Blogs from Inca Trail, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 9

The trek was scheduled to take 4 days and 3 nights, hopefully arriving at Machu Picchu at around 7am on the fourth day. 48km is not a huge distance, but the path ahead would not be flat and because of the altitude our guide, Effe, assured us the pace would be slow but steady. Day 1 was supposed to be the easiest day, and so it turned out to be. That's not to say there weren't some great views along the way; highlights were two Inca ruins, Q'entimarka overlooking Willkarakay in the valley below, with the railway to Machu Picchu hidden amongst the trees behind. Most of the first day's hike was flat, with the occasional small house and food stall dotted along the way. It was a surprise to see settlements on the trail given ... read more

The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu - what can I say amazing, exhilarating, satisfying and the physically hardest achievement to date! Four days trekking through the National Park of Machu Picchu, at altitudes of 4000m, along muddy and rocky paths, up and over the mountain and the steep climb down to the Sun Gate and then the Inca site of Machu Picchu!! The physical exertion to complete the Inca Trek was worth every part of the sweat (there was plenty) mosquitos (only a few thank goodness) and tears (fair few on day two, especially at the arrival of the camp!) to reach the Sun Gate on day four and look down to Machu Picchu- amazing. There are four guides and thirty four porters, the porters are just outstanding, small men carrying on their backs 25-30kgs, which ... read more

So when i last wrote we were taking a bus tour around Arequipa. It was very informative and we got good views of the surrounding volcanoes that sit around the city. We also went up to a view point and found some local dancers that were making some sort of video. Their dress was very bright and colourful and involved old and young, men and women. My photos on facebook best show what they looked like. They even got me and Stacey involved and we started dancing with them with our back packs on!! We went to a Llama farm where we saw Llamas in their pens and there was lots of information about Alpacas and Llamas and where they are found and the differences with their wool and fur. We then saw women weaving the ... read more

Well, the Inca trail and Machu Piichu has been accomplished! After many sad goodbyes to Adventurist the kitten, we changed hostel to meet up with the rest of the people we were doing the Inca trail with in Cuzco. We used Wayki as they are under indigenous management, which sounded pretty good to us. Day 1: With a 5 am start on Thursday we jumped in a van and got driven to the starting point of the Inca trail. It was here that I realised how much stuff we were carrying vs how much the porters were carrying. There packs were massive compared to ours. We trekked for about 12kms, with a max altitude of around 3200m above sea level to our first camp. The track was Peruvian flat, which we soon learned meant some flat ... read more

¡ Hola chicos ! Der Inka Trail ist geschafft! Aber vorweg: ich wuensch Euch allen ein gutes, neues Jahr 2011! Aber nun von Anfang an. Unser Startpunkt war Cuzco, das auf ca. 3500 m in den Anden liegt. Der Reisefuehrer versprach einiges von dieser Start und ich kann bestaetigen, dass Cuzco die schoenste Stadt Perus ist. Es gibt viele wunderschoene Kirchen aus der Kolonialzeit und auch viele andere Sehenwuerdigkeiten, da Cuzco damals "der Nabel der Welt" fuer die Inkas war. Nach 2 Tagen Stadtbesichtigung in Cuzco startete um 5 Uhr morgens unsere Reise zu KM 82, wo der Inka Trail startet. Mit dem Bus fuhren wir 3 Stunden morgens bis zu diesem Punkt - und genau als wir unsere ersten Schritte taten, fing es total zu schuetten an. Aber so konnte es nur besser werden und ... read more