Cusco

We caught a 10 hour night bus to Cusco during which the excitement of the prospect of the Inca trail kicked in. Cusco is such a beautiful city. Cusco once was the Inca capital of Peru but now it is full of beautiful colonial architecture inlcuding blue painted balconies and white arched walkways. The cathedral and central plaza are stunning by day and night. An audio-guided tour of ther Cathedral taught us that guinea pig was eaten during the last supper, the Peruvians worship The Lord of Earthquakes after a devasting earthquake in the 1600s, llamas took Mary to Bethlehem, women write to St. Antony to request a fiance and men write to another saint to be relieved of these women. Probably the most entertaining (or should I say enlightening) religious tour I have ever experienced.

There seemed to be an astonishing number of ladies on the street offering massages. After an afternoon of souvenir shopping, we were quite tempting by the idea and managed to haggle the price down to 12 from 30 (thanks to Roses and her skills! I really must learn some time soon). It was my first massage so I didn't know what to expect unlike Roses who is a masseuse. The ladies led us into a room together and left us there. No intructions about undressing so I had to awkwardly ask. We asked for an Inca massage in which they did a normal full body massage (but missing out key aspects of what Roses knows as a proper massage) then effleuraged our skin with hat inca stones. It was pleasant but I probably wan't as relaxed as I should have been.

The Inca Trail

On the 18th August we joined our group for our biggest adventure yet, The Inca trail. Before beginning the trail we visited a little Andean community outside Cusco where the Inca trail porters and their families live. We were able to see the women spinning, dying and weaving alpaca wool into beautiful textiles. Our guide Ozzy talked us through the processes and showed us how squashed ladybirds collected from cactuses are used to dye the wool a beautiful deep purple colour. We then visited a llama reserve where there were llamas of all shapes and sizes. My favourites are definately the rasta llama (check out the pictures) and the baby Vicuna.

In our group of 16, there were 14 Brits and 9 teachers! That was a bit unnerving for us students. Luckily, we all got on really well and had alot of fun. We prepared ourselves for the long-awaited 4 day treck to Machu Picchu along the Inca trail. The trail is largely made of stone steps and travels through 3 high mountain passes, Valleys, rivers and high cloud forest. It was the only route that connected Cusco, the capital of the Inca empire with the City of Machu Picchu (inccidently, Machu Picchu absolutely must be pronounced properly with the double "c", otherwise you are refering to it as "little penis" instead of "little mountain"). On day one we had a gentle two hour hike up to campsite 1 where we were served our first meal. The trail started in a mountain valley where a river flowed. Over the next few days we hiked through canyons, dry grass land, high altitude green valleys where llamas grazed, cold rocky high mountain passes and green cloud forest jungle. As we hauled ourselves up thousands of Inca stone steps, slowing down as the 4200m altitude took its toll, we would be passed by a dozen porters. These are local Peruvian men whose job it is to carry 4 days worth of supplies for 36 people along the trail. They carry about 25k each on their backs including: the tourists' sleeping gear and clothes, 12 tents, a kitchen and its entire contents, gas for cooking, a birthday cake, 3 tables, 18 chairs, cutlery and crockery for 36 people and who knows what else (bear in mind many of them are tiny in stature and little over 5 foot). At the end of the day we arrived at the camp site to find all our tents set up, a kitchen tent up and running, 10 bowls of hot water and soap, a dining table laid for a 3 course dinner with oragami napkin folding and our team of porters already finishing a meal. These men are machines! We then sit down to a very satisfying 3 course meal consisting of foods you would never imagine could be hauled up mountains and cooked in a tent.

We woke up on day 2 at 5.30. The camp was completely surrounded and sheltered by 9 mountains which meant that it was a while before the sun could peep through. We started the day's hike. This was the toughest. We hiked uphill for about 3.5 hours to reach the first high mountain pass at 4200m. As we approached dead woman's pass (which to me looked like mountained peak shaped into a breast) it soon became very cold and bare. I felt a great sense of acheivement when I eventually reached the top but was not looking forward to the 2 hour descent. Thank God for walking poles! My knees did not appreciate the endless supply of steep stone steps that we had to descend to get to camp. I think the Incas must have been superhuman. That night, Ozzy our guide, introduced us to the team of Cooks and porters and thanked us for doing the Inca trail and providing them with income. This was all very civilised as opposed to the exhibition that was made of the locals on the Islands of Lake Titicaca.

The third day of hiking was incredible. Probably one of the most memorable of my life. We hiked through high cloud Forest surrounded by lush green vegetation. Every now and again the path would open-up to reveal the ruins of a near complete Inca village. These were usually on mountain ridges and offered views of valleys, jungle and the soaring, jagged peaks of the Salkantay mountains at 6200m altitude near by. it was a magnificent combination. Two high mountain passes later and we reached the campsite.

We woke the next day at stupid o'clock in the morning (I think around 3.30) for two reasons. Firstly, so that the porters could pack everything up in time to get the first train back to Cusco and secondly so that we could get our place first in line to hike the trail up to the Sun Gate to see the sun rise over Machu Picchu. There was such a rush to reach the all important Sun Gate first to see the sunrise (which incidently is unnecessary; the Gate isn't going to spontaneously evaporate before one arrives to it). We were the second group up and here were able catch our first site of the ancient City of Machu Picchu. I felt an enormous sense of acheivement having hiked for days to arrive at this goal. Luckily, it was definately worth it. We eagerly awaited sunrise. The first arc of rays began to emerge from the still black silhouettes of the surrounding mountain peaks. When the sun rose its rays passed perfectly through the Sun Gate. Minutes later it lit up the City of Machu Picchu like a spot light, leaving everything else around it shadowed. It was almost too perfect to be true. In the subsequent minutes, the entire valley was lit up withlight and we bagan the final 30 minute walk down to the City.

We spent the morning exploring the ruins. We were told that what we could see was only 60% of the City and that the other 40% is still covered with vegetation. Ozzy guided us around the City and told us of the myths of the City. Relatively little is known about how Inca cities were built because the language of the people Quechua, did not have a written form. The only written records of the Incas were written by the Spanish conquistadors who usually onlly commented on the society itself. Peru has suffered various earthquakes throughout its gistorey including some very recent ones. As a result, buildings all of the country have crumbled leaving almost entire villages destroyed. A fascinating observation however, is that during each earthquake the Inca ruins have remained perfectly intact. These people knew more than you'd expect about building and engineered accordingly. Machu Picchu receives frequent visits from teams of Japanese engineers and archeologists who attempt to understand why these buildings are indestructable,and ways of learning from them to develop modern engineering. Machu Picchu itself was never found by the Spanish conquerors. To today, it is not understood why the City was abandoned. The City remained undiscovered for four centuries. It was infact discovered by an American professor in 1911, pretty much by chance whilst on a separate exbidition.

We arrived at the the ruins to find crowds of hundreds of tourists. This was an unexpectedly strange experience for us having spent the past 3 days away from civilisation as we know it. You could sure spot the difference between those who had hiked there and those who had taken the train up that morning. An American couple looked at me and appeared to be disgusted by my appearance. I hadn't washed in four days (of sweaty hiking) and was covered in a thick layer of dust blended with deet and suncream. Their reaction was unsurprising really.

After visiting Machu Picchu, we got a bus downto the town of Aguas Calientes to catch the train back to Cusco (as beautidul as the trail was, we didn't fancy hiking all the way back). The main street of this town had a railway running down it, not a road. We were sat outside a restaurant having lunch and there was a train parked behind me. Most bizare.

These four days were definately a highlight of the trip and worth the long and hard slog. I'd love to do it again!