Machu Picchu

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Day 55-58
30th October-2nd November (The Inca Trail)

So it had finally arrived, Day One of the Inca Trail. I was a little nervous; my experience in Colca Canyon had made me apprehensive as to whether I was in decent enough shape to actually complete the thing! I also knew that, unlike the Colca Canyon trek, I was screwed if I decided I couldn’t do it. No mules are allowed on the Inca trail after day one and I wasn’t too worried about day one as it is meant to be the easiest! So when the most difficult bits came, I would probably be too far into the trek to turn back. But I was very determined to do this one!

We were picked up from our hotel at 5.15am and made our way to Ollantaytambo; this was where we were to meet our porters for the next 4 days and pick up our sleeping bags, sleeping mats and sleeping bag liners. We ended up spending quite a few hours in Ollantaytambo as our porters were very late! So Ellory and I stocked up on snacks and coca leaves (for the tough bits!) and hoped they would turn up soon, we were anxious to get started! Most companies stop in Ollantaytambo before starting and we actually bumped into Willem and Robin who’d we’d met way back in Santa Cruz, we had no idea they were starting the trek the same day as us . Once our porters turned up, we got back into the bus and headed to Km 82, the starting off point. Once there we tied our sleeping gear onto the outside of our bags (yes they were very awkward to carry!) had our photos taken at the start sign and headed off to the first check point. It took ages to get through, lots of checking lists and passports and making sure the groups were going through in the right order. We actually saw a woman coming back through the check point; she’d had to turn back. I got a bit worried at this point as she didn’t look in any pain like she’d injured herself, how hard was this damn thing?! However we got through and headed off.

The first day was pretty good, a couple of hills which I huffed and puffed my way up. The walking poles were pretty handy as well for hauling myself up. The porters of course ran past with a serious amount of weight on their backs with ease. The rules for porters say they cannot carry more than 20kg each, there is no way in hell that they were only carrying 20kg, one of our porters was carrying a huge gas bottle for chrisakes! They were also carrying 8 tents for us, tents for themselves, a cooking tent, a dining tent (enough for 16 people), food, fuel, a massive table and chairs for all of us and allsorts. It was crazy. The scenery was amazing, at one point we walked across the top of a cliff and below us there was an amazing Inca settlement, apparently it was one of the communication and storage points along the trail. Some of the Quechua people would be runners between these points and would spend their days running between these points (approx 7km each) carrying messages. Pretty hard work! We passed a lookout tower and stopped for lunch. After lunch we continued walking and ended up in Huayllabamba, where we were to spend the night. The porters of course had arrived way before us and had set up our tents and were preparing afternoon tea. Pretty sweet! The only bad thing about the campsite was the toilets, we’d been warned they can be pretty bad on the Inca trail, they were not wrong. I’m talking a hole in the ground here, and not a clean one. Grim! People from the village had walked up to our campsite and were selling soft drinks, water and beer. We all bought a beer to celebrate completing day one and settled outside and got to know our group. We were the couple group! (We later discovered that all the tours had been grouped in a similar way-Willem and Robin were in the ‘Dutch’ group!) There was an Irish couple, a Swedish couple, a Danish couple and a couple consisting of a Peruvian girl and an American guy. Everyone seemed really nice (I have to say that-they know we’re blogging-(joke)-hi guys!) and it looked like we were going to have a good 4 days! Everyone ended up having an early night, day 2 is meant to be the hardest day and we wanted to get as good a night’s sleep as possible before then. Brian, Ciara, Ellory and I had decided to hire a porter for day 2 to carry our sleeping stuff, just to take it a little easier!

When I woke up on day 2 I was feeling a little rough. Not very hungry and my stomach was pretty sore. I tried to eat some breakfast, as I knew I needed the energy, but was just not feeling it. However soon it was time to go, we loaded the backpacks on and headed off.

Day 2 is meant to be the hardest day out of the four days of the trek, and this is due to an interesting bit called Dead Woman’s Pass right at the start of the day. It is at 4200m and it is a very steep upwards trek of several hours through the valley of Llulluchapampa to reach it. Ellory seemed to have been blessed with superhuman powers and got to the top pretty easily. I however was starting to feel really terrible, I had told Ell to go on ahead as I was going waaay too slowly for him and I struggled on up. Then I thought I was going to be sick, nope.... ok I’ll carry on, ooh, here it comes again...nope. This continued for a while until I was within an hour of the top. There I finally succumbed and vomited, on the sacred Inca Trail, with people walking past, classy! Our lovely guide, Maria, spotted me at this point and came forth with lots of remedies, she also took my backpack off me, attached it to hers and started walking up to the top. That woman was a star and no mistake. So with that help, I made it, the hardest part of the trek and I was feeling terrible. The rest of the group were already up there and bless them were really sweet about my snail like pace. I took an altitude sickness pill, although no one was really sure whether I was suffering from food poisoning or altitude sickness and prepared to descend for a couple of hours to Pacaymayo where we were to camp for the night. Everyone started walking down with me following slowly behind. The view was amazing looking back, with the whole valley spread out below, but I was sadly not focused on that. My nausea had suddenly increased ten-fold and I was vomiting every 20 minutes or so. Poor Ellory, I think he was getting a little frustrated with my incredibly slow walking but he stayed with me all the way back to camp. It was hard work on the old joints, descending for that long and Inca steps are not known for being regular, sometimes they were very shallow, some very deep and some were very slippery so you had to be careful not to fall on your arse!! We eventually made it back and I headed straight for the tent and lay on the ground. I knew I should eat and they were serving afternoon tea, so after about 20 minutes I tried to get up to go to the food tent. This was a BIG mistake! As soon as I sat up, I had to lean out of the tent and throw up. No food it was then! Maria came round with her remedies again and Ellory brought me some dinner just in case I could stomach it, but unfortunately that was not meant to be and eventually I fell asleep and prayed I’d feel better by the start of day 3.

So day 3 and it was looking like the Inca Trail was turning into an endurance test for me. I was feeling a bit better and managed to eat some breakfast before we set off, which was a good start. The trek on day 3 is not as difficult as day 2 and we walked through a tropical forest, high up in the cloud (Ellory loved this bit, walking through a cloud was a bit of a highlight for him!) and it was very pretty and I was starting to feel optimistic about my stomach. It was not to last sadly. We got to Runkuraqay (an Inca ruin) at the Second Pass (3950m) and I am embarrassed to say, I cannot remember anything that Maria told us about this as I was sick....again. However this was the last time of the day and although I could not eat properly until many days later when we were in the Amazon, I was not sick again! Yay! We then walked through Sayaqmarka, climbed up to the third and final pass at 3670m and then descended to Phuyupatamarka which was an amazing series of Inca baths which flowed down the mountainside. Next up was the Inca tunnel, a very steep and slippery set of stairs which cut through the mountain and a final steep descend down to 2700m and Winaywayna where we were to spend our final night before heading to Machu Picchu in the morning. Apart from the not eating thing I was feeling much better and I was able to join in the final night celebrations and hang out with the group who had been stars all the way through. Ellory was also relieved I was feeling better, Machu Picchu was something we’d both been looking forward to and it would have been pretty bad if I’d had to vomit on it!

So day 4 started at 3.30am, yes it did. All groups try to get to Machu Picchu before all the tourists arrive on the trains, so that means a pretty early start. We packed everything up, leaving our sleeping bags, mats etc as the porters had to take everything back down the Inca Trail (they earned their tip!) and started walking towards the famous Sun Gate. The path was pretty easy, but it was raining and very very cloudy and I think everyone was a little worried that we wouldn’t be able to see anything! So we went through another check point and carried on. I was wondering how much further we had to go, when we turned a corner, and there it was the Sun Gate....at the top of the most vertical set of stairs I have EVER seen! Come hell or high water I wasn’t going to give in then so I put my head down and powered up the stairs, and there we were, at the Sun Gate! Now technically this is normally everyone’s first view of Machu Picchu, not for us, the cloud was still very thick and we couldn’t see anything. Not to be deterred though we carried on walking and we were there, at Machu Picchu and the clouds were just starting to lift and it was revealed in all its glory. It was amazing, totally worth the pain of the previous days and I still say I had a great time on the Inca trail so it was something pretty special! (was also pretty proud of myself for not giving in!) Maria took us on a tour around the city and showed us the temples, houses and farming terraces. It was really beautiful. However soon it was all over and time for us to head to Aguas Caliente where we would get our train back to Ollanta and then the bus to Cusco. It was a pretty long journey back and we were very tired when we returned to Cusco but it was a fantastic experience. Thank you so much to Tina, Steve, Meryl, Barney, Jane, Jackson, Rory, Nina, Chloe, Jeanette, Laura, Rob, Naomi, Shane, Adam, Rich, Miguel, Ines, Jean, Gary, Jo and Neil. Guys, that was a great wedding present!

Love Liz xxx

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