Blogs from Inca Trail, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 45

Pre-dawn, Plaza de Armas, Cusco. Ominously rumbling stomach. Some nervous anticipation to go with it. This was it. I was off on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu after a seemingly endless process of planning and saving. Although uncomfortable, I consoled myself that I was not the worst affected member of our group as a really nice English girl, Kath, was white as a sheet and very sick with food poisoning. She had bravely decided to attempt the four-day hike with the hope of recovery along the way. Her boyfriend, Ian, looked on nervously - worrying that he was responsible for talking her into it. This put things in perspective for me as I boarded the bus with my group. I told myself again that, if I wasn´t sick to the point of charging off to ... read more

Mandag norgon lämnade vi ett sömnigt Cuzco för att bege oss ut pa fyra dagar med Inca Trail. Efter en kort frukost i Olliutantambo kom vi til Km 82. Km 82 reffererar til järnvägslinjen mellan Aguas Calientes og Cuzco, vi var altsa 82 km fran Cuzco och det var ocksa härifran vi skulle pabörja var färd mot Machu Picchu. Var grupp bestog av totalt 25 personer var av elva turister av blandand nationalitet, tva guider, en kokk och elva(!) bärare. Det var tack vare dessa bärararna att man kände sig lite som den imperialistiska vita mannen pa jungelsafari, med alla bekvämligheter och frukost, lunch, middag och teatime däremellan alt under tak och pa uppdukat bord. Vi fick faktiskt mer mat nu änn vad vi har käkat under under hela resan. Vädret visade sig ocksa bli mer ... read more

And this is for everyone who immediately asked if I was going to Mac-Pic when they heard I was visiting South America....... Up at 5am and onto the 615 Backpacker Express. Leaving Cusco took quite some time, its steep, so theres a switchback system to leave the system (train goes past junction and then reverses up the next section of track, then goes forward etc etc and slowly zigzags up the hill). Travelled back through the Sacred Valley, sitting a little lower nearer to the river and homes lining the valley. Snoozed off....zzzz . Woke up at Ollantaytambo, when the train filled up with all the tourists, then onto Aguas Calientes, through narrow canyons, small tunnels. River powering along on the side, farmhouses and eventually jungle as we climbe nearer to MP. Piled onto the tourist ... read more

We awoke at 4am to get an early start on machu picchu day. on previous days we had woken at 5, so this wasn{t supposed to be too terrible. well, i felt like shit. chrissy did as well after her night of 6 trips to the woods to unload gallons of liquid excrement. it is incredible that she was able to push through all 42 km of the hike feeling as terrible as she did. anyway, we were ready by 4:45 am with some breakfast and coca tea in us. i still felt terrible, but excited to finally see our long awaited destination. they wouldnt let us leave camp until 5:30am, so we chewed some coca and the fat until then. the rest of our troupe felt similarly exhausted, sleep deprived and excited; its nice to ... read more

Day 2 is known as "challenge day". you actually only hike about 8 km, less than the 11 km of day 1, but you go from around 10,000 ft at the campsite up to 14,000 ft at the "dead womans pass". it was a lot of climbing. we took it slow, chewed a lot of coca, and got through it. this was, in my opinion, the most beautiful day. the scenery on the entire hike is very dramatic, but day 2 really was nice. the entire way up was just breathtaking, and i{m sure that my photos will not do it justice. as we climbed it got colder and colder, but with all the hiking we were sweating constantly. i layered my clothes with some long underwear, t shirts etc and managed not to feel too ... read more