final day of the trail

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sound file

oh so we had to get up at a really horrible hour, and we weren´t even woken with a hot drink!!! breakfast was amazing again though with toast, porridge and pancakes. we had to eat as fast as we could so the porters could finish packing up and go to meet their train. we then all had to start walking to get to the checkpoint (was still dark as it was so early!!!) we wanted to be there when it opened to be one of the first groups walking to the sungate. we were second in the queue but had to wait for quite a while as it didn´t open till 5.30am. when it did open they stamped our tickets and we all set off. at this part of the walk its a bit of a scrum with everyone trying to get there as fast as they can. we set off walking really fast, was still dark but the sun rose while we were walking, as we didn´t want to stop we all got gradually more and more sweaty as we were wearing lots of clothes as it was cold before the sun had risen. there was a group of us walking together at the front and a french couple came up behind us. the woman managed to push her way round me (at the most stupidest point) she waited behind till the trail was only wide enough for one person, with a shear cliff edge to the side. she didn´t even say anything to any of us as she worked her way along, bargeing past all of us in turn. her husband seemed to have a bit more sense as he waited behind us, but no!!! towards the end there is a steep, almost vertical flight of stairs which you are practically going up on all fours, and he chose this moment to push his way up on the inside!! just as gabby was almost falling off, vic had to give her a friendly shove back up to stop her from falling off backwards!!! we were all gutted as without saying anything to each other we had all been determined not to let them pass!!! we thought the top of the stairs was the end but there was about another 20mins of walking to go before we reached the sungate. from the sungate you get the first view of machu picchu which is amazing especially after you have walked so long to get there. we all sat here waiting for everyone in the group to arrive and our guides came round and gave us all a lollypop to mark our achievement, mine tasted of soap but was still good!!!
we moved further down along the trail to another place (cant remember where!) juat further down so we could see the sun rise actually over machu picchu, which we actually didn´t see as there were too many clouds!!!

we then walked into machu picchu itself, past the place where there was a big landslide in april, which had previously prevented people being able to complete the whole trail by walking all the way in. it was in machu picchu that tim came over to meet us, he had spent the night in aguas calientes town after doing the lares trail. nic was also supposed to be there but matt had had to leave her in cuzco as she had food poisoning and was too ill to come!!! we went to the final checkpoint to have our ticket stamped for the final time, proving we had completed the whole trail, and we also had our passport stamped, next to the start stamp we have. its annoying that anyone visiting can get a stamp not just those who have done the whole trail, but at least we know we worked hard to get it!! we had a bit of a rest, eating the rest of our chocolate!!!! before we went on a guided tour round the ruins with smith.

for the tour we had to leave our sticks as they are not allowed into the ruins, we had the option of checking our bags into storage but rather foolishly me and heath didn´t!!! (was sensible in some ways just not in others)

smith showed us exciting things throughout the ruins and what each area was believed to be for, we went round most of the site when we got to the entrance to the wyna picchu mountain which you can chose to climb to get a different view over the site. even though we were really tired and sore me, heath and kim decided to go up as we were there and didn´t want to ever regret being so close and not doing it. tim also came up, he´d done three days of hiking but had spent the previous night in a hotel so doesn´t count!!!

they also restrict the number of people allowed up each day and as it was close to the limit smith said if we wanted to go it would have to be now, this meant we missed out on the rest of his tour and would meet the others in the town, at the restaurant where our bags had been taken. it was climbing this with our bags that was the silly part!

the climb up is supposed to take about an hour to get to the top and it actually hard work as some places are quite vertical, there is also only one track so people are coming up and down it so you have to keep stopping for people to squeeze past. its the kind of trail that would never be allowed in the uk cos of health and safety as there are shear drops everywhere with nothing to stop you just falling off!!!! we got really horrible and sweaty on the way up to the top, stopping along the way to take photos (and to be able to breathe!) we finally made it up to the top as each time it seemed to come close it actually went up further!!! to get to the top we had to pass through a cave/tunnel type thing which turned out to be quite small and hard to get through while wearing a daypack (which we had now made really sweaty carrying up the mountain!) tim struggled getting through just because of the size of his shoulders! the views from the top were amazing and was well worth the climb up, we weren´t looking forward to having to go down though!!!

to get down from the top involved going down a really steep, really small steped flight of stairs with nothing really around you which felt really horrible!! tim went for the other option of jumping down the terraces beside as his feet were larger than the steps, we weren´t brave enought for that though as we didn´t trust we wouldn´t shoot all the way off. we made it down in much less time than it took to get up, the problem then was finding the way out of the inca site itself to where we were getting the bus from. there are no signs telling you its just a maze!! a guide told us thats easy!!! but it really wasn´t!!!! we got on the bus and collected tims stuff from his hotel, then needed to get to the cafe where the others were and all our stuff was, we had been given directions but noone could remember then fully so we had to ask in the tourist information. we found it eventually and had a really nice pizza, kim had ordered spaghetti and it took over an hour to come, about half an hour in we saw a woman walk through with a bowl, then a while later with it filled with spaghetti but it still took ages after that for it to appear. two of our porters were also there, looking after our bags which we felt bad about as it really wasn´t their job anymore but they seemed so happy to do it!

we got on the train back to ollantaytambo where we switched onto a bus to take us the rest of the way back to cuzco, spend most of the journey trying not to fall asleep, its weird we all now feel so sleepy anytime we get on any transport, no matter how bumpy it is!!!

we all went out for a meal that night,after the meal me and half of us headed back to the hotel to bed, and heath and the rest went out to a bar called cuckoos to meet up with our guides from the inca trail.

we had to check out of the hotel at 11 the next morning, which we did then went for a proper breakfast at jacks (a cafe) before we then went to the airport for our flight to arequipa.

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Photos

sunrise
the sun rose whilst we were walking to the sungate and this is the colour the sky turned

sungate
this is the view looking back at the sungate from machu picchu side

machu picchu
this is the first view we got of machu picchu from the sungate

Gill and Heath
us with machu picchu behind

Winay Picchu
this was the mountain that me, Heath, Tim and Kim climbed

Group at Machu Picchu
group shot when we reached Machu Picchu Heath, Tim, Caz, Gill, Gabby, Katie, Vic, Jo, Rhian and Kim

Inside Machu Picchu
temple to the sun god

Andean Cross
each step on each side represents different things, a proper explaination will follow at some point!!

Machu Picchu from Winay Picchu
te climb up was hard, but the view was worth it!

us on Winay Picchu
machu picchu in the background

Comments

[Cynthia]

Inca trail
You will really be fit after all this!!!! Looking forward to hearing more!! Keep on going. Will I recognise you both when you return??? Luvs yah.

[karen]

starting to think i wouldn't be fit enough to do the trail! enjoying the journey glad you've both survived!!! eagerly awaiting all the pics, saved a couple of you both hope you don't mind. had to keep one of you with the pirahna's!!!!! how much longer are you away?