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Published: October 14th 2005
The route
You can see the type of route that this trek was. Lots of down then up then down then up. Quite hard.Well we did it and managed what is arguably one of the hardest treks we have yet undertaken. It was a very long hard 8 days and 7 nights, even with the help of 7 mules, 2 mule drivers, a cook, a guide just to support 4 people. We ended up with the organizer a great lady from US and then SJ and me.
Day 1 and 2 - Were ONLY!!! 7 hour walking days to get to the first set of ruins named Choquequirao. This is supposed to be one of the final stands for the Incas as their empire was being pulled apart. After getting to Machu Picchu we found this far more interesting as it was not completely restored. You are walking though primary cloud forest and stumble across doors and walls covered in jungle. These Incas really knew where to build fortresses and cities, but I think they might have been a little crazy.
Day 3 and 4 - Again very long walking days passed some old silver mines. We managed to find some little pieces of raw silver to bring home. You never know we may even be able to make a ring. On
The crew
These are the guys we were trekking with and this is the posh dinning tent. the 4th night we stayed at a small farm way up in the mountains where a young woman was doing a small piece of hand weaving, she told us we could have a piece with our names in it, so we finally did a little bit of craft shopping with a difference. The poor girl stayed up all night to finish it for us, but we now have a very personal and beautiful piece of weaving direct from the weaver.
Day 5 and 6 - These were the hardest days as we had to cross a 5000 m peak. When we got to the top it was a blizzard and we had to cross the peak in very wintery conditions. But we could tell how fit we are becoming as it was very easy even at 16000 feet.
Day 7 and 8 - By know very tired and achy from a very long trek but feeling very good. The final section was very strange as we had to drive for 2 hours and then port everything another 2 hours to the next road. Apparently 5 years ago a huge avalanche and land slide took out the road and
Choquequirao
This is the first major set of ruins. These are still a little more original then Machu Picchu and all through the jungle is more ruins. train line. You could see some of the train carriages buried in the rubble and follow the path of the avalanche for 15 miles!!!!
Machu Picchu - It is very difficult to describe the feeling when you arrive at Machu Picchu. What an incredible place. It is more the location then anything else. Unfortunately a lot of the stone work has been “restored” which means it is not like the original as they cannot reproduce the workmanship anymore. But still a lot of it remains and the only thing I can say is “How did they do it?”. The main problem with the place is the fact that it is a tourist trap, everything is in dollars and actually even in European standards pretty expensive. We arrived at 6:30 in the morning and there was only 100 people milling about, but by 11:30 there was at least 5000 people and it was a little like a gringo zoo. But you cannot help but love the place, it does have a very magical feel. We did see quite a few of the old evangelical mystics going around doing there thing, great to listen too, I have not had such a
ChoquequiraoTerraces
These are original terraces that have only been cleaned not restored. So they are nearly 1000 years old. good laugh for awhile. Apparently they charge $500 and hour to guide people around the “Myteries” of Machu Picchu. For that sort of money I could make up a few mysteries!
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Jim
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Amazing
Jason! Wow. Holiday of a lifetime. Thanks for sharing the pictures. :-)