From the mystery of the Nazca lines, we travelled for 8 hours by truck to our next bush camp through some more amazing Peruvian landscape.
We were pretty comfortable with being at altitude now and were all getting used to the lack of oxygen! On the way to our bush camp we stopped off at a site where huge rocks in the shape of trees on the side of a mountain were only to find A TORNADO heading towards us!!! Yep, thats right, Tel and I went over to get a pic with some locals and out of nowhere a tornado ripped through the site right by us! Tel managed to get a great video of it but the pic below shows it heading towards us!
After the shock of Mother Nature and a cup of coca tea, we headed to the camp via the highest altitude we were to experience on the truck, a 4900metre stopping point. We had experienced higher, 5100metres at Cotopaxi before coming on the truck.
Our bushcamp was specifically chosen because it ´wasn’t the place where somebody left camp to take a picture and never ever returned!´. Worrying I know, but the camp they used to stay at on this part of the journey was slightly ´cliffy´!
This camp was really just a broken down, old attempt at a village which had been abandoned but gave us space to set up our tents and a deserted, unfinished wall where us girls could go to the loo! We arrived late at the camp and so it was pretty much dark which meant of course, that the veggie option for dinner was going to be difficult to prepare…lol. The cook group managed it fantastically we ate rehydrated soya pieces in a nice sauce with pasta and some garlic bread cooked over the camp fire! In fact, the food on our trip has been awesome so far, especially considering we (along with one other girl) are the awkward veggie ones! After dinner we all partied a bit with some locally produced wine. We listened to some music from the truck and all had a great time.
The next day we reached Arequipa, after another long travel day in the truck through amazing desert scenery.
Arequipa is very high in altitude so we started to reacclimatize. It is a beautiful city full of cathedrals, churches, large squares and surrounded by snow capped mountains. We were both desperate for some good old veggie food so we found the nearest falafel place and indulged so much we could hardly get up from the seat. I spent the next morning on a reality tour, something a local had set up so us tourists could see the real Peru. We were taken to a quarry when men as old as 75 spend every day carving bricks from the stone to make only one sole per brick, less then 20p! We met a gentlemen whose shoes were toeless and his shirt was covered in holes, he had worked there all his life. We were then taken to a daycare centre, a tiny room covered in coloured paper. Peruvian women leave their children here when they go to the city each day to either beg or try and find work. The children were adorable and sang for us of which I found heartbreaking to hear that nothing would come of their lives as they had no opportunity due to where they lived and the corrupt education system.
After driving the next day for 6 hours we visited the deepest canyon in the world, the Colca Canyon. This Canyon is also home to the 2nd largest bird in the world, the Condor. We were really lucky to see heaps of them flying above us as some people don´t get to see any our tour guide informed us. We were in awe of their size, beauty and grace as they glide through the narrow but very deep canyon on the thermals to look for food.
Once we´d spent some time learning about the local villages, how the survive the arid conditions and the fact that electricity had only been brought to the area 4months ago (!!), we started our trekking experience at altitude. We trekked at 3900 metres from the Canyon back to the town we were staying in for four hours in the blistering heat, up and down and through villages. It was hard to trek at altitude as we were feeling out of breath all of the time. We all arrived back, hot, sweaty, exhausted and with huge swollen hands from the lack of oxygen! It was a good start introduction to the Inca trail style of trekking though. After a well deserved shower, the evening was spent eating cheaply (two empanadas and chips for 8 soles…or 1pound twenty) and recovering of course!
The following day was our longest drive! We drove for 12 hours to Cusco. Cusco is an amazing city full of beautiful buildings, cobbled streets and snow capped mountains all around. Cusco is famous for being what the Incas refer to as the ´centre of the world´. It is geographically the centre of Peru and was a sacred place at this time. As we´d arrived very late again, it was time for dinner! We found the only Indian restaurant in Peru and ate so much we couldn’t move again for hours…literally. It actually prevented us from going out with the group as well due to how full we were, lol. Common trend as Peruvian food is quite bland! You tend to find the Westerners eating at the places they´re used to like Mexicans, or Indians or falafel joints of course.
We had the next day free in Cusco and so spent the day looking through the cool food markets and local shops. A jumper made from Alpaca wool was also purchased in preparation for the Inca Trail. We then had our introduction to the Inca trail talk.
As you can imagine, we were all pretty nervous as we had heard stories from friends about how hard the 4 day hike to Machupicchu was! We followed the maps with the guides, getting informed about how hard each day would be and what to expect. We packed our duffle bags provided by the tour operator and gave the 7kgs to the 26 porters we had accompanying us on the trail. These porters are usually local farmers who do the Inca trail with tourists for extra cash. They carry not only our bags, but chairs to sit on, tents to sleep in, roll mats, sleeping bags, wash bowls for each morning, water and even gas canisters to cook all the food. They are incredibly strong willed people who put you to shame when you are exhausted after a day of trekking and they clap you well done!
Our guide Odon of 9 years experience was great. He picked us up on the first day of the trail in a mini coach at 5am ready to do the 3hour bus journey to the start of the trail!
We got to the first part and prepared to get going, walking sticks in hand (for me). Tel managed to sneak in some morning chips as he was hungry (rank at 6am) and we were off. 4 hours on day one to our camp at 2600metres.
This walk was relatively easy, a few ups (which I believed would be the hardest part of the trek. Little did I know the down hills would be harder! We all reached camp (Tel in 3hours) and were greeted with our tents already up and ready with roll mats and our duffle bags. ´Happy hour´ followed shortly with popcorn and hot drinks and coca tea to help with the altitude.
Dinner shortly followed this too (although none of us were hungry as were full of popcorn), a feast and lots of vegetarian delights. Our guide then introduced all of the porters one by one along with the funny stories for each person, their age and what they carried. This was customary and provided us with more of a connection to them. We then had a great group photo taken and it was off to bed by 7pm in preparation for what was said to be the hardest day of all the next morning.
An early wake up on 5am, coca tea was given again to wake us and 2 bowls of hot water left outside our tents for a wash. How cool is that! Treated like kings! We arose quickly and the porters took our tents down whilst we ate breakfast. We started trekking around 6am after breakfast of cake (huge with happy travels on it) and toast, mostly flat to start and then oh yes the up hill started!
Up, up and away for 5km, yes 5km, up very steep steps made by the Incas to 4200 metres where the air was extremely thin and hard to breath in…let alone trek in!
It took around 4 hour for me and around 2 hours for Terry, he was speedy Gonzales! Then it was 7km down hill, through the clouds and down huge steps to camp. This only took around 2 hours for me (25mins for Tel) but killed more then going up! When I reached camp which stood at 3600metres, Terry was already recovered and had been there for many hours! I was so proud that we had achieved the 2nd day, I thought it was the hardest day of my life until day 3 popped its head around the corner!
After delicious dinner, drinks and relaxation with cards our guide told us a scary story about how our camp site was an old Inca burial ground and how a young honeymooning couple had been there a few years ago and had been arguing to the extent that the husband killed his new wife with his shoelaces and dragged her body down to the river! Not nice to try and sleep on that evening, lol.
We awoke to day 3, said to be easy and no where near as hard as day 2….hmmm who lied!! For Tel of course day 3 was absolutely fine, no troubles.
We decided we would spend the day walking the trail together but as the first 2 hours we all uphill, it soon became apparent that I would be alone again!! Tel skipped, hopped and practically ran off and I struggled with my aching legs up the hill. It was also very, very wet on day 3 and so we couldn´t really enjoy the amazing scenery around us.
The day, in total 16km, was up, down, up, down and involved maybe 5 minutes of straight walking, lol. There were Inca tunnels, steep steps down and tiny bits of rock you couldn´t really call ´steps´!
It was hard but a great challenge and we all completed it in good time. Terry arrived about 11am and I made it about 12.45. My legs were hurting so badly that I actually cried when I reached the camp. Ouch!
The scenery could´ve been amazing, and it was to a certain extent. We could make out huge mountain ranges all around us and when the rain stopped and the cloud broke, the view of the Inca ruins around us was amazing.
We spent the afternoon satisfied that we only had 6km more to walk to get to the prize, Machupicchu!! We toured the local ruins and sat and had a beer overlooking the huge mountains and clouds. My legs could hardly make it to the toilet so we spent all night relaxing in the tent eating lots.
The next morning came very quickly and we all got woken up with coca tea at 3.30am! Tel was up and raring to go, all packed away and literally waiting on everyone else to get ready so he could be first in line at the checkpoint before the big sprint (literally) to the Sun Gate to enter the sacred site.
Is that morning, maybe scrap that and call it night! We were first to the checkpoint by 4am, although we had to wait in the freezing cold, now at 2700metres until 5.30 to get a stamp on our tickets. And then we were off…well the boys were…Tel sprinted a full 6kms in 24mins leading the way the whole time followed by some extremely fit girls, and some other teams that had managed to pass the slower ones in the group….and then me and my friend Becky. We were both struggling as somebody yet again told us this day was easy but when you multiply legs that felt like wooden sticks, altitude, 5.30am and uphills and harsh downhills…it so wasn’t easy. We made it a little later than everyone else but the view was out of this world and the whole trip became worth it. We were at Machupicchu overlooking the wonderful sacred Inca site.
Machupicchu was not only sacred but a hidden village of the Inca that they used to kill slaves so that no one knew the location of it. It wasn’t even found by the Spaniards. It was discovered by modern man in 1905, but built in the 15th century. Truly beautiful to see. We trekked to the sight itself, smelly and exhausted where we explored each part and had the obligatory group shot taken.
After a few hours exploring we happily made our way back to the comfort of Cusco on a bus-train-bus 5hour journey.
Inca Trail complete, another epic journey! In total Tel completed the 4 day hike in 11hours 35mins. I did it in a few more hours than that, but we are both really proud of the achievement. Also, of course, I have to mention that Tel was officially the first person to and in Machupicchu on the 18th October 2009, lol. He made me type that, hehe.
Of course, no sacred site would be complete without a jar of marmite! Thats right...we took our marmite to Machupicchu with us and got this amazing pic below! Enjoy!
