Advertisement
Published: March 14th 2006
Edit Blog Post
p2
get us in our groovy ponchos by caroline
Hi everyone hope you are all well.We are both well and having a good time.
We arrived in Lima {Peru} at 2am local time only had A short delay in Caracus {Venezuela}.
Day 1 in Lima caught up on sleep don't know how anyone can sleep on a plane.
Day 2 Short visit round Lima's sights, we stopped at a museum,the main square oddly seeing a pink pigeon and a convant called San Martins here we visited the catacombes under the building with many thousands of bones.
Day 3 Filght to Cusco 10.50 once at the hotel we meet our tour guide Ricardo.
Cusco is a lovley city with a strangely Austrian feel to it. Our room is on the top floor you certainly notice the altitude climbing those stairs.
Day 4 We take a coach to Pisqa Inca Temple and Market Tonight we stay at Ollaytaytambo Lodge, group have our 1st meal together, every one seems really nice.
Day 5 1h 20 mins to the start of the trail by bus, here we meet all the porters and our second guide Jamil, he's the one carrying the oxygen hope we don't need it!
Today we climb for 15km.
p3
no we're not superimposed
it's a real pic Very hard going thousands of steps.Arived at camp at 4.30pm.
Day 6 Climbed to Dead Womens Pass 4215m above sea level. 11km walked today.
Day7 Today we walk 10km mostly up scenary is quite different here more like jungle.
Camp at Wiñayhuayna get a hot shower and proper toilets great!
Day 8 Have to be at the trail gates for 5am 5km walk to Machupiccu. finally.
This has been the best ever exprience even though it was so tough.
i would do it all again tommorrow if i could. after a tour round machupiccu we had lunch at Aguas Calientes which is hot springs after a quick dip we find ourselves back on the train for 4 hrs to Cusco.
by tim
Hi People and Mum
Welcome to our first blog.
27hrs of travel finally found us in Lima (knackered). The blind terror i'd felt all week had subsided to a mild nausea. We were suprised to discover that South America was'nt unlike Europe in so far as it was fairly clean and modern, nor it would seem were the people thugs or guerrillas waiting for a new hostage as many of my well meaning friends and workmates had
p1
cusco's main square
we reckon this is a great place been at pains to convince me ( you know who you are ).
A $20 tour around Lima showed it to be fairly unremarkable, however Cusco proved to be a lovely little town.
The start of the Inca Trail was preceded by what our guide described as a practice day, basically a bus ride to two inca ruins with a two hour hike up and around each. I found this fairly harsh so consequently the Inca Trail would have found itself on the bottom of my to do list if I had the option. The next day we started the trail. It was fairly easy going so I treated it like a race and shot off up the front. This was a big mistake. We stopped for lunch at 12 o'clock, this would be the last food I'd eat for the next three days. That afternoon turned into hell on earth. What started off as a gentle incline developed into radical ascent up thousands of steps most of which being at least 18" deep, that combined with the thin air made it hard, bloody hard. I eventually made it to the first camp. I was dehydrated and I lost body heat rapidly, I would later discover I was suffering with a stomach virus. That night was probably the worst night of my life.
The next day was just as tough but I followed Chu Li an Aussie/malasian girl who was in our group. We walked at a snails pace which was perfect for me (thanks Chu Li ). When we arrived in the second camp I got straight into my sleeping bag and slept until everybody else went to bed , at which time I awoke to discover I had poohed myself. This was not a good thing to do , as the toilets are squats and it was pitch black. However I endeveared to clean myself up while Caroline held a torch then I held the torch while Caroline rinsed my pants (bless her). The next two days were a little easier which gave me the opportunity to appreciate the spectacular views of the Andes, the beauty of the cloud forest and finally the awesome sight as you step through the sun gate of Macchu Pichu itself.
We unexpectadly parted company with David and Luigi at Macchu Pichu and then said farewell to Richard (aussie) , Anna and Emi (Swedes) in Cusco. Our experience was enhanced by your presence. We thank you. Oh, Caroline cried.
To summarise:
I would have to say we were lucky enough to see some of the most awe inspiring scenery we could of ever hoped to see, scenery that no picture could ever truly capture. We managed a real achievment and shared it with a great bunch of people , team even.
Would we do it again? Caroline would do it all over tomorrow. And me ? Well the inca trail was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, it became a true test of character that I am really proud to have come through, but do it again? No, not even if you beat me with a big stick.
To David and Luigi,
We hope the coming weeks will provide you both with some comfort, you have been and will remain in our thoughts. Take with you our love and best wishes for the future.
Bye for now
Tim and Caroline
Advertisement
Tot: 0.132s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 68; dbt: 0.077s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
spencer
non-member comment
Nice one
Well it looks like things are pretty much as expected,The trotts,no good food,lack of sleep and creepy crawlies.Things wont be much different if you get to our house...You have not tried gails cooking!! Enjoy what you do and keep the "blogs" coming as they make good reading. spencer.