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Published: August 6th 2008
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Cusco
Our bus journey from La Paz to Cusco was a much more enjoyable experience than our previous bus trip. Again we were travelling with Pat, Yvonne and Shoko and two of the Americans, Mike and Jamie, were also on the same bus. On the way to Cusco we passed by lake Titicaca, watched the Fifth Element in Spanish and saw a woman pushing a sheep in a cart. Getting off the bus we met a girl from Ayr who tagged along with us to a hotel in Cusco. At night we all went for an interesting dinner. Our dishes were all served one at a time and it took 2 hours for us all to be served. When oredering beer the barman was nipping out to a nearby shop to buy it. Later we drank pisco sours and danced until we fell over at a reggae influenced club.
The next day Rich and I said goodbye to our new friends as went off to check into our hotel as part of our Inca trail trip. Our 3 star hotel with warm shower made a lovely change. Over the next day in Cusco we saw some of the local
Avocado
On an avocado tree, always thought they grew on the ground. sights and ate curry in the excellent Los Perros restaurant.
Inca Trail - Day 1
On our first day of the trail we met up with our group. There were 13 hikers, 3 guides and 17 porters! We departed kilometre 82 outside of Ollantaytambo around 10am. There were 2hours of light walking before an excellent lunch of asparagus soup and chicken and mash. After lunch we walked another 2 hours to our first camp where the porters had already set up all our tents. The porters carry 25kgs each and do the trail faster than the tourist to get camp set up in time. Apparently they used to carry 60kg each before new rules were brought in recently. That´s like me having to carrry Rich around!
In our group there was an American family from Boston, a dutch couple carrying all their own possessions, a Swedish couple, an Australian couple (although neither were actually Australian) and a New Zealander.
After another excellent meal we gazed in awe at the stars. The moon was blocked behind a mountain meaning the Milky Way was visible and there were some shooting stars as well.
Day 2
Made it!
Highest point of Inca trail. Day 2 started very early with a cup of coca tea from one of the porters delivered to our tent. Breakfast was tasty and nutricious with a bowl of porridge followed by French toast. Alvaro, our guide, briefed us for the day, telling us that it was the longest day with a climb of 4,000 to dead woman's pass, the highest point on the Inca trail (14,000ft). Rich and I set off ahead of the rest of the group determined to make it to the top first, we didn't even bother stopping at the first rest point and only stopped briefly at the second one to refill our water bottles. We made it to the top in just over 2 hours (Rich got there a few minutes before me) and then down to camp in 45mins. We still left plenty of time to enjoy the sensational scenery from the top though, as we spent an hour there eating snacks and taking photos. We passed a few of our porters on the way up but I surprised at how fast they made their way down to camp, especially considering they were wearing sandals. The climb was fairly tough but no where
Tired oot
Did I say it wasn't that tough? near as tiring as Hua Shan in China.
We had to hang around for a few hours before the rest of our group joined us but the scenery was again breathtaking and I was more than happy to sit and stare at the mountains, chatting and listening to the ipod.
That night after some steak and soup we slept above the clouds on a slight slope, which meant I kept waking up half way down the tent.
Day 3
The third was probably my favourite as we were walking through the high jungle with lots of interesting plants and vegetation including many orchids. The trail was mostly flat at first with a slight uphill section but the afternoon was all downhill and Rich , Graham and I ran most of the way. Although a little more dangerous than walking it was much more fun. As we went ahead of our group Rich and I had time to take a detour to camp and visit the Intipata ruins. The view of the back of Machu Picchu mountain and the Agua Calientes valley was fantastic and made even better by the fact it was so peaceful with only
Big mountain
View from 2nd campsite the two of us there. When we got to camp there was a lovely, if underpowered, hot shower and ice cold beer! On my way out of the shower I was met by the rest of my group heading off to see some ruins, not wanting to miss out I tagged along in my flip-flops with my towel and shower gel. The winaywayna ruins were discovered after MP and are just as spectacular but without all the tourists.
Day 4
Again we started very early (4am) with a cup of coca tea. After breakfast of pancakes and caramel we joined the queue at the control gate to head for Machu Picchu. We hiked the first part of the way to the sun gate in torchlight. The sun gate was our first glimpse of MP and is where the sun lights up the ruins from on the solstice. We walked a bit further after the sun gate to some other ruins where we sat and watched the sunrise over MP. Another half or so later and we made it Machu Picchu to find it was already swarming with tourists who had taken the bus up. Alvaro gave us a
tour of the entire site filling us in on the history and letting us in on some of his personal insights and musings. Unfortunately getting there as early as we did was not early enough to climb Wayna Picchu at the back of MP. Only 400 people a day are allowed to climb it and all the places were taken. At the end of the tour we were feeling pretty exhausted after 4 days of hiking and 3 nights of camping so we jumped on the bus down to Agua Calientes, the tourist town near MP. There we met with our group and guides for one last dinner. Unfortunately for us our train back to Cusco was not until 5pm so we had a few hours to kill. Agua Calientes is not a place a good place to kill time as its just an overpriced tourist trap. Obviously we decided the best thing to do was find a bar with cheap beer and wait there until it was time to leave.
The train to Cusco was slow and noisy and when it made it to Cusco it went down the hill by travelling forwards, stopping, rolling backwards onto different
Our group
Frederik, Karen, Gabriella, Robert, Graham, American Family and Dutch couple. tracks and then going through the same process again. For a nation that built a city on top of a hill over a thousand years ago using advanced techniques you'd think they could build a train that negotiates hills without having to reverse.
The rest of our time in Cusco involved watching the independence day celebrations and souvenir shopping.
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