Well despite violent protesting, the worst buses in the world and altitude sickness, we managed to get into Cuzco and have a couple of days playing in the city before starting our 4 day Inca trail. The city itself is pretty weird. Half the city was knocked down and rebuilt by the Spanish, which makes for an intersting mix of Inca sun temples and Catholic churches next to one another. No matter what time you enter the main plaza, you will find a protest of some description occuring and 4 year olds selling finger puppets. We were in Cuzco when Machu Picchu was announced as one of the new seven wonders of the world which was pretty exciting. We left early the next morning to begin our trek. The trek itself was not that difficult. There were at least 2 million steps and there was always the risk of being knocked off the side of the mountain by a porter with a big load, but the real difficulties were the altitude and the weather. It is currently dry season, which usually means that it doesn´t rain. Our guide told us that it only ever rains for 20mins at a time and that it never rains 2 days in a row. Luckly at the start of the trek (while our porters prepared our second breakfast for the day) we actually listened to one of the annoying beggers who convinced us that it was ¨necessary amigas¨ to buy one of her plastic ponchos. Little did we know those shiny plastic Godsends would soon become our best friends. It rained all 4 days and even snowed one day as we crossed Dead Womens pass, which is the highest pass on the trek at 4300metres. It hasn´t snowed on the trail for the last 5 years, so our guide convinced us that we were exceptionally lucky!! Despite the crazy weather, the trek was awesome. We were provided with 3 4 course meals a day plus ´happy hour´. The scenery was amazing and the view of Machu Picchu from the sungate at 6 in the morning was breathtaking (this could have also been to do with pretty much running the last 4 km´s to ensure reachng the sungate at sunrise). Machu Picchu itself was pretty awesome. We were provided with a guided tour and were then let loose for a couple of hours. The photos don´t do it justice unfortunately. After Machu Picchu we descended to Aguas Calientes for a quick swim in the hot springs and then encountered another strike, resulting in yet another long wait in the train terminal. Once we finally caught the train, we were then picked up by a driver from our tour company who took us on the scariest drive of my life through the back streets to Cuzco. Because of the strikes all the roads were blocked with piles of stones and really angry, scary looking people. Needless to say we were pretty happy to make it safely into bed that night!!!
