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Hello everyone!
I got back yesterday from the Inca Trail trek! It was absolutely awesome and I had a great time! Not sure when my last blog entry was, so I will try fill in the details. Before the Inca Trail, we went white water rafting in the Sacred Valley, just north of Cusco. It was amazing! Had such a great time, apparently we went over grade 3 and 4 rapids, and the scale goes up to 6. Managed to stay on the raft which was a challenge! Sally and Steph both fell in but we managed to get them back on the boat! That night we stayed at the Prisma Hotel as part of the inca trail package with GAP. The next day we got up early and got the minibus with GAP to the Sacred Valley. Visited an Inca site called Chincero, learned about the 4 incan regions in the empire, and all the different gods they used to worship! Also learnt about how the Spanish conquistadors came and conquered most of S America in the 16th century, and basically destroyed most of the Inca sites. Bloody Spanish! suppose we are just as bad though! after visiting that site we travelled to another called Pisac. There we learnt about the pre-Inca civilisation and how their buildings were different to the Incas. Its amazing how perfectly the Inca stones fit together - no cement at all! Learnt about how they positioned all their inca sites and temples in accordance with the Milky Way. Third inca site was Ollantaytambo! Really stunning place, saw the Sun temple and the Water temple. Stayed that night in a hotel, and had a meal with the rest of the group. Good group! There is a group of 4 yorkshire lads doing it with us, one is from Harrogate the rest from Knaresbrough! Such a small world it is crazy! So that was great - finally some male company! Yorkshire too! They´d brought some Yorkshire Tea around the world with them! Brilliant. The next day we bussed it to KM 82 and the start of the trail.
Got a passport stamp! Special Inca Trail one! we chewed some Coca leaves for the first time, and they taste pretty bad! help keep your energy up and stop altitude sickness though. we saw 4 Inca sites , Salapuncho, Canabamba which was an Inca watchtower, Piscay (resting place) and Pachtayachta which means ´up town´ apparently! Really amazing sights, the temples and inca ruins were spectacular and really interesting to learn about! got to the campsite early afternoon and i was knackered! we went for a night walk and looked for tarantula spiders in the rock walls surrounding the campsite! saw some huge spiders pretty scary!!
Day 2 is notoriously the hardest day of the Inca trail. got up really early about 5am! set of trekking mostly uphill, it was really really hard. My legs were already aching! we had to make it up to Dead Womans Pass which is 4215m above sea level. Ridiculously high up!! Pure uphill climbing these massive stone Inca steps! I managed to power through with the help of some Metallica blasting in my ears, and was the first to the pass out of the 4 of us! The last 20 steps were just painful. Such a relief to make it to the top, everyone cheering eachother on. The view was stunning - could see the whole valley down below us. Then after a break and some pictures, it was downhill for a couple of hours to the next campsite. The food they gave us was amazing, I have no idea how they managed to cook it! The porters were also amazing! Each carrying over 25kg backpacks and running up the trail ahead of us to set up camp. No idea how they do it!
Day 3 was a really long day, getting up at 6am and walking through until 4pm. Saw some more incan ruins along the way, aswell as various inca temples. Too much to explain on this blog! hopefully when i manage to post some pictures home on the memory stick it will give you all a better idea of this trip! Day 3 was really tiring especially since we had to do 2 more passes this day. Managed to get through it though!
Day 4 was Machu Picchu day!!! had to get up at 4am! such an early start, we walked to the first checkpoint, then it was a gruelling 1 hour walk around the mountain and up to the famous Sun Gate. It was pretty hard going getting up to the Sun Gate, but when you finally make it over to the top and look down on Machu Picchu, it is breathtaking. Nothing can describe that feeling!! The city is covered in mist and cloud, then it slowly evaporates and then incan city appears through the clouds. So mystical. we hiked down to Machu Picchu and got special stamps in our passport. Then got a full guided tour of the city, explained all the temples and the sacred sites. The place is huge as you can see in the picture. We were really lucky and were allowed to do the extra hike up to Waynapicchu which is a temple that sits upon the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu. Gruelling 45min hike up that mountain and managed to get to the top. AMAZING VIEW. impossible to describe it you get a full 360 degrees view of the mountains around you and of Macchu Picchu. got some amazing pics cant wait for everyone to see them. went back down and looked around more, then got the train back to KM82 and bus back to Cusco. Totally knackered now so slept for hours.
anyway i better go, so hope all is well back home. Heard about the volcanic eruption in Iceland so hope nobody is stranded anywhere
Adios amigos
Paul
- comments
Mum It was great to hear from you tonight. Can't wait to see the pictures. Hope you enjoy the sandboarding. Keep the blogs coming .XXX
The Godfather Hi Paul, Everything sounds amazing, albeit gruelling! Don't any of you worry about us back home under a cloud of volcanic ash. No matter how often I wash my hair, it steadfastly refuses to lose it's grey pallor. It can only be the result of this Icelandic export and nothing to do with 'Advancing Years'. Looking forward to the pictures! Kevin & Jacki.