Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

The stairs begin
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Well just like everything else in South America the early organisation of our trail was a bit of a shambles, the company we booked through couldn't tell us what we needed to bring and then wanted to organise a briefing from the tour guide a full 12 hours before we left!  Finally managed to organise a meeting with our guide Ronnie two days before departure which allowed us time to rent backpacks, sleeping bags etc..

First day started with a 5am wakeup at the hostel for 6am pick up which surprise, surprise turned out to be 7:30am pickup.  On the bus we had a glance at the list of the other people on our tour and were a little disappointed to find that there was 8 people, 4 who spoke Spanish (1 Argentinean & 3 Peruvians) and 4 who spoke English (us and an english couple), we naturally thought this would make things awkward for everyone but as it turns out we shouldn't have been worried as everyone got along famously.

Day 2 on the way up. The porter is doing it easier than Craig.
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The bus dropped us off at a town to get supplies, which involved buying heaps of nuts and Milkyways and then onto km82 to begin the walk.  First days walking was a piece of cake with only one steep incline and lunch was in a big tent with a three course meal!  Sure beat the single bread roll we got on the Huaraz trek.  Another two easy hours walking after lunch and we were at our first camp by 4:30pm.  After dinner the Peruvian guys pulled out the Rum Liqueur and handed that around, which was a nice way to end the day.

At the Sun Gate
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Second day was by far the toughest with a 5am start and a 5 hour walk up to Dead Womans Pass at a height of 4200m.....neither of us had much left in the tank by the time we reached the top and then as a reward for getting to the top we got to walk down some steps for 2 or 3 hours to the next camp, Jo's old knee problem flamed up and I developed a new one.  That night I reckon we hit the hay around 8pm we were that tired.

The third day we were up at 5:30am and walked up for two hours to a pass then down into the subtropical rainforest portion of the trip, up to now we had been lucky with no rain and then it started to bucket down just as we got to our food tent, by the time we finished lunch the rain had stopped and it didn't rain again for the rest of the trek...so very lucky.  After lunch there was another 3 hour stint walking down more god forsaken steps.  Having mercilessy mocked the french trekkers in Huaraz for their fancy walking sticks and gear, we thought it would be highly hypocritical of us to buy walking sticks at the start of the trail, so out of the eight in our group (and possibly the 400 people on the trail) only myself and Jo were without sticks.  By about halfway down the 3 hours of steps Jo's knee really started to play up so the guide cut her a big bamboo walking stick and from then on she was referred to as Gandalf.   After being near the front of the group for the majority of the trek, myself and Gandalf stumbled into the final camp butt last.  Fortunately the last camp has showers and more importantly beers so had an excellent night drinking with the rest of the group, Leandro the Argentinean nightclub owner (and really funny guy) kept us constantly amused.  Rolled into bed at around 9pm which was believe it or not a late night.

Machu Picchu
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The final day involved getting up at 4am so you can get a good possie in the line for the final check point which opens at 5:30am.  We were about the third group in line and then the race was on, managed to pass a few people on the way up and were some of the first people to reach the sun gate which was more of a cloud gate due to the overcast conditions. Both of us were a little disappointed with our first view of Machu Picchu as you are quite a distance away and it looks kind of small....but as you get closer the whole place unfolds and it is amazing, both myself and Jo have been lucky enough to see the Pyramids of Giza but in our opinion Machu Picchu was better experience, whilst it doesn't have the sheer awe inspiring size of the pyramids, it is a far more personal place, you can appreciate the functional purpose to the buildings and imagine people living there, the care taken with the stone work, the green grassed areas, wandering Llamas and the surrounding mountains combine to make it one of the most impressive places we have been.

No more.
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By the time Ronnie had finished showing us around the sun had burst through and it had turned into a perfect day so we decide to attempt Waynu Picchu which is the peak behind Machu Picchu and quite a strenuous climb.  45 minutes later we were at the top which had an amazing view unfortunately we were sharing the top with 20 other dickheads so didn't hang around for long and headed back down.  After that we wandered around for an hour, took a billion photos then caught the bus to the nearby town Aguas Calientes, where we had our final lunch and drinks with the group, before heading back by train to Cusco