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Published: October 19th 2006
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36KM hike to Macchu Picchu located high in the Andean Mountains & rediscovered by Hiram Bingham (USA) in 1911 by accident while looking for the Golden City... We arrive at Kilometre 81 for breakfast and to buy any extra supplies that we might need like
- An extra pair of bionic legs
- Walking Poles
we all stand in for the group picture and I have to say I am dreading it because the guides keep laughing at us gringos and telling us about Day 2...firstly
Day 1 is supposed to be ok, mostly flat terrain...some steep accents, decents but nothing too harsh and
Day 2 they call the
gringo killer
.... dont think that is very funny at all...the foreigners call it the stair master (and anyone thats been to a gym will know what this one is) ...we have 21 porters and 2 guides, Max and Ceaser...The guides alternate between staying in the front and the back with as they call us....:
The wise ones as we take our time & get to see the best of the scenery and they (meaning us...the famous four..Me..Kar..Susan and Marie) will get the most out of the
trek... they really know how to make us feel good!!....whats the point in being an eager beaver anyway...
Day 1 was not at all easy as the guides said which makes me even more nervous of day 2.....we start off at 10am and trek for 7 hrs....SEVEN HOURS!!! I´ve never in my life trekked for 7 hours...although we did stop for lunch for 1 hour...the porters are amazing guys and I have named them the
incredible men...they hike up that mountain and get there before us with all the camping gear...tables and chairs for 16 of us...all the tents...matresses, gas barrells, food for 5 meals a day for 4 days...barrells of drinking water, our extra bags with sleeping bags (if we have hired an extra porter...which we did...TG!) so much stuff on thier back it was heart breaking I have to say but to them it was nothing......they get to the lunch spot way before us...they have everything cooked and ready and are waiting there clapping when we eventually arrive..then they wash up and pack up and end up running passed us at high speed up steps...flying down steep accents...I was speechless....I mean how fit are these men and
what are their knees going to be like when they are older, they have no health insurance and I doubt they get paid what they should...but Max assures us that Peru Treks treat them well...they get tents to sleep in at night, warm clothes, proper clothes for this weather, good food and are paid as well as can be expected in Peru.. I wish I was a millionaire so I could pay them thousands...seriously everyone of us were so grateful to them as we wouldnt have been able to get there with out their help.
Day one over and slept good, the weather on night 1 was warm....
5.30am wake up for day 2.....famous four are dreading it.....starts off with steep up hill climb that never ends....thats enough...and it goes on like that for the WHOLE DAY!!! When we eventually make it up to the top of Gringo Killer its such a relief...we are over 4000 meters above sea level and the views from the top and incredinble especially as we can see others starting at the bottom and Im sooo glad its not me....so now we are only half way through day two and its all down hill
from here...over 1500 steps and they are not ordinary steps...like huge stepping stones...for 1.5 hours in torrential rain....I don´t know how many times we slipped....Day 2 goes on forever and Im regretting I ever wanted to do this trek in the first place....just for a minute though!! a long one..... Miserable isnt the word!
Get to the camp site for
6pm and Max takes the poncho off and pushes me into the tent to keep me dry...Im soooo tired I dont even want to eat dinner..but I do because Im hungry!!
That night was soooo cold......didnt sleep at all, must have been minus 5 or something....the circulation in my body was at a stand still and my nose felt like it had frost bite!
Day 3 is a combination of Day 1 and Day 2 but more of the latter.....if I could hire a horse I would..I don´t care if it was cheating I´d do it...but there isn´t.....and if there was he would survive because of lack of oxygen.....so off we go,
up at 5.30 breakfast and start on an up hill accent....FFS!!
All going well...alot more motivated than the day before because
it´s nearly over! and day 4 is around the corner...we eventually stop for lunch for an hour and set off again up mountains through amazing pathways.....unbelievable ruins, the animals that cross my path are Llamas, pigs, chickens..roosters..horses...donkeys...it´s like a zoo here...many many orchids and other amazing vegitation....about 2 hours before we make it to the end of day 3 its all down hill and Im not joking when I say it was never ending...down down down.doooooown....just like a spiralling hole! we get there for
4pm and we can buy beer!!!!! so thats exactly what we all do.....nice cold beer uumm!
Day 4 is only 3 hours trek and not hard at all, we all get together in the communial tent & collect tips for the porters, cook & the guides & have Max translate how
unbelievably grateful we are to the porters & how we have the utmost respect for the them and what they have done for us....they are so happy, they start singing us a song which we have no clue what its about and they they all shake our hands and say good night!!
All along the trek Max is telling us about the
Lost City and explains that
there are no Inca people only
Quechua people and its really
The Lost City of the Inca King & the Quechua people
....
Me and the girls cant understand how Max and Ceaser havent lost the plot with us yet...I´m sure they wonder what we thoughjt this trip was going to be about at all because from 3 hrs into Day one we kept saying "Are we there yet Maaax"....How much longer till the camp site Max!......ooohhhh Maaaax my legs are killing meee! Maax will you carry my sleeping bag its tooo heavy! haha!! most of the time though we were having fun with them but no we really didnt realise how hard it was going to be, I think its the altitude myslef, you just cant breath properly as we are so high up.
Day 4 Its 4.30 rise and everyone is sooo excited, breakfast and we set off in the dark with our flash lights....after 2 hours we get to
Macchu Picchu Sungates
where we wait for sunrise and for the clouds to lift so we can see the picture postcard of Macchu Picchu....It really is something else that a place
like this exists, it was like some sort of mirage appearing and disappearing from a veil of clouds.....You could stand up there for hours and watch time pass by.... It was so worth it all just to stand where me and Karen stood and to see the lost City of the Inca!!!
Pictures will say it all.......celebrations in Cusco went on till the small hours of the morning , started in Mama Africas with....Cuba Libres (rum & Coke) and ended up in Club Mythology....
pictures of Macchu Picchu-click on slideshow
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Amit
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Mesmerizing........
Lost in the world of a lost world !! Simply breathtaking...nothing more one can say....you are so lucky brigette..... Have a pleasent trip all the way...take care....