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!

Inca ruins, dressed up fried guinea pigs and lots of chicken. Cusco has lots to offer

With the choice of a 22 hour bus ride along dangerous roads or an hours flight from Lima to Cusco, we took our first flight since arriving in South America which turned out to only be a little plane. With Jen getting seat number 14E I found it highly amusing that the seat didn`t even exist! I happily took my 14D seat whilst Jen nervously placed herself in 14F hoping that no one would come along ranting some Spanish at her. Thankfully, no one else had that seat number so it all worked out fine in the end.

Arriving at the airport in Cusco we flagged down a taxi and our hostel directions told us that taxis shouldnt really be more than 15 soles which is about 4 quid. Jumping in the taxi and asking how much it was, Jen thought she heard him say 20 soles, so I reasked him and he said yes 20 soles. Getting to our hostel, we handed over 20 soles only for him to claim that the ride was 40 soles. I`ve never seen Jen kick up such a fuss in my life, she was having none of it which led to an argument on the street for about 10 minutes, At one point the taxi driver was trying to argue it was more as it was a new car (as most taxis out here are old bangers) to which Jen replied "I don`t care if it`s a new car", she was proper on the defensive and refusing to budge. After literally 10 minutes of going back and forward over the same argument, the taxi driver finally gave up waving his arms frantically and we strolled off to our hostel for a cheeky sleep after checking in.

Waking up we had a little stroll around our local area, which turned out to be quite a struggle, with a massive festival going on. With Peruvians loving a bit of fried Guinnea pig, we thought we might come across it a bit, but we didn`t expect the poor little house pets to be fried up and then dressed up like Paris Hilton`s dog.

I told you it was a big festival....with us capturing this shot from the balcony of a food place which was actually really nice. We got a mixed BBQ type thingy for dead cheap which had sausage, blood sausage, steak, liver, heart, intestine and chips. The heart was actually amazing! And the festival was pretty cool to see too with about 20 people struggling to carry a big float around the central plaza. We had found out in our earlier travels that these religious floats actually weigh about a tonne (you´d think they would put them on wheels or something).

On the way back to the hostel we bumped into our Australian friends Sheldon and Meagan who we had originally met on the Navimag boat through Chile and again in Arequipa. They were with another couple we hadn`t met but they seemed sound, with the bloke rocking a poncho and offering me some Pisco which was randomly in a hollowed out cow leg. Didn`t make the alcohol taste any different though.

Getting back to the hostel Jen was knackered so went bed but I wasn`t ready for that yet so hit the hostel bar and met 3 people. Well if you can call it that, one guy was from London and was really sound but had just left his girlfriend as she went off travelling eslewhere (assuming they met out here) and he was heartbroken. The second person was a girl who was relentlessly trying to chat him up and he was having none of it as he was upset about his mrs obviously. She didn`t even acknowledge my arrival as was too busy chatting this poor chap up. The third person was a Dutch guy who seemed sound at first but turned out he loved himself a little too much and also had a massive rant about how all French and Americans are arrogant idiots. Having met two really nice people out here who I`ve mentioned a few times (Cyrille and Derek), one being French and the other American, I was quick to defend these groups, much to this Dutch guys disgust. Putting up with him for another hour or so, I decided to call it quits and head to bed shaking the sound Londoners hand and walking off, I think the Dutch lad kinda got the message!

The next day we got up in the morning in the knowledge that Jen`s two mates (Jane and Lindsay) from Kent were coming out to meet us today in preparation for the mighty Inca trail. With the day pressing on with still no friends, Jen was getting paranoid as she waited anxiously whilst I was trying to cool her nerves. Two hours later they showed up and we all went out to the best cafe in town, aptly named "Jack`s cafe" and had a bad ass burger after waiting for about 20 mins, but the wait was well worth it. We also bumped into another Navimag friend (Sarah) who we had also met in San Pedro and we agreed to meet up later at a bar for some drinks. So later that night we went out to try and find her but couldn`t find the meeting place, which we later found out didn`t exist, as the guide book was out of date so the four of us went and ate at a restaurant which had a little Peruvian band playing which was pretty cool!

Getting an early night, we woke up the next morning so we could jump on our tour to the Sacred Valley. We stopped off from our bus journey at a little settlement where we could see local women weaving and there were also plenty of people selling local crafts.

There was this little kid running around in traditional clothing with a little puppy which produced a few "arrrrrr" moments from the folk on our tour!

We also stopped off at a place which produces a lot of silver and Jane purchased a few silver goods using my amazing Spanish haggling skills to get the price down a bit (which actually worked saving the equivalent of 15 quid!). One of the bridges wasn`t completed so we had to jump off and walk over this bridge and look around until the bus went round the long way.

After that we all had a buffet lunch and then arrived at our first Sacred Valley stop.....Chincheros, which were some Inca ruins where you could see their agricultural steps and ruins where they used to live and also military quarters.

From a distance you could appreciate the style of architecture, with us only visiting one small bit of the ruins with most of it a 3 hour walk around the side of the mountain.

Being Incan`s they used to worship the Pachamama ("Mother Earth" translated) and buried their dead in the mountains as it was closer to their gods in the skies, all the holes you can see in the picture below are tombs in the mountain next to the ruins.

There was also a cool view of the Sacred Valley, only for it to be blocked for you guys by us two with our fake 2 pound 50 sunnies and my amazing barnet.

After having a look around we jumped back on the bus and set off to the second Inca ruin site, Ollantaytambo (and if you were wondering, no I didn`t remember these crazy names, I googled them just now). This was pretty impressive, with stepped terraces going up for 15 flights, and at the top a sun temple.

Looking back from the top there were ruins on the other mountain too.

This was the top, with a sun temple where the people are standing (I`m sure it would have been more impressive when it stood but now it was just ruins at the top).

And here`s me pissing about inside the ruins, as per normal.

Looking back again at the opposite mountain the Incan`s liked using their imagination and used to worship two bits of rock that they claimed were faces, this being one of them. When pointed out by the guide it took us ages to actually make out what they were on about but it`s zoomed in here so you should be able to make it out. Still just looks like a bit of rock to me.

After a hard walk up those massive steps, it was time to come down and the girls stopped for a pose. Apparently it`s not cool to ask someone else to take the snap as I was dedicated cameraman.

Getting back onto the bus we realised that two girls weren`t here. Waiting for about 10 minutes our bus moved round the corner to the central plaza to see if they were there which they weren`t so our guide ran off looking for them. 30 minutes later she finally returned with them. Turns out they had come down early as we had said to meet at 4pm but our tour overran a bit, then they walked around the plaza and not finding us got a taxi to the local train station looking for us and then came back and were finally found wondering around aimlessly.

Ready to go we set off on a bit of a bus journey for two hours to our final stop. Half way through Jen super needed the toilet but we weren`t stopping much to her dismay. She seemed to gain little comfort by bugging me to ask the guide if we could stop or how long it would be but there was nothing I could do. Finally arriving, Jen ran off the bus and hit the toilet missing the first part of our presentation by some local women on how they prepared alpaca wool ready for use for knitting. She didn`t miss much though and got back for most of it.

They also had guinnea pigs running around inside as most places do out here so I obviously had to catch one.....not that I actually did, the guide caught one for me....they`re quick little buggers!

Being our last stop, we purchased a few woolen goods and jumped back on the bus back to cusco. After missing out on a Thai meal in Lima, I was dead keen to grab one here as there were two places offering the cuisine. We picked one that had a more lively atmosphere and chowed down, ordering wontons and satay alpaca to start to share as well as garlic bread (goes with thai right?!) and then various thai main courses. The food was probably the best we had in the whole of South America apart from the Argentinian steaks.

The following day we had more ruins to go and see, but this time we had to walk to the bad boys. The first port of call was a place called "Sacsayhuaman" which is pretty much pronounced "Sexywoman" which we had fun saying. On the way through Cusco though we stoped to watch some traditional dancing.

...which was a bit weird with some folk having masks on with massive konks, and no one could explain why the random person dressed up as a nurse was there, she wasn`t even local judging by the skin colour!

Anyway, after a beast of an uphill walk, we arrived at the base of Sacsayhuaman, where we were charged double as much as we thought we would as the guidebook was wrong once again claiming we could just pay for here, when you could only get a entry ticket into four places, with this being one of them. Lindsay obviously got a little too close to the rock. I can see why, it`s a pretty sexy rock, guess that`s why its called Sexywoman.

Me and Jen opted for the model pose, would you guys hire us?!

We have no idea what the site acutally was, it kinda just looked like a bunch of stone walls when you took it all in. We had earlier turned down a guided walk which in hindsight might of been a good idea, especially as he was only charging 4 quid.

But we did get a good view of Cusco from the top.

After not really knowing what we were looking at, we walked around the corner to Cristo Blanco which is a little more obvious as to it`s meaning. It`s a statue on a hill (surprise surprise) and this time, an immitation of the mighty Christo Redentor, but nowhere near as big or impressive.

Finally we went on to find another ruins site called quego which was only a 5 minute walk from the statue. However, the directions were non existant (as is usually the case out there) so we wondered around for a while before I had to ask a random chap where it was and then came across the site, which was massively unimpressive, just some rocks but eaves dropping in on an English tourguide, we found out it was a site used for ritual sacrifices. But the most interesting thing about it was these random doll things hanging from the tree! Weird.

Unimpressed we strolled back to sexywoman, stopping for an icecream which was the equivalent of 25p, but I`m not even sure it was worth that with it`s weird bubblegum flavour. I did however manage to pet this little alpaca which Lindsay randomly named Monty. Still not sure why.

Another long day with lots of walking about, we went to grab a drink in the Irish bar (claiming to be the highest Irish bar in the world). In the bar we weirdly bumped into two other Navimag boat friends, Rory and Fi, so we had met the entire group of Navimag friends we made in the space of 3 days which was odd! 

After picking up some supplies for the forthcoming Inca trail we decided it was time for some dinner. This turned out to be a right mission. All of us pretty hungry we ordered half a chicken and chips each which the guy struggled to understand and we only received 2 halves between the group. We tried to explain that we wanted 3 more half chickens and he clearly didn`t understand so he sent over the bloke who was supposed to understand us who failed also. So we just ate our 2 half chickens and tried to explain again what we wanted after we had finished. Struggling to say we wanted another 3 half chickens. The guy finally looked like he knew what we were trying to say and went away only to come back with another 5 half chickens so now we had too much! We all found this hilarious at the time and it has since been refered to as "the chicken incident" and I`m sure it will be for a long time to come but I doubt you lot find it as funny as we did.

Just as we thought it couldn`t get any more amusing, we asked for the bill which came out and only charged us for 3 half chickens instead of the 7 we were given. With us in histerics we put 100 soles down expecting 11 soles change and the douche bag brought us back 21 soles. All in all, a pretty random chicken experience which we all found hilarious. Thinking the cheapness of the night was over, we went to our hostel reception to pay knowing we were up early the next morning and having stayed 3 nights we were again trying to hide our laughter as the woman only charged us for 2 nights. After paying up and getting out of there with a grin on our face we returned to our room only for the same woman to turn up a while later realising her mistake meaning we had to pay for the extra night, which wasn`t actually extra, it`s just what we owed!

Getting to sleep fairly early, many of us had dreams of chicken, well I did anyway. Waking up the next morning at 5am, we awaited for our pick up to tackle the glory that is the Inca trail.....more to follow.