Machu Picchu is probably one of the better know 7 wonders of the world. It was built by the Inca empire in the 15th century and is located in a mountain range north of Cusco 2430 meters above sea level. There a so many different way you can get there.... There are trecks that take 6 days and consist of just trecking and camping or there are more popular trecks such as the one I took.
I opted for the Inca Jungle Trek, a four day action packed treck where on the last day I would reach Machu Picchu.
Day 1:
Soooo excited to be heading off on this trek!! Mark and John opted for a 3 day version which meant we would only be spending the first day together and then we would head our seperate ways. The bus picked us up at 7am and off we went. It was a three hour drive to our starting point of 4500 meters above sea level. From here we would ountain bike down to 1500 meters!!!! The drive was bumpy and boring, thankfully I slept for the majority of it.
We arrived at our destination. The views were breath taking. We were high in the Andes (4000ft) with snow caped mountains all around us. Our group was introduced to Edger who would be our guide for the next 4days. We were all given our bikes, helmets and safety gear, did some warm up exercises as it was freezing so we had to get the blood going! Then off we went. The road we were cycling on was in perfect condition and wound its self down and down and down the mountain. At first I was a little tentitive but after I got used to the bike and how to take the corners I gave it hell for leather!!
After about an hour and a half we all stoped for lunch. We sat on a bank beside the road and lunch was dished out to us. I was starving and wolfed down the Peruvian version of fried rice that we were given. After we were all fed and watered it was time to move on again. A few layers of clothing were also removed as the lower in altitude we went the hotter it got.
Another hour and a half of adrenlin fuled riding was in front of me. It was awesome!!! The whole ride was down hill so you barely had to pedal but the last part was flat and on gravel and I defo found it tough. Our of a group of 16 I reached the bottom 3rd.... yeah yeah it wasnt a race etc etc but it still felt good :P
There was a bit of a wait at the bottom till everyone arrived down. It was roasting so an ice cold coca cola went down amazing!!
When everyone had recovered from the bike ride we all headed for our first hostel. Hmmmm not the nicest place Iv stayed, in fact Id say this is probably the worst hostel Iv had to stay in but sure its all part of the adventure!
There was an option to head off for an hours white water rafting so I said Id give it a go. It was ok, its not rainy season so the water was pretty calm and not as wild as I would have liked but sure at least I can say I did it!
Unfortunately it was time to say bye to Mark & John before dinner. They headed off with the other few people who were doing the 3 day tour. So as we sat down for dinner our group was finalised.... Remi and Lisa (a lovely French couple), 2 Argentinian ladies, 2 Argentinian lads, Ali & George two sounds lads from Scotland, Rich and Chris from London, Loraine, Ella and Myself!!!!!
After dinner our guide properly introduced himself..... Edear. A sound chap who spoke decent English. He went though the next days itinerary which was pretty much a 22km hike! It would be an early start 6.30am so everyone headed to bed shortly after dinner.
DAY 2:
Ohhh I just love getting out of bed at the crack of dawn... not! 6.30 ugh brekkie at 7 and off we went. We would be walking for nearly 8 hours so it was going to be a tough day. I am not the fittest of people and the minute we started uphill I felt it! Our first stop was to check out some cool natural fruits that the Incas used as war paint! Needless to say we all wanted to be painted up like the Incas. I got some cool symbols meaning 'puma' and 'warrior queen'... I just wish that the guide would have told me it would take about ten washes to get the bloody stuff off my face!!!
After about two hours walk through the mountains stopping along the way to look at the coffee plantations and coco plantations we stopped at a small village and had a rest and some juice. Here Edear told us about traditional Inca dress, instruments, cooking methods etc.. I also got to meet a little brat of a monkey who opened my camera case and tried to rob my camera!!
On we went.... all the time we were walking up and up towards an original Inca trail that we would follow. When we eventually reached the top the views were stunning. We were standing above a valley with a river below us..... the hike up had been well worth it.
More hiking and we stopped off for lunch in a little village which was delicious. After an hours siesta it was time to crack on again. The second part of the day was just as interesting as the first. We eventually wound our way down to the river and had to cross by a number of rather interesting bridges! The first reminded me of something out of Indina Jones, a metal bridge with missing floor boards ... one wrong foot and your gone! After more walking we took another break and had a swim in a shallow part of the river. It was soooo refreshing to take off the hiking boots and soak the feet for a while.
Our second bridge was more interesting than the first. We had to sit in a wooden box in pairs and be shimmied across by the man on the other side of the river! A unique way to cross thats for sure!
At this stage of the day everyone was getting tired and wary so we were happy to hear it was only a short walk more to the hot springs where we could relax for an hour.
Iv never been to hot springs before so I was very excited! They were amazing... the water was roasting an was exactly what everyone needed after a looooong day. After an hour in the springs we headed to the next village of Santa Treasa where we would stay that night.
Big improvement on the hostel although if you wanted a hot shower you had to pay for it. As a backpacker this is a luxury which sometimes you just have to skip, so it was a lovely cold one for me! As we weren't up too early the next morning this was our 'party night' HA. So after our dinner (another really good meal) off we went to the 'disco'...... GAS ..... we were the only people in the place! We all had a few drinks but everyone was pretty wrecked so no one went to wild.
DAY 3:
I was sharing a room with two of the girls last night and I swear to god I did the most embarrassing thing ever. I WOKE UP IN A DIFFERENT BED THAN THE ONE I WENT TO SLEEP IN....WTF?!!!! Apparently I was sleepwalking in the middle of the night! I got up went to the bathroom and then came back and curled up at the end of one of the girls bed :/ She woke up and realised that I was sleepwalking and when I wouldn't move she got up and got into my bed! I was never so embarrassed in my life, luckily the girls were sound and saw the funny side!!!! Needless to say everyone got a great laugh out of it at breakfast...
Today was to be an easy enough day. We would zip line in the morning and then after that we only had an 18km walk HA :)
Zip lining was AMAZING!! Iv never done it before (The little one in Malahide Castle playground doesn't count I dont think ha!) There were 6 lines, 2500 meters of cables and the highest line is 150meters high. It was SCARY at first but on the last line I got brave and went backwards upside down ha! Brilliant mornings fun.
After the zip line we got a mini bus to where we would have lunch and then we set off on our 18km trek. We would be walking along a railway track for the day, it was a straight walk so it wouldnt be that bad. About 15 minutes into the walk we got our first very far away glimpse of Machu Picchu. If we looked up we could see the outline of the Inca creation very far away in the distance. It was an effort to see it even with the zoom on my camera, but it was there!
The walk today wasnt hard but it was long.... we were all very happy when we reached our final stop, the town of Aguas Caliente. This place reminded me of a ski town, there was no snow but it is completely built with tourists in mind and has a ski resort feel to it. Our hostel here was grand and had a hot shower which was nice for a change! We all went our for dinner and straight home to bed. Everyone was WRECKED tired and we were up at 4.30am the next morning. I slept like a log.
DAY 4: MACHU PICCHU
I hate early mornings but this morning when my alarm went off at 4.30am I jumped out of bed! It was Machu Picchu day and I couldn't wait to get there.
Now there are two ways to get up to Machu Picchu, you can walk up the steps or you can flake out and get the bus up. Feck that Id walked this far I was walking the rest of the way! ha
Well my pride nearly killed me. 1307 steps of hell. I nearly died getting there, it was up and up and up and the steps were never ending!!! But when I made it there was a sense of achievement which felt gooood :)
What wasn't good was all the tourists getting off buses ha The sweaty's and the non sweaty's have to line up together which does create some animosity amoung the sweaty's who feel there should be a separate line for those who went through hell to get up here!
Anyway the aim of the game was to get up there before sunrise and we had all made it. We queued up and headed in.
Walking into Machu Picchu was like walking into a postcard. It wasn't real. We have all seen the pictures, documentaries etc but nothing prepared me for the real thing. Standing there watching the sun come up was amazing.
Now, when I booked the trip I was like yeah yeah just sign me up to do everything..... The tour operator said so you want to do Wayna Picchu, and I was like yea sign me up! I of course didnt have a clue what Wayna Picchu was at the time.
THIS IS WAYNA PICCHU:
The peak of Wayna Picchu is 2,720 meters. It was a sacred place for the Inca high priest. I was very lucky to be able to climb it as they only allow 300 people up a day and I was the only one in my group who had managed to get a ticket! HA when I looked at the mountain I nearly died, I was wrecked how the hell was I going to climb that too?!!
Anyway Id think about that later. We spent the morning walking around with Edear who gave us a guided tour. The Incas were amazing and so advanced for their time.
After the tour we said good buy to Edear and it was a chance to do our own thing. We all sat down and had our packed lunches and then it was tie to tackle Wayna Picchu.
My god the climb was unreal. It was vertical all the way up. There was sheer drops and if you put a foot wrong you were dead and that is not an exaggeration. I didnt find the climb that hard it was just surreal that they actually let tourists do it!!!! The top of Wayna Picchu was amazing. How the hell they built what they did up there I have no idea. Again so dangerous once your up there. Be careful or you will die. I spent a good hour up there, I finished off y lunch and lay in the sun. It was the of the most amazing places I have ever been. The view is down on Macchu Picchu and its incredible.
After I got back down I headed back out to the entrance. Macchu Picchu was discovered 100 years ago this year and so they were giving people a special stamp for their passports. Im not sure how legal i is to put a random stamp in your passport for fun but I wanted a stamp!
I chilled out for a while then outside and had a beer. I bumped into more of the group and we headed back in again to have one last ramble around. At this stage it was 4pm and the thousands of tourists were beginning to leave so it was less crowded inside. Up until a few weeks before I got there they were letting up to 4500 people in a day!!! However to try and conserve the mountain they had halved that number a week previous. It was still packed though so I cant imagine what it was like before that.
At 5pm it was well and truly tie to head back to the hostel. I did cheat here and get the bus back down :/
After some food it was time to head to the train station and catch the gringo train back to Cusco.
Everyone was well and truly shattered and slept most of the way back.
I had booked back into the Wild Rover and got in about 11pm. I was wrecked but Mark and John had left a note for me at reception to get my ass to the bar when I got in as it was their last night in Cusco.
So I did.... just for a couple ;)
