The bus journey through the Andes to Cusco was spectacular, driving over mountain passes and past lakes, flamingoes and herds of alpacas. We spent a couple of lazy days exploring the old city, the artisans markets (we both bought alpaca wool hats) and the Inca Museum. Cusco is situated at 3600m above sea level so provides a good place to acclimatise for trekking in the Andes, but it does mean you have to take it easy for the first few days as a brisk walk can easily get you out of breath.
After a 7hr wait in Lima airport due to a missed connection Fiona's sisters Hannah and Rachel, and Hannah's university friend Gawaine arrived in Cusco on 3rd October. They were joining us for 3 weeks to trek the Inca Trail, which we had booked back in January and then to travel on to Bolivia. It was great to see some familiar faces again. The first order of business was to 'check-in' for the trek; paying the balance and receiving a briefing on what to pack and what to expect. After this we spent more time exploring the city together and visited the Saqsayhuaman Incan ruins (known as Sexy Woman by us gringos). The Incan city of Cusco is supposedly laid out to represent a Puma and the temple at Saqsayhuaman is the head. The temple consists of a huge open field for celebrations and ceremonies and a 3 tiered hill with a tower on top. The most impressive feature is the huge zig-zag wall made of giant stone blocks. Some of these weigh up to 130 tonnes and all fit together perfectly without any kind of mortar. At the temple we also found a natural rock slide and crawled through a tunnel in the rocks.
The huge walls at Saqsayhuaman
The five of us overlooking Cusco
The first day of our trek along the Inca Trail began before 5am (we were used to early starts by this point) for the 2hr drive to the town of Ollantaytambo for breakfast. After filling up on pancakes and omelettes we drove to the end of the road at Km82 where the trail begins. We packed our sleeping bags and mats and any spare clothes we didn't need during the day into a duffel bag to be carried by the porters, took the obligatory photos by the Km82 signpost, showed our passports at the control gate and we were off.
Most of the first day was fairly flat and our guide stopped regularly to explain things to us. After the one tough uphill section of the day we were rewarded by fantastic views down onto an Incan temple below. By the time we reached the lunch stop the porters, carrying much more than we were, had raced ahead and put up a dining tent, laid the table for us and prepared a 3 course lunch. We were expecting sandwiches for lunch so this was a great surprise and the food was really tasty. Then as we finished lunch, they took down the tent packed up and rushed off before we were ready to leave. Arriving at the campsite for the day they had once again put up the dining tent and each of our 2 man dome tents. They worked so hard.
At the start of the Inca Trail
Most of the first day was fairly flat and our guide stopped regularly to explain things to us. After the one tough uphill section of the day we were rewarded by fantastic views down onto an Incan temple below. By the time we reached the lunch stop the porters, carrying much more than we were, had raced ahead and put up a dining tent, laid the table for us and prepared a 3 course lunch. We were expecting sandwiches for lunch so this was a great surprise and the food was really tasty. Then as we finished lunch, they took down the tent packed up and rushed off before we were ready to leave. Arriving at the campsite for the day they had once again put up the dining tent and each of our 2 man dome tents. They worked so hard.
Hannah, Rachel & Fiona together again!
Looking down on Inca terraces
Day 2 was the hardest and consisted of an uphill climb from the start until we reached the top of the ominously named Dead Woman's Pass mid afternoon. This involved gaining over 1000m in altitude to reach the highest point of the whole trek at 4200m above sea level. Having been at altitude for about ten days before the trek we (Ben & Fiona) didn't suffer from any altitude sickness and just got out of breath easily due to the lack of oxygen so we took it slow and steady. Unfortunately Rachel, Hannah and Gawaine had less than 48hrs to acclimatise to the altitude before beginning the hike. This didn't seem to bother Gawaine who raced up the mountain. Rachel in particular suffered from the effects of altitude sickness but was not going to be beaten and we all made it to the top. After a short stop to take victory photos and admire the stunning view, we headed down the other side before we started to get cold. At this point we were all thankful we had decided to hire trekking poles as they definitely made it easier.
Rowe sisters in action!
The view from Dead Woman's Pass
Celebratory photo from the top
We spent the morning of the third day hiking over two more passes, but they were much easier than the one the day before. We had history lessons at more Incan ruins and continued to be amazed by the scenery every step of the way.
The lunch stop on the third day was atop the final pass of the trek and was reached after hiking through the clouds, which was a surreal experience. We knew there was a great view out there and a steep drop to our left, but we just couldn't see it. Fortunately the clouds lifted as we reached the top and we got our first view of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu actually being the name for the mountain on which the famous city is located. From this point we could only see the back of the mountain; we'd have to wait until the final day to see the ruins themselves. At lunch we were amazed that the chef had prepared us a cake at 4000m without an oven! In the afternoon we were once again grateful for the trekking poles as we descended over 3000steps to our final campsite.
Not a bad view to wake up to
The lunch stop on the third day was atop the final pass of the trek and was reached after hiking through the clouds, which was a surreal experience. We knew there was a great view out there and a steep drop to our left, but we just couldn't see it. Fortunately the clouds lifted as we reached the top and we got our first view of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu actually being the name for the mountain on which the famous city is located. From this point we could only see the back of the mountain; we'd have to wait until the final day to see the ruins themselves. At lunch we were amazed that the chef had prepared us a cake at 4000m without an oven! In the afternoon we were once again grateful for the trekking poles as we descended over 3000steps to our final campsite.
Trekking through the clouds
Happy to have made it to lunch on the third day
More amazing ruins and scenery
The final morning's trek started as the control point opened at 5:30am and we eagerly hiked for a couple of hours to reach the Sun Gate where (weather permitting) we could see the famous postcard view of Machu Picchu. Unfortunately Ben had been ill in the night and found the final walk particularly difficult, despite it being the easiest part of the trek. We reached the Sun Gate at 7am to find that the whole mountain was enveloped in cloud and we could see nothing. We celebrated nonetheless, as we had successfully hiked over 46miles through second highest mountain range on earth.
The famous view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate
We made it!
After another hour walk descending we entered the ruins themselves and proceeded to explore. I have run out of superlatives to describe the sights on this trip so won't try to describe Machu Picchu for fear of repetition. No-one really knows exactly what the purpose of the city here was as it lay undiscovered by the Spanish Conquistadors and by the time it was 'rediscovered' in 1911 the Incans had been wiped out. Temple, royal palace and observatory are some of theories.We could have easily spent a whole day seeing everything and hiking up nearby Huana Picchu to get another great view. We were all pretty tired though and needed to meet our porters for lunch to get the rest of our belongings back so we took the bus down to the town of Aguas Calientes. Following lunch and a trip to the hot springs we caught our train and bus back to Cusco for a well earned rest.
Fiona at Machu Picchu
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