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After an early morning flight I arrived in Cuzco on a sunny summer morning. I was picked up at the airport by a very friendly driver who gave me a short guided tour on our way into the city. First impressions of Cuzco were very favourable, especially compared to La Paz! The city is very low rise with attractive stone buildings and inca ruins around every corner. My hotel is located just off the Plaza de Armas, so very convenient for all of the main sights.
After a couple of hours of admin, including a stop off at the Pachamama Explorers office for a briefing on the Inca Trek starting the following day, I headed back to my hotel to be picked up for my city tour. This took in all of the major Inca sites including the Cathedral, Qorikancha, Saqsayhuaman (pronounced in a way that sounds remarkably similar to 'sexy woman'!)', Tambomachay and Q'enqo.
It was a great introduction to the Inca legacy. Cuzco was the centre of their empire and therefore the site of many of their main sites of worship as well as the palaces of all of the inca kings. Lots of these buildings were destroyed when the Spanish conquered in the 1500's but their buildings were built on the foundations so lots of the stonework remains and is visible throughout the city.
I'd been told the tour was going to be around 4hrs but it ended up being nearly 6.5hrs so I was quite pleased to get back to the hotel by the end of it as I was pretty cold (it was 7.30pm by this point and I'd only taken a thin cardi with me!).
I met a couple of people from the group I was going to be trekking with back at the hotel, I was joining a group of 23 people on an Oasis Overland tour from Quito-Santiago. They were going in the opposite direction to me so I was hopefully they'd be able to give me some good tips on Peru! It was quite a different group to the one I´d travelled with so far…much more diverse in ages with lots of older people, the oldest being 61! They seemed like a very nice group though and I was looking forward to meeting some new people.
I headed out for a quick dinner at a recommended restaurant round the corner. Chez Maggy does great pizza, pasta and Mexican food so I had a good high carb dinner in preparation for my trek the next day. After dinner I headed back to the hotel to pack my things for the trek into the duffel provided by Pachamama Explorers and to sort out the stuff I was leaving at the hotel...we were only allowed 7kgs of luggage so I could only take the bare essentials. Once my packing was done there was nothing else to do but get an early night in preparation for a 4.45am wake up the next morning so I would be ready to leave at 5.30am!
It felt like I'd only closed my eyes for a couple of hours when the alarm went off...I hadn't slept that well as I'd had a bit of a dodgy tummy since leaving La Paz. Little did I know at that point that it was going to get much worse over the next couple of days! After my last shower for 5 days I packed the last of my things and headed to meet the rest of the group in the hotel lobby. We were picked up by a bus at 5.30am as planned and jumped on board to start the journey to the start of the Classic Inca Trek with our guides Jimmy, Big Pappy and Little Pappy!
We stopped off in Ollantaytambo for some breakfast and last minute supplies and then hit the road again to Km 82 and the start of the trek. Once there we had a bathroom stop and time to sort out our day sacks, fill water bottles, apply sunscreen etc while the porters loaded up (they were carrying our duffel bags as well as tents, cooking equipment and even tables & chairs for meal times....each one carries up to 25kg of equipment!). Once we were ready we made our way to the first check point at 2,600m to get the first stamp and start the trek, pausing enroute for a quick group photo.
The first days trekking was pretty easy going as we only had to climb 400m. The track meandered through the valley, following the river for the first part, before starting to ascend. After about 3hrs trekking we stopped for lunch near the Llactapata ruins. Lunch was the first of many impressive meals...we had avocado salad, then soup, followed by beef and rice...the porters had even set up a mess tent with tables and chairs which we hadn't expected for lunch stops! After lunch we carried on for another 3hrs, part of this was a steep short climb taking us closer to our camping altitude of 3000m. We arrived at the campsite just after 4pm and had some time to clean up before 'happy hour' which consisted of tea, hot chocolate, popcorn and crackers. We then had a bit of time to rest before dinner and early night. I'd been feeling pretty ill and lacking in energy all day so had a sleep before dinner and made myself eat something even though I didn't really feel like it...I knew that day 2 was the biggest of the 4 days and we had a long climb so wanted to make sure I had lots of energy although unfortunately I ended up having a pretty interrupted night as my tummy was not very happy at all.
It was an early start again the next morning as the plan was to do all of the trekking in the morning before arriving at camp for a late lunch and a relaxed afternoon. I decided at this stage to start taking some medication for my tummy as it still wasn't any better and as worried about getting dehydrated. After a breakfast of pancakes with dulce de leche & banana (yum!) and toast we set off on the track. The first part of the days climb was a steep ascent to Dead Woman's Pass at 4,200m...we started climbing almost straight away and didn't really stop. At points the path was steep steps and at others just a steep trek but it was pretty tough going on the legs and also the lungs as at this point we were starting to feel the effects of the lack of oxygen due to the altitude. Lots of the group were munching of coco leaves or eating coco cookies/sweets to help with the altitude but as I'd been in Bolivia for the past week I was already quite used to it and didn't really like the taste of the bitter leaves. After 5.5 hours of climbing I finally reached the highest point of the trek and we all waited there until the whole group had made it so we could have a picture at the top.
From Dead Woman's Pass it was 1.5hr of steep downhill to our campsite at Pacaymayo at 3,600m. We all arrived by 2.30pm and were greeted by the porters with cold fruit drinks and bowls of water to wash our hands. The campsite was in a stunning location and the tents were pitched on terraces with great views overlooking the valley. We had lunch soon after arriving and were then able to retire to our tents to relax before dinner. By this point I was starting to feel really quite ill. I was feverish (yet felt really cold) and had stomach cramps, it had been a real effort forcing down some food at lunchtime but I was conscious I needed to keep my energy up as I still had 2 days of trekking to go. I ended up not having dinner that night though and was fast asleep in my tent by 6pm, drugged up on medication and hoping that a good nights sleep would make me feel better!
When I woke up the next morning the fever had passed and my stomach definitely felt like it had settled down. I had a good breakfast and hoped that the worst of it was over.
Day 3 of our trek was one of the most interesting as it took in a number of archaelogical sites. We started the day with a short, steep climb to the second most important pass on the trail at 4000m. It was only a 1.5hr climb and we stopped enroute at Runkurakay ruins for a look around. The ascent seemed very easy compared to the previous day and we had a short break at the top before continuing down to the ruins of Sayacmarca, stopping shortly afterwards for lunch. I was feeling a lot better than the previous day and actually enjoyed the meal for a change!
After lunch we visited another site at Puya Patamarka (cloud level town) which apparently 80% of the time is covered by clouds, even in dry season, so we were lucky to have a good view. It was then 1.5hr steep downhill walk to our final campsite at 2,700m close to the ruins at Winay Huayna. By this point on the trek there were quite a lot of people with various ailments....from a twisted ankle to bad knees and quite a few people with similar tummy problems to me!
This was our last evening of the trek so after a final delicious dinner (my appetite had definitely returned and compared to everyone else I was feeling great finally!) we had a ceremony to thank the guides, cooks and porters and give them their tips. It was then time for an early night before a 3.30am start so we could be packed and waiting at the the final control point by 4.45am ready to head to the Sun Gate for our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Sadly, due to the fact we were climbing in the summer season, we weren't going to make it for sunrise as this was at around 5.45am and it was going to be. 1.5-2hr trek to the gate.
Alarms went off and we were given our final wake-up call of 'morning world' by Peter, the 61 year old in the group who apparently did this every morning on their trip. We packed our bags, had a quick breakfast and headed to the control point. It opened at 5.30am and by this point it was already light enough not to need head torches so we were able to set off at quite a pace. The path wound round the valley to start with and there was then a short steep climb, with a bit of scrambling up very steep steps at one point, before reaching the sun gate. Kat, Eamon and I made it there first after quite a workout and we walked through the gate to find Machu Picchu shrouded by cloud. As we waited for the others though the cloud began to lift and we were treated to our first view of the ancient city....it was pretty breathtaking.
After waiting for the sun to rise fully and for the cloud to lift completely we took some group pictures at the Sun Gate before making our way down the path towards the city. After a quick toilet break and handing back our walking poles we were then given a 1.5hr guided tour by Jimmy, looking at the major sites such as Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Condor, Temple of the Three Windows, Fountains and Sacred Rock. All of them stunning and the brickwork used in some of the areas was amazing....the complexity of the brickwork was an indication of how important the place was, the better ones being used in places of worship or in the Royal Sector.
After a tour a few of us had permits to climb Huayna Picchu, the steep mountain behind the ancient city which was said to give the best views. It was a 300m climb up steep staircases and was very tough going after the previous days trekking but was worth it was the views were amazing and there were also ruins and terraces at the top to explore.
Once we'd got back down to the main city we had a final wander around before catching a train back to Aguas Calientes to meet the rest of the group for lunch in a restaurant. After a well deserved meal we then boarded the tourist train, which was a 2hr journey, through the mountains back to Ollantaytambo with some quite stunning scenery. The final part of our journey was a 3hr bus back to Cuzco which ended up being quite lively as a number of the group had bought alcohol in the town and were prepping themselves for a big night and the 24hr challenge back in Cuzco (an Oasis challenge with the aim being to go straight out and not to sleep until after 3.30am, 24hrs after we'd got up).
Sadly my tummy had taken turn for the worse so I wasn't able to take part in the bus boozing and dancing and on returning to the hotel ended up having an early night!
The plan for my next day was a trip to the Sacred Valley...but given my tummy problems I had to cancel it and my first job of the day was a visit to the doctors. After blood tests and a 2 hour wait for results I was told I had salmonella and given antibiotics to clear it up....it was a relief to finally know what was wrong!
I spent the rest of my now free day in Cuzco wandering around the shops, visiting the chocolate museum and also the San Blas quarter which is the artists area and had a few cute cafes and restaurants as well as a bakery, from which all the profits go to a charity for orphans and street children. After a light dinner I spent the rest of the evening getting ready for my next adventure....a trip into the Amazon jungle!
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