I will survive....!

Breakfast with a view
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No one in their right mind should be awake at 4:30am...  We had to be at the tour operators (SAS) office at 5:45, so an early start for us.  Little did we know that this was just the begining.

After an hour coach ride to Ollantaytambo, with breakfast provided en route, we hopped off the bus, full of enthusiasm with our bamboo walking poles, ready for our first day of trekking. Passed Permit control, across a rope bridge, and that´s where it started, the walking....  Hours and hours and hours.  The views were stunning, and it wasn´t too hot, in fact it was a really nice trek.  Yaz had a bit of a cold so she found it pretty tough, and when we got to a map and our tour guide (Hilbert) pointed out what we would be trekking on Day 2, I think Yaz nearly passed out.  The trek is decribed by SAS as follows;

The rope bridge where it all started...
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Day 1:  Easy hike, warm up

Day 2:  Challenging

Day 3:  Unforgetable

Day 4:  Arrival at Machu Picchu

The start. Full of enthusiasm...
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Day 1: The "easy" part. We arrived at our first camp at about 4pm, and after hours and hours of trekking, we were glad to take off our boots and relax in our tent.  At 5:30pm we were called for "Happy hour" - we were pretty excited at the prospect of a beer, but on arriving at the main tent, found that theír idea of happy hour was very different to ours...  Tea, coffee and popcorn...  hmmm...

After happy hour, we sat around for a couple of hours with the three Irish girls and Hilbert and played cards.  It was freezing outside! Dinner arrived at 7:30, and I have got to say it was the best food we have had since arriving in S.America! A three course meal, and enough food to feed the whole of Peru! After dinner it was time for bed, ready for our Day 2, 5am start.

Vamos!
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Sleeping was tough, as you can imagine, in single figure temperatures, with a sleeping bag around you which might as well be a straight jacket.  We survived the night ready for another day...

Day 2:  Challenging. There´s no other word for it.  We were awoken at 5am by one of the porters, with a hot cup of tea in our tent.  Then after a breakfast of pancakes, toast and coffee we started walking, and walking, and walking.  Five hours uphill to Dead Woman´s Pass - 4200m above sea level! Slopes, steps, rocks, you name it, we climbed it. The only thing that kept us going was Hilbert playing a Guns n Roses album over and over (and singing very badly to it, in a peruvian accent).  It seemed that every corner you turned, and just when you thought you´d reached the top, there were more steps... On reaching the top, everyone cheered, including people from other groups, and everyone congratulated each other.  The worst of it was over...

Snack break, with a chicken.
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One thing I have to mention is the porters.  They were fantastic! We had a group of five people, and between us we had ten porters, a chef and our guide.  The porters were responsible for carrying our bags, everything needed for cooking our meals (including gas cylinders), the tents etc.  Every so often they´d run past us on the path (and I mean run) with what looked like a small house on their backs, and wearing sandals!! I must say, we felt a little silly struggling with our tiny daypacks, and wearing full-on hiking boots. I´ve got to also say that Hilbert was fantastic!  He kept our spirits up, and his terrible, terrible jokes kept us in stitches.

The view from our tent
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Day 3: Beautiful!  It truely was. I can´t explain how it feels to stand on the side of a huge mountain overlooking a beautiful valley, and snow-capped mountains in the distance. It was a long day of trekking, 10 hours in total, of walking uphill, and downhill, and uphill again, and it was pretty tough going at times, but the views made every step worth it...  Finally on reaching camp in the evening, we were able to have a shower - although only 8 minutes each, at a hostal in the campsite. It was the best 8 minute shower I´ve ever had! We were also able to get beers, and Yaz and I sat outside wth another group drinking and chatting.  It was so good to speak to different people, away from our group, and we were soon a bit gutted that our group wasn´t bigger, or at least more varied. The girls in our group were ok, but they weren´t exactly party animals (in fact quite the opposite).

Yaz looking very tired en route to Dead Womans Pass
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Day 4: The arrival. We thought getting up at 5am was early... On the final day we were awoken at 4am and left camp at 5am to make our way to Machu Picchu before sunrise, and so it was pitch black for the first 40minutes or so of trekking.  Walking with flashlights along a cliff edge, 3000 odd metres up is pretty hairy, I can tell you.  And to add to the joy, my flashlight ran out of batteries halfway through...  what a fun game it was guessing where the cliff edge was.  The arrival at Machu Picchu was emotional.  Four days of hard graft and we had finally made it.  Yaz was welling up as we turned the corner and saw it in front of us - and what an amazing site it was! We had done it!  Although I can honestly say, never again!

Dead Womans Pass. 4200m above sea level!
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Backpack Status: Slowly giving up any hope I had...