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The guys at the start of the Inca Trail
Dan, Dani, Jodie, Mick, Andy, Sophie and Paloma We arrived in Lima, Peru at about 7.30pm on the night of the 25th May. Peru reminded us both of India, especially the crazy driving that we experienced on the way to our hotel! We stayed at the Hostal International which was really nice with a swimming pool (although it was a bit cold!), kitchen, communal lounge and the bedroom had a bathroom with hot water, though Dan couldn´t get it to work for him!. We spent the next couple of days we had there before meeting with our next Gecko´s tour relaxing and psyching ourselves up for the trek ahead. The area we stayed in was called Miraflores and was very nice with a number of fancy supermarkets that the UK could take some tips from! We enjoyed (rather strangely!) making our own meals for those couple of days, although our talents only reached as far as tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches, but they were good!
On the 28th we joined up with our new Gecko´s group at a rather swish hotel, the Mariel, where we had a large room with ensuit and a good hot shower. We had our first meeting that day at 11am (which was a
bit of a suprise to us when we called up at 10.20am to find out which hotel we were to be staying at!). Here we met Paloma (our guide), Jodie and Mick (from Oz), Rona (also from Oz, recently found out that she´s pregnant so congratulations but unfortunately couldn´t do the Inca Tail because of this) and Sara (from the USA who had to do a different trail to Machu Picchu because the passes had run out just as she tried to book one! But still really enjoyed her trek). Jodie, Mick and Rona had all arrived late the previous evening so were understandably pretty tired so we had a short meeting detailing our itinary then some chill out time before meeting up later that afternoon for a city tour.
The city tour was good. Our guide Millie or Minnie was knowledgeable and nice and was good at English too. Our first stop was the Parque de La Amor, a small romantic park with green grass, flower beds in the shape of hearts and stars etc, mosaic patterns and poetry along the walls, a view of the sea and a statue of two people kanoodoling in the middle. It
is also home to an annual kissing competition, the record is almost an hour. As you can see from the photo, its quite foggy in Lima, which is because it has 100% humidity which mixes with the cold air coming from the sea causing the fog. Next we visited and old Inca site and then headed down to the Old Town. The Old Town was really lovely with colonial buildings and a fountain in the middle of the main square. On one side is the presidents palace with guards and even tanks outside. Here we visited a Cathedral which was beautiful. It had amazing woodwork ceilings and the most incredible library I have ever seen, it was like something out of a fairytale. We visited the catacombs which were pretty cool and still had most of the skeletons down there. We returned to the hotel after this before heading out for a bite to eat with Sara and Rona. The dinner was good and we had planned to hit the cinema afterwards but we were all pretty tired so headed to bed.
The following day we caught our plane to Cusco. The flight only took about an hour and
we saw some super amazing views as we flew over snow capped mountains. We arrived at our hotel, another very nice one with hot shower and really pleasant staff, about lunch time and were greeted with a cup of Coca tea (a local speciality made from the same leaves that are used to make cocaine) and the rest of our group, Sophie and Andy (also from Oz). All of us bar Sophie and Andy went for lunch at a very very nice little café called Jacks. It is run by an Australian lady and serves exceptionally good (large portioned) food. We then visited a couple of the sights that afternoon, another Cathedral (where they have a picture of the Last Supper and the main dish is guinea pig) and an Inca site that had had another building been built on top of it. Cusco is a really nice little town. I think we were all suprised by how much was there and how nice it was. The main square has a large number of pretty colonial buildings and the whole place is a hive of activity. That evening we all went out for a meal at an Italian restaurant that
served some pretty good food. It was here that I tried Inca Kola for the first time and have been adicted to it ever since as the rest of the group can testify! The following morning we left quite early on a day trip to the Sacred Valley. Sophie and Andy had been in Cusco for a few days before we arrived so they had already done this. It was a great day out, we saw lots of different Inca sites such as “Sexy Woman” (it is not its real name but it sounds like it!), one where there were a load of oddballs meditating and washing their faces in the spring water and the really cool Ollantaytambo where we climbed a lot of steps (at that time it seemed like a lot!) and saw a pretty awesome view. Ollantaytambo was the place where Dan got Sajra, his walking stick and new best mate! We also visited a lama/alpaca farm where we got to see the differences between all the different Camelids they have in Peru. We got to feed them and see the Ãtems that the Peruvian people make from their wool. That evening Dan and I grabbed a
bite to eat at Jacks again before packing our duffle bags (5kg) and getting an early night as we had to be up at 5.30am the next morning.
The following morning we were up and had left the hotel by 6am to begin the Inca Trail. We met with our guide for the trail, Wilbur, then drove for a couple of hours before stopping at Ollantaytambo to pick up our porters and getting a bite to eat. Dani also got herself a walking stick, though it was no where near as cool as Dans! We drove for another hour after this and finally we reached the beginning of the trail. Here we saw exactly how much our poor porters had to carry (our duffle bags, their things, tents, sleeping stuff all our food and theirs along with everything they needed to cook it with including an oven/stove!). It was an incredible amount and although they are only allowed to carry 20kg each, we are pretty sure that some of them at least were carrying more. We had 13 porters for six of us (us two, Jodie, Mick, Sophie and Andy) and our two guides (Paloma and Wilbur). We had
our first group photo taken at the entrance to the trail then headed on our way.
The first day of walking was not too bad but only gave us a taste of what was to come. The scenery was amazing. Behind us for much of the day was Verónica, a beautiful snow capped mountain and the rest of the scenery was green mountains of all shapes and sizes and the Urubamba river. We followed the river for the first part of the day walking for about 4 hours before we stopped for lunch. The trail had a bit of up and a bit of down but was pretty easy going. We had a few breaks along the way where we got a chance to have a munch on the snacks we had been provided, fruit, biscuits and sweets! The sun was really hot especially when we were walking but after lunch it clouded over a little and this really cooled it down. The porters had all zoomed past us on the trail to arrive at the site for lunch in time to set everything up. For every meal we sat in a large tent with tables and chairs and
The guys at Jacks
Dani, Sara, Paloma, Rona, Jodie, Mick were waited on by Rolando. We would have a starter, soup then main course for lunch followed by hot drinks while for dinner we would have pudding instead of the starter. They even provided individual bowls of hot water and soap to wash our hands before we ate and when we arrived at camp in the evening to wash with! We walked for another hour and a half that evening before arriving a our camp about 5.30pm.
Our camp had a wicked view and was a good distance along the trail (there are only 500 people on the trail each day including porters and guides and there are a number of campsites to house them all situated at different spots, some only a few hours into the trail and others a lot further. We were lucky that all our campsites were well spaced out so that we walked an even amount each day), although the bathrooms werent too great with no shower or proper toilets and our tents were on a bit of a slope so that we all suffered from slipping towards the front of the tent in our sleep! We had “tea” when we arrived, which consisted
of warm popcorn and hot drinks over a few games of cards until dinner was served. The first night we played (we will only provide the polite name here) “cheat”.
That night was really cold and uncomfortable what with all the slipping around and the hard ground so none of us were really ready to get up when we had to at 5.30am, but it wasnt too bad once we had gotten ready and were sitting in the dining tent with our hot drinks (most people were onto the Coca tea!) and breakfast which consisted of toast, porridge and other delights such as pancakes and fruit. Unfortunately Jodie had injured her leg the day before we left for the trail and had really suffered with it the previous day so she headed back for Cusco by horse (which she said was an adventure in itself as the horse persisted to walk on the edge of the path on the edge of the mountain leaving her looking down the rather steep drop that there is for most of the trail!) when we left for our second day of treking.
We had been told that the second day of the
trail was the hardest, and they werent kidding. We spent the first three hours walking up to the first pass known as Dead Womans Pass, which is almost 14,000ft above sea level (which is pretty high considering that the highest mountain in the UK is only about 4,500ft!). We kept at a slow and steady pace the whole way and we saw that this method worked as other groups would rush past us then we would pass them huffing and puffing to catch their breath before they rushed past us again and this continued but we still arrived at the summit first! We both found it hard going, although Dani did struggle more and puts it down to the altitude and not her fitness! The altitude did not affect us as much as we both thought it would, though Dan suffered from a bad headache for most of the second day but all Dani felt was out of breath when walking.
We rested at the first pass then headed down to our lunch spot. This took us about two hours and, although it was definitely better than going up hill, it was still pretty hard going as it was
very steep. After lunch we headed up to the second pass which was about 13,000 ft above sea level. Again it was really hard work going up and almost as tough coming down. We stopped at a couple of Inca site along the way, the last being about half an hour from our campsite. The day had been really hot but clouded over really quickly as we arrived at this Inca site. We luckily got to look at it before it was surrounded by fog but it was so quick that we didnt even get a chance to take a photo. Here Wilbur gave us a little history lesson before we explored for 20mins on our own. The view from the site would have been spectacular but the fog meant that you couldnt see anything past the site walls.
That night we stayed at another campsite with an excellent view. It was situated at about 12,000ft so was even colder than the previous night and we all wore everything that we had brought with us. The ground was still as hard but we werent on as much of a slope so there wasnt too much slipping and sliding that
night. I think most of us found it a more confortable night although Mick suffered from the cold because he was in his two man tent all alone! That evening we taught the group the Rummy game we had learned from Philippa and Alice on the Galápagos tour and Mick turned out to be a right dab hand at it, leading by the end of the evening with only 7 points while poor Wilbur was trailing with over 200 and Andy wasnt far behind!
The next morning we had a very welcome lay in until 7am when we got up for breaky then headed off at 8am. The third day only had about half an hour of up hill and the rest was pretty much down hill which was easier going but still pretty tough. We saw some beautiful scenery along the way but were very ready for a beer when we arrived at our third campsite for our last evening. Here there were hot showers, proper toilets and most importantly, a bar! We arrived after about 4 hours walk in time for lunch then all hit the showers before grabbing a beer and relaxing with another amazing view
of the surrounding hills. At about 4.30pm we headed off to a near by Inca site only 7minutes away (Wilbur was very precise and accurate!). This site was one of the most impressive that we had seen with pretty complete houses and amazingly steep tires of land that were used for growing crops. We had a great view of the river and the train line that we would be travelling along the next day on our way back to Cusco.
Alter visiting the site we had another great evening of cards, beer and food, the chef even made us a very yummy cake which was really well decorated! It was amazing what he could do in a tent on a mountain with only the equipment and food that the porters could carry! We also met all the porters and chef that evening. They all introduced themselves and told us what they had carried e.g. the rubbish, the oven, the tents, the cutlery etc. We then all introduced ourselves and gave a little speech thanking them all for their hard work (and it seriously was hard work, we were struggling walking the trail and they were running it, literally, and
carrying all our stuff!). They gave a little speech for us then they all shook our hands before we all headed to bed. The next morning was an early start and we had had a pretty late night with it being about 10pm!
Our last morning we were up at 4am, although we were woken at 3.30am by a flute somewhere up the mountain! We had all had the best nights sleep so far and had actually been warm most of the night and not wrapped up in all the clothes we owned! It was a quick breaky as the porters had to leave at 5am so they could rush down the mountain with all our stuff to catch the train at 6am.
We had to wait for the entrance to the trail to open at 5.30am where we then walked for about an hour until we reached the Sun Gate - Intipunko. The trail was easy going and pretty flat all the way which only encouraged our good moods. Arriving at the Sun Gate where we got our first look at Machu Picchu was awesome and we had brilliant weather again which we had been lucky with
for the whole trail so we had a great view. We waited there until the sun had finally crept across the site and it looked incredible. We took some photos (Japanese Moment as Wilbur called it!) then started on our decent to Machu Picchu itself. Machu Picchu actually means “Old Mountain/Peak” but Wilbur did explain that if you say Picchu wrong then it could mean “Old Penis”. Unfortunately we werent too sure which was the right way and which was the wrong way to say it! It sits 7,000ft above sea level and covers 5sq km. It was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, who also discovered a large number of the other Inca sites along the trail.
Finally arriving in Machu Picchu after about another 45 minutes walking was incredible. It was a brilliant feeling to have finally got to the site that we set out for 3 days before. It was only about 8am and still pretty empty of people and we only really encountered a few lamas before arriving at the famous picture point. We all gathered here for our last group photo before having our photos taken as couples. Sophie and Andy had theirs taken
first before Dan and I had ours taken. After Wilbur had taken the photo Dan asked him if he would take another one “like this” and pulled a little red heart shaped box from his pocket, got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him! I of course started crying buckets and sobbed a yes! It was the most perfect spot, with the most perfect weather, a gorgeous ring and great friends around us. Dan had told Andy and Mick what he had planned and so Mick managed to capture it all on video so we´re going to try and get that on here at some point too. It was really really amazing and I was so happy for the rest of the day that it passed in a bit of a daze.
We headed to the front entrance to meet the rest of the group who hadn´t been on the trail, along with Paloma who had gone to meet them while we had our photos taken. We told them the good news and they all congratulated us with hugs. It was really great to be able to share it with friends even though we
are so far away from home.
We spent the rest of that morning and early afternoon touring Machu Picchu with Wilbur as our guide. The site had looked incredible from the Sun Gate but it became even more impressive as you saw the great work that had gone into building it and the other beautiful sites that surrounded it. We were then given some free time where Jodie, Mick, Sophie, Andy and Sara climbed a couple of the mountains that surrounded the site to get a good view of it. Dan, Rona and I just relaxed around the site watching the lamas who were very entertaining before catching the bus to the small town where we were to meet for lunch before we caught the train back to Cusco. It was sad saying good bye to Wilbur as he had been a great guide and a great laugh along the way. He knew a lot about the trail and Machu Picchu (he had walked it 109 times!) and we all enjoyed his company. After a good lunch at an Italian we did a little souvenier shopping before catching the train at 5pm.
The train journey took at least
4 hours which werent the most comfortable because we were all pretty crammed in but the scenery was lovely until it got dark. We changed the train for the bus about 15mins from Cusco (45mins by train) and finally got back to our hotel around 10pm very tired and worn out after a very eventful day.
On our last day with the group Sophie, Andy, Mick, Jodie, Dan and I grabbed brunch at Jacks before going to the Cusco Inca Museum which was really interesting and definitely worth a visit. We then parted and Dan and I had a relaxing afternoon before we all met up again at 5.15pm when we headed to a nearby local supermarket to get some drink and nibbles as the group wanted to throw us an engagement party! The evening was brilliant and we both throughly enjoyed ourselves and hope that everyone else did too. We suffered a bit the next day but it was definitely worth it. Paloma joined us and we sat in the hotel restaurant chatting, drinking, eating and having a laugh.
We said good bye to Sophie, Andy and Sara before bed as they had an early bus to
catch which was really sad as we´d all gotten on so well and we both really enjoyed their company.
The following morning we left for the airport at 9am and got a little suprise from Sophie and Andy, our first engagement present! (thank you!) The flight was on time and quick. We had to say good bye to Paloma at the airport which was again very sad as she´d been a brilliant guide, a good friend and great fun to be with. We then sorted some bits out for the next few days before catching up with Jodie, Mick and Rona again to watch Pirates of the Carribean 3, had a quick drink and then said another sad good bye. It was difficult leaving the guys and going it alone again as we´d had such a brilliant time with them. It was a wicked little group and we hope that they all keep in contact!
ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS TO FOLLOW!
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Dad (S)
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Those Hats
See I have got competition with the hats!!