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Hola everyone,
Before starting the Inca Trail we had one day in Lima. It was amazing to see how developed and Americanised the city was. Thr road from the airport was lined with Las Vegas casinos. As we only have one day we decided to catch the local bus into the town and take a city tour (such tourists). It was interesting to see the contrast between the area in which we were staying (Miraflores) which was highly developed, consumeresque and in some sense western like, and the opposite side of the town which consisted of shanty towns, impoverishment and underdevelopment.
That afternoon we had to say goodbye to Alex as he had to leave to go home to England- it was so sad to say godbye but he left us with a mini Harry Potter as a replacement!! Now there´s just the two of us.
Inca Trail
We met most of our G.A.P adventure group whilst we were in Lima. They all seemed quite nice, there were 12 of us in total, 2 Americans- Brie and Kay, 1 Canadian- Greg, 1 Aussie- Kane, 2 Irish- Diedre& Jill, and 2 other English girls- Sophie and Daisy, and our guide was called Ossie- he knew all the London slang and all the idioms, was so funny.
Before starting the Inca Trail we had a one day tour of the Sacred Valley which consists of 2 main Inca towns Pisac and Ollantaytambo. We stayed in Ollantaytambo in an amazing hotel where outside our room we had views of the beautiful mountains. The town itself is the best surviving example of the Inca city planning. It has cobble stone streets which have been inhabited since the 13th Century, and has the steep terraces which were made in the mountain side by the Inca´s- mainly for farming.
The first day of our hike was in heinsight nice and easy. We trekked for 11km from a point known as Km 82 (our initial starting point) to our first campsite Wayllambamba. The route was made up of relatively gentle ups and downs. The views from our campsite were beautiful- very picturesque. We had a team of 18 porters who were amazing and without them we may not have made it (and thats not exaggerating). They did everything for us from carrying our bags, to making us 3 course meals, and even waking us up in the morning with a nice cup of tea or coffee in our tents, and a bowl of warm water and soap to have a wash (definately what you call luxury camping). They used to run past us on the trail (with everything piled on their backs) to get infront in order to prepare things for us when we arrive, whilst we were sweating and practically dying with our one little day pack.
The second day-wow- it was tough. We had to trek from 3000m above sea level to 4200m, we were walking uphill (steep uphill) for about 5 hours!!! Although it was absolutely exhausting, once we reached the peak (Dead woman´s pass) we felt so good. We then only had a one and a half hour walk down hill trek keeping us from lunch. Again they had chosen us a beautiful location for us to camp with snow capped mountains in the distance and waterfalls behind us- how can you complain!!
On the third day it was my birthday and what a memorable day it was. At breakfast the porters presented me with a birthday cake that they had made for me, and they put my name on it too. I was really touched and was so amazed as to how they made it on the campsite. We trekked for 16km that day, however it was quite a nice walk with lots of interesting Inca Ruins along the way and not as many inclines as the previous day. We spent the day singing lots of songs along the way with Sophie and Daisy, most of which were Disney songs- I thougt Jo´s singing was bad until I heard Sophie´s- she was hilarious. That night we managed to have our first shower in 3 days, it cost us 5 soles, but it was definately worth every sol. On our way back to bed that night we walked past a big tent where all the porters sleep, we peeped inside and there were about 20 of them lying like sardines in thier sleeping bags all giggling and being shy because we said hello to them.
The last day of the trail we awoke at 4am to go and see the infamous Machu Picchu. It was an amazing finish to an unforgettable trek. The Inca Ruins are practically fully intact with only the roofs of the houses missing. The views were stunning- it is unbelievable to think that people could create such a large scale city out of all the rocks- such intelligent people.
Overall, the Inca Trail has been our most challenging expereince so far but is definately one of our most unforgetable expereinces. It is also currently trying to get the vote to become one of the wonders of the world which would be well deserved if it got it.
Cuzco
Cuzco is a beautiful little town with lovely little streets and squares- the Plaza de Armas is very impressive with its big cathedral fountain and church. As we only had one day there, we had a quick tour of the cathedral and also did a tour bus around outskirts of the town. We were gudied around the cathedral by a 94 year old local man called George- he was so sweet and small, but also so funny as he was so enthusiastic and repeated the same things all the time, and with his half broken english it just made it a funny expereince.
Lake Titicaca
After Cuzco we headed South to visit Lake Titicaca- the world´s largest lake above 2000m and the largest lake in South America. We took a day trip to two of the islands on the lake, ´Los Uros´and ´Taquile´. The first stop was at the floating islands of ´Los Uros´consisting of 40 smaller islands. They are made from reeds that grow in the lake and these reeds are used to make their homes, schools, kitchens and boats- it is so surreal- the little islands almost look storylike. You will be able to see it more clearly in the photos. The journey down was definately worth it, as Lake Tititcaca is extremely beautiful and so interesting.
Lots of love x x x
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