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Published: August 14th 2014
This is the longest blog I've done but we'll worth the read! We were so excited in the morning, but kind of nervous as it was going to be such a huge treck! We met up with the other people doing the Inca Trail with us which were a French couple and a Dutch couple. The first day was quite easy, we started late and only walked for I think only 5 or 6hrs (12kms) and it was mostly flat. Then when it was lunch time the Porters had already gone ahead and set up a tent for us to have lunch in and we had a beautiful three course meal! I don't think there is any other job out there that would be as hard as what the porters have. They end up running sometimes just to get ahead, and we are always being overtaken by porters with their over 20kg backpacks (I'm sure most of them carry over 30kgs!). The cook has the hardest job as he not only carries the gear but he also cooks for everyone!). I've never known anyone to work as hard as they do! They are true stars! On the second day we got
up earlier at 5.30am and started what is one of the hardest days in the treck. We had to walk uphill for about 3hrs then another 1.5hrs up steep steps until we got to the dead woman's pass. And as soon as we reached the top we had to go downhill for I think another 2hrs. We had to stop every few minutes going uphill because of the altitude and our shortness of breath so it took us a while. But then we also had to take it slow going downhill as if you go too fast you stop thinking about your knees and the way you land which can cause more problems later. Thankfully we got given hiking poles which really saved our knees and other joints and helped us last the 4 days with minimal problems! (Unless you are a porter who pretty much sprints down the stairs in sandals!). The third day is the longest day which took us around 10.5hrs (16kms). This wasn't as steep but it was much longer, but it had some really cool Inca sites along the way and the terrain changed as we went more into the jungle. I am very thankful
for the suggestion to bring body wipes as you can't shower for 4 days (well after day 2 you can but it's ice cold and you can have another ice cold one on day 3 but there isn't really any point as you are just going to get into dirty clothes the next day). The toilets are a hole in the ground which most people end up missing completely! So wearing shoes to the bathroom is a must! Other than the horrible toilet situations we had to endure and the thick dirt you feel on your skin, the treck is pretty awesome. And the food is amazing! Also today we got chased by some llamas! Well kind of.....There were 3 massive llamas in the middle of the trail and there was only Rach, Kristy and I. They completely blocked the path and when we went to try and pass them one of them looked at us and started to walk quickly towards us. So we sprinted away and luckily managed to find another path. When we asked the others how they passed them they just said they walked past! On the last day we got up at 2.45am (yay!). After
trying to stay in bed for as long as possible we got to the checkpoint at 3.30am. We then had to sit there and wait until 5.30am for the gate to open. We had to get up that early as the porters needed to catch the first train and also we had to try and get a good spot near the front of the line. We finally got moving and we powered through it to try and see the sunrise on Machu Picchu. We made it to the Sun Gate where we got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. I'll admit my eyes got a bit watery as this is what I had been looking forward to the most in the trip! It was beautiful and was a lot bigger than I had imagined. We managed to get down to the bottom (today's walk was only 2-3hrs) and take some amazing pictures and watch the sun light up Machu Picchu. After that we had to go back out and then re enter as they needed to see our passports for us to properly enter the grounds. We had a second breakfast (I've never eaten so much in one day- I
think I had about 5 full meals) then had a tour around Machu Picchu. You could definitely tell the hikers from the non - hikers. We were smelly, had dirt on us and looked like we'd just emerged from weeks in the wilderness (which is kind of true). After the tour we had some more food and had to try and spot the members from our other tour (intrepid) which took hours, which is not so fun when you just want to sleep and are dying for a nice hot shower. The other part of the intrepid group only camped for two nights on their treck so they looked much cleaner than us! We then ended up taking the bus and then the train...and then a taxi, so we ended up getting to the hotel at 10pm! It was also our last night with our intrepid group so we all had to force ourselves to go out, which wasn't so bad as we were all past the point of being overtired that we somehow had more energy again?!? We stayed up till very late until I realised I only had a few hours before I had to get up again!
I actually planned to sleep on the plane but instead I've spent hours writing this blog hehe. I'm somehow not tired yet, plus had to rush though one of the airports to catch my next plane. I'm currently on my way to Buenos Aires! I had teary eyes on the plane ride out of Cusco as I realised I may never go back there again which is really sad. Plus just had the best experience of my life! The places we went to were places I could have never imagined and the people we met along the way were awesome! We were so lucky to get a good bunch of people on our tour. Our tour guide Julie was amazing and we all got along with her so well and she was so helpful! I'd definitely recommend Dragoman tours (intrepid use them on most of their South American tours). I'm just hoping the next half of my trip is just as good or better (which will be pretty hard to beat!). I'm really not looking forward to going back home (Sorry mum). I don't want to work, or do chores or sink into the old boring habits, I just want
to travel! But that's not reality.....unless I become a flight nurse hmmmmm. It is nice not to have to repack all the time though, and at least I've got an interesting job to go back to! Anyway enough of the boring stuff, I'm still on holiday and just over halfway through so more blogs to come! I'll try and upload some photos from my camera tomorrow!
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mum
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I'm so pleased you had such an amazing time. It sounds absolutely wonderful Melissa. You made it I'm so pleased for you. Can't wait to hear the rest and see the photos Love you Melissa.