Friday, September 11, 2009

The Grand Finale - Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

All the excitement of reaching Cusco left us very tired and in need of more cake. We spent a couple of days eating carrot cake with Mum-(2) and David to help them acclimatize before the trek.

Cusco was very nice for killing time shopping and eating. No time for photos though, there`s loads for the trek.
An early morning (6am), we joined the rest of our group on the bus to the start. In the picture we have from left to right: -


Gem, Ian, Melia, Anirbar, Erwin, Haneka, Yola, Stuart, Carrie, Santiago, Leonardo, Mum-(2) and David.

We had a nervous start following some passport trouble but off we went. We shouldn`t need to say it, the first part of the trek was uphill. We headed into a valley where the trail became more steep and the views behind became even more magnificent.


All smiles at the start of the trail

Cheeks start puffing when the trail gets steeper

Mum-(2) and David half way through day-1

We passed a couple of Inca ruins along the way. Our guide Bryan insisted they wern`t ruins, they were in fact archeaological remains. Silly us.

Archeaological remains- impressive

We arrived at camp that afternoon with only a few minutes of daylight to spare. Our legs were not used to walking such distances and we wondered if leaving the bikes back i nCusco was a good idea. Mum-(2) and David were holding up well but suffering a little from the altitude. Fortunately the porters had a sack full of coca leaves for such occassions and at bed time the chewing from inside the tents sounded like a herd of cows in a field.

Camp site - end of day-1

At dinner our guide gave us the bad news. Although we seemed a fast group and we were all doing very well so far, Day-2 is commonly known to be the most difficult day of the trek.

Starting at 2,800m the trail heads straight into another valley and rises up to 4,200m in just 3 miles. Eeek!!!!

Half way up the immense pass on day-2

We stopped many times on the way up to catch our breath and realise how much of a good idea the train would have been. The 3 miles to the top of the huge pass took us nearly 6 hours!

The porters made it look so easy - they often ran

Highest point on the trail - 4,200m

Once at the top of the pass we had great views to the other side. Unfortunately there was a line snaking through this valley which clearly showed our path for the following day. Another pass and lots of stairs! Going up such a big hill was knackering but it`s going down that hurts the most. Knees were strained close to snapping and the thighs were burning up by the time we got the bottom. An early night didn`t help so much, we had another early start.

Trying to come down the stairs slowly was difficult

The 3rd day was much of the same. Lots of uphill and lots of downhill. It was incredibly steep in places and it was clear that the entire group was beginning to tire. Our guide Bryan had no trouble with telling us the bad news... the final day was a 3:45am start. QUE!?

The final day was also Gemma`s 30th birthday so there was much to celebrate. Thanks to everyone that sent cards with mum-(2), it was great to read all the messages. Even at 30 years old and at 3:45am, Gemma looked this good...

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY!!!

There weren`t so many big smiles amongst the other 500 people on the trail that morning. Everyone was knackered and filthy. But still, just an hour or so away was Machu Picchu, the reason we had made ourselves suffer 4 brutal days of mental hiking. A wonder of the world and the most well known attraction on the continent. Very excited we all set off in the dark to get there when it got light.

At the Sun Gate - start of day-4 - we could see Machu Picchu now

It`s right behind us

The group with Machu Picchu behind

Even Eric and Fatrat made it

Our guides - Roger with Limpi and Bryan with Eric and Fatrat

The classic view of Machu Picchu

We spent a few hours staggering around Machu Picchu, our legs and shoulders were aching terribly. Machu Picchu itself was absolutely stunning and despite the pain we were really pleased to have got there via the Inca Trail. Seeing the other nearby ruins (sorry - archaeolgical remains) along the way helped build the anticipation for Machu Picchu and certainly did not fail to impress any of us. It`s hard to imagine what the place must have looked like in it`s heyday and what efforts must have been put into building such an immense place in such an isolated location. The thing that made us wonder the most though, was would the Inca`s that built this place have been as impressed about the journey that we took to get there?

With that final side-trip over, our journey through South America has ended. We are now in Lima and have just 2 more days until our flight home. It will probably take us more than those 2 days to think of something to write about what we have just achieved. There are many things to reflect on and despite the excitement of coming home, we are obviously nervous too.

We can`t wait to see our families and friends and to you all - we`ll see you in just a couple of days!

Loads of love x

3 comments:

Lucky mum said...

Words fail me... Absolutely amazing and congratulations to Lynn & David.
Loads of love x-x

Globalmum said...

You two are such an inspiration - we are all so very, very proud of you!
What adventures will follow.... I wonder?

x

Caroline et Olivier said...

Hi Gemma and Ian, welldone for your trip and happy birthday Gemma!! You did better than us with your bikes...ours were stolen 150km after Cusco in the Cordillera and we finished by walking until Nazca. We are in France now visiting schools. Hope to see you in France, Norway or England to share ours experiences :)
Best wishes and Suerte!!
Caroline and Olivier, the geologists cyclists... without bikes :(