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Published: October 21st 2013
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Day 1
We've been planning this for almost a year(really I've been planning it in my mind for almost a decade), and it's somewhat unbelievable that it's finally happening. We packed up the night before(i'll post my packing list at the bottom), and Peru Treks picked us up around 6 am to head out into the Valley. We had the best group I could imagine for this trek. There were 16 of us(4 Bermudans, 2 girls from the UK, and Australian couple, and a group of 6 women from Colorado plus us) and two wonderful guides, Saul and Yaneth. After a quick stop for breakfast and to buy walking sticks in Ollantaytambo we were at the first checkpoint for the trail. We made the final few adjustments to our packs, took a quick picture(I was super pumped to see the sign. I've seen it in so many pics online, it was just thrilling to be there), got out passports stamped and we were off. At the check-in in the Peru Treks office, we had been informed that day 1 is the easy day. I wasn't expecting much. I'm in good shape. I figured that I wouldn't even be out of
breath on day 1. Well, I was wrong! Yes, day 1 was easy, but it was still hiking at really high altitudes in the mountains with a heavy pack on my back. Tiring, yes, but also doable. The food amazed me. When we stopped for our first meal, I couldn't believe how elaborate it was. There were always several courses, and all delicious! The porters were crazy impressive. They carried the biggest and heaviest bags I think I've ever seen all through the mountains just so we had a place to sleep and elaborate meals. At camp the first night, when the sun went down, ALL the stars came out. I thought we saw a ton of stars at the cabin, but this was incredible. The milky way was very visible and the sky was covered with stars. Then it was bedtime... cold and miserable.
Day 2
We were awoken by Yaneth with "hot cocoa"(not the most delicious, but it was hot, so I was happy) at our tent door. Time for breakfast and to pack up and head out for the hard day. We started up the mountain, and then went up, and up and up some
more. We did it in 3 legs each consisting of about an hour and a half. At least it took us about an hour and a half. We and the hikers from Colorado were faster and I was grateful to be in good shape. Slow or fast the walk was HARD, so I felt bad for the people who took about twice as long as we did to get to the top. First stop, Andrew popped his first blister-yikes, and we played with a cute donkey. Then, 2nd leg, up through the rain forest. This was the most beautiful section(at least for that day) with lots of waterfalls, pretty vegetation and the stairs started. They were very pretty to look at, no as much fun to climb. 2nd stop was lunch and our guide Saul ended it by telling us, what would later become a running joke in the group, that the last part was the hardest part. Lies, lies, lies. The next part was a brutal lung bursting climb out of the rain forest and up hundreds(thousands?) of stairs to the top of Dead Woman's Pass. Andrew, the competitive guy he is, saw an opening to get out front
and ended up at the top almost a half hour before the Colorado girls and I arrived. There was a celebratory shot(yes, one crazy girl decided that a flask of vodka was necessary weight to carry) and I wasn't going to refuse. At the top, one of the girls from the UK got pretty sick and continued to be that way for the rest of the hike. I can't imagine doing that hike as sick as she was. But, at that point, her options were to have the porters run her back on a makeshift stretcher to the starting checkpoint(2 days away), be air lifted out, or hike it. Miserable options, but she stuck it out. After the top, well, what goes up, must come down, so now it was down hundreds(thousands?) of steep uneven stairs to camp.
Day 3
We woke up in a cloud forest which was such a neat experience. The clouds moved so quickly and swirled around that the landscape changed constantly. From camp we could see a path leading straight up another mountain. Saul told us, the hardest part was over.. haha. Then it was up to ruins, up, up and up. I
thought the hard part was supposed to be over?? Second pass, seemed almost as hard as the first, down more stairs and up to more ruins. We stopped and toured the ruins of a a city perched on the side of one of the mountains before continuing down and up through the beginning of the high jungle. This part was truly beautiful. We spent the second half of the day on rolling hills through the jungle with incredible views around every corner. The third pass was, in my opinion, the best. We were at the peak of a mountain and could nothing but mountains everywhere we looked. We could even see machu picchu mountain(not the city). Then it was down the gringo killers(over 3000 steep and uneven stairs straight down the mountain) which destroyed my knees. Then we stopped off at some incan terraces to explore before dark. There were only about 6 of us there, so it was really beautiful and amazing to get to explore the area without any other people around to ruin the views. At dinner the chef baked us the most amazing cake. I was shocked. Somehow he baked a cake on the side of
a mountain using only things they had carried in on their backs, and it was seriously better than most if not any cake I have ever eaten. I wanted to get his recipe. Final night in the tent, thank goodness. I couldn't sleep in the tents freezing on slanted ground with rocks. In the middle of the night, it started raining, and our tent leaked. Poor Andrew, it was leaking on him, but it wasn't bad and there wasn't much we could do about it.
Day 4
We woke up at 3:30 am to try to get a good spot at the gate to get on the path first. Well, we were slow getting around I guess, because we weren't in the front. Plus it was raining and freezing. So we stood in a line at the gate to enter the next part of the trail for about an hour in the cold and rain at 4 am. I was seriously hating life at this point. The poor girl who was sick was miserable. Finally, the sun was starting to come up, and the gate was opened. We were off to machu picchu. It was only about an
hour hike and we were at the sun gate. This was supposed to be the highlight of the whole trip. Our first view of machu picchu. But, clouds completely covered the city. Luckily, after about a half hour of waiting, the rain stopped for a little bit and the clouds somewhat parted. We were able to get a few good pictures before heading down to tour the city. The city itself is incredibly beautiful, and had I not been so tired, I would probably have wanted to do a lot of exploring. We were all so exhausted and cold and sick of standing in the rain, that we did the tour, which was interesting, and pretty much immediately took off down the mountain for lunch. It actually worked out well though. It was as if we were leading the crowd. When we were there, it was still pretty quiet and calm, but right behind us everything was becoming packed with day trippers. The place was getting so crowded that I was really glad we were there to really enjoy it before it was overrun. Then it was a bus down to aguas calientes, lunch, walking around the city, train to
ollantaytambo, and bus back to Cusco. We arrived back at the hostel around 11pm and a hot shower and warm bed had never looked so good.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Excellent photo
What an accomplishment.