave us a thorough tour. He showed us the sun temple and explained how the sun shone through the windows onto the sacrificial stones. Out of one window in the Summer and the other in the Winter. The whole of Machu Pitchu is apparently a calendar, a clock. The buildings are polished dry stone walls and are perfectly symmetrical. Its absolutely outstandingly unbelievable and the more you walk round and uncover all the little secrets and see how perfect it is the questions just build up in your mind. We all got emotional saying good bye to Wilbert he really has made this trip for all of us unforgettable. When Mike left work they nicely bought him a card and a t-shirt with 'Barnsley's finest on tour' wrote on the back. work told him they wanted him to wear it at the top of Machu Pichu so thats what he did and we just had time for a quick photo with Wilbert holding the Barnsley's finest T-shirt. Now time for us to climb up to the Sun gate, this is the original entrance into Machu Pitchu for the Incas all those hundreds of years ago. It was a hard slog in the sun but well worth all the effort, the view was amazing. We sneakily took some pictures holding birthday messages for Mikes Uncle and Mum. Mike had his picture taken with the Barnsley's finest T-shirt and as the writings on the back he whipped off the shirt and stood bare chested holding it proudly in the air. Then all the guards came running over demanding he put his shirt on and they even stood there and made sure we deleted the picture ! So after very nearly getting thrown off we decided to tackle Machu Pitchu mountain.

We had to say good bye to Carly and Ruth as they had booked an earlier train back. By this time the sun was high in the sky and still not a cloud in sight ! We set off up the steep stairs, after an hour I was really feeling the heat and we had almost run out of water. I decided to give in, my head felt light and my legs had gone like jelly. I sat perched on the stairs with a lovely view of the whole wonder whilst Tom, Gemma and Mike continued. I sat there in the shade and waited until they came back down. The walk back down was even harder, the jelly legs had definitely set in ! By the time we got back down Tom had started to feel really funny and we were all in need of an ice cold drink ! After quenching our thirst with a very expensive coke, we took one last look at Machu Pitchu and put a very cool stamp in our passports. we headed back down and had just enough time to grab a victory pizza before boarding the train which left 45mins late, was over crowded and only took us half the way! We had to change on to a bus that took you back the final 2 hours to Cusco ! Not a good experience and definitely not worth $70 each ! Really disappointing end to a otherwise perfect day really.

We got dropped off at the bus station no where near our hostel so caught a taxi to the main square with Gemma and Tom, who by this time was really not feeling well. We said our goodbyes and arranged to meet for dinner tomorrow.

The town was heaving with celebrations, there was a lot of drunk people staggering around ! Mike and I decided to call for a kebab for the walk home, the kebab was delicious ! I was happy as larry walking home, garlic sauce running down my chin and brilliant sense of achievement ! I really don't think the trip could have been any better. We were so lucky to have fallen on with Wilbert and our group of people we did it with.

We checked back into our lovely hostel trying not to breath garlic over lovely Heidi, climbed into bed and fell fast asleep. Another one ticked off the list!

We met the gang for dinner on Saturday night and went for drinks and had a lovely meal. We all swapped details and will definitely be keeping in touch.

Sunday morning we packed for our flight to Lima. We got to Lima and booked a night bus to a place called Trujillo that didn't leave until 23.00 so Mike had booked us in to a really nice ceviche restaurant called Punto Azul, another birthday treat! It was delicious and afterwards we went to watch the new Superman film at the cinema who was also delicious, but the film was terrible ! We boarded our night bus to Trujillo, where we had decided to go with it being Glastonbury week. We needed to be somewhere nice to take our minds off all our friends having an unbelievable time watching the Rolling Stones !

Trujillo was on the coast and described as a little fishing village and surfer central, just what we needed sun, sea, sand and, well, watching surfers. It also has some famous ruins of the Chan Chan empire who were invaded by the Incas.When we arrived in Trujillo it was like a ghost town but it was 8am maybe all the surfers had been out partying and were still in bed? We checked into our hostel and caught up on a bit of sleep then decided to explore the town. It was raining and the town did not look very appealing at all ! Mike was really upset and just kept moaning and moaning all the time. He told me there was a flight from Lima to Bristol return for £1500 and he was thinking about going to Glastonbury, I told him he should go because I was sick of him moaning about being in Peru ? I mean how can he moan about not being in England ? I tried to explain the by the time Monday came around and everyone was back at work I'm sure they'd switch places ! I was so sick of him by the end of the day I told him I'd pay the £1500 just to get rid of him !

The next day there was no change in the weather, so we decided to check out these ruins and although they were worth a look they weren't that interesting. So that was it, Mike spat the dummy out again, this time I gave him an ultimatum, 'by the time we get to the end of this road you need to make a decision, are you going or staying. If your staying I don't want to hear another word about Glastonbury until its over, because if you really want to go and spend £2000 then do it PLEASE !' He was quiet for a few minutes and then I think he realised it was either fly back for Glasto or the World Cup in Brasil and I didn't hear another word. It was hard for me as well I actually filled up when we skyped Alice, Lewis and Rosie while they were all getting ready, just hearing the excitement in their voices brought it all back. But I am we'll aware of how lucky we are to be on this trip and was just happy for all those who got tickets !

We decided that night to move on to Ecuador and Guayaquil to see our friend Johnny !

Johnny had arranged, being the legend that he is, for us to stay in the apartment next door to his and have Spanish lessons for two weeks with his Spanish teacher. So we booked on the next bus outta there. That day whilst on Facebook Mike received some brilliant news ! Our friend we met in Barcelona many years ago who is now a DJ was playing in Guayaquil this Saturday ! Perfect, just what we needed to take our minds off the 'G' word.

We boarded the bus with big smiles....

Goodbye Peru, next stop Ecuador !!

Thanks for reading, hope your all well!

Laura & Mike

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