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Inca Trail!!
Day 1
We started with bus at 5am from Cusco, got some sleep in the bus on the way to the start of the trail. A group of 13 tourists, 2 guides and 19 porters carrying all our camping equipment. We got served breakfast before starting trekking at 9. It was a nice day with sun and blue skies, we had lots of breaks and stops to see Inca ruins and special plants along the trail. The porters ran ahead of us and sat up a campground with delicious food for lunch. At 5pm we arrived at the campsite at around where we spent the night, I went to take a bath in the fresh water streams while øystein got hot water in a bowl from the porters. We finished dinner at about 8pm, but everyone was pretty tired, so we found our tents and went to sleep!
Day 2
The porters woke us up at 6, and served us coca tea in the tent. Then it was time to organize our stuff before breakfast, it was the best breakfast I have had in weeks! Pancakes and porridge with banana (after travelling for some time now, I am just sick if white bread and jam!) Today it was time for the hardest hike, from 3300m to 4200m. It was quite okay in the beginning since we were used to the altitude in Cusco, but the last 200-300m were exhausting and it was a victory to arrived at the "Dead Woman's Pass", the highest point on the Inca trail. It took us 2,5 hours up, we had a long break up there waiting for the rest of the group. Then we walked down on the other side of the mountains, had a nice lunch and some rest. The last walk of the day took another 3 hours, 2 uphill and 1 down, with some stops to see Inca ruins along the way. Since we walked up and down in altitude, we walked through different climates, and the type of forest and plants changed with it. The camp where we ended our 2. day were in the highland jungle, amazing surroundings! When we got there at 5.30 pm, tired and sweaty, we got two big bowls of hot water to wash our self by the tent, and after that popcorn and coffee/hot chocolate also in the tent, that's what I call luxury camping:-) After dinner we got Lemon Tea with rum which was just perfect in the very cold night! Before going to sleep, we put on several layers of clothes, even gloves and alpaca beanies! Because last night our tiny sleeping bags were not enough to keep us warm and asleep.
Day 3
This day we got to sleep until 7!
After wake up tea and a good breakfast, we were back on the trail walking! But this day was not as strenuous, it was up and downs and fairly flat walking. Now the real Inca Trail started, made of a narrow path of stones in the highland jungle. The Incas were small people so the stone stairs were perfect for my steps:-) Today we just really enjoyed the walk and the surroundings! This part was exactly what i had expected Inca trail to be. We ended the day at 2pm at the campsite, where we had lunch and a hot shower! Its not necessary to tell that it was just lovely!! It was nice to arrive early and get some hours resting as well. At dinner this night, we had beers instead of tea and we all were relived that we had survived the worst part:-) But we still had to go to sleep fairly early since we had to get up at 3.50 the next day.
Day 4
Got up at 4, started walking at 5 to reach the "Sun Gate" before it got too crowded. The Sun Gate is a part of the trail where you can have a good panoramic view of Machu Picchu. But we where not to lucky that morning.. Machu Picchu was buried in clouds and there were not much to see at the Sun Gate. So we just walked down the last 2km of the Inca Trail to arrive at one the worlds 7 wonders, Machu Picchu. At first we did not see much, but after half an hour we could finally see with our own eyes what we had seen so many times on the typical postcard photos :-)
We had 2 hours of guiding and after a couple of hours when we took some photos and wandered around in the nice atmosphere of the amazing place. I must admit though, that after 4 days of trekking, we really had to pull out our last effort to climb the stairs to get the best views!
Later on, we took a bus down to a city called "Aguas Calientes" ("Hot Springs") to stay in i hostel for the night. I guess you can imagine how wonderful it was to take a nice warm shower, relax, eat dinner out and sleep in a BED =)
Today, were back in Cusco. Oystein will go back to Hungary tomorrow, and I will stay one day in Lima before heading to Cuba on Thursday:-)
- comments
Anine Så bra at det nytt fra dere! Nå har jeg ventet spent på rapport og bilder! Gleder meg til å lese!
Christoffer Flott tur, og bra blogg! Kult det der Sunniva! Håper dere har kost dere!
Nina Sunniva din blogg är helt underbar! jag älskar att läsa den och blir verkligen avundsjuk varje gång du postar ett inlägg! Ha det så underbart! Saknar dig!