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Published: November 12th 2008
Cusco's Main Square
The flowers and clean air of Cusco made a welcome change to the polluted air of La Paz.Digame!
Welcome to the one-before-the-penultimate update.... in the week when Sarah Palin became nothing but a footnote in the history book of how America got it's first black president. Joy!
Week 9 was not very interesting. Under siege in La Paz (with no Steven Segal jumping to our aide 😞 ), we took refuge in the hostel bar and DVD room. The people of La Paz clearly didn't want us around anymore (or rather, they never wanted us around), and the rock throwing, spitting, oxygen deprivation, dirty looks, scams, pollution and food poisoning had all began to take their toll.
But the waiting paid off, and we were able to finally get the bus to Cusco to start week 10. Once in Peru things started to improve. Being at a lower altitude walking became easier again, and the city itself was beautiful. However all this, it would turn out, was the calm before the storm.
The storm's name was "The Inca Trail". We met a few people in Cusco who had just returned from completing it. "Not too hard" were the words they used. THEY WERE LIARS.
The 1st day of the trail was deceptively easy,
Toot Toot
Sadly the Peruvian governments draconian ban on trumpets in public is still in place. no doubt a sneaky trick to put some distance between you and the start, so giving up later on is harder. That night we camped at a tiny village where the locals insisted we play them at football. The best local team available taking on 6 strangers who don't breathe so good at 3000m above sea level.
When we beat them they sulked so much they refused to pose for any photograph or say goodbye, and wanted us to keep playing (beyond the FIFTY MINUTES we'd already managed) until we dropped and they could walk the football into the goal.
Day 2 started by going up, and continued very much in this vein for a long time. Then we went down, again for a long time. Then up, and then down again. All in all it was about 19km that went up 1200m, down 700m, up 600m then down 500m. As Hanna said, "Why go round the mountains when you can go directly over them?". The 1200m ascent took us up to 4200m above sea level, at a peak called "Dead Woman's Pass", where there's so little oxygen every step has you gasping for air.
Day 3
Come And Get Your Trinkets!
On the way to the Sacred Valley and the start of the Inca Trail we stopped in this small indigenous town. Here the Cholitas didn't mind being snapped. was far less harsh, but by now our legs were torn and shredded tatters, so the easier trail felt harder. Then the final day, Day 4, started at 3:45am, so we could be the first in the queue to enter Machu Pichu national park. It worked, and by 6am we had reached the Sun Gate - the Inca entrance to Machu Pichu.
We spent the morning at Machu Pichu, sinews snapped and muscles ripped as we forced smiles for photo after photo. The sense of achievement was great, as was the sensation of physical pain.
Once back in Cusco the extensive recuperation program began. Full body massage - 4 pounds, gourmet meal - 15 pounds, cold beer - PRICELESS. By slowly marinading our battered bodies in various luxuries, we've managed to get back to 100%. Poor us.
We're now starting the journey up to Ecuador and the Galapogos Islands which will be the end of the trip. More about that in the next update.
Love
Dave & Hanna
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jonomac
Jonomac
dave the exercise looks like its done you the world of good... i actually thought that was another more rugged and swarthy bloke from your group with his arm round hanna on the photo from dead womans pass! congrats on making it thru the inca trail, i reckon i better get in training now if i ever want to complete it!