The Inca Trail

We arrived in Cusco a couple of days before our Inca Trail departure date to acclimatise to the altitude (3300m) and do some last minute shopping (thermals, waterproof - that will actually keep some water off).Then the evening before we go, we get to meet our group and guide. The meeting lasts all of about 10 minutes as it turns out our group is just Chris and I, and the guide is a tiny Peruvian woman called Flor. (There go my 'small and female' excuses for being lame on the uphill!)

Our first night is spent at Ecoinkas private campsite right at the base of the trail, 82km from Cusco. The cook prepares a tasty traditional meal, cooked in an oven in the ground, then it's early to bed and early to rise ready to start the 37km walk/climb! We feel awkwardly colonial as we have 3 porters, a cook, and a guide, all for us! Thankfully we hadn't hired extra help for our personal gear, as Chris was bravely shouldering that burden!

Day 1

Our first day of walking is fairly easy, but interesting. We meet several local people that live in small communities on this section of the trail. A particularly cheerful group entertain us as they laugh the whole way up a steep hill in the boiling hot sun.They are all carrying huge loads, but one old man still offers to carry Chris's rucksack for him! We declined of course, and felt like we should offer to carry his bags instead!

We see our first Incan ruin from a distance called Willkarakay. It is a city in the shape of a snake. It is a small taster of the sites that are to come! After 5 hours of walking, we arrive at our lunch stop. Our porters have put up a tent, and to our amazement, cooked a 2 course meal. It's a highly entertaining hour, as there's a little boy who starts off singing his heart out, then spends forever trying to catch a lamb, a crazy man chasing a horse, and a chicken in socks!

It's not far to the camp then. It's very basic, and I'm highly depressed by the horrible toilet situation! But our tents our put up for us, and there's another 3 course meal on its way, so it's still luxury camping by all other accounts!

Day 2

We started at 6.30am to get to the Wayllabamba check point, and it is here that we encounter the characters we will enjoy watching for the next 2 days. I was nervous about the walking as we have to climb the Incas steps from 2980m up to the highest peak on the trail, 4250m. Ouch! But the 'people watching' really takes the pain away! Our favourites were;

·the Aussie posers (matching sporty couple),

·a German mountain in lycra leggings (nothing else),

·waterproof cowboy with mail order bride (it was boiling, yet we never saw him without the shiney waterproof trousers),

·and speedy asthma girl (she would run past us, then after 20 seconds gasp and practically die, before repeating the exercise).

Reaching the top was a very proud moment, and we're surprisingly nowhere near deaths door! It takes a couple more hours to get down to the camp though, and by that time we're definitely in need of food and rest. Our cook treats us to a hot chocolate, and another variation on the standard meat and rice. Our guide tells us that this campsite is haunted by the ghost of a girl who got killed by her boyfriend, then chopped up into pieces. The story goes that she still comes looking for her head that was never found! Flor is genuinely spooked by the tale, and finds a friend to share her tent!

Tonight is the first rain we get, and it's in the form of massive thunderstorm.Our sleep is somewhat interrupted when Chris goes running down the hill to the bathrooms, only to vomit on the way. This is followed by more violent vomiting, then 3 hours later I decide I'll follow suit. So neither of us get any rest, and day 3 is the longest day of walking...

Day 3

We are officially dying. Our cook hands us the worst stomach settler possible-a fry up, so we eat nothing, and set off nearly an hour after most groups. Our food poisoning is put down to the hot chocolate (hmmm???) which only makes us resent the fact it was ever given to us!

We see the most amazing sites so far, even going inside 3 of the Incan ruins we pass. They are all built sympathetically nestled into the side if the mountains, as if they have simply grown out of their surroundings. However, both of us find the walking very difficult today, but Chris soldiers on like a hero, even carrying my bag at times (taking the weight to 17 kilos-when even the porters only carry 20). Chris's mum (without knowing it) provides us with lunch, a life saving cereal bar (thank you Gill!), as we can't face the soup and rice on offer from the cook!

Despite our illness we manage the extra 30 minutes to the ruin Intipata, taking us to 5pm before we reach the campsite. From there we go to my favourite site of the day, Winaywayna. It is a vast set of terraces, and buildings. We haven't the energy to go down to it and have to settle for taking pictures from a distance. Back at the campsite, we manage to get a pricey, but hot shower, and an early night.

Day 4 - MACHU PICCHU

We get a bit of sleep, but the group behind us wake at 3.15am to be the first to get to Machu Picchu. We get up half an hour later, at the time our guide told us, and are then hurried to breakfast like we've had a lie in! We set off in the dark, and then have to join a queue at the check point. We wait here for an hour, because it turns out that the only reason we get up at that ungodly hour is so that the porters can get their first train home. Unfortunately in this time, I start to feel very sick again, and when we finally start walking I find it difficult.

I'm so relieved to reach the sun gate, and excited as it should be our first glimpse of Machu Picchu-unfortunately, the 'lost city' is to remain lost in the clouds until we get to the bottom of the hill. By which time it is raining quite heavily. So our first sight isn't exactly what it should be, but after days of trials and challenges we are immensely happy and proud of ourselves for making it at all!

Our bags are stored, and the tour begins. Flor tells us all about the building techniques, religion and lifestyle of the Incas. However, it is still unclear as to what Machu Picchu was specifically built for. Archaeologists' have no doubts that it is an important ceremonial citadel, but the rest remains a mystery. It has been built according to solar and astronomical coordinates, as a dedication to the basis of Incan religion, 'Mother Earth'.

The city was famously found by the American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911. But it was actually being occupied by 2 indigenous families at the time. So what he did was to bring it to Peruvian governments' attention, then of course the worlds. It has since been subjected to some terrible money making abuse, such as the rich being helicoptered into the ceremonial square, and a commercial being filmed there that smashed the centre piece that used to reflect the sun at certain times of day. Despite all the tourists, it is the most impressive archaeological site I've ever seen, and was better for it for arriving as the Incas did over 500 years ago.

We are lucky enough that the weather clears to a perfect day, and we can take all our pictures again, without the mist! (Chris even drags my sorry ass halfway back up to the sun gate!) Then we make our way over to the Incan bridge, which used to be the trails entry point. It is an impressive structure built into the side of a cliff.

After several hours, and thousands of pictures we manage to steal ourselves away from the lost city to a place that should never of found its way onto the map-Aguas Calientes. It is a tourist hole that charges 4 times the amount of any other town in Peru simply because everyone going to/from Machu Picchu has to pass through here. We eat pricey pizza then head to the train station. Here we find the most interesting tourist site in the town-travelling Jehovah's Witnesses. Bus loads of them! Thankfully they're not forcing leaflets upon people, but interestingly have an international conference in Lima-random.

On the train we are shocked to find out that it takes 4 hours to get back to our beds in Cusco (not the 1 and a half we had anticipated!) So by the time we get back its 9pm, and we feel our beds have been earned for the next few nights!