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After seeing the Inca Ruins just outside La Paz, we arrived at the Peru/Bolivia border and did the usual thing through immigration. The official took a little longer with Matt´s visa as it was issued in London, but finally we were back on our Big Yellow Truck and having lunch over looking the amazing Lake Titicaca. It´s hard to believe that this is a lake and not the ocean! We then continued on to Puno, where we met the rest of our tour group.
On Friday morning we were picked up by some very funky bicycle taxis, who raced us (literally) to the harbour. Here we bought some gifts for our host families and then boarded our boat to the reed islands.
The islands are amazing to see...you feel like you are walking on soggy grass, but it´s not wet, just the reed blocks moving on the water. Families live on the islands and get around by boats, which, funny enough, are also made out of reeds! We all (20 of us!) went for a ride on one...they are made in the shape of viking boats, with the shape of a puma head at the front, and are surprisingly strong! Matt had a whirl at rowing!
From here, we made our way to the Amentani island where we were staying for the night. We were divided into twos and collected by our host families at the port. Matt and I were met by our ´dad´, who practically sprinted up the mountain to their house, while I struggle behind! The families on this island don´t speak spanish, but Quechua...so we were limited in our conversations! Our ´mom´made us lunch...consisting of quinoa soup, huge amounts of potatoes....we mean huge, and, to Matt´s delight, fish! We were practically sweating after we finished the carbo load meal, but it was tasty! We also tasted muña tea which is a herbal tea used to aid digestion...which we were clearly going to need!
Our mom then walked us up the hill to meet the others (she knitted the entire way...) and the boys played some football against the locals. They had their work cut out for them! After admitting defeat and buying the winners a coke, we all walked up the mountain to watch the sunset. It was cold but beautiful. The inca ruins were a good taste of what was to come on the Inca Trail. We had another meal with our host family....corn soup, followed by rice, potatoes and pasta!!!
We woke up early the next morning to see the sunrise...the area was so picturesque with the lake as a backdrop. After some yummy pancakes our mom walked us back down the hill to our boat, where we met the rest of the group and said farewell to Amantani. We made a short stop at another island closeby for some more sightseeing and a quick swim for Matt in the ice cold Lake! The journey back was really stunning as we sat on the top of the boat in the sunshine, looking at the views across the lake.
We left Puno early on Sunday morning to make our way to Cuzco. Many parts of Peru were being affected by the teachers strikes and there were groups that had missed the Inca trail so we needed to make sure that we got to Cuzco on time! We were lucky enough to miss most of the chaos and arrived in good time. Cuzco is a beautiful city....my favourite so far = it is so clean and so historic...it is also very touristy, but that is to be expected. We went on a really interesting walk with our guide, Andy and then we all went for dinner and drinks (at Paddy´s Irish Bar!) to celebrate Steve, our driver´s, birthday.
On Monday night we met our guide for the Inca Trail, Julio, who explained all about the trail and what we should expect. We all were given duffel bags which needed to be no heavier than 5 kgs - these would be carried by our porters. We then met up with Nathan and Frankie, as they were in town and had a great dinner catching up!
We left for our Sacred Valley tour on Tuesday morning, with Julio. The Sacred Valley is home to many of the Inca ruins and is basically the gateway to the Inca Trail. We spent an interesting morning learning more about the Incas, and then made our way to a town called Ollantayatambo...we were meant to spend the night here but due to strikes we ended up camping at the start of the Inca Trail...just in case we got held up the next morning and missed the trail altogether!
We woke up early and we were all super keen to get started on the famous Inca Trail...after getting through the passport control we started walking. Because we were all so young and fit (!?) we did the full days walk each morning and got to the camp by lunchtime, which gave us time to relax and play cards or, in the boys case, play football with the locals.
The Inca Trail is the original route to the breathtaking mountaintop Inca City of Machupiccu. Spread over 4 days, the 44km trail through the Andes crosses 3 high passes and you can see loads of archeological sights along the way. Our porters and cooks were absolutely amazing....they practically run up the mountain with 25-35 kgs of equipment (tents, tables, chairs, stoves etc) on their backs and make it look like a stroll through Hyde Park. By the time we reach camp they have put up all our tents, cooked our food and set the table for us....the food was so good, 3 courses each meal!
Our guide, Julio, kept telling us that this was a ´piece of pisco sour´(the national drink..) and it was the first day but the second day took a lot more willpower! We started early and walked a challenging 7km, going up all the way to 4200m..this is fondly known as Dead Woman´s Pass. Matt and Stacey (a Kiwi guy) were the first ones up and took great delight at standing on the top telling us to run the last few metres! A few of our group had come stomach bugs and they not only had to walk up Dead Woman´s pass but stop for a few team vomits along the way...nice! Getting to the top was a great feeling though and the views were incredible.
The third day was also challenging but beautiful and we made it to Winay Wayna where we were greeted by cold beers! That night we had a few speeches to thank our guides and cooks and then we got an early night as we were getting up at 4am to get ready for .... the sungate.
We were up early and then had to go and wait in line for the gate to the trail to open at 5.30am. This is possibly the most disappointing part of the trail and where you realise just how many people do this everyday. Waiting in line, there were fights breaking out among people who were pushing in and along the trail to the sungate no-one would let you pass them, even if you were faster, just so that they could get to the sungate sooner! Nevertheless, arriving at the sungate was breathtaking. At 2745 m the Sun Gate is 345 meters higher than Machu Piccu and has a majestic view over the sight and the surrounding valleys. From there we walked another 2km down to Machu Piccu. All we can say is ...wow, you have to see the photos to believe it but even they wont do it justice. The ruins were only discovered in 1911 and due to their isolation many of the buildings are still intact. It´s hard to believe that this whole city was only occupied for only 100 years by only 100 people.
Towering above the ruins is another mountain called Huayna Piccu...after completing the trail our guide told us that it was an easy climb so we decided to do it....this was no easy climb! It was boiling hot and literally uphill the entire way! But it was a great view from the top.
We made our way back down on the bus to the town of Aguas Calientes, where we spent the day before our train that night. Now, after 5 days of not showering, we were very excited for the hot springs that we had been told about, so after some food we made our way eagerly....There should always be suspicion when the ticket office of a place is situated way down the hill and out of sight from the real thing....We arrived at the hot springs, which were more like heated outdoor pools with a few showers. Everyone had to shower before getting into the water...only problem was that there was a family of women between 45 and 90 years old having their weekly shower at the time. This task they took very seriously...complete with every manner of soap, loufer, scrubbing brush and giving everyone an eyeful every now and then...something, I can assure you that is not becoming of a 90 year old woman. We did eventually manage to get in the pools but hygeine was definitely questionable!!
Our train journey took us to Ollantyambo where we got a minibus back to Cuzco...the driver drove like a bat out of hell and we were very very thankful to arrive back in Cuzco at 1am in one piece!
We spent our next few days in Cuzco relaxing and exploring the city. Matt did a quadbike ride and I did some shopping! Our next stop was to be Arequipa, but because of the strikes and roadblocks we ended up leaving a day later.
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