Arrived in Cuzco, Peru after a pretty epic journey – 24 hours on the bus from Cartagena, Colombia to Caracas, Venezuela, 8 hours lay over in Caracas airport, 5 hour flight to Lima, 12 hours in Lima, 6 in bed at a hostel and then jump on another 22 hour bus from Lima to Cuzco.
Have to put in a special mention to the bus company we took from Lima to Cuzco, Cruz Del Sur – decent reclining seats, blankets and pillow provided, the inside of the bus kept at a sleep-able temperature AND bingo for prizes! Whilst we did not win anything – playing bingo in Spanish is a great way to improve your numbers.
The whole journey spiced up a little when Nicola´s bag was randomly selected to be searched by Lima customs officers – they queried the wet wipes, the travel hair-dryer and the bag of washing powder!! Nicola eventually came through to meet myself and our driver to the hostel – no harm done. Well – until 2 mins after we started to drive away from the airport Nicola could not find her passport! In the excitement of the customs search, she had put the passport and some other customs forms down next to her bag and forgotten to pick them up after she was given the all clear. We stopped the taxi, searched all the bags in the boot and then went around the one way system back to the airport arrivals again. Nicola´s panic´d face got her back through airport security and she soon reappeared with the passport in hand.
Anyway – we arrived safely in Cuzco and spent the next 3 days acclimatizing. Cuzco is at 3500m, so head aches, short of breath and lethargy are quite common – we suffered all three, but not too bad. We had to acclimatize as Cuzco is the staging post for the Inca Trail trek – which we booked to do some 6 months ago- which covers 45 km over 4 days and reaches an altitude of 4200m.
We did the trek with 5 other tourists/travellers (2 Kiwi sisters, 1 Irish lad and a couple of girls from London) and 13 porters and a guide!!! (including one chef and one chef´s assistant) – check out the picture of our group and our porter team. We just had to carry our day packs, including change of clothes etc but the tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, kitchen tent, gas, medical kits etc etc all carried by the porters.
Day 1 was a 06:00 meet, 3 hour bus to our starting point and then gaining entry to the Machu Picchu national park. It sounds relatively easy, but as only 400 people, including porters are allowed in the Inca Trail per day it is something that needed to be booked some time ago, with names and passport numbers and so the entry point is quite officious – including stamping your passport. Day 1 was billed as an easy day, 13 km of not too difficult walking, a fair amount of up and down, but nothing too demanding until the final climb to our campsite. Along the way our guide pointed out all the interesting sites – Inca villages, flora and fauna and mountain/glaciers and giving short talks on everything. Dinner was huge and delicious – but I can´t remember what we had on what day. Generally we have soup to start, including quinoa, pumpkin, chicken, celery, then a buffet main course – quiche, stuffed chicken, beef in tomato sauce, rice, pasta, lots of veg, then a dessert – chocolate pudding, jelly, rice pudding etc.. Suffice to say – even with all the walking – we still gained weight over the 4 days.
Day 2 was 06:00 wake up call – with hot coca tea (coca leaves in hot water), short breakfast. Everyone at breakfast was a little nervous – this is the big day – not in time, but this is the day of 5 hours of solid climbing to the highest point, 4200m and then another hour of decline. There were lots of people on the climb, as in hundreds, when the climb gets hard all 400 people on the trail tend to concertina together through the day, so you tend to share pained expressions with the same people every 15 minutes or so as you stop to gain your breath and take a swig of water. All 7 of us made it to the top of the pass (called Dead Woman´s pass, not because anyone died, but as the top of the mountain looks like a woman lying down) in good time and in decent spirits – but all very tired indeed. As the hike was so tiring, we only did a half day, so we descended the mountain for about an hour or so, had lunch and then had a 4 hour siesta until afternoon tea. I found the descent great fun – after the initial very steep section, you could almost jog down, with a certain rhythm you can hop from stone to stone – it takes lots of concentration, but I am sure its easier on the knees than easing down gently. The second day was also the Kiwi sisters (twins - as will become clear) had their birthday – so we played games in the kitchen tent, Jamie (the Irish lad) had a bottle of Pisco (won on the Bingo bus), the twins had a bottle of New Zealand Chardonnay and the porters gave us a bottle of rum. We slept very well that night. Again a special mention…. has to go to our Chef (nick name Chino – as he has slightly slanty eyes) who made/brought a birthday cake with him!
Day 3 – the best, but longest day, 16 km, with some climbs, mostly at the start of the day, but great views, more Inca buildings and more sunshine. Best way to appreciate are the pictures which will eventually be put on the blog. Final day ended at 16:00, but at a real campsite with showers and a bar. A few beers and some more very good food and we were early to bed ready for the final day.
Day 4 – 04:00 wake up call – breakfast in 30 mins and then ready to leave. The weather had a different opinion. For the first time in our 4 days the heavens opened – we all donned our ponchos (again the pictures highlight it best) and prepared to leave. Our guide thought it was better to hang on for a while as the only reason we got up so early was to be at the entry gate for Machu Picchu 30 mins before it opened at 05:30 and there is normally a long queue. The rain abated slightly after 30 mins or so and we queued up for entry. Once we were in, we route-marched our way to the sun gate (where all the classic pictures of Machu Picchu are taken) with 400 people behind us. With the rain still coming down we took a few photos and headed down to our final destination. At the bottom – we were tired and wet and so not really in the mood for anything, bar warmth and dry clothes – but we still had a 2 hour guided tour of Machu Picchu to come. Fortunately, within an hour the rain broke the sun came out and the temperature shot up to the mid 20´s (Centigrade) – our ears and minds dried and became useful tools again and we soaked up the 2 hour guided tour – all very interesting – what Machu Picchu was used for, how many people lived there, who lived there, in what buildings. Holy city, 1000 at its peak, royalty, priests and engineers, see the pictures (we have hundreds).
We had some great walks, good history lessons, really good food and met some very nice people and with the weather behaving so well – we had a great week. Now time for some recovery time and getting back down to sea (and beach) level.
