The tour didn't start off too well. We had hired sleeping bags. They arrived at our hotel the night before we left. What a disappointment. "1.7kg, down bags" we were promised... 2.4kg, synthetic, stinky bags were what we got. The 700g may seem petty, but when you're carrying all your own gear at altitude, 100g can make all the difference let alone 700g of stinking synthetic sleeping bag. Thankfully I had brought my sleeping bag that I'd bought in australia. It probably wasn't as warm, but it didn't smell... that was my priority! Reena was stuck with hers... poor thing. (I managed to get a refund at the end - yay!).
We were picked up the next morning at 06:00, although we were told to be ready by 05:20. Images of our experiences in Halong Bay were starting to pop up again. Please, not again. But... from the moment we got on the bus everything started taking a positive turn.
After a four hour bus journey including breakfast at Ollantytambo (and a small show involving 20 Peruvian boys pushing a bus back onto the road after it drove off the track onto a roof), we arrived at km 82. We got our passports stamped and set off on the trail. I took the first hill a little too fast. I should have known better after our trek in Nepal. Oh well, I learnt my lesson atleast. I set myself a better pace for the rest of the day. Tiring, but no dizziness. Great!
The path was pretty well worn. We stopped numerous times on the way to learn about different plants and parasites. It was hot! I was not expecting it to be that warm. It was almost desert like with the hot dusty trails in the mountains. The first ruin was Patallacta. We stopped higher up on a neighbouring mountainside to view it from above. Pretty impressive.
We arrived at the camp site after about four hours or walking. The tents were already up! We had so many porters for our group - 20, including the cook. Crazy, but I was so impressed with the quality of food and service. Five course meals at dinnertime!
There were 16 of us in our hiking group:
-Reena and I,
-Susie and Simon (a British couple),
-Sylvia, Jenny, Tammy and Christine (four Pharmacy students from CA),
-Will, Ash and Nick (three British boys just graduated as engineers),
-Jim, Kibbie, Christine and Carrie Anne (a family also from CA,
-Tally (a hippyish kinda kid from Hawaii).
Our guides:
-Bobby and Willy (he insisted his name was "willy"... ok.)
Every morning we were woken up in our tents with a cup of tea! I loved it! Although the porters on this trek seemed to do a lot more for us that we had experienced elsewhere, they were also looked after better themselves. They had restrictions on what they could carry for tourists, 24kg on the first day, 22kg on the second. In Nepal, the porters would carry anything up to and even exceeding 40kg.
The second day was the toughest by far. Reena and I wanted to walk with our full backpacks. We woke up that morning at 3000m. Our target that day was the highest pass at 4200m. We started off so well... then we hit the second break at 3800m. A quick trip to the loo revealed I hadn't escaped that "once a month inconvenience" - bang on time it was. urghhh... I feel weak and dizzy at the best of times. Add a 10kg backpack, a big hill, the sorching sun and the altitude -I wasn't having fun! I fought back the tears that day, but we made it to the top! We found the rest of our group waiting for us (except two others), well... Reena and I were the only ones who decided to carry our own bags. We were allowed to be at the back!
I survived the altitude so much better than in Nepal. A few in the group had headaches, but nothing more serious. We played a few little games like the alphabet game to get us through the day, in the evenings we played cards and a dice game I learnt in New Zealand. I love the dice game... you quickly learn what kind of person a player is like when you play this game! It reveals all... ha!
We visited many ruins along the way. I'm surprised how much the Inca's knew about building to protect themselves against earthquakes. They would build their walls at all sorts of different angles. Truely amazing, because these walls have been standing for hundreds of years, yet the homes and buildings in Pisco and Ica, which were hit by earthquake in August, suffered pretty bad. The Peruvian's should make the most of this 'ancient' technology. Its been tried and tested. Use it! Granted its probably more expensive and takes longer to build, but you cant put a price on life. Well the Japanese seem to think its worth it. Apparently they are incoperating the Incan ideas into their architecture now.
The last couple of days gave us cloudy skies. We missed a lot of the views due to the mist, but it just added another element to the trek. It kept us cool too! We also had to sort out the tips for the guides and porters on the last night. What confusion that was... we had to create 22 different piles of money. Not easy when you dont have access to a change machine.
Day 4: The last day of the trek which leads you to Machu Picchu. Early start... 03:45. We raced to get ready and down to the gates. The campsite contained quite a few groups who were heading to Machu Picchu that day. Our aim was to be the first to get there... Well we were the second group to the gates. That was ok. Once we got through the gate, it was each to their own... The trail of people infront of me stormed off, and the trail of people behind me disappeared into the darkness. Oh no... I was on my own in the dark. It was so scary! I thought I'd taken a wrong trail somewhere and would be lost in the jungle forever, or I'd be kidnapped by this unknown Inca Tribe and sacrificed to their Gods. It didn't help either that their was this creature with a 'glow in the dark' head that was following me! I was later told that it was an owl... After a tortuous 25 minute walk in the dark mist I finally stumbled on Tally. I was sooo happy to see him, although he too had a tendency to wander off into nowhere. Atleast I wasn't on my own anymore!
We got to the sungate. You're supposed to be able to see Machu Picchu from here. Every so often the clouds would part and give you a sneak preview. I just wanted to get down there!
We got down to the site and Bobby gave us a two hour tour in the cold and rain. It was pretty good, but the site is not a touch on the ruins in Cambodia. I only wish we had a tour guide for Angkor Wat now. We learnt loads though from our tour. It is an amazing site, although it has a slightly manicured feel to it. I prefer sites that still look like they're ruins that have just been stumbled across. I guess thats a difficult look to achieve when you have 3000 tourists a day to manage. We had a last dinner with out group in Aguas Calientis, then headed back to Cusco by train and bus.
