Cusco and the Inca Trail....

I am clean shaven as I write this, i look about 7 so I´m looking forward to my face growing back. Cusco is a great place to be right now, it is nearly Inti Raimi (the festival of the sun) so the Plaza de Armas is full of people dancing and parading its amazing, although trying to walk anywhere is hard.

We got back from the Inca Trail 2 days ago and 2 showers later I still reek. The trek starts just outside Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley at km 82. We were trekking with some Norwegians who had the greatest names possible without being joke names (eg. "Od").

Day 1 was fairly easy its fairly flat for about 5 hours through the valley following the Urubamba river. I picked up my stick (John Malkovich) in Ollantaytambo for 10 Soles, we were to get on very well over the 4 days. The trail itself is fairly unspectacular at this stage, mostly dirt tracks, it was later on that we realised how much of a step fetish the Incas had. After eating it was about another 3 hours to our first campsite in Wayllabamba where we watched sunset over the mountains. We had heard a lot about the dreaded "2nd day" (apparently the hardest) so we went to bed early and scared.

We began the second day about 7am and were told to wait at the second pass to meet up with the others. It began steep and it got steeper. The first part was nice jungley type stuff with waterfalls and bridges, the second part of the ascent was just steps and steps and steps and steps. This said it is incredible how well preserved the trail is, and also how inhospitable some sections are. Dead Woman´s Pass is the highest point on the trek at 4100m so it was a great feeling standing on top looking down both sides of the valley. Its cold up there so after walking up 80,000 steps it felt suspiciously nice. After 20mins of feeding my ego at the top it was time to descend 4 hours or so to our second camp at Phuyupatamarka. This was up in the clouds which was an awesome experience, after dark I took a walk with stef up the hillside to watch the clouds in the moonlight, it was cool it was like being dead.

The 3rd day brought light rain, but this just complimented the jungle scenery very well. It was a long day - 7am to 5pm but when your trekking mountain ranges like these you could go on and on. The best part about this part of the trek is the isolation, these ruins are in the clouds a million miles from anywhere, it is the best feeling in the world. We took in lots of Inca ruins on the 3rd day, my favourite being Inti Pata which is a huge agricultural settlement, we had the place to ourselves, it was perfection. The 3rd Campsite in Wiñay Wayna is odd because they have actually built a small bar, kind of ruins the mood but a beer went down very well. Obviously we went to sleep excited because in the morning it was Machu Picchu.

We were woken up at 4am with a cup of coca tea to begin the 2 hour hike to the sun gate. After being let through the check point by the Nature Police it was literally a race to get to Machu Picchu. Everyone was power hiking through the jungle which was great fun, if not a little dangerous. The first view of Machu Picchu is from the Sun Gate at around 6.15am. Its strange it comes out of nowhere after a short ascent. It was another race to the entrance of Machu Picchu to get a good spot for sunrise. I have seen lots of sunrises (is that the plural of sunrise? sunrii? i dont know ) but they keep getting better. If I see another sunrise that good too soon I will probably fall ill. The picture only tells half the story. After wandering round the ruins me and stef headed for Huayna Picchu (the big mountain behind Machu Picchu in all the pics). They only let a certain amount of people climb it per day for erosion reasons so we were glad to be allowed on. After 4 days trekking the 1 hour trek up to the top was easy, we actually made it in 27 mins and I found out that 22mins is the record so we did well! The path is ridiculous, the only thing steeper than the ascent of Huayna Picchu is a ladder, its so dangerous, but very fun. Perched on the rocks at the top you get a view of Machu Picchu most people never see. I saved some peanut M&Ms from the first day of the trek for this moment. Peanut M&Ms were MADE for that moment, they taste a lot better at 2700m. We had to hop down from Huayna Picchu and hike down to Aguas Calientes to catch our train back to Cusco, its the kind of place you never want to leave but we were so tired/hungry/thirsty/smelly to do much else. Aguas Calientes is a strange town - all restaurants, railway and rats. The train back was beautiful, 2 hours through the mountains next to the raging river. It was great to be back in Cusco though, civilization, and most importantly, a shower.

We met some nice people in our hostel and decided to hit the town with them. We were exhausted after the trek and at 3000m the altitude plays a devastating role in alcohol tolerance! Several Jack Daniels later we ended up dancing on the bar in a club in central Cusco for free drinks. Now I am dignity-less I feel kind of free. I am still recovering from that night though, and kind of hoping that no one recognises us.

I´ll tell you more about Cusco another time if you buy me a beer.

Stef is going tomorrow, good riddance. Nah not really, itl be sad to see him go. I think we are headed for Chile, to the beach. 3 weeks by the beach will go down well I think, I can go into hiding till my beard grows back.

P.