Had fun in Cusco...found Jack´s Cafe which we renamed Gringo Jack´s because the food was like home and full of gringos! Got our stuff together for the trek and left early the next day. Our guide Luis is from the Sacred Valley and so knew Quechen which was going to be useful. Met up with the other person Debra who was also going to do the trek. We stopped off at a village to buy bread for the children we were going to meet, some pencils and last minute provisions.
Drove to a place for lunch met the porters and some local children. We gave them some bread and the grapes we had bought. It was hard to eat knowing that we were going to have a hot meal and they were not.
Started treking in the rain wearing our neon ponchos. Had to scale over a wall and then got overtaken by Chef and the porters who had got some wild llamas rounded them up and put the stuff on them! Apparently they are homing llamas who´ll find their way home! It was a hard slog to the village. Here we met more kids and gave out pencils and bread but we all felt that there could have been more we could have brought.
After crossing the edge of a waterfall which was pretty hairy we finally arrived at camp. The coca leaf helped a lot...munching it, drinking it etc. Had the nicest home made tomato soup, pasta and choc mousse and slept with the andes in the background at 4,200m.
Next day got up to be treated to a king like breakfast of honey puffed kiwicha (like quinoa but bigger), pancakes and bread. Saw a condor and really used our power sticks today getting to the first pass and the second. At the highest we were at 4,880m. Phew. It was pretty alpine in this area and we saw glaciers and the tarn shelf. After another splendid lunch we arrived at the second village. It wasn´t raining today it was easier to meet the children. One delightful little lad called Fernando gave Chris a hug and they were all thrilled to see their faces on the digital cameras. Debra though made a kid cry...i think the kid just got spooked! That night after 17km of walking we were treated to another fab meal and Chef even made cake in a frying pan! Stargazed and got to see the milky way and the patterns that the ancient people saw in the sky like pumas, llamas etc...maybe it´s the coca tea!
Our final day of treking took us to a local school where we spotted 'Alex con Salina' graffited on the wall...we teased the kids of course! Saw the ruins at Puna Marca and finally got to Ollantaytambo. Once in Aguas Calientes had a soak in the spa which felt great and went to bed smug that we finished treking.
