Inca Trail Day 4 Machu Picchu

---

Day 4

This was our earliest start - 3:30, though I was actually awake at 3:15.

The checkpoint and gate to the final stretch of the trail was not due to open until 5:30 but even as I got up in the pitch black groups were descending the path behind our site using their head torches.

We went through our morning ritual, with the porters quickly taking down the tents and packing everything up because they had to get down to catch the 5:30 train.

We joined the back of the queue about 4:30, standing in the dark and damp. We had to show our passports to the rangers and then we were let through. The last stretch was undulating and we set off at a good pace. It soon became light and we had views of the steep sided valley and more orchids and birds.

There was one steep section of steps, the "gringo killer" which we had to climb and then pretty soon we reached the Sun Gate. Apparently there is no astronomical significance to the name.

Sunny it was not. Mist shrouded the hills and groups waited for it to clear.

We met a couple of Englishmen from London who had just walked up from their hotel in Machu Picchu which seemed a cheat by comparison to the ordeal we had been through.

The walk down hill to the lost city of the Incas was longer than I thought it would be and we passed visitors struggling to get up the hill going in the opposite direction.

When we finally reached the city the two overwhelming impressions were the sheer scale of the remains - they are vast - and, even at 8:00 in the morning, the number of people. Although the walkers entering the trail is limited to 500 a day most of the time we seemed to have it to ourselves plus a few others walking at a similar pace. The only people regularly passing us were the porters - usually running - and at the shout of "porters coming" we quickly stepped out of the way.

After taking a few quick pictures, we walked down to the entrance where we again had to show our passports. It was full of people and the chance to use public toilets at the cost of 1 Sol. Clean toilets on which you could sit down were a delight to the women in the party.

We then went into the lower part of the site and started a two hour tour with our two guides.

It was hot and the number of visitors increasing, but even so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

At the end of two hours Freddy and JJ gave us the choice to look round the site on our own or take the bus with them down to the town. We all opted for the latter, feeling that we had seen enough.

Freddy already had the bus tickets for the 25 minute bus trip down the valley. The green buses were surprisingly luxurious and they sped down the unmade road with its sharp bends.

The town is devoted to tourism with railway tracks, dominated by huge blue engines, occupying the whole of the main street.

We were taken to the first floor of a restaurant where we had an open balcony view of all that was happening in the street below. Men were walking backwards and forwards with barrows contains a range of goods - bags of cement, boxes of eggs, packs of drinks - which they seemed to be unloading from one if the trains. Every now and then, with a blast on their horn, a train would pass by.

After a very leisurely lunch we walked up to the station to catch the train back to Ollantaytambo.

This was another surprise. We were welcomed on board by two smartly dressed members of staff in black uniforms with gold piping into spacious leather seated carriages with glass windows in the roof to show off the landscape.

During the journey the same team of two served us free hot drinks and snacks and modelled various items of clothing for sale.

The train gently trundled its way back through a dramatic landscape, the river on our right hand side with rapids. In the fields farmers could be seen ploughing with oxen. The contrast between the lives of the visitors to the country and many of its residents could not have been more stark.

We arrived back to the bustle of Ollantaytambo and after a short delay were transported by minibus through the dark back to Cusco.

I noticed as we passed through the outskirts of the city groups of dogs on top of skips looking for anything edible and others waiting outside their homes to be let in for the night. Apparently, most of them have owners who let them out in the morning to roam the streets. They don't seem to cause any problems and during the day meet up with their mates to either laze around in green spaces or look for food.

We arrived back around 7:15 and Martin suggested that we all meet up in the cafe near the Inca that we had made our haunt in Cusco. Seven of the nine made it. The staff of the Sepia Club Cafe made us welcome. We had great food and both Martin and I plumped for the lemonade and mint drink.

---