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Published: November 19th 2008
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Day 583 (1/11/08)
Arriving at not too horrendous a time in the morning, we entered Cusco and grabbed a taxi over to our chosen hostel. By the time we had checked in breakfast was not far off so we chilled out and checked our email before having a bite to eat (more bread and jam) and then hitting our room for some bed time.
Cusco is at an altitude of 3400m and any of the treks that lead to Machu Picchu hit similar, if not higher, altitudes so we had planned in a bit of time to relax and get a little more acclimatised before setting off.
We all woke much more refreshed and got ourselves ready for the rest of the day. Not that our life revolves around food, but it just so happened that by the time we were ready it was lunch time, result!
We walked into the centre of town and got our first real views of Cusco which is beautiful. As we walked the cobbled streets we took in the lovely plazas and pretty buildings and ended up finding a great little restaurant where we tucked into a menu of the day
feast. The menu del dia is often the cheapest option and usually comes with a soup course, a main course and a drink, today this also included a salad plate and a banana desert for about 2 quid a head, you can't go wrong at that price and the food was delicious.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering town, buying some local handicrafts and checking out some trek prices at tour agencies. With some recent changes of plan we'd arrived in Cusco earlier than planned and hadn't had time to book onto the classic Inca Trail which requires at least 6 weeks advance booking. Luckily there are some alternative trekking routes that end at Machu Picchu and with a little research these sounded even better to us. They are a lot cheaper, a lot less touristed, can be booked a day or so in advance and provide routes that lead you through remote Andean villages which allows a great insight into local culture, these things combined made an alternative route perfect for the style of travelling that we prefer.
Day 584 (2/11/08)
Chrissie woke up feeling terrible and actually booking a tour was put
on hold until we knew things were on the up. In the mean time however, we knew the trip we wanted to do so the rest of us went out into town to pull together all of the equipment and extra grub we would need for the trek.
Starting with one of the local markets we stocked up on energy bars, nuts, dried fruit and a few pieces of fresh fruit and before we knew it we had filled a huge bag with (what felt like) a tonne of food! Back at the hostel and checking on Chrissie, she was still feeling pretty crook but at least was now out of bed - things were looking slightly up! Not willing to take the risk until Chrissie gave us the nod we went out for more errands, water purifying tablets, money etc and made another stop back at the hostel.
By now Chrissie was looking much better and said that she wanted to give the trek a go tomorrow so that we could all go together so we went to the agency and booked it up for the following day, it was to be just the four of us
- great. We had a few last things to pull together so left Chrissie to gather all her energy together, whilst we finished off the prep.
At 5pm we had organised to meet with our guide for the first time for our briefing of the trek. Our guide for the next couple of days was called Roger. Our first impressions couldn't have been better, he went through the 4 days with us with a bit of a laugh and a joke on the side and fit in with the group instantly.
By dinner we decided on a last meal at our 10 soles menu restaurant, however by the time we arrived Chrissie had changed from a shade of human flesh colour, to a green found on a dulux colour chart. Not managing to eat anything Chrissie went back to bed. Another couple of hours packing and we were all in bed for our 5.30am start and hoping that Chrissie would be well enough to walk - we hadnt worked out an alternative plan so we would wait and see.
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