Macchu Picchu Trek:

So like the Galapagos entry where do I begin? Its probably best to take you through the events of each day of the tour, so hope your sitting comfortablely this is gonna be a mammoth entry! Here goes:

The day before the trek:

After a night in Cusco at our hotel, us and the rest of the group left the town via bus heading for GAP?s community project (a business they contribute to were the wives of the porters make and sell alpaca goods). Several photos and a hat purchase later we drove along sheer cliffs until we reached the town of Pisac. This town was nestled in the valley between several large mountains, it was then that our guide let slip that we?d actually be climbing these mountains.....a kinda dry run for MP! Great I thought. I?d been expecting shopping trips to the local markets, NOT pre-trekking trekking!

After what seemed the longest 2 hours of my life, my wish was granted and we stopped off at the nearby market. For those of you who have already commented on the ?cardigan?(actually its a hoody!) yes its here that I bought the thing. Its the fashion here, honestly. We drove on to the town of Urubamba where we stopped for lunch, I was feeling quite adventurous and even tried some Yucca (yes the plant) - see what happens when your a vegetarian, you get offered plants!!! Our final stop for the day was in Ollantaytambo which was to be our home for the night. We dropped our luggage at our lodge then walked into the town to hike up some more inca ruins (don?t get me wrong the incas were very showy people for there time, but theres only so much enthusiasim you can show towards a rock!). So our guide Ozzy (bless him) walked us round the ruins trying to get us excited about them. Parts of them did relate to the winter / summer solaces so not all bad I suppose (a bit like an inca stonehenge really).

We went out for a group meal latter that night although two of our group were already feeling ill (told you the pre-trek was not a good idea!), then it ws off to bed for the early start the next day.

Day 1:

So after a rather cold nights sleep, we were all set to go; or rather we would have been but one of the guys ill from the previous night was still not right, so our guide called for a doctor. This delayed us leaving the lodge & meant that we were one of the last groups to arrive at KM82 (the starting checkpoint for macchu picchu). At least we got to take the group photos without interuption though. We walked uphill, downhill, alongside the river, next to the train tracks, through remote communties, past wild chickens, pigs and donkeys.

I?ve never before eaten so many twix?s in one day, our guide told us to eat regularly so to keep our strength up, but I think maybe I took his advise to seriously! Ended the day sitting in our tent listening to the porters prepare our dinner and the rest of our group chattering about the next days mammoth trek uphill!

Day 2:

Our first night under canvas was fairly eventful. Helen woke me up saying she could hear something outside our tent. Immediately, I though it was the wild guinea pigs we?d been told we?d see (never saw any!), but helen was convinced it was a wild boar or pig. We latter found out it was just a bog standard cow that got into our field...nice...we could have been trampled to death in our sleep! There was also a cockrail in the next field to us that started crowing at 4am!!!!!!! Then the porters woke us up (although I was alredy awake!) at 6am and the trekking began again at 7am. By the time we?d finished breakfast the porters had pretty much disembled the netire campsite.

Once we were walking we saw a wild green parrot up close and personal, then the fun walk turned into a nightmare trek! The day involved walking 1200 metres in elevation and 12km in length. After 5 hours of tough walking uphill we reached ?dead womens pass?(very aptly named if you ask me). I literally had to drag myself up to the top of the pass with my walking poles; meanwhile helen was suffering too and had to be given some kind of smelling salts liquid to enable her to catch her breath and make it to the top.

Thinking we?d done the hard part everyone was estatic at making it to the top. But as the saying goes ?everything that goes up must come down?- oh how so true! We had 2 bloody hours of downhill walking, which I?m surprised didn?t do my knees in or twist my ankles a sit was so uneven (just to add to the pleasure of the whole experience!). I finally fell into my tent around 3pm and was exhausted.

Day 3:

No noises last night, just spen the entire night stopping myself slidding out of our tent. The porters had pitched all the tents on a slope so we all had the same difficulty. Once again trekking commenced at 7am and took us through cloud forests, micro-climates & jungle areas. I was really enjoying the day up until lunchtime, when my knees decided that enough was enough and they weren?t playing ball anymore! Walking downhill I was in so much pain that I just wanted to sit down and cry, everytime I moved I was in agony. It got so bad that Ozzy our guide had to strap both knees up (that made it vitually impossible to bend them after that - helen found it quite amusing!). My only motivation for the rest of the day was that there was beer at the campsite, that got me there and that alone!!!

Day 4:

The porters woke us up at 3.50am! We were standing in line at the final checkpoint by 5.15am in total darkness waiting for the gates to be opened and our tickets stamped so we could begin the final trek to MP.  Once we´d been given the all clear it was everyone for them self!   The best example I can give you of what it was like is being the first inline for the january sales then wanting to be the person that gets all the bargins.....it was pretty mental!  It was still dark, the paths were uneven and steep and yet you had people falling over themselves to get past you so that they were the first to the sungate!  It turned what I expected to be a spirtual or emotional moment into an absolute riot! 

I arrived at the sungate just in time to see the mist clear and macchu picchu appear before us, what a backdrop to sit and eat your breakfast!  We did the group photos and watched as everyone else arrived,  then moved to MP´s entrance were our guide Ozzy walked as around the ruins explaining their history.  After a few hours we took the bus down to the town of Agues Caliantes (home to some hot springs). 

After a group lunch (were everyone looked about ready to fall asleep due to the early start!), we walked some more insearch of the famous hot springs!  After a quick soak which was sheer heaven, we checked out the local markets then caught the last train back to Cusco.  We said goodbye to the rest of our group and our guides at another meal latter that evening.

So thats it folks, a quick recap of the four days it took us to reach MP.  I´m not gonna lie it was the worst and the best time but if you´d ask me whether I´d do it again, I think not.  At least I´d def catch the train there next time, just to spare my poor knees the pain!  Until next time, love Kez xxx