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Little Chloe's intrepid traveller guide!
HIIIIIII!!!
FINALLY made it to cancun, christ alive, what a journey.
Glad not to be on a train\bus\plane anymore.
Started off my journey bright and early weds morning, not even 24 hours after my hike!! Got up at 7am, got a 2hr flight to lima, then stayed the night in lima, got up at 6am, taxi to airport, 3hrs in airport, 3hr flight to costa rica, 6hr wait in costa rica, 4hr flight to mex city, taxi ride to bus station, 12hr bus journey to villahermosa, 1hrs wait, 8hr bus journey to merida, then 5hrs to cancun. woo!
Mahcu picchu, what can i say! No one ever said it would be so bloody hard!!!!! By day 2 i could no longer move my legs, they would just not bend, couldnt simply stand up, had to roll myself over. Tried stretching but it was agony!
By the end of the week, my socks were rock hard from being drenched in sweat, i had blisters the size of not just on my feet but on my hands as well. In turn these all popped on the back of my feet, and bled so much that they got stuck to my llama socks, had to physically CUT them off every night with scissors. Are still lumps of puss and blood all over my feet . . .mmmm. . . . Good for my court shoes.
Was the first time, as far as i can remember that i got up before sunrise, instead of watching it, then going to bed.
Day 1, up at 5am
Day 2, up at 6am , this day was a killer! We did 2 mountain passes(ie going up and down two whole mountains consecutively) in the burning hot sun, with 10k on my back, at an altitude of 5,600. Literally had to stop every two mins for 5mins as i couldnt breathe. The steps are all loose and cracked and i had to practically jump up and down some of them as they were so huge. And i thought the incas were sposed to be short!!??
Day 3, up at 6am
Day 4, up at 4am!!
Ended up being in a group of 12 other people who were all over 30 and couples, apart from one random 40yr old guy from switzerland. Could there be a worse possible scenario! Turned out fine tho, as they were all really lovely, and we got along well.
Am now known as 'la reina' (the queen), to about 10 crazy argentinians, who passed me sitting down about 15 times, while i was trying to get to the top. When i finally got there, everyone from there group and my group was clapping! Which was quite amusing. Met a couple of crazy swedes (does this way spell the vegetable or the people?) Who were fun. Have lots of random pics with them.
Even tho there was only 12of us, we had 19 porters!! They carry crazy amounts up the huge hills and down again, with gas canisters on their backs, and even eggs on top. Apparently they carry up to 70 kilos!!!!!!!!! I had just 10- this was enough for me.
We had a guide called isaac, who said the words 'dear friends' in every other sentence, and drew us maps on the floor in the dust,(he took this quite seriously), u had to have been there to understand how amusing this was! Everything was 'gentle path', however you learn that gentle path to the peruvians and gentle path to the rest of the world are two very different things. Although he was great sometimes felt like throwing my walking stick at him. yes, there were a few tearful moments.
Had a tent by myself, which as spacious as it was, was also quite scary being in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with a group of 20 odd dodgy looking quechua speaking peuvian men, sleeping next door. First night was convinced there was an animal\person outside my tent. Ended up even calling out to fellow slightly weird 40yr old singleton franz several times in the middle of the night. Telling him could he please look outside coz i think theres someone outside my tent Took me about 2hrs to muster the courage to do so. . . . . . . . felt slightly embarrased the next morning. . . .
Food was pretty amazing. The porters would always be there one step ahead of us.
Average day went something like this:
Woken up at at 6am by the porters with cups of tea/coffee/coca tea, breakfast at the campsite at 6:30, which consisted of pancakes, quinua porridge (quinuas a special seed grown in peru), and toast with jam. Pretty good me thinks. Then the 'briefing' (drawings in the sand), and we leave th campsite at 7am. Walking for a few hours while its not to hot, then a few stops in between. (never enough for me tho!) Lunch at 2ish, (the whole time the porters are running ahead of us, packing up and moving on, and setting up camp/lunch ahead. Lunch is like a 3/4 course affair! Soup, followed by about 6 huge different trays of other stuff, like salads, rice dishes, spaghetti! Was amazing. Then generally followed by dessert and some herbal tea, which is 'good for everything'.
Last day was crazy up at 4am!!!!! Walking in the pitch black up a mountain to the 'sun gate', from where you can get the first full view of machu picchu, as the the sun rises. We were really lucky as there was a huge landslide a few months before, but it was finally cleared up like a week before we went!yay. Was amazing to finally get there. Everything just looked so perfect, and symmetrical, was v.weird, but wonderful. Its quite funny as theres loads of lone llamas just wondering round- theyre actaully a bit scary!
When we got to machu picchu (and i collapsed) we had the chance to climb another mini mountain called huayna pichu, but obvioucly there was NO way i was doing that. Instead i sat in the cafe, had a chicken sandwich, chatted to some cool people from other groups i met along the way. Turns out one of the guys will be coming to cancun in like 2 weeks!crazy or what . . . Even met another older couple from canada whose son lives in NORWICH!!!!madness!
have to go now!Jamie and holly say hello,
and the hotel is lovely and its v.hot!
Love to u all
meeeeeeeeeeee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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