Inka trail.....part 1 (seems theres too many photos to fit it into one blog, so theres 3!)

Sooooooo....turns out Bolivian hostels rarely have computers meaning we have to venture out to find internet, and those internet cafes decide to disable the USB ports on their computers, hence the reason for lack of blogging, but here we finally are about to re-emter Rio with all of 13 days left in South America.....boo hoo. But anyway.............

Getting up nice and early we jumped on the bus and arrived at the starting point of our trek, kilometre 82, doing final preparations and posing for a few photos. The porters had all of everyone`s things laid out on the floor and were sharing the weight all out between them. In our group of 16 there were only two fools who opted to carry everything themselves, me of course being one of those fools! Jen and her mates all took the option of the porter so were travelling relatively lightly with just a small day pack, whereas I had my big 65 litre pack. Oh well, at least it wasn`t the 20-25 kg the porters were carrying each!

And here was the group shot where we all posed at the start of the offical Inka trail, for some reason there are only 15 here though, not sure who was missing seeing as we did this 3rd June.....stupid Bolivian computers!

Crossing the bridge to the immediate uphill, it was nice to take in our first beautiful view, the Sacred River which runs through the Sacred Valley (seems they like sacred stuff).

Getting into our stride it took all of about an hour for Jane`s trekking boots to not just fall apart a little, but the whole sole of each boot came clean off. Luckily Jane had cunningly brought along some duct tape with her so did some mountain side DIY as you do.

After a few more hours of walking we came across a few settlements of indigenous people where we could go to the toilet.....which were only squat holes which doesn`t seem that bad, but after a few hours of walking, your legs still aren`t in trekking mode yet and squatting after a few hours trekking is harder than it sounds!

However, we would soon get into our stride and with Jane`s boots slowing us down a little, I decided to press on at my own speed. The norm on a trek like this is for the porters to all set off first and power on, as they need to arrive at the campsite and set up the tents and prepare the food etc so of course they had set off way before us. But with me parting from the group at Jack pace, I caught them up and found them resting on a mud bank and casually overtook them to the shock on their faces. I pressed it a little harder and got the agreed rest point a good 15 minutes before the porters and 30 minutes before everyone else so found great amusement in taking this photo as I chilled out by myself and took some water onboard.

With the rest of the group catchng up and taking a break, we set off again this time with me behaving myself and staying with the group. Not too long later we arrived at our highest point of the day to soak in the views of the ruins of the Inca hillfort of Huillca Raccay. However at the time we did not know this so we just thought it was a resting point but took the opportunity for a group photo.

With the rest of the group all looking excited towards the edge of the cliff, we casuaully strolled over to find these ruins which were a pretty dam impressive sight.

After our guide sat us down and told us some info about the ruins, we picked ourselves back up and set off down the valley and reached our first camping sight which was a village named Wayllabamba which is at 3,000 metres. The name in Quechua means 'grassy plain (if you were interested. Upon getting there we were happy to see all the tents pitched and were informed dinner would be shortly. The best news of all though was that there was a dude selling beers there so of course we jumped on that bandwagon.

With another early start the next morning we took it easy and played some cards in Jane and Lindsays tent. With Jane`s boots deteriorating even worse, I attacked them with some good old electrical tape I had and then went back to my tent and grabbed some sleep. half way through the night Jen went to the toilet (which this time was an actual toilet and not a drop one!) and on her way back attempted to get into Jane and Lindsay`s tent by accident. She even unzipped the tent and had her head half way in before realising it wasn`t our tent. Silly Jenna.

After actually sleeping in our actual tent, we all woke up to our guide bringing us hot drinks at 6am, and strangely getting a good nights sleep (apart from the mule making weird sounds which woke everyone up) we posed for a picture with our tent.

With day 1 complete and feeling pretty good about ourselves after 12k up and downhill, we grabbed our breakfast at the food tent and chilled out as the porters did all the hard work and packed up our tents. Looking out onto the fields near where we had camped it was apparent that good old Coca Cola gets everywhere!

Today we would be taking on 11k but the trek would be somewhat more challenging. The first part was a three hour uphill climb. Knowing this, we tried to kill some time by taking some stupid photos. The three girls had all bought walking poles before the tour (well almost the whole group did but me cos I hate walking poles), however these walking poles could accurately be described as brush handles without the brush. Anyway, I took the opportunity to copy Jason Siegel who copied Lord of the Rings and went for the "you shall not pass" moment.

The first 3 hours took us through some pretty spectacular forested areas, with the trees looking like they might come to life at night.

Arriving at the first resting point after three hours (Llulluchapampa, 3,680m we chilled out for a bit and then set off again on another hour and a half climb, uphill of course. however scenes like this llama munching right next to us on the trail took our mind off things.

With Jane`s boots providing many comical moments for the rest of us, we stopped for a feet photo of team LJ (you do many things whilst trekking to pass the time, and one thing was naming ourselves team LJ, the start of our names).

With the rain kicking in a bit, people were putting on their ponchos, and we passed this girl with her space suit on which reminded me of Jane`s shoes so unsympathetically I obviously took a photo to wind Jane up a bit!

Looking down the valley, we could see a group of llamas which was a pretty cool sight.

The valley behind us was pretty cool too and this picture gives you a sense of how steep the climb was.

Finally reaching the top (Abra de Huarmihuañusca or 'Dead Woman's Pass at 4,215 metres) we posed for a team photo

But this wasn`t fun enough for us.....so went for another team photo which at first glimse looks like the three of us pissing about and Jane randomly standing in the middle of us, but we are actually attempting to spell out the height at which we are at. Seems Jane captured her number perfectly!

After catching our breath for 10 minutes and getting increasingly colder, we set back off downhill, not being able to see more than 10 feet infront of us!

Setting off slowly with poor visability and with Jane`s ever worsening shoe situation, I opted to leave the girls once more in the knowledge that the rest of the days trek was all downhill, and proceeded to run the rest of the way for 40 minutes meeting the group at the campsite who had got there 10 minutes before but set off from the highpoint 30 minutes before us. This campsite was named Pacamayo and was at 3,600m.

With the girls catching up 20 minutes later we grabbed dinner and played some more cards and got another early night seeing as day 3 was by far the hardest of the whole trek.

Inka trail part 2

Up again pretty early we were finally introduced to our porters by our guide (who had been promising a formal introduction for the last two days!) After each porter introduced themselves with the guide translating, the guide obvioulsy thought it would funny to make us all introduce ourselves to the guides in Spanish (or maybe it was just so the guides could understand). With a few people before me it was my turn and with a bit of Spanish now under my belt it was pretty easy for me to introduce myself. Jen was half decent too but I reckon she just stole my lines! But a few people later it was poor old Jane and Lindsays go and with no Spanish whatsoever they successful copied everyone else with "mi nombre es" but then made up the rest in English. After the struggling we all posed for a big team photo....I didn`t realise at the time but looking back at the photo everyone looks quite chirpy apart from me on the end looking bored out my head!

Fun over, it was time for our third day of trekking which would be 16k, quite a lot of which was uphill but we weren`t thinking about this as on this day we would get to visit three Inka ruin sites on the way. Straight away though, we were subjected to an hours uphill climb which led us to see why Machu Pichu was located in something called "a cloud forest". The surrounding mountains were covered by clouds throughout this whole hour.

 With the cloud clearing a bit and the light picking up we took a few more snaps....

 

 

...and all enjoyed a  little rest together with an American guy doing his best attempt at being a tough guy with his puffed out chest, hands on hips and shades on.

That rock you could see behind the girls in the picture above sure did make an excellent resting rock!

A short while later we arrived at our first ruins of the day, Runkuracay. These small circular ruins occupy a commanding position overlooking the Pacamayo valley below. There were some ruins on the other side but we didn`t know what they were.

Excited at our first set of ruins we took some time to enjoy some silly photos and look around.

Jen and I are standing on original Inkan step thingies which they used to get between levels of their structures.

And this is the view of the other side of the ruins, where you could see the whole valley below....well you could have if it wasn`t covered in cloud!

Setting off again we got a while further and then stopped for lunch.....where I found out that Jen hates celery (didn`t know that one) but also, Jane and Lindsay hate it too. Eating our vegetable soup, it was hilarious to see the same sight with all three girls....celery picked out and propped on the side of their bowls!

And our chef had made us a cake which was awesome....who expects to be eating cake half way through a 4 day trek!

Off we set again going through an original Inkan tunnel which they had to carve out the rock as the path would otherwise come to a dead end! These guys must have had some patience and persiverance as they only had primative tools, usually a little pick and hammer made from a stone and piece of wood. I would have got bored after about 10 minutes!

This part of the trek was particularily cool as we were walking on original Inkan rocks on the trail, with the trail on the first two days having to be restored so you´re walking on newer rocks. 

About 45 minutes later we arrived at the highest point of the day, Abra de Runkuracay (4,000m). I was shocked to see that there were actual portaloos up here so had to take a picture!

I was even more shocked to see the locals playing football! Footy really does get everywhere....that`t the last thing I expected to see half way through the Inka trail!

But being at the top, it was of course team photo time. Again one person missing, there were 16 of us, honest!

After a little break we were off again down a steep path for an hour. The path then went uphill for a bit again and for some unbeknown reason, I decided to push myself and ran uphill for 15 minutes. That was probably the biggest error of the whole trek, as I sat there at the little ruins for 5 minutes absolutely knackered, struggling to catch my breath! These little ruins were called "Sayacmarca" which means 'Inaccessible Town` and describes the position of the ruins perfectly, protected on three sides by sheer cliffs. No one knows the exact purpose of these ruins. It didn`t even get a photo!

Off we set again back up hill to 3,700m where we could get a view of the most impressive ruins so far Phuyupatamarca which means "town in the clouds". Access to the ruins is down a steep flight of stairs passing six 'Inca Baths' probably used for the ritual worship of water.

With the rain starting to kick in a little bit probably as we were in the cloud forest again, we all suited up into rain jackets and I was pretty upset to see that my 12.50 pound "Northface" jacket from the market decided that the zip was made of tin foil and fell apart in my hand. Still a good buy for the price, I`ll be getting that fixed in the UK!

Leaving the site via an impressive Inka staircase leading from the west side of the ruins (the far end from the baths) we descended a thousand or so steps.

Again....the view as we went was amazing, not just taking in the ruins but also the valley itself. Those Inkans had it good eh? Other than needing to trek for 4 days to get to Machu Pichu obvioulsy.

It was time for me to press myself again and this time decided to go for a 75 minute downhill run leaving the others behind. Passing porters again and even getting mistaken for a porter myself as I ran past a group of 3 trekkers who said "get to the side, a porters coming" followed by "O, its just a runner" as I passed.

Anyway, being out ahead by quite some time, I took the time to draw a little something for Jen to see when she caught up! Turns out she did see it and scribbled it out.....no fun!

On my little run there were some amazing Inka winding staircases which I opted not to run down seeing as there was a pretty steep fall if I slipped at any point.

Arriving at the last Inka ruin, I dropped my backpack and climbed the final 100 or so steps up the most impressive terraced ruins and found 2 Brits and 2 Americans up there who took a picture for me. After chatting to them for a while, they left and I was on my own for 45 minutes until the girls caught me up and joined me. For those 45 minutes though, I was on my own and chilled out at the top of a huge Inkan structure and soaked in the views of the sacred valley which is possibly one of the most rewarding moments of my life!

The view was literally incredible as the sun illuminated different parts of the valley as I sat there.

This was the view from the bottom of the ruins of which I was sat on top off, and after that 75 minute run, the last 100 steps uphill were almost impossible!

After being joined by the girls and on our way back down these steps, Jen got her hair impressively caught in some vegetation and instead of going to help, it was picture time!

Another 40 minutes later we arrived at our final campsite on the trek where we had our final dinner and did a presentation for our porters and guides giving them a tip from the group, which was a nice sign off for our porters as we wouldn`t see them again after the morning.

With the earliest wake on the trip the following morning we hit the beds again early, knackered after a demanding 8 hour trek, with the majority being up hill!

Inka trail part 3, Machu Pichu time!

Waking up super early at 4.30am, we strapped on head torches and went on the shortest trek so far, a whole 5 minutes. No seriously! The reason........the gates for the final trek to Machu Pichu open at 5.30 and everyone wants to get there early to get in line so you can set off first so you can get the best photos with no tourists in it.

With an hour to kill we got a shot of the valley once again swallowed by cloud....

.....and struggled to play cards in the dark with our head lamps.

Finally 5.30 came around and we were on the last leg of the trek which was only 2 hours or so which seemed like a doddle to us after 3 days of trekking! Coming across what were known as the monkey steps, because they were steep and really large steps so people scrambled up them, I did exactly that and scrambled up them on hands and feet as quick as I could.

A short trek later and we had reached Intipunku, the Sun Gate. No idea why it was called that but it was pretty cool. But we weren`t interested in the Sun Gate itself, placed on top of moutain, reaching it was the first time you got a view of Machu Pichu itself, the whole reason why we had come here! So the Sun Gate itself got little attention!

After literally sitting back speechless and just taking in the view, we finally decided to start pissing about again and got a stupid photo of us taken by Lindsay. I mention the photography as it took her ages to line this photo up. After her telling me "left a bit", "A little less" etc etc, I finally informed her that it might be easier for her to move the camera instead! Unfortunately when we first got there the old cloud forest was getting in the way and we had to find the right time to get some snaps in gaps of cloud.

Again it was team photo time as we were at a momentous point, with this time all 16 of us getting in the photo for the first time! Told you there were 16.

With the cloud parting we got a photo of the whole site, which is supposedly shaped like a condor, an animal which they deemed sacred.

After viewing it from afar, it was time to actually go and greet what we had set out to, and with a short walk we came across this site which they think was a sacrificial place.

Another short walk and we were actually starring face to face with Machu Pichu (not that it has a face!). We were finally here.

And with unsurpisingly non tired legs (maybe it was the excitement or adrenaline) we took our final triumphant stroll onto a ledge and got another group shot, unsurprisingly with 1 person missing.

Strangely, when you take on the Inka trail to get to Machu Pichu, you walk straight into the site, and due to tickets etc, you then have to walk out to the ticket entrance and then walk back through again! The ticket entrance isn`t located where we entered as there are far more lazy people who take the train option on the other side where they monitor entrance. So off we went to come back in with the girls marking the end of the trek by throwing away their walking poles which definately warranted a photo!

Being me, I had purchased a beer on day 2 and took it with me to Machu Pichu just so I could claim I had a beer there. Cracking it out and about to take a glorious well earned sip, the douche bag bloke told me I couldn`t drink it, so annoyingly I put it away.......only to find a place around the corner where no officials were and cracked it out! hahahahahahaha.

Jen got in on the action too, as did Lindsay and an Irish bloke in our group who I knew had been killing for a beer so I got him in on the action. I´ve not seen a bloke more grateful in a long time! So there we were, enjoying a cold beer in the grounds of Machu Pichu whilst our guide told us about the history of the place.

After some info from the guide, we were set free to roam about, taking in the sights, which I don`t really have to tell you, were simply amazing.

With the sun coming out to play and the clouds parting, the grass was illuminated as green as could be, making the whole experience that little more special.

And what sight would be complete without a panoramic picuture!

I forgot to mention that when you do the actual original Inka trail, you pass through 4 control points and get a cool stamp at each, which you only get by doing the original trail. So if you see someone with only one in their passport, they took the train up!

Another view of it....just because!

We were shown around for just 20 minutes by the guide before being set free so he could explain a few things. Like this sacred rock which is supposed to look like a guinnea pig. I´ve told you a few times that you have to use your imagination!

Roaming around we explored the different areas and houses etc of the complex. Time for some more silly photos of course.

....and how many people can claim that they have done a roley poley in Machu Pichu? I bloody can. 1-0 Rogers. Well actually 2-0 Rogers after the cheeky beer.

They also had bits of stone hanging out from buildings which we were told were for hanging ornaments, so I decided to be one of those ornaments. 3-0 Rogers.

After looking around the ore inspiring Inkan town, we set back off to catch the bus back down to the neighbouring town of Aguas Calientes of "Hot Water". It couldn`t have been more ironically named when we got there. We found the restuarant where we would meet for lunch and the second we sat down it absolutely pissed it down and was freezing. But we did stop for lunch where we had an awesome pizza and well deserved liter of beer! This photo is from the restuarant and you can just about make out the rain! Wasn`t much fun seeing as my 12.50 pound jacket now had no zip so I had to walk around clutching my jacket together.

Luckily the rain held up for a bit and we went out to the local market and bought some stuff, followed by a walk around the town, the pinnacle of which was a statue of this Inkan dude, but still not quite as impressive as what we had just seen.

All in all, one of the greatest experiences of my life and I would reccommend to anyone. It does however give you a sense of achievement leading to Jen to agree to take on the 3 peaks back in the UK which she now massively regrets!

And finally, fair play to Jane, who did the whole Inka 4 day trek with soles which weren`t attached to her boots other than some flimsy tape, and she only rocked up a few days before to an altitude trek. We had become aclimatised so found it a bit easier but I know the feeling of trekking at altitude without being alcimatised, it ain`t easy! So fair play!