Blogs from Inca Trail, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 38

Hello all! Well, we are back in Cusco after the four day hike to Machu Picchu! We had an amazing time in our group of just us and our super friendly guide Eddy and four porters to carry all the shit we needed (25kg each!)! After both being pretty ill for the start, we improved, mainly by taking lots of imodium, paracetamols, ibruprofen etc! The good news is that we think we both had a virus and don´t suffer from altitude sickness after all! The trek was tough in places but we took our time. The second day we climbed 1200m in 5km to 4200m altitude. We impressed ourselves! The weather was spot on, we didn´t get too bitten, the scenery was breath taking and we were fed at every possible opportunity! The food they can ... read more

After a long days driving from Puno we finally arrived in Cusco - the gateway to the Inca Trail! Everyone was getting pretty excited and a bit nervous about hitting the trail. We had a day free in Cusco to start with and most of us just spent the time wandering around the markets and stopping in cafes. I think a couple of people tried some museums but thats not really my scene. So last Wednesday we headed out from Cusco to Ollyantytambo. En-route we did the Sacred Valley tour and basically checked our 4 great Inca sites throughout the day. Each was pretty different and our guide was really knowledgeable and informative. Walking around them was also good prep for the hike as it involved climbing lots of steps etc. We got to Ollyantytambo at ... read more

We made it! After four days of hiking the Incan Trail, which included hiking 40km, sleeping on the ground in tents (we are not big campers), toilets that are literally holes in the ground (and smell delicious), stomach issues and hiking up to a height of 4200m (14,000+ feet) and dealing with slightly thinner air then Chicago has to offer, we loved almost every minute of it. This was truely a great experience that even though there were some unpleasant things, we would recommend it to anyone that could handle the above. We do not have much time to go into the details, as we are heading out to the jungle today, but will when we get back. Over all it was a truly unforgetable experience and ranks right up there as one of the coolest ... read more

Okay, this blog is a rewind to describe our Incan Trail trip and to post pictures. On Sunday night, we met our tour group. There was 13 of us in total: 2 Austrialians, 3 Brits, 2 Dutch and 6 Yankees. Hind sight is great in doing blogs because it gives you some perspective and Nate and I both agree that we had as great a time as we did in substantial part because we had such an great, funny group to share this experience so thanks to them all. We had a blast. We used tour agency SAS for our trip and think that overall they were great. Very organized, good equipment and decent food. As most posts note, the first day starts early at 5:45 when you take a bus tour to Ollaytambo about 1 ... read more

We´re back from hiking the Inca trail for the last four days and are still basking in the beauty of it all. We started our trek at kilometer 82 and hiked 16 km the first day stopping at various Inca sites along the way. The first part of the trail was quite dry and arid, but had us walk through many farms and villages on our way to the cloud forest. The camping spots along the way took a bit of getting used to...squatting toilets only! Our first spot had llamas as our neighbors and we both slept in four layers of clothing. Day 2 was the biggest challenge...wioth us taking on the elements...wind, rain, snow, sore tummies and the altitude. The highest altitude we reached was over 4200m and had us dipping into the local ... read more