Advertisement
Day 13:
The start of the 4 day, 3 nights trek from Kilometer 82 to Machu Picchu.
6.30am meeting at hostel lobby, a brisk breakfast of tea and some bread and jam, we meet out tour leader for the trek Martin. The morning will start with a 3 hour drive to 82km, which is the starting point of the trek.
We get there, everyone a little blurry eyed and excited about the task ahead for the next 3 days. 82km is the start of the Peru rail line, which at the end of the trek to Machu Picchu, we would jump on a train which would scale down mountain ranges and bring us back to this point.
We spend a few minutes visiting the Bano (toilet) and buy some gifts of chocolates and cocoa leaves for the porters. There are strict controls regarding visas and passports, our visa were applied for months in advance by our tour operator. Through all the check points, we cross a bridge which signifies the start of the trek, this was it, no going back.
Roughly 10am we begin our ascent and start walking. Day 1 we have been told was like
The Rabbit
Finger puppets in our tentstraining to get our legs used to walking, so the first 2 hours or so was pretty easy, a little steep at times, but nothing we couldnt manage. Until about 12pm, we reach what has been called many names, amongst them ´gringo hill´, which was laced with steep rocks and steps, and would take about 2 hours to get past this point. I think this would be the point where most people start to question ´why´ they are doing this the hard way instead of taking a train straight to Machu Picchu. The sun is shinning at its hottest and brightest and some of us are caught a little off guard. However, we shoulder on and eventually manages to tackle this hill (not sure if that is the right description). We finally arrive to the end of this steep little challenge, hot sweaty and a little out of breath.
Only to be greeted with some orange squash on a tray by our porters, a tent with a table and 8 chairs has been erected and we are told lunch will be ready in about 10 minutes. I spend a few minutes wandering around the camp site, amazed at all
the stuff that has been carried up by our porters.
There is 12 porters, 1 cook and our tour leader on the staff , this is to average 2 porters per paying customer. Each porter carries about 25kg on their backs, they are carrying everything from gas tanks, tents, food and supplies that would feed us and the porters for the net 3 days, our duffle bags and we later realise much much more.
Lunch is called and we take a seat in the seat, the cutleries are set, knife, fork, spoon and teaspoon. First comes the starters, vegetable soup, then main course, which consistent of cooked chicken breast with rice potatoes and some boiled greens. Finally we are served tea and coffee. I was absolutely blown away by the level of service, variety and quality of food served to us, after all, we are hlaf way up a mountain!
After a very nice lunch, we continue our trek, the rest of the afternoon is pretty easy going, no more hard steep steps, just slow and gradual uphill walking.
We arrive at our campsite about 5.30pm only to see that our tents have already been set up, we
are greeted with claps and cheers from our porters who have probably been here for the best part of an hour. First thing, we are served tea and coffee and a light snack of freshly popped popcorn, and dinner was only about an hour away.
We are given hot water to wash our face and freshen up, and start to get out our sleeping bags and make our tents ready for bed. The sun is setting and the back drop is amazing, our tents are on a slight hill, green grass under neath our feet. I´m still a little shocked and how easy they have made it for us.
Dinner is served, 3 course meal, vegetable soup tp start, followed by main course and lastly a dessert of poached pears in a cinnamon sauce... yum.... this food is better than some of the food i have eaten in restauarnts in Peru. And finally tea and coffee is served, and after been well fed, we are ready for a restful nights sleep. Not before looking up and gazing at one of the most beautiful sights i have ever seen, unspoilt by light pollution, the stars are out in full
Nice and cosy inside our tent
It was one of the best nights sleeps on this whole trip! tonight!
Wow, maybe this isnt as bad as i thought it was going to be!!
Day 14:
Wake up call at 7am, with a hot tea and hot water to freshen ourselves. Breakfast is served, porridge and pancakes with sauteed bananas and apples, yum!!! I could get used to this! i just hope i break even with all this eating!! I´m feeling good and ready to tackle the challenge ahead! we pack up our bags and refill our camelbacks, ready and eager to go! We walk out the campsite, only to be faced immediately with very steep steps, this would be the norm for the next 4 hours! This part of the walk would turn out to be the most trecherous and challenging........ one step at a time, just one step at a time!!!! This part of the walk reminded me of some of the hardest times whilst treeking Mount Kinabalu, maybe it was so long ago and i had stored those hard moments in the darkest part of my memory, only to be released now as i was going through some of the same emotions! One step at a time......
4 hours later, made it! Camp
Look at the back drop....
It seemed everywhere you looked, there was mind blowing views!!! site for lunch is set up and we are served by ´papa´, the porter is also our waiter. After eating and a well deserved bit of rest, we crack on. Another 2 hours later, we arrive at the highest point of our trek, the summit of the first pass, at 4200 meters above sea level. Wow, what an accomplishment, the air is fresh and cold. A few celebratory photos are taken and we start our descent for another hour and half before we arrive at our campsite for night 2.
Evening tea and snack is served, and we check out the bano situation, yes, its crouching toilets that smell rather foul! We freshen up as much as we can and change into our thermals for a cold night.
Dinner is served, vege soup (a different one every time, how do they do it), main course of spagetti with fried chicken, and baked apple pie for dessert. I walk over to the cooking tent and see how basic their equipment is and is amazed at what the cook comes up with! He has definitely touch our hearts and our bellies!
Day 15:
wake up call is 5am, we
have a big day ahead of us, nearly 11 hours on the road. brekfast of fried omlette and bread and we begin our uphill trek at 6am. Writing this now, it doesnt feel that hard, but at the time, it definitely wasnt a walk in the park.
We stopped at various Inca ruins, the build up to Machu Picchu itself and there was a sense of excitement in the air.
This is the last evening, so we had a thank you ceremony to all the porters and staff who made this challenging trek so enjoyable.... and tipped the porter and the cook....
Some of us even had the pleasure of having a hot/luke wamr/ semi cold shower, but after 2 days of wet wipes, it seemed like a luxury to have some wamr flowing water and to clean semi clean again!!!
Day 16:
This is it, finally here, wake up call 3.30am, not to catch the sunrise over Machu Picchu, but to allow the porters enough time to pack up all the gear and trek in the dark for 30 minutes to catch the porters train back to town... if they had missed it, it
would have been a 10 hour trek along the train track.... we saw a few of them when we first started the trek and wondered why they were walking along the train track..... now we know!!!! Poor people!!!!
We waited till first light to set off on our last morning trek to Machu Picchu.....
After all the anticipation, the hard work, the nerves of finally fulfilling a dream..... the first sight of Machu Picchu was worth every bit of the anticipation. My words could not describe the awe at seeing this for the very first time. My photos could not do the place justice or capture the grandness and spirit of the place!
It really is one of those Kodak moments!!! I felt very lucky to have been able to see this in my life time, and would one day like to return to Peru and do this trek again!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0246s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
