Land of the Incas

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Peru is definitely the land of the Incas and after conquering (surviving) the Inca Trail we have certainly seen our far share of them!!!

After Arequipa we headed up up up into the Colca Canyon which is really amazing. It´s about 160km long and over 9 millions years old and the scenery was breathtaking. The canyon is also at a very high altitude (about 4000m) so we got to enjoy our first taste of coca leaves which is where cocaine is derived from to help with the altitude (no wonder it helps with altitude sickness). The canyon is home to condors which breed in the area and if you´re lucky you´ll catch them using the thermal currents to glide up from the bottom to look for food. We were lucky enough to see 2 but they were so far away they could have been sparrows if they weren´t the largest flying bird in the world.

Next stop was Cusco which was a short plane ride away. Here the nerves started to kick in as the prospect of the Inca Trail loomed. We´d heard along the way that the first day was ok, day 2 was a killer and then the rest was ok, but we didn´t really know what to expect. To get us a little prepared for the trail we had a night in Ollantaytambo and got to explore some really cool Inca ruins. Lots of up and lots of steps but the view from the top was great. We also coincided our trip to Olly with the annual Three Kings Festival and that afternoon-night we were treated to some "interesting" Peruvian dance routines, music and costumes!

Then it was off, bright and early to km 82 which was the start of the Inca Trail. We arrived and were greeted by our porters who quickly took out duffle bags (which couldn´t be any heavier thans 7kgs each) and packed them all into huge sacks to carry for us. The porters truly are amazing and can carry so much while navigating the trail in nothing more than sandals! A few years ago the trail was regulated so that the porters were only allowed to carry a max of 25kgs each compared to a whopping 40-50kgs that they used to carry.

The plan was to walk-trek about 8km on day 1, 12km on day 2, 16km on day 3 then 6km on day 4 (for those who aren´t good with numbers that should be 42km in total). Day 1 wasn´t too exhausting and kind of lulled me into a bit of a false sense of security. Our first stop for lunch after a few hours´walking was quite a shock to the group as there, nestled amongst the hills, with a river running past it, our wonderful porters had set up a dinning tent, complete with tables, chairs, knives, forks, serviettes (in the shape of an animal!) and the like ... I think you can gauge that it was pretty 5*. Lunch was two courses ... then a rest before carrying on. This was the norm each day with dinner a 3 course feast of gourmet food all in our fabulous dinning tent set up by our porters.

Each morning we were awoken in our tents (put up by the porters before we got to our campsite) with a cup of tea and a bowl of hot water and soap. Truly luxurious ... then it was brekkie which was also a 2 course affair to give us lots of energy for the walking ahead.

Day 2 was the killer for me but Mr Speedy Gonzalez Chris almost ran the entire trail. Our guide even said that he was one of the fastest ´gringoes´ he had seen for a while. Needless to say, I kept to my own pace (rather slow) and just met up with Chris at the rest stops. Of course by then he was ready to race off again while I caught my breath. The biggest feat of the whole trail was on day 2 where we had a 1200m uphill climb to Dead Woman´s Pass which was at 4212m above sea level. I was very nearly a Dead Woman by the time I reached the top but was so glad that I had made it!!! On the way up we had gone through lots of different climates .. jungle, sub tropical, desert and then bloody freezing at the top!

Day 3 was the longest on the trek, but was really good and not so much uphill (thank god). Those Incas sure knew how to make steps and man did we climb up and down alot of them.

Our last day was a race to the sun gate which was the original entrance to Macchu Picchu. We were up at 3.45am to make sure we were first in line at the entrance to the last section of the trail which led to the sun gate. the early start paid off and our group of 11 were ready and waiting when the control point opened at 5.30am. Chris ran the entire way while I cracked a good pace until the end when the uphill steps nearly killed me (again). Anyway, the view was incredible and in between the clouds and rain we saw Macchu Picchu for the first time.

We did a 2 hour tour of the site when we reached the bottom which was brilliant and have some great pics. Unfortunatly we also had the heaviest rain of the whole trail while we were at the site which was a bit of a bummer, but we made sure we made the most of it while we were there. By the way ... have I mentioned how amazing the Incas were ... and don´t get me started about those dirty spanish who rode on in and took over and destoryed everything and tried to wipe out an entire population!!! Thank god they didn´t find Macchu Picchu though.

So there were some tired legs and knees by the end of it but we had done it. And of course it was made a whole lot easier by our team of 18 porters including 2 chefs and a waiter. The oldest porter we had was Bonito who was 63. He was truly amazing and carried most of our duffle bags which had all our belongings in it. We only had to carry our small and very light day packs and there were times when I was so embarrased and felt so bad for them, but they truly do love it. Watching them run in sandals carrying so much is inspirational and helped me to plough on at some points. Would thoroughly recommend a trip to Peru and the Inca trail to anyone any my main tip would be to take a damn good poncho and two walking sticks.

We chilled out with a few days in Cusco after the trail and then it was off to Puno and Lake Titicaca to visit the islands and stay with a local family. We took the slowest boat in the universe but the scenery on-around the lake was beautiful. We stayed the night with a local family in a little mud house then spent the night dressed in traditional Peruvian outfits dancing in the island´s only hall. Quite a funny experience that´s for sure. The next day we left our little mud house and on the way back to Puno we stopped in at the floating islands which are made up entirely of reeds. It´s hard to believe that people actually live on them given that they are only 2m thick and anchored by heavy rocks. All in all, pretty interesting but I was very glad to arrive back to our hotel with a normal bed and a bathroom with running water at the end of it.

So, next stop is across the border and into Bolivia for a week where we´ll be 4wding the salt flats along with lots of other things.

Hope all´s ok where ever you are and we´ll write again soon

Love Anna & Chris

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