Salkantay Trek - Day 4

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After going to bed pretty early in advance of the tough day ahead I was woken up at 2am by Steph shouting at me from her bed 'everything's wet it's leaking, all my stuff is wet'. I could hear the heavy rain on the roof of the jungle dome so I felt the dome inside by me to find it was dry and wondered what she was on about. Then I realised we had tried to open the flap Windows earlier on as it was very stuffy, she hadn't managed to do my side but I had managed to do her side and we'd left it open. Then it had started raining heavy in the night and she had woken up to the rain dripping through the tent top onto her face! It wasn't funny at the time but looking back it's definitely worth a giggle! It had leaked all through the roof onto her bed mattress, onto the wooden side where she had laid out her clothes for the next day and over her day pack. Luckily her sleeping bag had managed to stay dry at least on the inside. So at 2am I was up trying to put my boots on in the dark and my raincoat to go outside and shut the roof flap on her side. I went to check on everyone else's in the group in case they had done the same thing but theirs were all shut. Luckily the jungle dome was pretty spacious and we were able to try and hang up most of her clothes and try to get back to sleep. Despite the dome being the most comfortable accommodation I struggled to sleep and was dozing on and off until about 5.30am when the familiar voice of 'coca tea' was heard and the knock at the door. I was pretty sick of coca tea by now and barely drank any. It tasted ok but had a bit of a funny smell which put me off. I had been lucky and didn't struggle with altitude sickness at all just the physicality of trekking in altitude. We had continued to take Diamox medication for the altitude and it seemed it had worked.

The rain had been heavy throughout the night and was still going when we were all having breakfast. Leo told us it was too dangerous to do the downhill hike today in the mud so we all had to take the bus and therefore we would have a couple of hours until the bus arrived so we could relax after breakfast. We noticed the other groups table was laid out but they were nowhere to be seen and Leo told us they had all decided the night before they were getting the bus and we're having a lie in until 8am. We said goodbye to the chef and assistant after breakfast and tipped them well. The food had been great, both delicious and plentiful. They even somehow managed to cook a cake for breakfast complete with icing on a gas stove, how I don't know! After some time relaxing around camp, the minibus arrived and we were on our way to Hydroelectrica with only a 3 hour hike ahead of us to finish the trek. As we were driving along in the minibus I was starting to think about the last few days and how it felt we had been trekking for weeks and a lot longer than 3/4 days! The experience was almost over, we were to pick up a box lunch in Hydroelectrica which would have been our lunch stop for the day and we were going to take it with us along the railway line and stop somewhere later on. Once we got to Hydroelectrica we started hiking and Leo led us to a large Inca stone which had been used by the Inca's to tell the seasons. They weren't so bothered about time back in those days it was more important to know the season. We hiked through some jungle and then set off on the long trek along the railway line. It was pretty level with some inclines but the terrain was a bit difficult as the railway line was rocky and you had to chose your step carefully so not as to roll or twist your ankle. It was easier to walk along the wooden beams between the tracks when they weren't covered in rocks. The railway line ran alongside the river which was ferocious at times and definitely of river rapids standard if not more. There were lots of other people walking in both directions and it was strange to see signs along the way saying not to walk on the railway line!

After about an hour and a half we stopped for lunch and opened our lunch boxes. Inside was some rice and chicken ad Steph had avocado and quinoa with rice. The food was good again and we had juice in plastic bags which was the purple corn juice. Where we sat for lunch had lots of mozzies and we could tell we were getting bitten so everyone plastered the insect repellant on. After lunch we carried on hiking and two trains came past. They honk their horns in advance so you know they are coming and to find a spot to stand back out of the way. They still pass pretty close though. I think they are used to having people on the train tracks though so it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Walking along this section we could see the huge mountains either side and even got a glimpse of Machu Picchu at one point. There were several sections which tested me a bit where we had to walk across the wooden sleepers in between the rails over streams and rivers that joined the main river. So you could see right down to the river below and you had to walk step by step from one sleeper to the next. As it was raining heavily by this point we were not only getting soaked but the sleepers were pretty wet and slippy! I just took my time and told myself I could do anything after the landslide incident the day before. The rain started to get heavier and heavier and we were all getting really wet, the rain was even going through my raincoat own my sleeves and my back and I was pretty soaked, the only thing that made this bearable was the fact we were only an hour and a half outside of Aguas Calientes and finishing the whole trek. I started to think about the last few days and about my experience on the trek. Most of it had not been what I expected for a variety of reasons which I guess is the problem when you've been thinking and planning for something for so long. On the one hand I had expected a more spiritual type journey with time to take in everything around me and whilst there were times like this I found there just wasn't the time as we were on such a tight schedule. Things had loosened up more on day three and today and made things easier. I had found it really hard not to get too down mentally as I knew the other group's experience was a lot more along the same lines that I had expected. I thought there would be more thinking time which sounds stupid that there wasn't over the four days but a lot of my thoughts were taken up with worrying about whether I was fast enough to meet Leo's time schedule and being conscious if me and Steph were at the back or if we were starting to get behind despite the majority of the time being ahead of the other group. The one thing that hadn't given me any real problems was my fear of heights. There were times when I found myself trying to evaluate whether something would have been scary for me before my hypnotherapy. We did cross over some dodgy looking wooden bridges and in fact I managed to leave the tip of one of my walking poles in the middle of one when it got wedged in between two logs which made up the bridge! We did walk along the Inca Canal which at times had drops off to the side and was narrow and we did go over strong streams and waterfalls on rocks as stepping stones when you could see the drop. The only thing that did give me problems was crossing the landslide but I think I'll allow myself that one as I know several others in my group and the other group were scared also and for justifiable reasons as it was dangerous and unsafe. A couple of times Steph mentioned that I wouldn't have done something before or that she had been worried a couple of times about me going over a certain section and whether I was OK but I was fine. I think it's safe to say my mindset with heights has definitely improved a lot, in fact me and Steph are planning on possibly going paragliding in Lima when we get there. I would never had even entertained the idea before. I will decide on the day whether I want to do it or not and it will be based on if I want to know not on whether I think I should etc. I'll be happy with myself if I decide not to, as with the cable car in Rio I know I've come a long way!

The closer we got towards the end of the hiking and with it still pouring with rain most of the others in the group seemed a bit down and miserable with the weather conditions etc but I was elated, we were nearly at the end and even though things hadn't exactly gone to plan we had done it. I couldn't wait to get to the end and just get a hot shower and put some fresh clothes on getting out of my wet things. As we walked into Aguas Calientes Leo was ahead with the others out of sight with me and Steph towards the back in front of Kira who's knee was really starting to give her grief now and Cameron who had walked with her. Leo explained we would be having dinner at 6.30pm in a local restaurant and he took us past to show us where it was before heading to the hotel we were booked into for the night. We checked into the hotel and were given our rooms, it was around 2.30-3 at this point when Leo dropped the bombshell that our duffel bags with clean clothes in wouldn't be arriving until 5.40pm. We later found out the other group had been told in advance to pack a spare set of clothes as the bags wouldn't be arriving until later! We were all tired by this point and headed off to our rooms to have showers but then we all ended up in our beds under the covers after our showers just waiting for our clean clothes to arrive as no one wanted to put old wet smelly clothes on! e and Steph managed to sort the heating out in our room and strung up all our wet things trying desperately to dry them out. The duffel bags arrived in the end at 5.50pm. I drew the short straw and had to go down and get mine and Steph's in my smelly wet clothes! We all got changed and then me and Steph went to buy bus tickets to travel up to Machu Picchu in the morning before heading to the restaurant. Leo had told us all earlier that there were two ways up to Machu Picchu. You could hike up which was up 1200 steep steps or take the bus up. He said we had to be up there for 6am and that it would take an hour to hike up but you had to walk for 20mins to the start and wait for the bridge to be opened which didn't happen until 5am. Originally Steph and I had wanted to walk up, we knew it would be tough but we planned to take our time and take lots of breaks. However after finding out we needed to be there for 6am and the bridge didn't open until 5am we knew this wouldn't be an option for us as we would need some extra time. Anyone getting the bus had to be in the bus queue for 4.30am for the first buses at 5.30am to reach the top for 6am. We got bus tickets and decided to get return as if it was raining as heavy the next day the steps down would probably be slippy when wet.

We all met at the restaurant for our last meal together! It was a three course meal and it was included in the trek but we just had to pay for drinks. We all ate together for the last time and then had a beer before heading to get some water for the main event of Machu Picchu tomorrow and then getting an early night, setting the alarm for 3.50am! Tomorrow we get to see one of the seven wonders of the world and its literally the destination at the end of the journey!

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