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It´s nicandde´s special guest Sarah here and to give De and Nic a hand with writing the blog I´ve got to try and remember what happened a couple of weeks ago - it´s been so much fun and all a bit of a blur but here goes.
I´d planned my trip so I could join the girls on the Salkantay route to Machu Picchu. We set off as planned on 1 October, rising early to catch a local bus leaving at 5am to take us to the starting point - the town of Mollepata - about a 3 hour journey from Cusco. After boasting that I have had my hiking books for over 10 years, it was here I discovered my much loved (and not worn recently) hiking boots were looking a little worse for wear! The sole of my right boot had perished and what was left had almost detached itself and I was about to embark on a pretty tricky hike over 5 days with no spare shoes! Our guide Julio managed to get his hands on some cement glue and did his best in the time given so we set off around 10am with fingers crossed!! (note to self: always check gear before you leave home! oh, and from time to time you should give your Camel pack a good old wash - mine was beginning to grow things!!).
Our little group of 5 girls (us and 2 mad Argentinians - Lola and Sophie - mad as they clapped and cheered whenever they could find an excuse, but great laugh) plus our guide Julio, our cook Leo and our horse man Mario, hiked around 7-9 hours every day for four days through mostly sunshine but also hail. The walk was amazing with fabulous views of snow capped Salkantay (6264m) on days one and two. Day 2 was the most difficult with a nine hour trek climbing 800m to 4600m above sea level including what seemed like never ending trails that continued upwards at every corner, just as you thought it would end. We arrived at our campsite about an hour before dark and stretched each other, as instructed by Sophie and Lola, to the amusement of the other campers.
After an early start on day 3 we hiked to some natural hot springs and took a quick dip before continuing our trek to Saint Theresa - our worst camping spot with lumpy ground and a crazy spider monkey who ran around trying to attach itself to people´s arms and refusing to let go - very funny as Nic and I were trying to outrun it all evening! For a treat, we jumped on a bus to another hot springs where we wallowed around in warm water before shocking ourselves under a cold waterfall and then back to the warm stuff.
Day 4, Nic, De and I opted to hike some of the workman´s entrance of the Inca trail (unfortunately we hadn´t budgeted to do the royal entrance). We travelled about 45mins on the top of a minibus to the start of the track and set off upwards on a steep trail for 3 hours! The reward was fantastic as we managed to get a view of Machu Picchu once the cloud cover disappeared - truly amazing! Whilst trekking we encountered thousands of butterflies that seemed to be very attracted to the mule poo on the trail - we started off thinking wow how cute but after a few days began to think how dumb as their addiction to poo was far greater than their need for safety and many got trodden on! We also sampled the local fruits on the way, munching on tiny blackberries and strawberries (about as big as my little finger nail) and granadillas (like huge passion fruit and very tasty).
On day 5 we caught the bus with the hordes up to the entrance gate at Machu Picchu. Once we were through the gate we raced to get tickets to climb Wayna Picchu (they limit tickets to only 400 per day) so we could get a great view. Machu Picchu is one of the most amazing sites I´ve seen. We all thought it was INCA-credible! The city covers 5 square miles and includes palaces, temples, houses, agricultural terraces, storage rooms and has its own natural springs. It´s astounding that such a spectacular city was built on a site so difficult to access! The typical postcard view of Machu Picchu is taken from roughly where Machu Picchu mountain is situated so De made us walk again (only joking - we were all persuaded to go after seeing the view from another tourist´s camera) up Machu Picchu mountain. I´ve no idea how high it was but it took about 2 hours to walk/climb the steep trail (De got to the top 25 mins before me - no idea where she gets her energy from but I´m planning to find the source!!) It was so worth it! We were the only people there and had 360 degree views - wow!
Shoe update: my glued on sole lasted an hour or so on day one then was tied on with De´s spare shoelace, then sole fell off completely but soleless shoe lasted until lunchtime (day one) where luck came in the shape of a spare pair of shoes kindly donated by Lola! I wore Lola´s size 38s (I´m a 39) until her shoes fell apart on day 3. I managed to buy a pair of dodgy size 40 shoes in Saint Theresa for A$8 on the way to the hot springs and I´m pleased to report that they finished the trek with me :)
All in all we had a fantastic trip with great food (we made the cook cry with our appreciation of the food - Lola and Sophie were mostly to blame with their crazy singing and clapping), we dined in style in our high brow dining tent, we laughed way too much, no-one suffered badly from altitude sickness, oh and I donated my old boots to Mario the horseman who I´m sure will be able to fix them up so they can enjoy another day - RIP ,,,, Sarah
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