Hello again everyone!
So we can now proudly say that we´ve seen Machu Picchu!
We arrived into Cuzco last Saturday (12th March) and managed to find our hostel easily enough (it was up the hill). From there we quickly booked our trek to Machu Picchu. We would be leaving between 4.30am and 5am on Monday to go on the Salkantay Trail 5day/4night trek. Yay! And it didn´t break our bank accounts, though there isn´t much money left in either of ours right about now.
Now, if you ever find your self with some time in Cuzco on a Saturday, we would suggest going to the free Chocolate Musuem (between Plaza de Armas and Plaza San Fransisco). It was amazing! We even had hot chocolate instead of ice cream!
We had all of Sunday morning before my dad was due to arrive and decided that we should be cultural and go to see a small convent with art musuem. We didn´t make it farther than Plaza de Armas, as Carnival was on and there was a massive parade with dancing, traditional dress and floats. Peru treats Carnival like Ecuador does, only for one day instead of the whole month. This just means that it was a war zone of water balloons, squirt guns and foam as we tried to take cover at every opportunity! Sadly, we didn´t always succeed and were attacked at least 4 times - one of whom was a man, dressed as a women, in the parade! It was pretty hilarious and he sprayed us with foam and then said, "only in Peru!" as he handed us each a condom with a sweetie on it! All we could do was laugh!
Dad arrived and we had an action plan of things to do before leaving the next day. This included buying snacks, water, a hat for Dad and Anna and buying a towel. Tasks done and we were ready for the morning! (For all those Brits out there, we did eat lunch in a pub which served Greene King IPA.)
So, our adventure began with a 2 1/2 hour bus ride up a twisty road to the village of Mollepata (2900m). Our group "The English Speakers" consisted of 2 Germans, 2 Danes, 2 LondAners, a South Korean girl, us and Walter (our guide). A nice morning walk to our lunch spot and Dad was feeling a bit more out of breath than usual. This could have been the altitude or maybe it was just Walter´s "short-cuts" that were getting to him. These "short-cuts" consisted of going up as steep of an incline as possble for a minimum of 5 to 10 minutes.
After a nice lunch of soup followed by rice and meat, we set off again. Dad really wasn´t feeling well now and was showing the signs of Altitude Sickness, Anna and I both were fine. Our "camping" was in tents, but under a tarped house. It was nice to get some hot tea and popcorn before dinner! We would like to note that this was our first night apart in 67 days and even though our tents were next to each other it was very distressing! (What´s it going to be like when we go back to Rutland and Scotland!!)
Day 2 consisted of going from our campsite at Soraypampa (3900m) to our highest point (4650m) and then down about 2 hours for lunch. I would love to say that the view was amazing, but as it was snowing, there wasn´t much of a view. We´re thinking of stealing Ben´s photos and claiming them as ours! While Anna and I were happy hiking up, Dad went with the wise decision of taking a horse up to the top, along with about 10 other people.
Another filling lunch, well, except if you were Anna, who pilfered leftovers from other plates (she was convinced she wasn´t given lunch in the first place and that her plate just randomly became empty). Dad again took the opportunity to go by horseback as we were still quite high and dizziness is not a good thing when walking downhill! Our campsite was at Chaullay (2900m) and we were greeted by some mud and funny looking chickens!
Day 3 everyone was feeling A LOT better (the altitude had taken it´s toll on 5 of our group of 10, one member of which had been suffering from hallucinations of dead cats and dogs - not dad!). We walked through the jungle to lunch, passing many avocado (palta) and passionfruit trees. From here we were taken by "bus" (van with broken seats) to our campsite in Santa Teresa (1900m if you´re interested). There were "hot" showers for all of 5 soles (just over 1 pound) and Anna was definitely in need of one ... you try sharing a tent with her!
Day 4 we walked to Aguas Calientes, this is the town nearest to Machu Picchu. There is an option of taking a bus in the morning and whilst we were walking along the trail 2 very full mini buses loaded with the "Spanish Speaking Group" flew by ... WHIMPS!! :) After Anna had eaten her ice cream, the afternoon was spent walking with our BIG rucksacks along the railway line ... this is where we saw our first glimpse of Machu Picchu! In the four days we walked a total of 83km (52 miles) from Mollepata to Aguas Calientes. Now it was just the 400m vertical ascent in the morning!
At 4am is was pissing it down with rain, which didn´t let up until 6am, just as the gates opened at the top! It was really more like walking up a river than stairs, but hey, at least this was the first time our boots had really gotten wet! (the mud had made them waterproof) Let´s just say it´s a good thing we´d both brought extra layers with us! Walter took us on an hour an a half tour, in which time the sun began to rise and the clouds began to lift, revealing the city. It was a spectacular view! Everyone thought it was definitely worth it, even if the Londoners claimed they hadn´t walked this far in the past 3 years (and won´t again in the next 4!)
Dad and I walked to the Sun Gate as Anna explored the central area. Now the Sun Gate was nice, but for some reason I was more impressed with the view and forgot to take a picture of the gate itself. We left around 2pm and were sitting happily in a restuarant eating lunch around 3.30, just as the rain started again. We spotted 2 very wet Londoners through the window - respect must be given to Av, as she walked for about 4 days in broken healed shoes!
Now, we all know that Anna and Steph´s journeys are never uneventful, and unfortunatly this one lived up to that expectation. Our train was supposed to leave at 7.30pm (arriving back to Cous Cous at 11pm), however "The Company" booked us on the 10 o´clock train, which turned out to be leaving at 10.30pm. This was okay and the train did leave relatively on time. About an hour into our trip, the train screeched to a halt, and stayed that way for a good 2 hours. They eventually got around to telling us that a tree had fallen onto the tracks and there were people trying to remove it. This did finally happen. It took another 45 minutes to get to the train station where we were taken by bus to Cous Cous, arriving at a pleasant 4.50am (hey, seems like we were up for 24 hours!) You know our luck with 5am and buses!! Anna was in bed by 5am and I was about 2 minutes after her. We have no idea what Frank was up to, but he didn´t make it into bed for at least another 15 minutes! It was the most expensive 3 hour kip we´ve ever had! (Check out was at 10.30am and we still had to re-pack).
We said goodbye to Dad this morning, after which we went for 2nd breakfast (the first one did not fill the hole). Other than that we´ve done bugger all today, other than revisiting the chocolate musuem, what can we say, it was good!
We´re now waiting for our 10.30pm overnight bus to Bolivia, let´s just hope it doesn´t get in at 5am!
¡Bueños Noches!
Anna and Steph
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