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Cusco is naturally a very lively city packed with tourists, but to be honest it's not typically overcrowded like most of the South American major cities we've been to. It has seemingly survived the Spanish architectural overhaul of the country during the colonial era and maintains a lot of indigenous historical and cultural charm. A host of buildings sport traditional Incan designs, such as the solid and incredibly intricate megalith walls of granite blocks that are fitted so perfectly together that no mortar is needed and you can't even fit a piece of paper in-between, still somewhat of an architectural mystery to this day. Typically there is a town square and the Plaza de Armas is up there with the nicer ones, with some beautiful gardens and a fountain overlooked by an impressive church. Of course there's a market and various other points of interest that a tourist should really see but unfortunately there were protests going on the day we got there so everything was closed, and the following day we were too hung over to do much haha. Yes indeed a tour group piss up was an inevitability at some point and Cusco was the prime location. There were countless cocktails thrown back at a canter, dancing on top of bars and typically mischievous gossip, pretty much what you would expect, it was a fun night. So luckily we had a free day to recover and be unproductive before the tour continued with some archaeological sites nearby, leading up to the big one, the Inca Trail.
Now to be brutally honest I honestly can't remember that well what these places were and I've lost the itinerary to help remind me. I'm pretty sure we went to a few places in the Sacred Valley (an Incan hotspot) to visit some more Inca ruins, including a small village there called Pisac which had a traditional indian market and another place called Sacayhauman (pronounced 'sexy woman', probably the only reason why I remember it), an original Incan fortification complex of some more impressive megalith walls. My memory really eludes me of those couple of days, not that they weren't interesting I'm sure, but maybe I've just fried too many brain cells at this point. Anyway after all that we wound up in the small village of .... f*** I can't remember, for the final night before the Inca Trail began. Now we had already taken what we needed from our main luggage and put it in these small duffel bags for the porters to carry (with most people struggling to adhere to the weight limit, those poor porters!). Also, some people rented walking sticks, but Ben and I didn't bother being so hard n all, but we did buy these wooden sticks from the local market that were way cooler for a fraction of the price that had traditional Inca carvings on them representing the elements of the Andean Cross (like the crucifix for the Incas, just not as gash). So the night before the start of the trek we went out for a meal and had a few beers (god knows why) and said our goodbyes to some of the group. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, 3 of the girls were actually doing a different trek that still ended up at Machu Picchu but by a different way that wasn't an actual Incan route. I think it's because they booked late but needless to say they weren't happy when they found out a few days before. Anyway so with an early start the next morning (only to get mind-numbingly earlier as the trail went on) the rest of us hopped on the bus bright-eyed and enthusiastic for the hike ahead (soon to change) as we made the quick journey to the entrance gate to get our tickets and our passports stamped with cool pictures.
Now my description of the Inca Trail over those next 4 days will probably be incredibly vague because surprise surprise I can't remember the exact details seeing as it was so long ago (I'm currently in New York with 3 days of the trip left, that's how far behind I am on this thing!). So I can't remember the exact names of each checkpoint and campsite and archaeological site that we stopped at on the way and I could bust a gut trying to find out on the net but it would take me ages and I'm sure you're not that interested anyway. So I'll do as best I can from memory. The trail takes you deep into the mountains as you follow either completely original or semi-restored Inca paths that are occasionally interrupted with ruins of various Incan villages and messenger checkpoints that the guide would prattle on about for a while. Although his descriptions never lacked enthusiasm and he made every effort to get us involved, I struggled to maintain constant attention, he did like to go on a bit. But it's understandable as he was very determined to do a good job in making the trek a success for us and making sure we understood everything. For whatever reason of a big fat tip at the end or to keep his job with GAP's inevitable cutbacks with the economic downturn, you couldn't really complain. So we trawled up, down and around the vast landscape, taking in the surroundings with awe and appreciation of the Incan empire. The scenery at every turn was simply breathtaking, with tall imposing mountains surrounding lush green valleys, with the occasional stream or lake to contend for your gleaming attention as well as taller snow-capped mountains in the distance to just about engulf your entire periphery with something spectacular. I couldn't help but stop every 5 minutes to take a photo, and usually that came as a welcome rest during the tough bits. Si and Bri tended to plough ahead at hundred miles an hour, followed by Georgie, Lara, Ben and I cruising along at a half-decent pace with the Irish couple not too far behind. And poor Ella trudged along at the back with some difficulty but fair play to her for doing it at her age. Anyway we helped pass the time by listening to music and nattering away about whatever and playing the name game with various themes (usually we had to help the girls out hehe, so it was non-competitive). The first evening we were introduced to the porters in a rather awkward ceremony of describing of ourselves in garbled Spanish and then listening to them introduce themselves with their name, age and number of children they had. It was all pretty weird and everyone involved was a tad embarrassed I think (not me of course, banging out the Spanish well fine-tuned by that point), I mean I'm not sure if it was all necessary but at least it meant we could recognize them from that point on, seeing as there were tons of porters from loads of different companies cruising through the trail at any one point. In terms of the campsites, you usually had to compete for every inch with these other companies so the porters would always blitz through the trail that they had done every week for years with the typical guile and fitness you come to expect from mountain porters. As I expected from my experiences on the Kilimanjaro trek back in 2006, we were fed decent food (including popcorn!) on an actual table with chairs in a big tent that was set up for us by the time we reached each campsite. Breakfast. lunch and dinner were always tasty and had everything needed to keep us strong during the trek. I also didn't need to worry about portion size as some varying preferences among the group meant there was always extra to throw my way. So we all socialized and chatted over dinner before having to get an early night's sleep due to the ungodly start times the next day of about 5.00. The tents were 2 man tents so Ben and I shared, and usually before we went to sleep each night we would pile into Georgie and Lara's tent to play some cards. Of course that would warm their tent up nicely for the cold night ahead, before we would clamber back into our freezer afterwards. What gentlemen we are anyway. Naturally as the days wore on we got dirtier and smellier from the lack of showers and the tough hikes. We relied on the classic wet-wipe showers as not to become utterly repugnant, but anyway there's an unwritten rule when doing this kind of stuff whereby no-one cares or judges.
The first day of the trail actually wasn't too taxing, about 6 hours of walking that was up and down to a relatively equal degree. However the second day, arguably the toughest, was a b******, almost constantly uphill up Incan steps built into the mountain that lead up to Dead Woman's Pass (named for the arrangement of the terrain in between 2 mountains mimicking a woman lying down) and the highest point of the trail at 4200m. Almost everyone struggled and the unyielding burning in the quads was a real motherf***er. To be honest though, I can't say it was difficult because you just get your head down and do it and I don't think it would have been half as bad had I been in any kind of shape. So we grinded our way up to the pass in seemingly extensively long hours and were rewarded with some more awesome views from the top, augmented by the good weather we were lucky enough to get during the entirety of the trek. After that we received some welcome respite with a downhill stretch that dropped us quickly before another grueling incline to the campsite. This was interrupted with some more ruins to give us the odd break so it wasn't too bad. The third day was also tough, with a long upward hike up more steps towards a pass that I don't remember the name of but do remember the stunning views afforded from there of the mountains preceding Machu Picchu, with the impressive ruins of a terraced Incan agricultural settlement carved into them. After that the trail took us to the most foresty (not a word I know) part of the trek, deep into the jungle thick with thriving vegetation and the protruding arms of various tropical plants almost engulfing the path. We also passed through a couple of Incan tunnels that were these small caves bore into the mountain to enable passage where a path wasn't possible. It was definitely the most eclectic day in terms of the surroundings and provided some of the best views of the trail behind us with the mountainous landscape at its rear. Sometimes it's weird glancing back and realising you've just walked through all that, it gives you a greater sense of accomplishment that tends to get lost on you when you're busting a hump at the time. At the third and final campsite, we were to present the porters and cooks with their tips after dinner, as we would part ways with them after that point. Of course I was elected to make the speech with my Spanish, and so I reeled off some error-strewn garble about how appreciative we were and how much we admired them, before handing them the envelopes of cash. Again it all seemed a bit awkward but that's how these things go. I forgot to mention that the cooks somehow managed to rustle up a monster of a cake for the Irish couple in congratulations of their recent marriage. I don't know how they made it but it was delicious and everyone, including the porters, tucked in with much enthusiasm. What legends. After the evening's mild festivities however it was off to bed very early with no time for cards as we had to get up at 4.00 the next day as not to get stuck at the wrong end of the hoards i.e. the millions of companies that would heave towards Machu Picchu the next day.
We turned out to be about the 5th or 6th group which wasn't bad and didn't have to wait too long in the monstrous queue, spiraling back round the mountain, for the gates to the trail to Machu Picchu. After we got through, it was an irritating single-file crawl amongst a ton of people towards the goal. I summoned up some energy from god knows where and barged my way though till I was ahead of the main swarm and out on my own in between them and the speedsters at the front (of course Bri was up there somewhere). The first checkpoint after about 2 hours was up some steep steps that lead to some ruins at a plateau overlooking Machu Picchu. It was a great view of the place with the awesome Huayne Picchu mountain towering above it. The prize was close and you could almost feel the accumulated excitement festering collectively in the mass of onlookers constantly piling to the checkpoint to the point where finding space for photos became a pain in the ass. So we fired some off before the place got too packed and headed swiftly down towards the world famous Inca site. On the way, we joined back up with the Manuel and rest of the group who had taken the other trek. They said it had been fantastic and I'm glad they enjoyed it after the fuss of first finding out, but hey the Inca Trail is the Inca Trail and anything else just isn't that. Anyway we finally reached our destination and it was just as impressive as I was expecting it to be. Luckily Machu Picchu was never discovered by the Spaniards (understandable, I mean who would think to look so far into the mountains?) and so it wasn't destroyed like most of the other Incan sites discovered. Over time it was largely engulfed by the surrounding jungle before it's discovery and worldwide publicity at the start of the 20th century when the site was cleared, revealing the true masterpiece of architecture epitomizing the great Incas. It has the terraced fields and intricate megalith walls and many amazing temples and shrines playing host to the Incan way of life. This time our guide wasn't so boring as I lapped all the information he spilled out and gazed upon this magnificent place with a profound exuberance. It was definitely one of those places that has a captivating aura about it that sticks with you for the rest of you life, and I'd struggle to think of better things I've seen. Everywhere you looked there was an awesome image and the grand mountainous backdrop that was fully exposed in it's awesome entirety on such a clear day added to the majesty of the place. Yup in case you hadn't guessed, it was an awesome spectacle, and all the hiking and sweating and aches and pains became instantly more than worth it. So after cruising around Machu Picchu with the guide and then finally parting ways with him and his big fat tip, we chilled out all together on the grass and continued to take it all in before the inevitable mad scurry around to find the best photos from the best angles. When it was finally time to go, we took one final neck-wrenching look at the place before sadly jumping on a bus down a windy road to the nearby village where lazy rich people arrive by train to see Machu Picchu. After a quick lunch and some souvenir shopping we were on the train back to Cusco for some rest and relaxation and of course another night out in celebration of our achievements.
The next day Manuel had arranged salsa lessons for us, which a week ago had seemed like a good idea, but with the dull aches of the trek still lurking and the monster hang over I had from the night out, it was the last thing I wanted to do. Especially seeing as I barfed up my breakfast about 2 minutes before we were supposed to start. So I labored through the motions taught to us by a suspiciously flamboyant Peruvian bloke as I stepped and spun in all directions with my varying partners like a zombie on ketamine. There was an English woman there who lived in Cusco for some reason who came along to help us, and unnecessarily she pretty much told me I was a useless t*** and would never master salsa. 'Give me a sober good night's sleep and some red bull and then we'll see what you have to say you harsh b****', I thought. Anyway after the painful afternoon we had a quieter night before our flight to Peru the next day and the sad end of our GAP tour. It had been one of the best highlights of the trip so far and one I'll never soon forget. An action packed 15 days of memorable experiences, from little Laura on the TiticacaIsland home stay to the magnificent heights of Machu Picchu. I would highly recommend this GAP tour anyone of any age.
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