Our G adventures tour started off with a little blip with us turning up at the hotel on the dot of 6pm when we had been told the meeting was, only to discover that the meeting had been at 4.30! So Ali and I rewarded ourselves on our previous 3 days travelling by going out for a delicious cerviche (raw fish in lime sauce) dinner and a large glass of vino. We then headed back to the hotel and Ali was joyously reunited with her misplaced luggage. The next morning we were up at 4.30am to get to the airport and catch a plane from Lima down to Cusco. We safely landed in Cusco, after the hour flight, and thankfully so did out bags and we were taken to our hotel to acclimatise. Cusco is in The Andes and is 3600m above sea level, so quite a difference in altitude compared to Lima. I wasnt feeling too bad apart from a slight headache and being tired from our early start. We went for a little guided your around a few of the sites of Cusco, although I just loved walking around the thin cobbled streets with the white washed houses and blue window frames. At lunch time I thought I would be brave and try atalk
a (like llama) for lunch and really regretted it as the altitude hit me just as my food arrived and I end up throwing up all my lunch - such a waste of S50. But to be honest the alpaca wasn't anything special, it tasted like beef really! In the evening we met the rest of our G adventures 'family' which was surprisingly vritish with a few americans and an aussie (16 of us in total) and mentally prepared ourselves for the gruelling 3 days ahead.
We had a gentle break in to climbing on the Thursday where we visited various different Inca ruins which had varying degrees of climbs up to them. I found it fascinating to see the resourcefulness of these inca people, hundreds of years ago making stepped terraces in the hillside so they had flat land to grow their crops - which was basically their currency - and the different building structures designed for cold and to withstand earthquakes, etc. We visited a small Quechua community which is entirely based around weaving and the women, dressed in the traditional
attire; big thick skirts, long black plaits and a hat, showed us how to weave the wool, make the wool from clumps of alpaca fur, clean it, and die it...I of course then felt the need to buy a lovely alpaca wooly hat (they also had the most adorable, smiley baby with the chubbiest cheeks you have ever seen). We went to a similar community for a gourmet Peruvian lunch with various delicacies including cerviche and quinoa. I spent the night in Ollantaytambo, a town in the sacred valley, which was very beautiful and quaint, making the most of WiFi, a bed and a shower for the last time for a while.
The trek started at kilometre 82 where we met our porters, and handed over our 6kg duffle bags for them to carry up (they each carry 20kg and there were 26 of them. Between them they had to carry all our stuff, all the tents, food, cooking equipment, etc...they are beasts!!). Then we set off.....
The first day is known as the warm up day so we started walking at 10ish and walked a total of 12km, with a few short uphill sections but the majority was flat or undulating. Half way through we were fed a much needed lunch in a nice little mess tent with the 16 of us and our 5 guides huddled around the table lapping up the food. And as we entered the lunch spot we all got applauded by the porters which was a lovely welcome :) made it to the final camp at about 4.30 by which point I was feeling extremely ill, probably due to a combination of extreme exertion, dehydration and altitude, so I couldn't stomach the popcorn and coca tea so just headed to our ready prepared tent for a little pre-dinner nap. By the time dinner was ready I was feeling much better, having drunk lots of water, although it was still freezing as we were at 3000m above sea level. Had a typically camping style early night, where you are in bed, all snuggled up by 8pm and fell into
a deep slumber after the tiresome day.
Day 2 is known as the killer day which started with a 4.50am wake up call. Had a delicious breakfast of coca tea (coca leaves are meant to be good for altitude sickness), bread and jam, and quinoa porridge. Then set off for 4 hours of climbing up hill. We had 1.2km to climb upwards from our campsite to 'Dead Woman's Pass' which is the highest point on the trail at 4215m up but its actually only 6km in distance. At the beginning the climb was fairly pleasant, it was a dirt path gradually climbing up and it being so early in the morning, it was a perfect walking temperature. However, the path then turned into more uneven, very large stone steps which only seemed to get steeper and steeper. Some of the steps were longer than my calf, it was hard work for my poor little legs of limited length! By the end, the sun had come around the side of the mountain which was lovely because it meant I could do a little tan topping up in the process, however, it also meant it was really warm making it all the harder to will my feet to move one in front of the other. The last climb up to the peak is known as the 'Gringo Killer' because the steps are especially steep and you have been climbing for 2.5hrs already and then end never seems to get any closer. But of course I did make it to the top in a nice 3 and half hours which I was very proud of and I have never felt such relief (or pain). The cheers at the top from my fellow galloping Guinea pigs (our team name, invented by yours truly) made it all the better and the view made it completely worth the pain! I was also dead proud that i was 5th (and my aunty ali was a close 6th behind me) to the top so im not AS unfit as i thought i was although it did take me about half an hour for my heart rate to return to normal, my breathing to slow down and my legs to stop shaking. We sat at the top in the sunshine reboosting energy levels and encouraging the other members of the family as they plodded their way up (digital zoom lenses on cameras were brilliant for identifying our companions). I was super impressed by Jim, a 65 year old, made it to the top and only about an hour later than the majority of the group which is incredible - if i can do that when I'm 65 my life will be complete!
After we had all regrouped, er had the perilous decent of 600m down the other side, down very similar enormous stone steps - this is also decidedly upsetting when you've just climbed up to climb down again! And by this point we were all low on water and energy and my legs were spasming so we just wanted to get down to camp, which we did by 2 o'clock where we were greeted with applause from our porters and a hearty lunch as a reward. Spent the rest of the afternoon napping, reading and just generally recuperating with a little bit of rummy before dinner and another early night.
The third day is renowned for being the 'unforgettable day' which it definitely is due to the stunning views. We were allowed a moderate lie in - until 5.30 - and started the day with a quick 300m climb which being at the beginning of the day, i didn't find too bad so stormed up it. I was also spurred on as a very active 26 year old from Reading (woooooh) who had made the crazy decision to carry one of the porters' 20kg bags up the hill as a challenge, so i managed to be in front of him for once ;) after the climbing it was a gently undulating path with a few ups and few downs, some very steeps drops on the side, bits through jungle, across a few wooden bridges, through some cave tunnels and along a couple of ridges. There was one point where we could see all 3 surrounding glaciers and we were really lucky to have a very clear day so we were able to see them all. At our lunch spot we could see the backside of Macchu Picchu mountain, and a million other mountains around us and we chased llamas around trying to capture our llama selfies! On the walk down to the campsite i was actually able to talk
as i wasn't stupidly out of breath from climbing up hull and we were at a lower altitude so i was able to chat to a couple of the other younguns about their travels, all of whom have been doing roughly the same trail as i am doing but in the other direction so i got some good travel and hotel tips. On the way down we also visited a few more inca sites and eventually made it to our campsite just as it got dark, having walked 16km that day. It is such a treat to turn up to camp and have your tent all up and ready for you (nothing like D of E where you have to do it all yourself. However, the toilets along the trail were not so pleasant as they had 500 people a day coming through them and people clearly are not very good at aiming so there was a lot of you-dont-want-to-know-what all over the floor and walls, GROSS!! Treated ourselves to another early night after another couple of hands as rummy.
Day 4 is Macchu Picchu day which delightfully starts with a 3.30am wake up call so that the porters can get off to catch a train and so we can then sit for an our at the check point waiting for the trail to open. But the excitement of nearly finishing walking kept the tiredness at bay, oh and of course the excitement to see actual Macchu Picchu. Our tour leader, Washington, frog marched us at an amazingly fast pace up to the sungate, which meant passing lots of other groups who had got up even earlier than us tehehee! Climbing the last 50, ridiculously large steep steps up to the Sun Gate was a killer but rounding the top and seeing Macchu Picchu in front completely blew me away. I couldn't believe i had actually made it, firstly to the end of the Inca trail without dying or falling apart and secondly to the World Heritage Site of Macchu Picchu. As much as we were excited to be there, pur first port of call was to the nice, clean, luxury baños at the entrance to the site and then we were content to commence our tour. Washington gave us our 2hr tpur aroubd the site, teaching us avout the key features and the inxredible ways of the incas and also their complete dependence on Mother Nature, who coincidentally is who they worship, for everything they need. I also found it amazing how much is based around the winter and summer solstices (although it does confuse me that they are the opposite here). Ali and I then descended the mountain, en bus, to the imaginatively named town of Aguas Calientes (literally meaning hot water) for a celebratory Pisco Sour and then had lunch with the rest of the inca-redible galloping guineapigs team. Headed back to Cusco on a train with windows in the roof so you could see the surrounding mountains.
Once in Cusco we took full advantage of a hot shower and washed off all the blood, sweat and tears from the previous 4 days and it was so great to be clean again. Ali and I then went out for dinner to meet up with a friend of mine from school, Liv,who is also currently backpacking around South America so it was so lovely yo see her if a little strange having not seen her for 6 months and seeing her for the first time again in Peru.
My thumbs are hurting now i will leave it there and carry on with the next leg soon, hopefully the gap wont be quite so long as i am now travelling solo so there are less distractions!
Lots of love to all xxx
a (like llama) for lunch and really regretted it as the altitude hit me just as my food arrived and I end up throwing up all my lunch - such a waste of S50. But to be honest the alpaca wasn't anything special, it tasted like beef really! In the evening we met the rest of our G adventures 'family' which was surprisingly vritish with a few americans and an aussie (16 of us in total) and mentally prepared ourselves for the gruelling 3 days ahead.
We had a gentle break in to climbing on the Thursday where we visited various different Inca ruins which had varying degrees of climbs up to them. I found it fascinating to see the resourcefulness of these inca people, hundreds of years ago making stepped terraces in the hillside so they had flat land to grow their crops - which was basically their currency - and the different building structures designed for cold and to withstand earthquakes, etc. We visited a small Quechua community which is entirely based around weaving and the women, dressed in the traditional
attire; big thick skirts, long black plaits and a hat, showed us how to weave the wool, make the wool from clumps of alpaca fur, clean it, and die it...I of course then felt the need to buy a lovely alpaca wooly hat (they also had the most adorable, smiley baby with the chubbiest cheeks you have ever seen). We went to a similar community for a gourmet Peruvian lunch with various delicacies including cerviche and quinoa. I spent the night in Ollantaytambo, a town in the sacred valley, which was very beautiful and quaint, making the most of WiFi, a bed and a shower for the last time for a while.
The trek started at kilometre 82 where we met our porters, and handed over our 6kg duffle bags for them to carry up (they each carry 20kg and there were 26 of them. Between them they had to carry all our stuff, all the tents, food, cooking equipment, etc...they are beasts!!). Then we set off.....
The first day is known as the warm up day so we started walking at 10ish and walked a total of 12km, with a few short uphill sections but the majority was flat or undulating. Half way through we were fed a much needed lunch in a nice little mess tent with the 16 of us and our 5 guides huddled around the table lapping up the food. And as we entered the lunch spot we all got applauded by the porters which was a lovely welcome :) made it to the final camp at about 4.30 by which point I was feeling extremely ill, probably due to a combination of extreme exertion, dehydration and altitude, so I couldn't stomach the popcorn and coca tea so just headed to our ready prepared tent for a little pre-dinner nap. By the time dinner was ready I was feeling much better, having drunk lots of water, although it was still freezing as we were at 3000m above sea level. Had a typically camping style early night, where you are in bed, all snuggled up by 8pm and fell into
a deep slumber after the tiresome day.
Day 2 is known as the killer day which started with a 4.50am wake up call. Had a delicious breakfast of coca tea (coca leaves are meant to be good for altitude sickness), bread and jam, and quinoa porridge. Then set off for 4 hours of climbing up hill. We had 1.2km to climb upwards from our campsite to 'Dead Woman's Pass' which is the highest point on the trail at 4215m up but its actually only 6km in distance. At the beginning the climb was fairly pleasant, it was a dirt path gradually climbing up and it being so early in the morning, it was a perfect walking temperature. However, the path then turned into more uneven, very large stone steps which only seemed to get steeper and steeper. Some of the steps were longer than my calf, it was hard work for my poor little legs of limited length! By the end, the sun had come around the side of the mountain which was lovely because it meant I could do a little tan topping up in the process, however, it also meant it was really warm making it all the harder to will my feet to move one in front of the other. The last climb up to the peak is known as the 'Gringo Killer' because the steps are especially steep and you have been climbing for 2.5hrs already and then end never seems to get any closer. But of course I did make it to the top in a nice 3 and half hours which I was very proud of and I have never felt such relief (or pain). The cheers at the top from my fellow galloping Guinea pigs (our team name, invented by yours truly) made it all the better and the view made it completely worth the pain! I was also dead proud that i was 5th (and my aunty ali was a close 6th behind me) to the top so im not AS unfit as i thought i was although it did take me about half an hour for my heart rate to return to normal, my breathing to slow down and my legs to stop shaking. We sat at the top in the sunshine reboosting energy levels and encouraging the other members of the family as they plodded their way up (digital zoom lenses on cameras were brilliant for identifying our companions). I was super impressed by Jim, a 65 year old, made it to the top and only about an hour later than the majority of the group which is incredible - if i can do that when I'm 65 my life will be complete!
After we had all regrouped, er had the perilous decent of 600m down the other side, down very similar enormous stone steps - this is also decidedly upsetting when you've just climbed up to climb down again! And by this point we were all low on water and energy and my legs were spasming so we just wanted to get down to camp, which we did by 2 o'clock where we were greeted with applause from our porters and a hearty lunch as a reward. Spent the rest of the afternoon napping, reading and just generally recuperating with a little bit of rummy before dinner and another early night.
The third day is renowned for being the 'unforgettable day' which it definitely is due to the stunning views. We were allowed a moderate lie in - until 5.30 - and started the day with a quick 300m climb which being at the beginning of the day, i didn't find too bad so stormed up it. I was also spurred on as a very active 26 year old from Reading (woooooh) who had made the crazy decision to carry one of the porters' 20kg bags up the hill as a challenge, so i managed to be in front of him for once ;) after the climbing it was a gently undulating path with a few ups and few downs, some very steeps drops on the side, bits through jungle, across a few wooden bridges, through some cave tunnels and along a couple of ridges. There was one point where we could see all 3 surrounding glaciers and we were really lucky to have a very clear day so we were able to see them all. At our lunch spot we could see the backside of Macchu Picchu mountain, and a million other mountains around us and we chased llamas around trying to capture our llama selfies! On the walk down to the campsite i was actually able to talk
as i wasn't stupidly out of breath from climbing up hull and we were at a lower altitude so i was able to chat to a couple of the other younguns about their travels, all of whom have been doing roughly the same trail as i am doing but in the other direction so i got some good travel and hotel tips. On the way down we also visited a few more inca sites and eventually made it to our campsite just as it got dark, having walked 16km that day. It is such a treat to turn up to camp and have your tent all up and ready for you (nothing like D of E where you have to do it all yourself. However, the toilets along the trail were not so pleasant as they had 500 people a day coming through them and people clearly are not very good at aiming so there was a lot of you-dont-want-to-know-what all over the floor and walls, GROSS!! Treated ourselves to another early night after another couple of hands as rummy.
Day 4 is Macchu Picchu day which delightfully starts with a 3.30am wake up call so that the porters can get off to catch a train and so we can then sit for an our at the check point waiting for the trail to open. But the excitement of nearly finishing walking kept the tiredness at bay, oh and of course the excitement to see actual Macchu Picchu. Our tour leader, Washington, frog marched us at an amazingly fast pace up to the sungate, which meant passing lots of other groups who had got up even earlier than us tehehee! Climbing the last 50, ridiculously large steep steps up to the Sun Gate was a killer but rounding the top and seeing Macchu Picchu in front completely blew me away. I couldn't believe i had actually made it, firstly to the end of the Inca trail without dying or falling apart and secondly to the World Heritage Site of Macchu Picchu. As much as we were excited to be there, pur first port of call was to the nice, clean, luxury baños at the entrance to the site and then we were content to commence our tour. Washington gave us our 2hr tpur aroubd the site, teaching us avout the key features and the inxredible ways of the incas and also their complete dependence on Mother Nature, who coincidentally is who they worship, for everything they need. I also found it amazing how much is based around the winter and summer solstices (although it does confuse me that they are the opposite here). Ali and I then descended the mountain, en bus, to the imaginatively named town of Aguas Calientes (literally meaning hot water) for a celebratory Pisco Sour and then had lunch with the rest of the inca-redible galloping guineapigs team. Headed back to Cusco on a train with windows in the roof so you could see the surrounding mountains.
Once in Cusco we took full advantage of a hot shower and washed off all the blood, sweat and tears from the previous 4 days and it was so great to be clean again. Ali and I then went out for dinner to meet up with a friend of mine from school, Liv,who is also currently backpacking around South America so it was so lovely yo see her if a little strange having not seen her for 6 months and seeing her for the first time again in Peru.
My thumbs are hurting now i will leave it there and carry on with the next leg soon, hopefully the gap wont be quite so long as i am now travelling solo so there are less distractions!
Lots of love to all xxx
Thanks for the mention Lucy. Loved reading your story!
ReplyDeleteKind Regards,
Lyndon File
Manager, Customer Experience
G Adventures