A walk in the park......

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3rd December: After a few hours sleep, it was time to get up and get ready to head off of the main reason I chose South America as my destination, the Inca trail. Made it downstairs by 5.30 then not long after the bus picked me up and away we went, driving back to Ollantaytambo where we stopped and had the opportunity to buy snacks or coffees etc. we used this as a chance to mingle and get to know each other. My group consisted of Chris from the UK, Marco from Switzerland, Jen and Matt from Melbourne, Marija and Kelvin or Chinito Loco (crazy chinaman) and his wife Ellen. We left Ollantaytambo and headed to kilometre 82 where we would begin the Inca Trail. After we got off our bus we headed towards the entry to the trail, where we had our passports stamped, crossed the bridge and we were officially on our way. Day one would be a relatively easy days walk with a bit of and uphill section and the a majority of the rest of the day was flat passed some ruins. At our first stop however our merry group of eight would be cut short with Jen struggling with the altitude and heading back. At this stop Chris and we're stoked as we could get what could be our last beer for the next four days, a beer that went down mighty delightfully. We would soon learn this wasn't the last chance. After the Inca ruins we stopped again for lunch, where we would soon learn we weren't going to go hungry on the trail with a three course lunch being prepared by our chef. After lunch we left for our first campsite. Late in the days walking we had a heavy shower of rain that lasted for 15 minutes or so and I got absolutely drenched. When the porters caught up with us after dismantling lunch we kept up with them mostly for the rest of the day to a campsite just past a little community, where we found a shop where we could get another beer, a fitting way to celebrate the completion of the first day. We had afternoon tea of biscuits and popcorn at 5.30 then another three course meal for dinner and hour later. Not long after dinner we decided to call it a night as the rain tumbled down.

4th December: Day two of the Inca Trail started at 5.30am with the porters rattling the tent saying "hola, buenos dias, coca tea" we'd learn this was their method to get us up in the morning. We had breakfast at six and we're ready to set off for day two of hiking which from all reports was the toughest day of the trek. It was only roughly nine kilometres however in the first five kilometres we'd climb about 1200 metres to an altitude of 4215 metres above sea level to the top of Dead Woman's Pass. Slowly but surely I eventually made it to the top, possibly one of my proudest moments, but no matter how tough it got quitting was never an option. At the top I had lost all of my group, some in front and some behind me, I met a guy named Matt at the top who took some pictures for me. I'd run into him numerous times over the next couple days always happy for a chat. After admiring the view from the top and looking back on where I'd come from that morning I descended the next four kilometres to the campsite. We had lunch when we'd archived at camp. Chris had been there for hours when I arrived and Marco and Matt were also already there. We then waited another couple of hours for the rest to arrive. We passed the time talking and exchanging stories with the G Adventures group in the campsite next to us. We had afternoon tea and dinner when the others arrived, played some cards and went to bed. 5th December: Day three and Matt and I decided we'd take today easy as the downhill section of day two had wreaked havoc on his knees and I was probably looking for a reason to take it easy. This day was the longest we covered around 15 kilometres, passing numerous Inca ruins on the way like watch towers, castles and terraces used for agriculture. The day started with another climb, nothing compared to Dead Woman's Pass a day previous and when we hit the downhill section and taking it easy to lunch, we had lunch and set off again but we soon realised that quickly downstairs was the way to go as the pressure on the knees was reduced. We covered the last downhill section after lunch after climbing again relatively quickly, arriving at the terraces that were nearby the campsite by 3.30pm and after eloping them for a while we went to the camp by five where we awaited the arrival of the others with popcorn and more cards. We had afternoon tea and dinner then presented our porters, chefs and guide with tips which were thoroughly deserved by all, then a quick games of cards again before an early night as wake up for the final day was 3.30am. 6th December: 3.30am came and we were awoken by "hola, buenos Dias, coca tea" for the last time. We were given a pack breakfast then we left around 4.15 to the checkpoint which opened at 5.30. Waiting at the checkpoint we listened to some music and somehow Fancy by Iggy Azaelia became the song of our trek. When the checkpoint opened we walked this time as a group for most of the six kilometre journey to Machu Picchu. When we reached the Sun Gate the views of Machu Picchu were covered by cloud, we sat for a while and through some breaks in the clouds we caught a few glimpses of the reason we had walked 45 kilometres over the past four days. We then accepted the fact the cloud wasn't going to clear enough anytime soon for decent photos so we set off to Machu Picchu. When we arrived closer the clouds had cleared a little and we took some pictures before going outside where at eight in the morning Chis and I indulged in a couple of beers to celebrate our accomplishment of the last four days. We the. Met up again with Jen and went back inside where Fabian took us on a tour of the important parts of the city and after this we had some time which we used to go back up and take some more pictures as the cloud had well and truly cleared. After a bit we headed down and caught our bus the the nearby Machu Picchu town where we had lunch and a couple more beers to celebrate properly as a group. After we had lunch a couple of us decided to kill the next half hour before we had to leave for the train at the markets. After going to an ATM and only having 100 solis notes I walked into the nearest money exchange to try to change one to no avail so I asked to change the ten USD I had in my wallet when I heard a voice behind me saying "I know that voice" I turned to find Terina from the earlier part of my trip. So instead of the markets I spent the next half hour chatting to her about our adventures. When the time came I went back to the restaurant to meet the rest of the group to get on the train to Ollantaytambo where we got another bus back to Cusco. While everyone else planned to go out to dinner and continue to celebrate the Inca Trail I was back at the hotel we'd been at in Cusco to organise myself for an overnight bus to Puno to catch back up with the rest of my group the next morning. After four days of hiking and sleeping in tents sleep on this bus wasn't hard to come by and I was out for most of the journey. 7th December: I arrived in Puno at about five am where I was picked up and taken to the hotel the others were at and went to my room where I had maybe an hours lay down before being up for breakfast and to pack some stuff to head onto lake Titicaca for a home stay with a local family. We got bicycle taxis to the marina where we boarded our boat which took us firstly to the floating islands where the locals make islands out of the reeds and live the same was their ancestors did hundreds of years ago. We took a short trip on a traditional reed boat which Simon and I took over control of for the last bit of the way. We re-boarded our boat and headed to the location for our home stay where we were split into groups of four and were sent with different families for the night. Aidan, Abi, Sam and I were with a lady called Prudencia. When we got to her house served us lunch. After lunch we had a little downtime before we went to help her out. She had us plow a garden down by the lake and after we had this finished we headed back to the house where we filled in time playing cards until we left for a game of volleyball versus the locals. We got to the volleyball court where we played amongst ourself before the locals would play the winners of our game. My team lost so we didn't play the locals and I'm not sure how the main game ended up as I took to kicking a soccer ball with one of the young kids that was around. After volleyball and highly serious game of soccer broke out involving the teams Australia and the rest of the world. Representing Australia we had Garth, Aidan, Mariela, Tash, Jos, myself and I think someone else I can't remember right now. We played against Benny, Simon, Sam, Tom and the two local Peruvian boys. Much to the English boys disgust they were comprehensively beaten 2-0. After this there were some running repairs to come cuts and scrapes from playing soccer on concrete, then we dressed up in traditional clothes and headed in for dinner where we again helped with a number of things like peeling potatoes and slicing celery and carrots for dinner. We played some cards again while we waited for dinner. After dinner it was back to our separate houses where I had one of the best night sleeps on my whole trip so far. 8th December: We were woken at about 7.20am for breakfast. After breakfast it was down to the pier to say our goodbyes to our host families and board our boat again. We were on the boat for about an hour to go to and island called Taquile. We walked up to the small town on the island where we looked at the handicrafts produced by the locals and explored the small square before we headed back to the boat to head back to Puno. The boat ride back was about three an a half hours. When we arrived back we went back to the hotel, checked back in before some of us headed out for a late lunch, before relaxing in the hotel before we had a meeting about the process for the next days crossing into Bolivia. We then went out for our last Peruvian dinner before a few of us found a place and had a few drinks before heading back to the hotel.

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Photos

Inca Trail
Matt, Jen, me, Chris, Marco, Kelvin, Helen and Marije about to begin the trail

Inca Trail
Atop Dead Woman's Pass

Inca Trail
Machu Picchu

Lake Titicaca
Reed boats between footing islands

Lake Titicaca
My home stay group with our host Prudencia. Me, Sam, Prudencia, Abi and Aidan

Lake Titicaca
Prudencia'a home

Comments

[Sofia Palomino]

Peru is a place where you can find more than a wonder
Peru is one of the few places where you can find something new to discover where you are, so no matter how many times we visit Peru always fall captivated by its architecture and photos will never be enough.