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Start of the Inca Trail
Here we had the energy to lift our walking sticks The fact that this blog is being written is proof that we are both alive and well after four days on the Inca Trail.
Machu Picchu: Been there, done that and Natalie has a rather fetching t-shirt with Llamas on it to either prove that the trip was completed or because we´d run out of clean clothes.
So how did this tale of hardship, athleticism, facing-up-to-our-own-demons and 5-star camping actually unfold....
We´d been in Cusco a couple of days and Natalie had acclimatised well by visiting most of the 100 or so jewellry stores here in the city ensuring that purchases were made at many of them (these shop keepers have to put food on the tables for their families, you know).
We also stocked up on quality grub with a couple of trips to the Inca Grill serving fabulous meat and pasta. We´d also done our best to avoid the thousands of people trying to sell you something on the street. Even if you come out of a restaurant, holding your belly, saying in spanish "Well, that was a cracking meal, I won´t need another one for at least a day" and wearing a T-Shirt
First Inca Ruin
If this was the first then we were excited about how cool MP would be. with a slogan saying "I´ve Just Eaten Thanks" you will get at least 20 people offering you dinner on the way back to the hotel.
I´d managed to get my fill of football by watching the FA Cup at the Ãrish´pub in Cusco. I chose to watch it in the afternoon (on replay) so I didn´t have to get up at 9am...but a very clever table of rugby-boys sat behind me managed to reveal the score and scorer about half way through so the excitement was reduced a little. Hopefully they get a bout of Karma Dysentry for their sins.
On the Saturday evening we met our group - six people on a 5 week tour from La Paz to Quito (three Aussie and three Brits). We went out for a traditional Peruvian chinese meal, got to know them that night and received our briefing from the guide Juan-Carlos (or JC for short).
Sunday morning we were up at 5:30am and driven to the start of the Inca Trail (kilometre 82), picking up the other 6 group members en-route. We met the Chef, Carlos, and a few of the Porters who were to carry most of what
Top of Dead Woman´s Pass
Jon and a not quite Dead Woman we needed for the next 4 days. They were true heroes and more about them later.
We set off at a brisk pace enjoying the "Peruvian Flat" path (basically, small ups and downs and occasional flat bits - we were to come to love the Peruvian Flat). Three hours on was our lunch stop and our first experience of 5-star camping. No squashed cheese and pickle sandwiches for us - instead we had a two course, freshly cooked feast in our own mini-dining tent (soup followed by fresh trout and rice) . Natalie started to utter phrases like "I quite like camping , I think" and "we could camp more often".
After lunch we continued and finished the day´s walking at about 3pm with a 30 minute experience of the uphill that awaited us on Day 2. That night we camped in a quiet site, with a clear view of the next day´s destination - Dead Woman´s Pass - renamed Dead Woman´s Nipple due to the shape of the mountain top.
A couple of girls adopted Rodger the Donkey and beckoned him into the camp, until he nearly knocked their teeth out with a backwards kick. And another two decided to take a shower using a bucket in a nearby field, stripping naked surrounded by watermelons and a couple of disinterested cows. The porters were not so disinterested and enjoyed the show. I was sent immediately to our tent and told not to come out until dark.
Another great meal - garlic bread featured I recall - and then an early night. Day 2 was the biggy with 1,200 metres height gain to Dead Woman´s Pass/Nipple/Chelsea Bun - and another 600 metres down the other side - all in about 11 kms. I have to say that with Natalie´s creaky knees I was really worried about how she would cope with the day.
I (k)needn´t have worried as she stormed up the path. We were last in our group (our crazy chums seemed to just float to the top) but we weren´t far behind and passed many trekkers in a worse state than us. And we made it to the top in about 4.5 hours (an hour or so faster than expected). Downhill was not the welcome relief we expected. A 45 degree slope some of the way, steps with depth of at least a foot and many many of them made for a long and painful decent to the campsite. But our man JC kept us going and we made it about 3pm.
A cold shower with water pumped straight from the mountain stream woke us from our fatigue, but we sneaked in a snooze before another three-course dinner. This was the cold night although our sleeping bags did a good job of keeping us toasty aided by a little sunburn that we´d collected on the trek (and some pretty sexy thermals).
By the end of Day 2 we were not in too bad a state. My socks had started the fermentation process that would eventually lead to Stilton and Natalie was shocked to discover that she may need to wear her shorts for three days in a row such were the sunny conditions. But we slept with dreams of Machu Picchu and the evil killer man with sheep´s legs that is one of the legends up in the mountains.
True to form, Day 3 followed Day 2...and you´ll need to read the next entry for the next installment.
Limited photos I am afraid as the computer is as slow as us at the moment (and it doesn´t have stiff joints as an excuse) - but more on Part 2...
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Pat Pike
non-member comment
How wonderful
What a lovely blog, Looking forward to seeing all photos. Emjoy rest of Hols