So wakening up at 6 in the morning to be greeted by our guide half a hour late was a awesome start to a trek but never the less we loaded u}our stuff up and were off. On the agenda for the 1st day was biking down to the beginning of trail in a small town. I’ve done quite a bit of biking on this trip to know when it was bad. And it was. The beginning part being on asphalt it was incredibly frustrating having to cycle slowly and in formation. This I hated, being a hardcore death road veteran. At the bottom we all got back into the van only to be delayed by a good 2 hours which meant we got lunch late. Thank god I had stocked up on snacks for the trek. Lunch was good, traditional Peruvian dish of soup made from some super vegetable that only grows at a certain altitude (looked like a truffle with the consistency of a potato. Not to bad. The accommodation was average, but after a day of biking any bed is a good bed.
Day 2. This day was great; we trekked through jungle paths where we came across traditional farmers who were drying out coffee beans. We were also able to see the coca plant growing wild and eventually try it. Now I'm all for experimenting but this was just rank. I rolled up a few leaves and placed a small charcoal looking rock in the centre then began to chew; the taste was sop disgusting I had to spit it out after 2 minuets. The coca leaves did leave me with a slightly numb mouth so it wasn’t all doom and gloom. At the same house that we tried the coca leaves I was also able to try coie, or as I usually know it, Guinea pig! Yes it was a fluffy little Guinea pug cooked up. It tasted very nice, similar texture and taste to chicken. Afterwards we were able to see some of the Guinea pigs brothers and sisters living wild in the kitchen, there escape hampered by a very large door step. So back on the trail we descended down onto a rived bed where we were forced to climb up over large rocks, tough going by normal standers. The days trekking was rewarded by 2 hours in a natural hot springs, this was awesome. After a good old soak it was a short drive to the next town. Where we ate slept and generally recharged out batteries for the next day.
Day 3. The trek continued, through jungle and mountain sides as we came closer and closer to the foot of machupichu. having got a good nights sleep I was full of energy and vigor, however john had injured himself in the hot springs, jumping in after being told it was under 70cm deep, he decided top jump never the less and paid the price, a cut foot. So the days trekking was a leisurely one at most as I hung back with john taking it easy, this I don’t mind as I arrived in agues caliente not to tired. I eventually managed to get online at the foot of machupichu to post the colca trek as the access to internet had been severally limited in the towns along the way. Another early night for me as we were supost to be up at 3 in the morning to begin the assent up to the famous inka city.
Day 4. I woke feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. not the best feeling when you know you have a grueling climb ahead but still I got dressed and was downstairs in time for the departure. a 40 minuet walk to the entrance for machupichu in the pitch black dark. Luckily john had brought his light as I had forgotten mine back at the hostel. arriving, we qued up until opening time and then 400 plus people began the climb up the steps, just like ants as out guide had correctly described it. This was HARD. I had to grit my teeth and mentally push myself to keep going and make it to the top, by this time my thighs were burning and my bum thoroughly toned. More queuing at the top then entrance, due to my amazing stamina i was able to be in the 1st 20 to make it into machupichu and so was able to get some good pictures of the city empty.
Walking around the city it was amazing to think this was all built well before the times of technology and all the other modern building tools. Our guide gave us a good insight into some of the techniques that were used and showed us around all of the sacred buildings, such as the temple of the sun and moon. So 2nd on the agenda after exploring all the streets and crevices of the city was to conquer winapichu. The large mountain you see in most machupichu pictures. This was an amazing climb, up minute inka steps each hand carved out of local stone. Apon arrival to the summit the views were spectacular, being able to see a full 360 degrees around and look down upon machpichu and see how huge it was and the way it was positioned on a mountain side. Now. the climb down was particularly hard for john, those tiny rock steps, fine going up but became torture for him and so we got down kind of late but never the less we were determined to climb half way up the other mountain looking over machupichu, that being machupichu mountain. Half way up was the sacred sun gate; this apparently providing an amazing light display once a year, however by the time we got there it was getting latish. The climb up was equally as difficult as winapichu but the views and the sun gate itself was a complete let down, just a couple derelict walls and so we descended back to the city, and got the bus back to agues client. Here both me and john made executive decision to go and spend a hour in the hot springs ready for the train back to some small town where we would be making a bus connection back to Cuzco. Now this is a ridiculous side effect of having a name that doesn’t sound like its read. At the train station we were told to look out for our name on a piece of paper. Mine was no where to be found. strange i defiantly have a bus out of here. This was when I noticed a name I had herd plenty of times in SA. Spelt cian cox. Yes cian. That was how they spelt my name. Fail. anyways the bus ride back was fine, got to loki checked in only to find out it was the last night I would be able to see Luke, Sam, Joanne and jess. This meant no sleep for me and we swiftly headed to the bar for a night of dancing on bars and general revelry. Great end to an amazing 4 day trek.
For a comprehensive colection of machupicchu picutres folow the below link.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150212583470956.332859.734175955&l=8a28dd0581
And for Colca Canyon: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150209706705956.331870.734175955&l=1225fd4d56
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