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Published: January 24th 2007
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The pinnacle of the Peruvian section of this tour is the 4 days trek on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. The trip departs from Ollantaytambo for a short bus ride out to the starting point. After group photos and passport checks and stamps the walking begins. Having been worded up by Dave on the difficulty of each day the gang contemplated what was to come. There was much excitement and chatter as we had finally begun the Inca Trail.
The 17 people on the trek are supported by just over 20 porters and two guides. The porters carry everything - food, tents, chairs, stoves, gas bottles etc. People carry either all of there own gear, cloths, sleeping mattress and sleeping matt etc, or can optionally have the porters carry it for them at a cost of 8 USD per kilo.
The 1st lunch set the scene for the 5 star service we would get used to on the trek. With lunch being served in a tent, completed with table, stools, cutlery, hot soup and hot lunch all setup by the porters before we arrived. The 1st day was finished with similar service for dinner, a couple of beers
and a few rounds of cards and off to bed.
We were woken the next day by the porters at 6am, serving coffee, coca tea or hot chocolate at the tent door - Tough!
Dead Woman pass day. Yes we were all looking forward to the challenge of climbing up to 4200m. The group headed off, and soon split into different speeds. You can see from the photos it was a cold day at the top of the pass. The walk up the hill got tougher the higher one got, the lack of oxygen inhibits ones pace. Coca leaves or lollies, and iPod helped with any ill feelings from the altitude and the top of the pass was reached without too much difficulty. Freezing cold, a few quick pics and some cheers and moving on. It wasn’t the same for the entire group, with one member having to turn back (to later meet us via train at Machu Picchu), unable to operate in the altitude. The 1st of the group arrived at the lunch camp site at 9am, with the last arriving 1pm. The 2nd half of the day was a smaller climb.
By Day 3 the
weather had cleared up, awesome views could be seen for most of the day, the majority of pictures are from this day. With the extraordinary pace set by some of the younger lads the day before, the guide offered them the opportunity to go straight past day 3 camp site and see some of Machu Picchu a day early and come back to camp early afternoon. This was a good plan, and 4 gents headed off. The rest of us took a steady pace, enjoying views, many group photos and some entertaining trail conversation. Day 3 camp site included hot showers, a bar and indoor facilities. Word came over the radio that the boys had got themselves arrested at Machu Picchu, rumours of ruin climbing flew around, but the story finally came out that the Sun Gate check point was unmanned when they went through, thus they did not have a valid entry stamp. After two hours of explaining to the national park officer, they were finally let go. Many a game of cards, a few too many beers and some Argentinean dancing was enjoyed that evening,
Day 4, Machu Picchu day. The rain had started the night before
and had not stopped when we were woken at 3:30am. The walk to the Sun gate was about 1 hour, the rain continued, the clouds remained and conversation turned to recount the trip and adventures to help stay awake. Arrival at the sun gate came with mixed feelings, nothing could be seen, and we had heard from the lads yesterday the weather was clear. The gang proceeded down to Machu Picchu, as we arrived the weather begin to clear eventually to blue sky by end of day. Yippi, a tour of the grounds explained what they is known of Machu Picchu, the Inca custom etc. After the tour a climb of Hynu Picchu was rewarded by some awesome photos and challenging ones vertigo. Next, a short bus trip down to Aguas Calientes for a big lunch, dip at some hot springs, train to Ollantaytambo and bus back to Cusco.
At this point, the 24 hour challenge had been running since waking that morning, the challenge was completed by the majority of the gang, dancing away the night to crash for a long rest the next day.
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