22nd - 29th May - Cusco, the Inka Trail and Machu Picchu

22nd Full day bus journey through the high Altiplano region to get from Puno to Cusco. We had quite a bumpy trip with the driver swerving from side to side to avoid holes in the road. The scenery was impressive as we ventured through the mountains. We stopped at around 12pm at a pass at 4335m above sea level for a toilet break. There were a few stalls with people selling alpaca jumpers, rugs and other knick knacks. We bought his and hers alpaca jumpers Davids a dark grey and Catrionas light grey for 15 soles each.From here the journey continued along better roads. We arrived in Cuzco around 3pm, checked into the Rimacpampa Hostal and headed off to the Plaza de Armas where there was a parade for the feast of Corpus Christie. There were thousands of locals watching the parade of floats carried by the ¨lucky¨few. It was absolutely amazing for the first time in Catriona´s life she has been tall enough to see over a crowd!

23rd Spent the day walking around Cusco and visiting the Inka Museum and the Basilica Catedral. The amount of gold and silver inside the Cathederal is amazing. We saw where they stored all the floats used in the procession the previous day as well as the silver alter and the picture of the last supper where the meal was cuy or guinie pig.24th Left at 7am for the Sacred Valley and Ollantaytambo with our 6kg duffle bag for the Inka Trail hike. Our first stop was to a small village that GAP supports. Here we were shown how they dye alpaca wool using natural colours from plants etc. Catriona bought a small purse and a little Peruvian doll with a baby in its arms an one on the back. Next stop was a llama and alpaca farm where we were able to feed the llama and alpaca as well as bottle feeding the baby alpaca.Next was our first visit to an Inca site at Pisaq. Here we viewed the remaining Inca walls and amazing terraces. We stopped in the town of Pisaq for lunch and to brows through more markets. The last stop before Ollantaytambo was an Inca Bar where we were shown how they make the local drink quetcha from fermented corn. We tasted both the plain and wild strawberry sweetened versions. David also purchased the equimpent needed to construct a game of Sapo that we played there.It involves throwing coins onto a table and trying to get them into the holes or the sapo´s (frog´s) mouth. When we finally arrived in Ollantaytambo we visited the ruins there.The work that went into making them was amazing.

25th Boarded the mini bus and headed to Km 82 and the start of the 42km Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Views of Veronica mountain in the back ground. We had to show our passports and had them stamped. We stopped for a group photo then headed over the suspension bridge and started walking under sunny skies. The track was undulating walking past the first inca ruins of the track, Qanabamba.We had our first stop at a little village where we ate our morning tea snacks. Then it was onward and upward to what the guide called dead mans pass, a very steep hill and past the second ruins of Willkarakay.We passed many more small villages and stopped for lunch of vegetable soup and grilled trout. During lunch it started to rain so we had to don our gortex jackets before continuing our climb fo the rest of the afternoon. The rain was not too heavy so we did not get too wet. We made it to our campsite at 4.15pm.There was a lady there selling Gatorade, Soft drinks and beer, so Simon and Liz decided to have a cleansing ale before dinner. We were introduced to our porters and chefs for the trip and everyone had to say how old they were, if they were married or single and what job they did.

26th Wake up call at 5.30am with a cup of hot chocolate and a bucket of warm water to wash. Quick dress and packup and set off walking by 6.30am in order to make it up to dead womans pass before it became too hot. We walked for 2 hours from our overnight camp spot of Yunkachimpa at 33oom above sea level (asl). It was quite a tough walk up about 400m on an empty stomach.We stopped for a breakfast of Quinoa Porridge and a ham,cheese and spinache omlette. Another 2 hours of tough hiking to reach dead womans pass at 4200m asl. The weather was mainly overcast with slight misty rain. This was good as we produced quite an amount of heat trudging up the steep trail getting an amazing cardio workout not only from the steepness but from the altitude as well. We regrouped at dead womans pass and had another group photo then decended for about 40 minutes to our lunch spot of Paqaymayo. The decent was very difficult on the knee and ankle joints and we were very happy we had hired the two treking poles. Lunch was soup and beef and vegetables, with a hot drink to finish off. After lunch the porters packed the dining tent up once more and headed off to our night time camping ground. We were left to hike again ascending to a peak called Runkuraqay high pass at 3900m. We stopped off at the Runkuraqay ruin where our guide Jose explained to us about it´s significance as a stopping off point on the way to Machu Picchu. From the pass we decended again on stone steps all the way to another ruin called Sayacharca. The scenery and the wildflowers were magnificent.We also had times where there was very little visibility at all as can be seen in this photo of David and Gui.We finally passed our 3rd ruin for the day, Qonchamarca,before arriving at our 2nd nights camp site. 17kms in all today on top of the 13kms the previous day. When we arrived our tents were set up and wash basins of warm water waiting for us. Everyone had afternoon tea of pastries with apple or cheese filling. The Chef made Catriona some fried potato chips so she gave him a little koala as a thank you. Dinner was soup, curry and rice and a desert of chocolate pudding. 27th Slept in until 6am this morning and had breakfast of pancakes with chocolate sauce plus bread and jam. Catriona had a fruit salad. We set off for the cloud forest at 7.30am. Great views of the surrounding mountains, including 3 snow capped peaks with glaciers as we woke to a clear morning with very few clouds. The walk today was mostly flat paths on very steep ledges through wet vegetation and moss covered walls. We walked through a natural tunnel on our way to a spectacular lookout over a large valley and the back of the Machupicchu mountain.Stopped for a couple of photos before heading down to the first ruin of the day Phuyupatamarka. This had commanding views down a valley and there were special water channels built here. Our guide told us about the significance of the Andean cross and its relevance to the Inca way of life. There are 3 levels representing the Condor, the Puma and the Snake. Also the 3 things not to be a Thief, lazy or a liar. We then proceeded to walk down almost 1000m to the next inca site called Yunkapata. This was via many steep wet stone steps that unfortunately Catriona slipped on near the top and landed on her tail bone. Yuniapata is an amazing structure of terraces with spectacular views of the valley. From here it was a short walk down to our last nights camp site where we were able to have showers and lunch before visiting another incredible site called Winaywayna and its many waterfall terraces from the temple down to the houses and buildings below.

28th Wake up call at 3.50am and packed up our gear before 4.30am breakfast. Porters were collapsing all the tents at the same time. We entered the final checkpoint on the trail at 5.30am. and hiked through the rainforest in the twilight along the at times narrow trail with high steps and steep drop offs where we finally made it to the sun gate for our first view of Machu Picchu.From here we decended further to watch the sun rise over the mountain and light up Machu Picchu. We had another group photo and were then given a tour of Machu Picchu by Jose. Gui, Vicki, Cat and David left the tour early to be able to be one of the 400 people per day to be able to hike up Waynapicchu. We waited for an our and were numbers 377 to 380. It was a tough climb up after having spent the last 3 days hiking but well worth it for the views. The climb back down in parts was much harder than going up. David and Catriona also decided to climb Huxhuypicchu wich is the smaller mountain behind the city of Machu Picchu.
We ended the day exhaused having taken many, many photos, it was a fantastic day. We took the bus down the Aguas Calientes where we had lunch and caught the train back to Ollantaytambo and a mini bus back to Cusco for a wonderful hot shower and nice warm bed.

29th Woke up this morning and sent a load of washing from the trail off to be laundered. Then off to the post office to send our 10kg package of warm clothing home. Hopefully our last package home. Met Julio back at the hotel for a tour of the Inca sites around Cusco, finishing at Sacsaywaman which is where there is a big festival in June for the Sun God, called Inti Rami. Many of the stones from this site were removed by the Spaniards to make their colonial houses but they left the larger ones as they were too large to move.

Will load more pictures when time permits.