DAY 0 - To Ollaytaytambo.
We took a bus to Urumbamba in the Sacred Valley, where we were met by a local lady and we were taken to a small village by tuk-tuk, to meet the locals and have lunch but little known to us it was just another opportunity to show us how they make pottery, chocolate and honey and of course give us the option to buy some! It was all very nice but we all knew something of the techniques and by the end of the tour we were all starving. Luckily the lunch was very nice, and served by three local ladies who were very friendly and though the lunch was nice I felt we had wasted time we could have spent in a more useful way.
After lunch we took a private bus to Ollantaytambo, a charming town close to the start of the Inca trail, and therefore very touristy, but the locals were friendly and the town built from stone, surrounded by mountains and interesting looking archaeological sites.
Day 1 - The beginning.
We were picked up from our hotel at 7.30am and driven to km82, the usual start point for the Inca trail where we handed our duffel bags to the porters, collected our walking sticks and began the trek. We were all excited and in high spirits, and to add to that the weather was georgeous. Vendy was still feeling a bit ill, but was hoping that the fresh air would do her some good.
We saw two Inca sites that morning, Willkarakay and Llactapata, and our guide explained the meaning of the buildings we could see and the terracing on the mountainside which we would become accustomed to seeing during the next 4 days.
We arrived at our first campsite Hatunchaco at about 1pm but two girls were quite a way behind the group so we wited for them for lunch and we ate at about 2pm. When we arrived, the porters clapped and cheered us, which was nice but we thought a little unnecessary as so far it had not been difficult!
Lunch was great, after weashing our hands in bowls provided by the porters, we sat in the lunch tent which looked a little like a five star restaurant, with napkins and table cloth. Then we had a lovely meal of soup followed by fresh trout. It was amazing and every meal was a similar standard over the next few days. This is probably when I should say that the porters were amazing, they worked so hard and each one carried tents, cooking gas bottles, food, our bags, in fact 25kg of stuff over those mountains for us for 4 days, usually at running pace and whenever we got to camp they cheered us, and gave us drinks. They were all supermen!
After lunch we had another 2 hour walk but most of this was climbing, it was quite hard but we knew it was only preparation for day 2, Described by our guide as a ´difficult day´. It started raining at about 3.30, and we arrived at around 5pm, and waited for the two stragglers before dinner and bed at about 8pm!
DAY 2 - The Killer
We were woken at 5.20 by two porters knocking on our tent and giving us water and soap to wash our faces. Then they gave us coca tea (it helps with altitude sickness) and we were in the breakfast tent at 6am. It had rained all night and looking at the mountains there was a lot of snow that wasn't there before! Luckily the rain had stopped and the morning was clear but cold, and vendy was feeling better.
We left later than planned at 7am, and began the climb up dead womans pass, at 4200m the highest part of the trek. It was 3.5 hours of climbing steps and slopes with snow on the ground in some places. It sounds like hell and it was, particularly when the freezing fog started blowing in. But we were all together and our spirits were still high, and we finally made it to the top of the pass at about 10.30, with other reaching the top just after 11am. Then we started descending which was worse cos it made your knees and joints hurt! It was very steep and after 1.5 hours we made it to our lunch spot. We waited for the last two people for a while but then the guide got us to eat and we left at 2pm, with a spatter of rain and then the weather improved (for a while at least) as we started climbing for the second pass. We made the summit at about 4pm, it was tiring and cold, and none of us wanted to stop for breaks until we got to the top, but we had to stop to look around an inca site called Runkurakay.
Then we stopped at another Inca site called Sayaqmarka, in the cloud forest just before reaching the camp, this was my favourite so far, perched on a high mountain with a beautiful view of the valley. It was unfortunately obscured by the low cloud. That evening, exhausted, we arrived at the camp at 5.30pm and the last two arrived at 7pm! dinner at 7.30 and bed at 8.30!! Needless to say, most of us slept very well that night.
Day 3 - The easy day
Today we knew that we would arrive at our final camp at lunch time with the opportunity to shower and a beer if we wanted, for the first time this trip so we got up later - at 6.30am (same procedure as yesterday) and left at about 7.45am, it had been raining all night and was still raining when we left. We were walking through cloud forest and it was much easier than the previous days. It was also original Inca trail we were walking. The highlight of the morning was when we saw a pair of toucans, everyone was very excited, but particularly Vendy who had been wanting to see one since Ecuador and now saw two at once. She was jumping with hands in the air! ´I saw a toucan!´
We looked around a site called Intipata and then went down to the site for lunch. After lunch we went to see the best remains of a large farm at the Winaywayna site. Again it was astonishing to see the effort put into building there things and the workmanship, as well as the location of the place.
DAY 4 - D day
Woken at 4am, we had to get up, pack in the dark and eat so we could leave at 5am before the rush. It was still dark and we were walking with torches for a while before it got light. The walk was interesting, but there were stairs and it was very narrow in places plus we wantd to arrive in nice time. The worst part was the ´oh my god steps´ called by our guide, because they are so tall, its more like climbing a wall!!
We arrived at about 6.45 to see machu picchu for the first time. I must say it was a bit of an anticlimmax for me, as it looked like the other sites we had seen from this distance but when we got closer it was amazing. The walk, the hardship and everything that had led to this made it an experience we´ll never forget. We walked around for a few hours, then went to Machu Picchu town before going back to Cuzco.
What an amazing few days.
Day 5 - Relaxing.
Today we had a lay in and then went to the Inca museum before going to Sacsayahwaman and Qenqo archeological sites after lunch. The places are fascinating and the weather has been lovely. Tonight we´re going out for dinner and then going dancing to celebrate our achievement.
