And Finally....Mind Blowing Machu Picchu - The Incredible Inca (Part 2)

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I´m a few days later than I thought I would be cos we got a bit caught up in various activities and places after leaving Cusco. But here´s part 2 of the Inca...

On our third day of the Inca Trail we awoke to our routine wake up call - our wonderful porters greeting us and handing us a cup of hot coca de mate (coca leaf tea - it helps with the altitude). I ask you, who wakes up in the middle of the misty Peruvian mountains to a friendly face with a hot cup o tea poking through your tent? Hot soapy water for our "POME wash" then put the same old smelly hiking gear on, rug up for our amazing brekky again, grab walking poles and off we go...

Day 3 was really nice. We were all very relaxed knowing "Dead Woman´s Pass" was over and out and everyone was also pretty tired so the group stuck toegther the whole day really and we chatted and walked and checked out ancient Inca ruins and took loads of photos and were once again mezmerised by the beauty of the ancient mountains. I really wish I could describe it and the feelings I had during these 4 days. I think my smile at the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu on day 4 is probably the best description! I´ll have to try and get a photo up. Stace and I kept saying "all we keep saying is beautiful, amazing, wow..." we seemed to run out of descriptive words pretty early on.

Something interesting about the Inca Trail was that the altitude affected me in a way that "El Bano Naturale" (the bush dunny) seemed to always be calling my name (for "pee pee" as Alex would say). Needless to say many a Peruvian probably mistook my lilly white arse for a llama in their sacred valleys. And sometimes it was so cold that steam came off my "pee pee". I tell you what though the El Bano Naturales were a hell of a lot nicer than the "proper" ones on the trail.

I should mention our "Ejercito Rojo" (Red Army) as our porters were known. We had 15 porters, 1 cook and 2 guides. "Llama Path" is known as being a great company who treats their porters extremely well. This was really important to Stace and I (and the other members of our group) which is why we paid more than some other Inca tours. Other company´s porters had plastic sandals or converse on their feet as they hauled 28kg each up the trail. Our guys had decent hiking shoes and big smiles. They would leave our camp well after us (after packing up) and yet would fly past us in a long red line as we would clap and cheer and yell "Ejercito Rojo", "Muchas Gracias" and "Vamos Ustedes Puerden" ("You Can Do It"). As we would crawl into lunch or dinner camp, they´d be there to welcome us, standing there cheering and clapping us on. Alex, our main guide kept calling us his family and we were our own little red army family for those few days. Other travellers would comment on the tightness of our group and porters and ask why we were always clapping and cheering one another. On the last night we decided to give our porters a real "happy hour" and bought them all a beer (and of course one for ourselves) which in the altitude made us all a little giddy.

The last morning we had to get up at 3:30am to beat the crowds to Machu Picchu and we were second in line at the checkpoint where we waited for 45 minutes before the break of dawn until we could get through and start the 1 hour climb to the "Sun Gate". It was like a race and we hiked as fast as we could, like a row of little picnic ants running towards a stupendous feast, to reach the sacred gate and let our eyes feast on our long awaited prize. As I reached the top the mist wasn´t just in the mountains but also in my eyes as the realisation of the dream was there. Right there, right then....Machu Picchu laid out before me (though I couldn´t see it cos it the cloud was too low!). Do you know what though? I was so excited about the hiking and the 4 days and everything we had experienced I actually forgot that Machu Picchu would be below me and it didn´t matter at all that I couldn´t see it (well for half and hour or so it didn´t matter then I started saying "can´t we have just one peek please" and of course, eventually we did get more than one "peak").

I literally gasped (and I´m pretty sure I let out a little squeal) and I think the mist was back as the dream was lived and we headed down the hill to explore and feel our magnificent, wondrous, indescrible gift. The Lost City of the Incas. Too much for words...even for me.

We were so tired and so hungry and so happy and we soaked in the sun and tried not sleep as we sat on her walls and Alex gave us a wonderufl tour through the maze of temples, ruins, grounds, terraces and secrets. In the background was always beautiful Wayna Picchu (the gorgeous green pointy mountain you see on postcards etc that has long enthralled me) and I couldn´t stop staring. And there was pure happiness and exhaustion and warm fuzziness all around me...

We all flaked though and headed in to Aguas Calinetes (the nearby town) where we ate and said a sad farewell to our red army family and we sat on the train and then the bus and dozed and dreamed and smiled all the way back the many hours to Cusco.

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