Gosh I’ve been a busy little bee! I am completely cream crackered! It’s a bit of a struggle to remember everything but I will do my best to fill you in on the highlights.
We spent a few days in cusco before the inca trail. Supposedly relaxing and resting but as per usual we ended up walking around for miles and miles. The historic centre of cusco is really nice. It feels like it’s just a small town within a city. The only let down is that you cannot walk two steps in the centre without being hassled by someone to buy something. Obviously I understand they are just doing their jobs but after 4 days of it, it was driving me nuts! We had a guy selling paintings which Luke showed some interest in so he followed us for about an hour. He even sat outside a cafe and waited for us. We also had the best chocolate cake ever in cusco…yum!
Luckily the first day of our trip was mostly a bus ride with just a few hours of walking so the legs got a little reprieve. We briefly visited a rescue centre in the morning and we saw lots of animals. It was only small and family run so all the animals looked happy and healthy with nicely kept enclosures. The deer were a little overweight though. You can take the vet nurse to south america but it’s hard for the vet nurse to switch off when it comes to animal welfare! We went into the condor enclosure which was pretty scary, they are huge! We also saw pumas which made me very happy. I had a brilliant photo opportunity when the male walked right infront of me, after everybody else had moved on, only I had my camera zoomed right in and managed to cut his head off…oops!
Later we visited the sacred valley and some inca ruins. I didn’t really learn anything because I was too busy concentrating on staying sane whilst being told what to do ever 5 minutes and following our guide around like a sheep, with the 15 other people on our tour. All I remember the guide saying was that the Spanish came and destroyed everything and that nobody ever gives the pre inca civilisations enough consideration. He was very passionate about inca and pre inca traditions.
Over the course of the inca trail we learnt a little about pre inca and inca traditions. They worship the mountains. At the beginning of the inca trail we each made an offering of coco leaves to the mountains asking them to keep us safe. At the end of the trail we also gave an offering of rum to say thank you. Our guide told us stories about people being negative and cursing the mountains or the inca trail and later becoming injured. Personally I think it’s all part of the experience respecting the local traditions.
The next day we started our 46km hike to macchu picchu. I hadnt really given the days Leading up to macchu picchu much thought previously and was pleasantly surprised by the scenery along the way. The first day we walked as a group at a very leisurely pace, it was mostly flat and fairly easy going. I think we walked about 17km. We passed a few ruins and our guide explained the uses of plants as we passed them. We had lunch by a river. The porters had set up two tents, one to cook in and the other with a table and chairs for us. We had juice, tea and a three course meal. Then we had a seista before another two hours of walking.
The porters amazed me everyday! They each carry 25-30kg including all of our clothes, tents, sleeping bags and food. We had 22 porters for the 16 of us including two chefs. After each breakfast and lunch they packed everything up and then had to get to the next stop and set everything up before we got there. They flew passed us wearing only sandals and carrying all of that stuff. It was impressive enough even on the first day when it was mostly flat but no matter what the gradient or the terrain they were always overtaking us. Its hard enough just walking the trail let alone running it at altitude, carrying a big bag and doing it week after week. They get paid 177 soles (about £40) for the 3 days of work.
The second day was the most challenging. We got woken up with coffee in our tents at 5.30am, had breakfast and set off at 7am. It was uphill all morning. Over 8km we climbed 1200 meters. We had one guide at the front and one at the back and had soon split into two groups. Our group got to the 2 hour rest point in an hour. In the secod phase it got a bit more steep, we over took the guide and made it up the millions of steps to the next rest point in about 50 minutes. We stopped for some soup and then continued up to dead womens pass.
That next 45 minutes/500m climb was the most challenging and satisfying thing I have ever done. I walked on my own. I wanted some timeout and I couldn’t be bothered with everyone else stopping to catch their breath, it’s just harder to get going again. I think I had my competitive head on too. I just paced myself, cranked my iPod up and marched on. It was the most challenging walk I have ever done, physically and mentally. I didn’t doubt that I could do it for one moment. It felt like such a massive achievement when i reached the top. As excited as I was I soon got cold waiting for Luke. He was taking a far more leisurely approach to the whole affair so I headed down to camp. The down was worse than up. I walked with the ex ice hockey player and his wife and talked dogs.
The third day was a mixture of uphill, flat and down 3000 steps in the afternoon. It was also the most beautiful day through cloud forest. We couldn’t see very far due to the cloud but we could see all if the vegetation around us, bamboos, really cool looking trees and some new breed of mini orchids. Up until about midday that day it had been dry but cloudy so perfect walking conditions, then the heavens opened and it poured down for about an hour. By the time we had finished lunch it had stopped and we began our decent. Oh before that our chef presented us with a huge, freshly baked cake. No idea how managed to bake a cake with only gas rings, up a mountain but it was delicious!
The next day we had another early start to get in the que for the check point that opened at 5.30am. We were through shortly after that and a few of us, despite being shattered really pushed ourselves to get to the sungate, to see macchu picchu at sunrise. We got there at 6.20am but couldn’t see more than a few meters due to cloud. We must have got to macchu picchu just after 7.30am. You could just make out some of the ruins nearby, then gradually it cleared and revelaed the city and the surrounding mountains. It was even bigger and more beautiful than I ever imagined it to be. We spent the next hour just sitting, taking it all in and taking photos. Later our guide gave us a tour. Its astonishing how they managed to get those massive stones there in the first place let alone piece each one together so they fit like a jigsaw puzzle. Again its so hard to put into words the beauty of the place. I’m sorry to say that it’s just one of those places you have to see for yourself to really appreciate it.
They are currently in the process of designing and constructing a cable car over the ruins. In a couple of years it will not be possible to walk around, only to view the city from the cable car. They are doing this in order to better preserve the ruins and righltly so. The fact that in the future people won’t be able to experience macchu picchu as we did just makes me feel even more lucky.
Sorry there is slight delay with this email as last week I enrolled myself into a spanish language school and we have just been on another 3 day hike (email to follow).
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