Another early start later and we were back on Sawmpy heading for Cusco and the horrors of the Inca Trail (something which I had totally put out of my mind until now)! We made a toilet stop along the way at the highest point that Swampy will drive through on the tour (4200m). There was a really cool but small market with the softest baby alpacas walking around with cute children and we were surrounded by snow covered mountains... very nice!

We stopped for lunch a bit later on and thanks to a change to the cooking teams I had a nice day off so watched the others get grub ready while lamas walked around us.

A few hours later we arrived in Cusco and had a quick tour of the city from Joss. Cusco is a really pretty city, which was built by the spanish 3500m above sea level, on the solid remains of Inca temples and palaces. The cobbled streets lead to a main plaza with 2 cathedrals and a smaller plaza alongside. There´s quite a European feel here although there´s still plenty of traditional looking old ladies to remind you where you are. Because of the Inca ruins, Cusco is South Americas biggest tourist destination. The streets are packed with shops and women trying to pursuade you to have a massage, although the city does remain relatively unspoiled.

After the tour we had a sit down at a beautiful fountain and then stocked up on excessive amounts of snacks for the trek. Later that evening we had a meeting with Julio, who would be our tour guide for the next 5 days to find out the ins and outs of what lay ahead for us. (The plan was a bus tour of some local sites on Day 1 followed by 4 days of trekking the Inka Trail).

After seeing a Mexican advertised for 5 courses for 10 Soles ( about 1.20 GBP). A group of about 10 of us went to check it out. OH MY LIFE!!!! Worst meal i have ever had in my life. our waitress was the cook, waitress and bar maid. When JAmes ordered a beer, she disapeeared for about 8 minute and came in with a plastic bag with beer in it. then sneekily went up to the bar and pretended it had come from there. the garlic bread was sweet and cold. my pueanut soup ( i wanted to try something different) tasted of sick...literally. my vegetables fajitas.....words just canot describe and i left before dessert!

The next morning, our guide picked us up to begin our bus tour of the local Inca ruins. For those of you who don´t know, the Inca empire dominated much of south America over 500 years ago and many of their buildings have been rediscovered in Peru (as well as other areas), although most were partially destroyed by the Spanish when they conquered the region. However, Cusco is most famous for Macchu Picchu which is the only known site which was not discovered and destroyed by the Spanish. The inca trail is the gruelling path through the Andes which leads to several Inca sites, culminating with Macchu Piccu.

So, first stop was Saqsayhuaman, the inca fortress overlooking cusco. The fortress itself doesn´t look that imressive as it´s hard to work out exactly what it is, however, it´s incredible to think how 500 years ago, the Incas transported the GIANT stones from a quarry many miles away (a bit like Stone Henge). We then moved on to the next site, making a quick photo stop near the start of the sacred valley of Rio Urubamba, the river which runs alongside the inca trail and surrounds Macchu Picchu.

Next we headed to Pisac where we visited another inca site and a really cute market where we ate street food, drank a funny pink drink and bought a great wall hang. We then made our way to our final ruins of the day but made a quick stop at a chiceria along the way (a brewery in someones house) to sample the local corn beer (delicious, more like cider) and play sapo, (a local pub game which involves throwing coins into frogs mouths)! There were also loads of guinea pigs running around in the kitchen which was a bit random (guinea pigs are a local delicsey which are served skinned and whole).

Our final stop was at the magnificent ancient town of Ollantaytambo, where we hiked up the steep hillside to reach a really interesting temple which clung to the sheer cliffs below. Julio was such a fantastically enthusiastic tour guide, he got me really interested in the history and mystery of the Inca ruins and for the first time, I actually started to get really excited about starting the trek the next day and forgot all about my anticipation....

We spent the night in Ollantaytambo at the homes of a few local ladies. It was a really sweet little town, although a little dusty.

AND THEN IT BEGUN

After a scrummy breakfast at Doris´ house (banana pancakes), we got back on the bus and headed to Kilometer 82, the starting point of the Inca Trail which leads to Macchu Picchu. Machu Picchu is an ancient city, hidden deep in the Andes, which was inhabited by Inca nobles and priests over 500 years ago. It was kept a secret from the majority of Inca people which is partly how the site came to be the only one which was not discovered and destroyed during the Spanish Conquest (it was also well hidden as it was at the top of a mountain). The site lay forgotton for many centuries, although many locals were aware of its existence. It was then "rediscovered" around 100 years ago by accident by the US explorer Hiram Bingham, who was led there by a local child, but took all the glory.

Anyway, not long into the bus journey, we were overtaken by the train to Machu Picchu and as we saw breakfast being served we decided we were crazy to opt for the 4 day hike! Nevertheless, after about an hour we arrived at the starting point where we unloaded our bus and passed our overnight bags to the hundreds of tiny porters who would carry more than their weight in equiptment for us for the next few days, wearing only flip flops. Then, after getting our passports checked and stamped, the torture began......

OK so I am exaggerating slightly because Day 1 was actually really easy. We covered about 8k although the route was mainly flat with the odd uphilll stint. We saw the ruins of a really cool Inca city at the bottom of the mountain and then before we knew it we stopped for lunch (which was amazingly good considering we were up the side of a mountain). The porters had been overtaking us all morning so they arrived at the site before us with plenty of time to set up kitchen tents and tables etc.

Another hour or so later we arrived at our campsite, which again was all set up ready and waiting for us (this was such a treat for us and the tents were way better than the ones we´d been used to which was very exciting)! It was a nice sunny day so we had the whole afternoon to relax on the grass and not feel guilty about not doing anything constructive. We played Monopoly on Graces ´phone and listened to music, played with a puppy (who peed on me) and then had "afternoon tea" which included giant cakes which had been brought up the mountain by the porters!!!

It got dark pretty early so we went to sleep soon after dinner to prepare for the hardest day of my life!

Day 2

We were woken up by the porters at about 6am and offered hot chocolate in bed! Pretty soon though we were all packed up and had set off for a tough day of walking. The route started with a short uphill walk, which at the time seemed a little tough but in retrospect was a breeze. We got our passports stamped at another check point and then the real work began.

It was a gradual uphill climb which got steeper and steeper as the minutes went by. I was doing quite well for the first few hours but then after a huge sugar intake of twixes and other treats I felt pretty sick and slowed down a lot. It was a really cool walk which felt like we were in the middle of the jungle, but the steps were far too big for my little legs and I was really struggling for air. It´s hard to pinpoint exactly why the walk was so hard, my legs weren´t really hurting but the altitude made you so short of breath (I was breathing so slowly and deeply, it was very strange) and my body wouldn´t phisically let me take any more steps than I was taking. There came a point when I was literally taking a break every four steps or so.

By this stage of the walk I had fallen along way behind the group that I had originally started with, but most of the others hadn´t caught up with me either so it was getting quite lonely and difficult not having anyone to winge to or have encouragement from. Then, as I was beginning to think I would need to be airlifted home, I saw a herd of Peruvian women selling drinks...... the half way point!!!

Suprisingly, this little stop gave me another boost to carry on (which I didn´t think I had in me), although it didn´t last long. The next part of the walk is known as "Dead Woman´s Pass" which it seemed obvious to me was because of all the women who died struggling to get to the top, although I was later told it´s because the mountain is in the shape of a woman lying on her back. Anyway, the first interpretation will give you a better idea of how hard it was. I caught up with a girl called Nat and we spent the next 2 hours taking baby sized steps and stopping every 10 secconds to moan! At first we couldn´t even see where we were heading, although after a while we began to see matchstick sized people in the distance reaching the top of the pass. I don´t know if this made things better or worse... the end was in sight, but only just, and I just couldn´t believe I´d ever get there.

But guess what.... I did, and when I did, I just sat there for goodness knows how long, eating more junk and wishing it was the end of the trek. The views were great, although it was quite cloudy down below and I don´t think I was really in the right frame of mind to enjoy them. Then not long after, some of the others eventually got up to the top too which was such a relief. And then the best news ever, I finally realised that it was all downhill from that point onwards so things we´re eventually starting look look up (or down?)

It was so nice having the girls to chat to on the way down, an even better actually having enough breath to chat. And although it was quite tough on your knees and I was super slow because the steps were so big, this was by far the best part of the day.... the end was in sight. On walking downhill i spotted the campsight and literally went into a little world of my own. i was humming and singing by myself the whole way down, occasionally throwing myself to one side if i saw porters scrambling/running behind me, to let them pass. GOt to the camp site (not last) in fact fairly in the front!!! and ended up sleeeping until dinner, wokeup and slept all over again! Very cold night and frogs (we camped by a stream) kept me up for most of it. Worst nights sleep ever!

Day 3 is actually a lot easier than day 2, but unfortunately it begins with yet another steep climb up through waterfalls. It was a really beautiful walk and we could see snow topped mountains and glaciers in the distance, but it was raining, my feet were wet and I was having really bad stomach cramps. With the prospect that the whole day could be that bad and knowing that today was the longest day of walking, I shed a few tears, feeling extremely sorry for myself. But when we got to the top of the hill, it became apparant that I had ben overreacting and I felt a bit silly. The rest of the walk was really nice. There were a lot of ups and downs along the way but none of which were that bad, plus the views were beautiful. It was very different to the previous two days. We stopped at an Inca watch tower, saw 2 black lakes and then stopped at another Inca village before lunch.

After lunch the walk got even better, this was definately my favourite part of the trip walking around windy paths with lots of nice flowers around (there may have been flowers the previous day but I was too delerious to notice). We were all walking together today which was much more fun and the guide was helping me and Charlotte with our Spanish which passed the time. We made one more stop at another small Inca Village before starting the final downhill stretch of the day.

Once again, Charlotte and I (and our little legs) got left behind. We stumbled along the path but had lots of fun along the way. Then finally, we could actually see the mountain of Macchu Picchu in the distance and we were told our campsite for the evening was not far away. The excitement got us running again and eventually we arrived to the warm welcome of the rest of Swampy who were sat outside a little bar drinking beer!!! Amazing. The campsite was ace and I even had a shower!!

Later on, we had had our last dinner with the porters and then we had a small (but very emotional) ceremony, where we thanked all 30 porters for working so hard, shook all of their hands and gave them their tip. Joss and Tai said a few words of thanks and in return they sang us a song. It was all very sweet. so sweet in fact that i cried. At the end, each porter went past each of us and shoock our hand and we said thank you in spanish. Then, once again, we went to be bed early to get ready for the next day´s early start, and I mean early!

10th Mar 2008 - 16th Mar 2008
Walking in the footsteps of Incas and back in Cusco

Day 1

After a scrummy breakfast at Doris´ house (banana pancakes), we got back on the bus and headed to Kilometer 82, the starting point of the Inca Trail which leads to Macchu Picchu. Machu Picchu is an ancient city, hidden deep in the Andes, which was inhabited by Inca nobles and priests over 500 years ago. It was kept a secret from the majority of Inca people which is partly how the site came to be the only one which was not discovered and destroyed during the Spanish Conquest (it was also well hidden as it was at the top of a mountain). The site lay forgotton for many centuries, although many locals were aware of its existence. It was then "rediscovered" around 100 years ago by accident by the US explorer Hiram Bingham, who was led there by a local child, but took all the glory.

Anyway, not long into the bus journey, we were overtaken by the train to Machu Picchu and as we saw breakfast being served we decided we were crazy to opt for the 4 day hike! Nevertheless, after about an hour we arrived at the starting point where we unloaded our bus and passed our overnight bags to the hundreds of tiny porters who would carry more than their weight in equiptment for us for the next few days, wearing only flip flops. Then, after getting our passports checked and stamped, the torture began......

OK so I am exaggerating slightly because Day 1 was actually really easy. We covered about 8k although the route was mainly flat with the odd uphilll stint. We saw the ruins of a really cool Inca city at the bottom of the mountain and then before we knew it we stopped for lunch (which was amazingly good considering we were up the side of a mountain). The porters had been overtaking us all morning so they arrived at the site before us with plenty of time to set up kitchen tents and tables etc.

Another hour or so later we arrived at our campsite, which again was all set up ready and waiting for us (this was such a treat for us and the tents were way better than the ones we´d been used to which was very exciting)! It was a nice sunny day so we had the whole afternoon to relax on the grass and not feel guilty about not doing anything constructive. We played Monopoly on Graces ´phone and listened to music, played with a puppy (who peed on me) and then had "afternoon tea" which included giant cakes which had been brought up the mountain by the porters!!!

It got dark pretty early so we went to sleep soon after dinner to prepare for the hardest day of my life!

Day 2

We were woken up by the porters at about 6am and offered hot chocolate in bed! Pretty soon though we were all packed up and had set off for a tough day of walking. The route started with a short uphill walk, which at the time seemed a little tough but in retrospect was a breeze. We got our passports stamped at another check point and then the real work began.

It was a gradual uphill climb which got steeper and steeper as the minutes went by. I was doing quite well for the first few hours but then after a huge sugar intake of twixes and other treats I felt pretty sick and slowed down a lot. It was a really cool walk which felt like we were in the middle of the jungle, but the steps were far too big for my little legs and I was really struggling for air. It´s hard to pinpoint exactly why the walk was so hard, my legs weren´t really hurting but the altitude made you so short of breath (I was breathing so slowly and deeply, it was very strange) and my body wouldn´t phisically let me take any more steps than I was taking. There came a point when I was literally taking a break every four steps or so.

By this stage of the walk I had fallen along way behind the group that I had originally started with, but most of the others hadn´t caught up with me either so it was getting quite lonely and difficult not having anyone to winge to or have encouragement from. Then, as I was beginning to think I would need to be airlifted home, I saw a herd of Peruvian women selling drinks...... the half way point!!!

Suprisingly, this little stop gave me another boost to carry on (which I didn´t think I had in me), although it didn´t last long. The next part of the walk is known as "Dead Woman´s Pass" which it seemed obvious to me was because of all the women who died struggling to get to the top, although I was later told it´s because the mountain is in the shape of a woman lying on her back. Anyway, the first interpretation will give you a better idea of how hard it was. I caught up with a girl called Nat and we spent the next 2 hours taking baby sized steps and stopping every 10 secconds to moan! At first we couldn´t even see where we were heading, although after a while we began to see matchstick sized people in the distance reaching the top of the pass. I don´t know if this made things better or worse... the end was in sight, but only just, and I just couldn´t believe I´d ever get there.

But guess what.... I did, and when I did, I just sat there for goodness knows how long, eating more junk and wishing it was the end of the trek. The views were great, although it was quite cloudy down below and I don´t think I was really in the right frame of mind to enjoy them. Then not long after, some of the others eventually got up to the top too which was such a relief. And then the best news ever, I finally realised that it was all downhill from that point onwards so things we´re eventually starting look look up (or down?)

It was so nice having the girls to chat to on the way down, an even better actually having enough breath to chat. And although it was quite tough on your knees and I was super slow because the steps were so big, this was by far the best part of the day.... the end was in sight. Charlotte and I were starting to lag behind the others who were speeding downhill, but we had fun along the way, especially because Charlotte kept falling over which cracked me up. And then Chelsey came running up behind us with the good news that she could see the campsite. We ran as fast as we possibly could and arrived at the campsite within a pretty decent time of 5 hours (we were somewhere in the middle of the group, some took 3 some took 7). But I was super pleased and after lunch I rewarded myself with a lovely little nap before dinner. We played cards at dinner and then all went back to bed absolutely exhausted. It was a freezing night sleep, we all wrapped up warm and Grace and I enjoyed a little cuddle....

Day 3

Day 3 is actually a lot easier than day 2, but unfortunately it begins with yet another steep climb up through waterfalls. It was a really beautiful walk and we could see snow topped mountains and glaciers in the distance, but it was raining, my feet were wet and I was having really bad stomach cramps. With the prospect that the whole day could be that bad and knowing that today was the longest day of walking, I shed a few tears, feeling extremely sorry for myself. But when we got to the top of the hill, it became apparant that I had ben overreacting and I felt a bit silly. The rest of the walk was really nice. There were a lot of ups and downs along the way but none of which were that bad, plus the views were beautiful. It was very different to the previous two days. We stopped at an Inca watch tower, saw 2 black lakes and then stopped at another Inca village before lunch.

After lunch the walk got even better, this was definately my favourite part of the trip walking around windy paths with lots of nice flowers around (there may have been flowers the previous day but I was too delerious to notice). We were all walking together today which was much more fun and the guide was helping me and Charlotte with our Spanish which passed the time. We made one more stop at another small Inca Village before starting the final downhill stretch of the day.

Once again, Charlotte and I (and our little legs) got left behind. We stumbled along the path but had lots of fun along the way. Then finally, we could actually see the mountain of Macchu Picchu in the distance and we were told our campsite for the evening was not far away. The excitement got us running again and eventually we arrived to the warm welcome of the rest of Swampy who were sat outside a little bar drinking beer!!! Amazing. The campsite was ace and I even had a shower!!

Later on, we had had our last dinner with the porters and then we had a small (but very emotional) ceremony, where we thanked all 30 porters for working so hard, shook all of their hands and gave them their tip. Joss and Tai said a few words of thanks and in return they sang us a song. It was all very sweet. Then, once again, we went to be bed early to get ready for the next day´s ealy start, and I mean early!

Day 4 - Macchu Picchu

I don´t know exactly what time it was when I woke up to the sound of an alarm clock going off outside the tent but whoever´s alarm it was was obviously a heavy sleeper because the shrill sound continued for near enough an hour driving me slowly insane. Pretty soon after I realised that I wasn´t feeling too good and preceeded to be sick halfway hanging out of the tent. As these weren´t really the ideal sleeping conditions I decided to leave the tent to find the culprit and politely ask him to turn off the watch, but somehow I couldn´t follow the sound so gave up and went back to bed. Shortly after, he must have rolled onto his arm because the sound started to get more muffled and we managed to get back to sleep... but not for long......

We were woken by the porters with hot chocolate at 3.30am. Not long after, we were all packed up about to start the final stretch of the hike to Macchu Picchu. I´m not really sure why we got up so ealy though because about 3 minutes into the stroll, we had to stop at a check point which didn´t open until 5am so we all sat in a hut playing alphabetical movie games. Eventually we were allowed through the gate and the trek really began. It was a really easy walk, mainly flat along a narrow path which overlooked a pool of clouds, but I wasn´t very well at all. I was right at the back of the group and had to make a few stops (during which I randomly met a boy who had been on my flight out here).

About 3 quaters of the way to the Sun Gate (which overlooks Macchu Picchu), we reached the 50 steepest steps of the entire few days, although they weren´t that high. Nevertheless, in my feeble state I was absolutely distraught as I looked up at the path ahead. Yet somehow, miraculously I started to feel better as I climbed, and it really wasn´t difficult. The view from the sun gate was incredble, we could look down on macchu picchu before the clouds could block our view. Some people cried, but to be honest i was just too tired to show much emotion!

We walked down to the city, took lots of photos and then had a 2 hour tour. Our tour guide was fantastic, he was so passionate and interesting. We then had some free time to enjoy the site at our leisure. But tiredness was seriously starting to kick in which was such a shame. All I could think about was lying bang in the middle of the ruins and falling asleep. It was a beautiful day too and the sun was so hot it really wasn´t helping. But I managed to keep my eyes open and did get to see quite a lot of the ruins. It was really magical to see this ancient city which was almost perfectly in tact and think about what had happened there over 500 years ago. It was also amazing to imagine how the city had been made in the middle of no where with next to no resources.

When we were satisfied that we had seen enough, we got on a bus to the near by town of Aguas Calientes (Hot Water). We met the others for some lunch and then lots of the gang headed off to the hotsprings. I on the other hand decided to hire a room and spent the next few hours recovering. At 5 o clock we all met up again to get on the train back to Cusco. It was a really nice journey along side the Sacred Valley River which had the largest rapids I´ve ever seen. Finally we boarded our final bus which completed the journey and took us back to the hotel where I slept like a baby.

Life after the Trek

Back in Cusco we had the next few days to do absolutely nothing. I mainly spent my time hanging out at "The Real McCoy´s", an English bar serving the best pie and mash, cooked breakfast and Banoffee Pie. I was still a bit ill for the first few days so also spent a lot of time in bed watching Warner channel (OC, Smallville, Friends.... bliss) and also took a visit to Topitop (a poor man´s Peruvian Topshop) and stocked up on Octopus - the best jelly sweets ever!

On the day of the 6 nations, Kath and I (the only 2 welshies) headed to McCoys in a very excitable mood. We ate loads of food and even got a few cocktails on thego as Wales took the lead. It was really cool to see the Millenium stadium and know that my friends were in there and as two very patriotic girls, we got very excited. It was a great game and the bar´s owners gave us happy hour red drinks with red and green straws. Then finally, as it became obvious that Wales were going to grab the Grandslam, they brought us drinks with sparklers! It was all very exciting. When we did win, we all screamed with delight and everyone congratulated us! i cried, not sure whether that was because i was homesick, or whether it was because i was just happy and proud that we had won...We spent the rest of the day celebrating with pedicures (which actually really hurt but was highly amusing)!

the next few days in Cusco i was too ill to leave the comfort of my room. Watched alot of TV, moped and felt sorry for myself because i had a throat that felt as if someone had sawed it off! owchies! On Palm Sunday i went out to see what was going on in the town. i was met by the streets filled with people ( no cars allowed), all waving huge about 3-4m high palm leaves. Charlotte, Caroline and i thought it would be fun to join in, so we all bought crosses made out of palms, with ribbon attached and paraded down the street. We then got led into one of the large churches and sat at the front, trying not to notice the large NO TOURIST signs at the front. After a while we noticed that it was the actual palm sunday ceremony and everyone was signing to strange guitar-accompanied songs without a song sheet. So we started waving our palms and trying out best to sing along. Ended up sneeking out much to the annoyance of a group of nuns who gave us the biggest evil eyes i have ever encountered! Quickly ran away, church was beautiful inside though!

On the last night i ventured out and organised a coca leaf reading to take place. Kind of like fortune telling but a shamen comes and blows a bunch of coca leaves after blessing them and from the leaves he can determine whats going to happen. Very interesting, may all be a load of rubbish but i really enjoyed it.