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Published: November 20th 2009
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J:
The first drama of the trip happened before we had even left Cusco. Neither of us own hiking boots suitable for the trek, and not wanting to buy them we found a place where we could rent them for a week. We tried on a few pairs and found some that we liked so booked them for the trip. We returned to pick them up on the evening before the trek only to find that there had been a minor problem. Apparently, the shop had suffered a mouse infestation in the intermittent days, and the little rodents had eaten through Holly's boots! An excuse so far-fetched it had to be true. This gave us about two hours until the shops shut to find her a new pair but unfortunately it turned out that Holly's feet are such a rare and unique shape that no boots fit. She tried on upwards of a dozen pairs, all diligently ferried to us by a tireless old lady who kept leaving the shop to return a few minutes later, puffing, with another pair of boots under her arm obtained from somewhere in the town but none were right for Cinderella's feet. Running out of time Holly had to resort to getting the closest fitting boots and hoping for the best. Suffice to say she spent the first break of the trek bandaging up badly blistered feet whilst the rest of us tucked into lunch.
And so onto the trail itself. We met our group at an ungodly hour and boarded a bus to Km 82, the start of the Classic Trail. Once loaded up we hiked through relatively easy paths for most of the day, with a steep climb only in the last couple of hours. Over dinner we better acquainted ourselves with our travel companions - Pieter, a Dutch poker player who recently finished fifth in a major international poker tournament in Las Vegas; Tobi, a German who had his passport stolen in Bolivia less than 24 hours before the trek began and arrived only 30 minutes before we left; four Colombian friends; and two San Franciscans who reminded me of a Jack Kerouac/JD Salinger character and the lead from 'Sideways' respectively.
At this point I should also mention the porters. Every morning they woke us with a hot mug of mint tea, after we got up we ate a breakfast they had prepared in a tent and on a table not only set up but also carried across mountains by them, then as we struggled up the climbs they marched past us, having already packed up the entire campsite and sped on to our next site to reassemble everything and had a frankly awesome three course lunch waiting for us when we arrived. In the afternoon they moved everything again to our next site, and set up all of our tents. When we finally arrived they greeted us with applause, water and towels to wash with and popcorn. Then they busied themselves preparing another multi-course dinner, looked over the site and basically didn't stop working for the entire four days. The dedication to authenticity was also amazing. Whilst a small electric light would have been sufficient to provide lumination in the evenings we instead had a more traditional gas powered light meaning one unlucky porter had to lug a 25kg canister on their back for half a week of mountain climbing!
The second day of the classic four day trek is renowned as the most gruelling. It starts off with a climb from 3,600m altitude up to Dead Woman's Pass at 4,200m, a descent after lunch down to 3,400m before another hike back up to 3,800m and finally a walk down to the campsite for the night. Before the trek I hadn't been too concerned about the physical exertion of getting over the peaks as I had put myself through similar challenges before, however Holly was new to this and I think was nervous about how she would fare. We started off quite well but as we climbed higher, the steps became more difficult to get over and the lungs were aching with increasing fervour. We kept on going though and reached the summit of Dead Woman's Pass just behind the leading pack, and Holly was even the first girl through - a fine achievement and a very proud moment. The decent, whilst much easier aerobically, was a whole different challenge for the knees. Later that evening after dinner we toasted our achievements with a warm apple & cinnamon drink, traditional in these parts. To add some bang our guide, Paull, added rum to our drinks making a 'macho tea.' He told us that after this we would all sleep like babies, and he was right.
At about midnight I awoke and immediately vomited over my sleeping bag, mattress and tent. Holly went to get help and Paull fetched me a hot drink whilst a couple of uncomplaining porters wiped clean the tent. The mattress was wet so a porter swapped it with his own one (the hero!), but with no spare sleeping bags we had to spend the rest of the night sharing Holly's - uncomfortable in zero temperatures though I was very grateful. As the night wore on Holly deteriorated and was sick approximately every hour until the morning. Illness and freezing conditions meant neither of us managed more the 30 minutes consecutive sleep. An infantile sleep indeed. Altitude sickness, food poisoning, stomach bug - I don't know. All we do know is that eight of the 15 trekkers fell ill that night.
Topographically the third day should have been much easier than the second, but our unwell and underslept bodies suffered much more, especially Holly who cut a pale and exhausted figure. She felt faint on occasions - especially treacherous given that we were climbing up yards from sheer drops to the abyss. We made slow progress but eventually and to Holly's great credit we got to the end of the hike. We slept and healed that evening to prepare ourselves for the last day, the approach to Machu Picchu.
I haven't yet mentioned a major aspect of the trek that appealed to us so much. After days trekking, we almost came to take for granted the magnificent scenery. Whether it was the storybook stone and creeping ivy passages we wound through; the near vertical mountains rising from cloud cover below; areas of dark, dense, wet and fertile rainforest, levels of thick mist shrouding everything past a few feet away; or of course the Incan ruins themselves.
On the forth day we were supposed to be up early but I managed to sneak a lie-in until 4.15am. After breakfast we were on our way, at a fast pace as expectation rose, until we reached the Sun Gate, and our first glimpse of Machu Picchu through the mountains. We were lucky - it was a clear day and the view was awe-inspiring.
Continuing down to Machu Picchu, what struck me was how well preserved the site is, albeit with some minor restoration, considering it had been 'lost' and neglected for 250 years. The attention to detail was amazing, especially considering the vast size of the site. 2,000 people laboured for over 30 years to create the city and as the jewel of the Incan empire no expense was spared - windows were positioned exactly to catch the rising sun on the summer & winter equinoxes, even each stone was painstakingly polished although erosion has since stripped this finish.
After Machu Picchu, we decamped to Aguas Calientes for lunch and spent well earned time in the hot-springs. In the evening we had dinner and played cards. I can't say I've ever beaten Nadal at tennis, nor Kasparov at chess, but now I can say that I've beaten a top five poker player at their own game! The stakes were small but it's still a pretty good boast.
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Vicki
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Wow guys - awesome adventure!! Well done Holly, very proud of you for sticking with it although you probably wouldnt have wanted to be abandoned in the middle of the Inca trail!!! xxxx