Survived the Inka Trail!!

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Hey

Well I successfully completed the Inka trail even though I felt pretty crap most of the way through!!! In total that is 50Km of trekking!!

We went with a company called SAS which were really good, the guide Fredy was very funny! The most impressive thing had to be the amount of food they gave us, each meal was freshly prepared with at least 3 courses! Was pretty amazing considering that they only had a camping stove to use!

It was all worthwhile, despite feeling crappy and tired most of the time i really enjoyed it. The first day of the trek is described to be the easy part and in all honesty it was quite gentle.... The scenery was impressive and once again it was nice to be outdoors with fresh mountain air. I had my backpack on which must have weighed about 7kg not alot considering i am normally lugging around 12-13kg! Each tour company has porters and it is amazing that they are able to carry 2okg and walk at a very fast pace up these mountains! At the end of the first day i was really happy to reach our campsite which was ok nothing to really write about! I slept like a baby even though i was on rock hard ground. I had hired a sleeping bag which was the warmest thing ever! The stars that night were really impressive, they felt so close to us.

The second day of the trek is the most difficult you trek up to a place called dead womans pass! So it encountered lots of uphill walking along some hard terrain, I got about 100metres away from the pass and it all went a bit wrong! I was really struggling and the guide kept on giving me glucose tablets and some funny smelling stuff which is natural made from flowers. The main guide came down and thought it was best to give me some oxygen! I really didn´t feal that bad but apparently i was losing a bit of colour and was freezing cold. I still didn´t think i needed the oxygen but once i had it i felt a lot better it made me understand the craze over oxygen bars a few years ago! Of course during this time i had an audience watching over me from the pass! I was not overly impressed but hey its a story to tell! I felt incredibly unfit that day but i think it was more to do with being unwell as i have managed to build up my stamina with all the things i have been doing! The rest of the trek that day was downhill to the campsite. I just crashed for the night it was really cold that night!

The next day is described as the unforgettable day and it was really cool, i had regained my strength so i enjoyed it a lot more. We trekked through some jungle parts and saw ruins of Inca temples and our guide explained their culture it was all very interesting. Plus as we were getting lower it was getting warmer which was nice. Also we had the motivation of a hot shower at our next campsite!

The final day was a very early start at 4.30am so we all had our torches ready but somehow between breakfast and starting off i managed to lose mine! Anyway it was ok as there were lots of other people. Our fisrt stop was the sun gate which overlooks Machu Picchu. We were hoping to get there for sunrise..........and we just made it which was cool, the site was really impressive and it worth the trek. We took time to just enjoy the scenery and snap away. Then we descented to the lost city. It was really amazing how the city was undiscovered for so many years yet it once must have been quite a hub of activity. We had a guided tour which was quite fascinating. Then we had free time, to either explore the site or hike up Wayna Picchu, as mad as i am i thougt yeah why not im already knackered what harm
will another 45 minute uphill walk do! So off we set, well they wernt lying upbout the uphill walk at some parts it amost fel vertical to me! Again there was cool view to be seen so all was good!

Decided to get the bus back ot Aguas Calienties, which was funny as it had lots of tourists on it who didnt do the trek so they all looked lovely and fresh compared to us, and one snooty american woman decided to comment on this she said, "it really smells on this bus!" it wasn{t us though!. Had a crappy buffet lunch then we were back on the train (which was relatively posh and obviously only used by tourists!).

So overall the tek was cool despite my little dramas! I gained a liking for Coca leaves (they left my whole mouth greenish black which will be evident on the pics!) they really helped me when i was struggling - think Ivan got a little worried about my slightly addictive nature! He he!

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