Cusco and Inca Trail

After the panic of getting there in time, the two days before the Inca Trail were spent organising ourselves and generally chiling out and knocking about Cusco. We were very impressed with Cusco, a lot nicer than we expected it to be, touristy yes but not in a tacky way. Plus it had a fair few decent bars and places to eat which was well appreciated after a few weeks of Bolivian food! We especially enjoyed Paddy Flahertys pub which was the first proper Irish bar we´d been in, as in it looked like an Irish bar, served decent Irish food and the staff were even Irish (Compared to some of the kips we had seen calling themselves Irish bars in BA and Mendoza). So we did the very cultured thing and ate fries for breakfast, sheppards pies, drank bottles of Guinness and watched a few Premiership games.

We had a 4.30am start the morning of the Inca Trail. After the usual few hours of faffing about we finally got going at mid morning for the first day which we had been told would be a gentle introduction before an extremely tough 2nd and 3rd day. The first day was more or less that, around 4hrs hiking broken up by the first of many huge (and gorgeous) meals laid on for us. The group consisted of 16 of us, mainly couples from UK, Oz, Canada with a few other randomers thrown in. We set off with 2 guides, 20 porters and a cook. The porters were something else, carrying all our gear (tents, seats, kitchen equipment, food etc) on their backs as they practically ran (and did a lot of the time) from point to point to be ready for us arriving...it was unbelievable to see them fly past us carrying such a load.

We enjoyed the novelty of sleeping in a tent for the first tine in years and slept pretty well most nights after all the exercise and early starts. The 2nd day we started out at 6am after being up at 5am for the long days uphill hike to Dead Womans Pass. We were hiking 1200m straight uphill for around 5hrs. It was tough going with the sun blazing but the two of us fared a lot better than we thought, following the good advice we got to take it slowly at all times . The other great advice we got was the I-Pods, a godsend when your going up steps for 5hrs, music pumping to keep ya going. Anyway, guess who were the first two up Dead Womans Pass at 4215m above sea level? We were pleasantly surprised to say the least. And what did I say at the top? "Told ya the hill in Isla Del Sol would help us"! It went down better this time. In reality, it probably did help, plus the fact we´d been at altitude for over 2 weeks and the hostel in La PAz was four blocks uphill which was killing us the first few days we were there.

The rest of the day was a killer. Down the steps in the other side for 2 hrs, and these were Inca steps laid hundreds of years ago so not exactly even. Every step you risked going over badly on your ankle. The third day was similar, a few uphills but mainly downhill, except it was also bucketing rain all day. We had to go down what the locals refer to as "Gringo Killer", over three thousand steps downhill for 3-4 hrs. Not as tough physically as going up but very monotonous and sore on the already very stiff joints. We definitely deserved the few beers we had that evening after we made it, knowing the hard part was over. The folowing morning we were up at 4am and queuing to get onto the Trail from 5am. Our group was first in line which menat that everyone was mad anxious to get to the Sun Gate first (first glimpse of Machu Picchu)...which meant that any ideas of a gentle 2hr stroll to finish off went out the window. We ended up practically running there and the two of us struggled, nothing left in the tank after the previous two days. We got there before the other groups anyway so had the spot to ourselves for 10-15mins in the end.

The first glimpse of Machu Picchu was pretty class but a bit of an anti-climax after a couple of minutes. We certainly werent brought to tears like other people we saw. It turns out we were very lucky though as it started to bucket rain just as other groups were arriving and the view was very quickly almost gone with the clouds. Out with those bloody ponchos again! At least the sun came back out when we got down there and the ruins themselves were actually far more impressive than we expected them to be. The place was way bigger than it looks and was like a proper city. We took a tour around for two hrs with our guide to round it off which was enjoyable and then it was off to the nearby town of Aguas Calientes for lunch, beer and hot springs. The hot springs were a huge disappointment, bit of a dump really. Like sitting in swimming pools of warm dirty smelly water. Had we known we certainly wouldve given them a skip but hot springs just sound very appealing when your stiff and sore after 4 days hiking. All in all though the trek itself was incredible experience, we re both delighted we did it and pleasantly surprised at how well we got through it. Definitley better than just getting the train up with all the middle aged Americans decked out in all the latest hiking and safari gear (absolutely hilarious). We were all full of contempt for all the lovely well dressed, clean smelling tourists rolling up in buses that morning, they just didnt deserve to be there!

After the trek we planned to take it easy for three or four days in Cusco but ended up going out the following night (Halloween night) with most of the group from the trek which turned into a pretty messy night. At that stage we had moved from our very quiet pre Inca Trail guesthouse to Loki s Cusco branch which meant three days of sauce and the two of us pretty shook by the time we were leaving for Lima the following Monday. An excellent week or so in the Cusco area though and just a week to go before we left South America to head to Fiji!