JOURNEY TO MACHU PICHU

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20^th September - Day 1 of trek

We left Ollantayambo early and were driven down to a bridge to start our walk. We walked east along the road following the Urubamba River passing a number of houses and lots of cornfields. Lots of things to see along the way but very hot and dusty. After lunch (3 courses) which had been cooked and set up by the porters (see photo of dining tent, etc) we continued walking and started to follow mountainside tracks – very slippery and gravelly so had to be careful when walking. We arrived opposite to KM82 late afternoon to find our tents and sleeping bags set up and hot showers available. Our camp site was opposite Apu Veronica (see photo). Dinner was great – 3 courses again, the only thing lacking was an ice cold drink. We all went to bed very tired as had to be up early the next morning.

21^st September – Day 2 of trek

Following a breakfast of porridge, bacon and eggs, toast etc we started off again. Walked down to the KM82 checkpoint (start of the Inca trail) and had our passports and inca passes stamped. We then proceeded to walk along the inca trail continuing east. Very hot and dusty again with lots of ups and downs. A few more hills on this day, I was finding it hard due to the heat but kept going. Just before lunch we arrived at Patallaqta and had a look at the incan remains that are there. We walked a bit further along and crossed the river again and arrived at our campsite in time for lunch. Our campsite was next to a school on a hill overlooking the river, but no showers today. After lunch the children from the school sang a couple of songs for us and our guide gave them all the gifts that we had bought for them. After this we went for a walk for a few hours to explore more incan remains named Machu Q’ente. This was a great walk as it was a lot cooler so didn’t have any problems. Arrived back to the campsite in time for a rest and tea. Early night as we were all getting around by torchlight.

22^nd September – Day 3 of trek

Up early and after another great breakfast we started to make our way west back along the opposite side of the river to the previous 2 days. We followed a track up and down alongside the mountains stopping at a couple of incan sites – Qanabamba and Salapunku. Very hot and dusty again. We arrived back at KM82 and crossed the bridge and returned to our campsite from the first night by lunchtime. We spent the afternoon resting up for the next day’s walk. Some of the group had a sauna which proved a disaster later on that evening. We had all gathered in the dining area before dinner and the power went out. Upon investigation we noticed lots of smoke and fire coming from the sauna room. We spent the next hour carting buckets of water down to the porters who were trying to put the fire out. The fire was put out and half the roof tiles and thatching of the sauna was removed. It also helped that half the group were from country NSW and were used to fighting fires. Needless to say we had no electricity but the cook still did an amazing job of cooking dinner by torchlight and gas.

24^th September – Day 4 of trek



Very early start today – 5.30am. Due to injury, exhaustion and laziness 3 of us decided we were not going to trek any further. We all walked down to the KM82 checkpoint and caught the train that was going to Agua Calientes (Machu Pichu town). At the KM104 mark 5 of the group got off the train to continue the trek up to Machu Pichu. The rest of us stayed on the train and continued on to Agua Calientes. When we got there a porter from the hotel came and collected our trek bags and we followed him to our hotel. As check-in was 10am we only had to wait an hour but it was great not be walking again. We spent most of morning wandering around the town and checking out the restaurants for dinner that evening. For the first time since I arrived in South America it started to rain. The others got to the hotel about 3pm that afternoon looking very exhausted so about 5pm we all went up (and I mean uphill to the other end of town) to the hot springs for a dip. Lots of people and a bit weird – the springs have this strong sulphur smell, but the water was very, very warm. Our guide took us to a place for dinner and of course we all went to bed early. Tomorrow we go up to see Machu Pichu.

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