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Published: June 13th 2006
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After an overnight stop over Lima we took an early morning flight to the Inca Capital - Cusco
After a slow start due to adjusting to the city´s altitude of 3500 metres above sea level, we set to exploring.
Cusco is a vibrant city with a lot of character, full of hoards of tourists from all over the globe most of whom (including ourselves!) using as a base before embarking on the now world famous Inca Trail.
We´d been well advised to spend a couple of days in the city to adjust to the altitude before our trek began, so after a days rest we decided to head up to Saqsaywaman (pronounced Sexy Woman!), Inca ruins situated on the hillside to the north of the city. The idea being to have a mini practice hike, until a local chap offered us a horse back tour of the surrounding area. Mike having never been on a horse before jumped at the chance and off we went.
It turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience as we took in some beautiful scenery and other Inca ruins in the region. We may look like naturals in our picture, however
Gauchos!
Horseriding in the Hills around Cusco when Mike´s horse decided to jump a small stream instead of wading through he didn´t look quite so cool!
Next day began with more intentions of practice hikes, however we ended up at the local market stocking up on locally produced Aplaca hats and gloves for out trek. The 2006 range is modelled by Mike below!!!
Walking around Cusco you may as well have a huge dollar logo on your shirt as we were constantly approached by locals selling allsorts. After a few polite "No Gracias!" it became more than a tad tedious, especially one lunch time sitting down to eat on a restaurant on the main square. After being constantly pestered whilst waiting for our food we decided the only way to stop ourselves erupting in a rage was to record the variety of goods being offered. In 20 mins we were approaced 22 times with locals offering postcards, cigarettes, dolls, finger puppets, pots, books, jewellery, jumpers and a baby LLama for photographic purposes! Rachael nearly caved in to the latter, however she had already been pictured with the bigger one shown!
In a way you´ve got to admire the locals for trying to make some
money, but in this case it bordered on harassment!!!!
Inca Time:
After our introduction to Cusco it was time to head off on our eagerly awaited Inca Trail. A 0545 start in Cusco took us by bus to the start of the trail 82km away.
Day one:
After an early start we followed the trail through breathtaking scenery (pictured) before reaching our campsite about 1630. The day wasn´t too bad and we both coped quite well. Only one near miss where Mike was nearly taken out by a heard of Crazy Eyed Llama´s hurtling downhill. Apparently the locals use the LLamas to carry supplies up top, but in this case they were going down! Perhaps some "Beware of the LLama´s!" signs would be good, still managed to get a photo though!!
The highlight for Rachael had to be stumbling across what only the locals could decribe as a Shopping Centre for the odd bottle of Water or fizzy drinks!! They even accepted credit cards apparently!!!
Day Two: AKA Hell!
The first half of the day was all uphill before reaching the top of Deadwoman´s pass 4200 metres above sea level! At this height we
A Typical Picture
The Trail Begins! both felt the effects of altitude when nearing the top with headaches and mild dizziness allround. That wasn´t the end of it though as a further punishing descent followed before climbing again to our camp site set in a picturesque cloud forest.
Our longest day with 17km walked in total through what could only be described as challenging terrain!
Day Three:
Our shortest day with only 8km walked, however it may as well have been the longest as our aching knees and calves had to endure step after step down through the mystical cloud forest before camping at our final stop. Much to our satisfaction this included the luxury of a hot shower, our first in three days - Heaven!!
Day Four:
Believe it or not we were up at 4am in order to be the first to get to the checkpoint and onward to be one of the first to get to Machu Picchu! After our passes were checked we decided to leg it along the path to be one of the first to the Sungate, where you get the first glimpse of Machu Picchu. This was great fun hurtling along the trail in
Beautiful Scenery
Inca Trail - Day One the dark, something we´d never get the chance to do at home. Anyway we made it to the Sungate around 630am, where we posed with our Austrailian friends Bec and Emma for what our guide described as a "Typical Photo". On doing the trail every week the guides had to stop at all the same places to take photos for their group and we were no exception! Hence our Typical Photos below.
After the Sungate we began our final descent to Machu Picchu, however after getting up at 4am to be the first group there, we were more than a little disheartened to see bus loads of day tourists already winding their way up the hill to the old Inca City! Surely they should be banned!!!
Anyway we arrived for sunrise at 715am, where we took a few more Typical Photo´s before exploring the ruins of the Inca Masterpiece! All in all a fantastic experience and one we´d recommend to anyone visiting South America!!
The following day we rested our aching limbs in the hot springs of the nearby village of Aguas Calientes, before heading back to Cusco and onward to Arequipa for our next adventure exploring
Dead Womans Pass
We actually climbed this!!! the Colca Canyon.
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Bob + Monika
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You clearly had a llamentable time!
We have just escaped to Cusco and to the Inka trail, thanks to your brilliant descriptions and the captivating photographs! Very nice....., keep having a wonderful time!!!