23-12-06 The start of the Inca Trail I had to wake at 5am this morning, as the coach was coming for me at about 6ish. Wasnt too bad getting up that early considering last night i didnt get to sleep until about 3! The bus came a little later than i expected, which gave me enough time to worry and to also contemplate going back to bed. When i got on, it was weird, i was the last pick up, so all eyes were on me. This point in the trip there were about 30 people there. So i kind of felt a bit embarassed, and hurried to the nearest free seat. Ths bus journey was to take about 2 hours, so i figured i would get some sleep on it before starting the trail. We came through this village and stopped for a while. It must have been the busiest little town i have ever been to. as soon as i got off the bus, i was acousted (that a word) by a flock of peruvian street sellers offering me water, ponchos, walking sticks, cocoa leaves, etc etc. So i had people bugging me for 25 mins as we had a rest stop, having only had a few hours sleep the night before. Tim was in Grumpy mode, so the people were annoying him.Anyway, from here it was about another hour in the bus. Finally we arrived at our start point. Named Kilometre 82. KM82 is at an altitude of 2720metres, which is pretty high in comparison to the UK. but Cusco the place i have been staying in over the last few days is higher still at 3200m. Anyway, is was here that the 30 on the bus split into their groups. So from a total of 30, our group consolidated to 7, which i thought was a nice size. The group consisted of ME, 2 canadians, father and daughter called Bill and Dara, 2 Americans, couple called Rachel and Ben, then a German couple called Stephen and Clara, so all in all a nice group of people. When we started i was a little dubious of it as they were all talking on their groups but i guess it must always be the same, anyway, we set out. Today was supposedly going to be an easy day, and we had to cover 14km with a total ascent of 580metres. So we started walking along the Urabamba which was quite pleasant, and all around us were the mountains. Our guide was called Whimba, but he went by the nickname "simba" which i guess was easier to remember, anyway, he gave us these three cocoa leaves which we were to use to keep in our passports to give us good luck along the trail. Hopefully ill remember to remove them before i leave the country as the leaves are obviously the raw material of cocaine! dont fancy a couple of nights in a police cell on the Bolivian border. So we had to wish our presence to the four mountains from the north south east and we west, so then we would be fine along the way. The walk today was actually pretty easy apart from a couple of places where it went near vertical, but they were only short spurts. For lunch i was amazed on how much we got. we got given a three course meal including fruit, soup, and spaghetti. so the energy boost was greatly appreciated as by this time i was slightly de-hydrated from the night before. So the rest of the day was spent walking up the valley, along the way seeing various sites, one of them was pretty impressive but i cant remember the name, as they all sound the same!! By about 4 ish we arrived at camp. so we had hiked for about 5 and a half hours including lunch, which wasnt that bad. Our camp was at 3300m and looked down on the valley we had just walked up. The scenery was awesome. You could see right to the bottom of the valley, and surrounding us were mountains with whirling cloud whistling past them. again, we ate well. You have a "snack" before dinner, which consists of popcorn, biscuits, crackers, and strangely won tons! then about an hour later, you eat dinner, which usually consisted of soup, meat with veg, and some sweet thing. This was a recurring thing for the rest of the trail. Then it was off to bed, and bearing in mind i had been up since 4, i had no trouble in sleeping. 24-12-06 Second day We got woke at 6am with a sharp "knock" on the tent door, and a nice cup of hot cocoa tea. better than an alarm clock i think. Today was meant to be the "killer". We had to ascend 1000metres, then desend 500m. The first 1000m are just constantly uphill. So we started after breakfast at about 7ish. We werent going to finish until about 4ish, so although it was only 8.5km's, the uphill and downhill were going to add loads of time on. So we started out. 5 mins later we reached the checkpoint. you have to pass through one each day as they need to limit the amount of people on the trails, aswell as check that you are ligit. So a brief stop, then it was another couple of hours walking uphill. ok the scenery was nice, but you are constantly looking where your next step is goin to be, so you pass by most of it. Today we werent going to have lunch, as there supposedly wasnt a good place to stop, so we got given a snack in the morning to have around lunchtime, and we were going to have to wait until we got to camp to eat. So the ascent was split up into two sections. the first of which i led the group, then ended up going ahead of them, and got to the stop and having to wait 45 mins for the rest. We had our snack, then headed up the final 300metres, which were stupidly hard, and from going from being first, i was near back. but i guess it wasnt really a race. so after 2 hours of going up 300 metres we reached our 1st pass. This was called Dead womans pass, and was at an altitude of 4200m, the highest we were going to go on the trek. After a quick group photo, and a bite to eat we headed down, and down, and down some more. Eventually we got to camp about 3ish, and collapsed for a few hours sleep. So this camp was the highest at 3580m, so as you could imagine it was pretty cold at night. It was this night that i was only to get a couple of hours sleep, and throw up in the stream running through the site. 25-12-06 Christmas Day and the Third trekking In the morning i was feeling really sick and dizzy. i figured it was a combination of having no sleep, being cold, and having drank this disgusting alcoholic drink that the porters gave us and felt obliged to drink. also the altitude, basically a load of stuff. So christmas day didn't start so well for me. At 4 in the morning i was being ill ( if i wanted a better word for it) into the stream running through the camp. Today was meant to be quite an easy day, but because of the whole illness thing, i found the first bit of the day pretty hard. We had to ascend 500 metres to the 2nd pass, which was pretty much like the second day, a whole lot of uphill, without any flat or downhill. So having set off slightly later than the last day, we had got 5 hours of walking approximately to do, in which we would cover 16k ish. A long way really, but after the initial pass it was a pretty easy walk. The second pass was at an altitude of 4000m, which was also pretty high, but when we got here, the rest of the trip was to be downhill. By the time we had got to the second pass, i had been drugged by various people, and was starting to feel a bit better. Although the walk down from the 2nd pass made my stomach churn a little, by the time i was down, it was fine, and i was back to normal. The walk down was pretty amazing, as we passed snow capped mountains, rocky ridges, and then descended into wooded areas, and the Jungle. So as you can imagine, quite a contrast in habitats. I also saw my first snake on the trail. It was dead, and dangling from a tree, but was a snake none the less. The walk from here was easy. After lunch, the heavens opened, and it chucked it down. It was welcomed though, plus, walking on a cold damp trail in the rain kind of reminded me of the UK. So the third pass was reached in no time, with very little effort invlolved. By this time in the day, it was about 3ish, and simba said that camp was about 2 hours away. only problem was it was a steep downhill walk on these giant steps! Having regained my energy i lacked from the morning i lead off, only to find that in about 10 mins i had gone ahead of everyone. But i also found that if i ran down the stairs it didnt put as much pressure on my knees. As i darted down the hillside, every now and again, the porters from various companies would come shooting pass me. They must carry at least 30kg, and wear shoes made out of old tyres, but the speed they do the trail is immense. Simba had told us at the start of the trail that every year they have a marathon on the inka trail, so a 45k race where the porters follow the trail from start to finish, and some of them can do it in 4 hours!! it was taking us 4 days. but by about 4 ish i had reached the camp, even before some of the porters. Their is a picture of my view from the tent, which is easily the best view i have ever had.......from a tent!! Next morning we were to be waken up at 4am to head off to machu pichu as early as possible, so it was an early night. The camp we stayed at was the only point on the trail where you can get a hot shower, and here there was a bar etc, but being tired, and a little funny feeling, i decided that getting into bed would be the best idea. 26-12-06 Boxing Day and the Final day trekking, oh and Machu Pichu!! So a 4am wake up was exactly what i got. But it was fine, it was slightly easier getting up knowing that i was going to be seeing machu. So we had breakfast, and headed out. The problem is that the trail again has a check point, but it doesnt open until 5:30am, so we reached it a little early and was greeted by about 40 other people having beat us there. The only thing we could do was sit and wait for it to open. We waited 45 mins in total, then as soon as it opened, the crowd soon deteriorated.From here, it was a 5 k walk to the ruins. Some of this being up a ladder type thing, which was a killer, but the view at the top was well worth it, we were greeted by our first glimpse of the ruins. It was kind of cloudy still, but we were there at 6:30, so it was still cold and early, so the weather was only going to get better. 25 mins later we had arrived at the ruins....A.K.A Machu Pichu, and it was amazing. It was far better than seeing it in the pictures, plus the weather let us take some good photos. Simba gave us a brief 2 hour guide of the ruins, and then we were free to wander round at our own leisure. i decided to walk up the big mountain you see in all the photos, this was called Waynu Pichu. The climb was pretty tough, but again the views were more than rewarding. So the rest of the day was spent wandering round the place. Best thing was we had got their before the tourist busses or trains, so we had the free realm of the place until about midday. So about 2 ish i left for the local town of Aguas Calientas where we were all to meet up again for lunch and to say our goodbyes. The trip had been amazing, and it was helped along with the people i was with, they were a great bunch of people that when i had been feeling funny, had helped me along etc etc, so thanks if they are reading this. So at 4:45 i headed back on the train to cusco for some hard earned rest and a good nights sleep. AMAZING!