Thursday, January 18, 2007
Our one night in Lima last Friday night was interesting. As we had to awake at 2.30am the next morning for a flight to Cusco we decided not to go out on the batter. However we did stay in the hostel and enjoy a few beers in the bar there. We met up with a bunch of lads from all corners of the globe with various instruments such as guitars, a melodica, a xaphoon and a kind of Peruvian recorder. After jamming for a few hours and having a spaghetti bolegnase and some beers, the bar closed. Still there was one Peruvian guy who seemed to live in the hostel and he insisted that we go back to his room and continue the party there. Incidentally, this guy looked like a Peruvian Peter Stringer. We were a bit dubious as to whether we were allowed continue the party in one of the rooms but one of the guys who worked at the hostel verified that this was ok and so we headed for Peter Stringer´s room. We reckoned it would be a private room away from the main section of the hostel however when we got there it was a 10 bed dorm with about 5 people asleep in it! “Peter Stringer” beckoned us out to the balcony where we presumed we could be loud without disturbing the 5 people asleep in the adjacent room. No! There was a guy asleep on the balcony in a sleeping bag! Weird. But still we drank and were merry until Fi and I decided that we should get at least 2 hours kip before our flight to Cusco. We bid everyone Buenos Noches and went to bed.
2 hours later we were on our way to Lima airport. The flight was at 6am but lonely planet had advised us to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours early to confirm a space on the filght as over booking of flights was common. As it turns out the check in didn´t open until 4.40am! Grrr… The first time we were let down by “The book”. After checking in we headed for the security checkpoint where the lady there found 2 brand spanking new swiss army knives in my carry on luggage. Oops! I reckoned that was the end of them but the girl was very nice and allowed me to go back out to the check in and check them in. This involved a very nice lady called Devora calling the baggage handling guys on the radio and bringing my rucksack back so I could put the knives in it. Things went smoothly and soon we were bound for Cusco where we would spend a few days acclimatizing before embarking on the famous Inca Trail. Arriving into Cusco at about 8am we were shattered from the general lack of sleep. Fortunately the hostel we were booked into had the most comfiest beds of all time and we slept till lunchtime.
We bummed around the town for a bit and got to know the other people in our dorm. That night we went out with some French guys and a pair of Argentinian girls. The clubs/bars in Cusco are cool except for their fecking addiction to the poisonous “music” that is reggaeton – a mix between reggae and English hip hop. Both Fi and I detest the genre with all our mights but unfortunately it is unavoidable in Cusco, and all of South America for that matter. Still we made the best of the night and made it into bed for about 4.30. This was a good idea as the next day was the day before the Inca Trail. As we had to get up at 5.30 am on Sunday for the Inca Trail, it was a good idea to be shattered the night before. The beds in Loki (our hostel) were so comfortable that we spent the day in bed just chatting to the people in our dorm. That evening we went for an orientation meeting for the Inca Trail and to meet our group. The meeting filled us with a mixture of apprehension and excitement about the 4 days which were to come. The 8 other people who we were to spend the next 4 days with seemed really nice too.
At roughly 6am on the Day1 of the Inca Trail we were picked up by the SAS truck from our hostel. From there we made our way to a little village for breakfast where we bought walking sticks and high calorie snacks for the journey. Then it was on to 82km where we began the journey. The first half of the day was great. Easy going, nice weather and some beautiful ruins. We stopped about midday for our first Inca Trail meal. What a surprise! Personally I had been expecting sandwiches or something similarly easy to make. The genius porters had whipped up an array of extravagant dishes involving many ingredients using only a tent and a gas cooker! I can´t remember specifically what the meal was that day but over the next four days we were to enjoy things such as avocados sliced with diced cheese, stuffed bell peppers, rolled chicken with ham and veg inside, cheese covered aubergines, deep fried cauliflower (I´ve no idea how) etc… The second half of day one was tougher with a fairly steep uphill climb. We arrived at our first campsite at about 4.30pm and after dinner at 7 I went straight to bed!
Day 2 was by far the hardest. We climbed “Dead Woman´s Pass” to an altitude of over 4000m only to descend down a steep and slippery terrain for a few hours. Then we had lunch! It was difficult to eat lunch knowing that we had another peak to tackle after lunch albeit not as tough as Dead Woman´s Pass. By the time we reached our campsite on the 2nd day we were well and truly jacked. Still we had finished the hardest part of the inca trail and the majority of it. Some groups only did one peak on the 2nd day leaving them with another tough day on day 3. That evening I had a cold shower and played a few rounds of Shithead and Asshole before hitting the sack. We were allowed a lie in on the morning of day 3. We didn´t have to get up until 7am! Day 3 was easy however with only a mild peak to climb and a beautiful trek through the cloud forest. We arrived at the campsite for day 3 at lunchtime giving us a whole half day to relax. Unfortunately there was a café/restaurant at the campsite with a bar. This was a bad idea considering there were 4 Irish on the trek. We hit the bar at about 3pm and enjoyed beer and shithead until we were kicked out at 10.30pm. Possible a bad idea since our wake up on day 4 was at 4am.
Despite being tired and slightly fragile from the previous night´s beers, we were all so excited to be so close to arriving at Machu Picchu that we got ourselves to breakfast by 4.30am no problem on Day 4. We set off as quickly as possible in order to be the first ones to Machu Picchu. Arriving at the checkpoint gate at 5am, we were the 2nd group there. When the gate opened at 5.30 am we all rushed through, eager to get to the Sun Gate where the first view of Machu Picchu is. There was a steep climb immediately before the Sun Gate but none of us cared and we raced up it with only one thing in our minds. Alas we were sourly disappointed! The weather had dealt us an unfair hand and there was nothing to be seen except a thick white mist. We waited a while but the best view we got was the outline of some of the buildings. So we trudged on down another 40 minutes to a ridge just above the city where the classic postcard view of Machu Picchu can be seen. Although there was a better view from here, the mist was still thick so we headed down to the city itself. Machu Picchu was awesome and our guide gave us a tour of the city which lasted a good hour. After this we relaxed in the café waiting for the first bus to Aqua Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu. While waiting here we observed the bus loads of American tourists arriving from Aguas Calientes and thanked our lucky stars we had arrived at Machu Picchu before them!
Half of us arrived in Agua Calientes with only one thing in mind – the natural thermal springs! What better way to rest your weary body after the 4 day inca trail than in a hot pool of natural water. It was perfect and we would have stayed there getting wrinkly all day if we didn´t have our last lunch together at 2pm. At lunch we said goodbye to our guides and to some of our group who were staying in Aguas Calientes for the night. We then went for the 4 hour train back to Cusco. The train was the most useless train of all time. It crawled along at a snails pace, all the time squeaking and groaning. We finally made it to Cusco in quite an irritable state with only dinner and bed on my mind. Fi in fairness to her went for a few with the other Irish lads from the group however I was in no state to join in. Asleep by 10pm, I enjoyed a 10.5 hour sleep which has left me in my current giddy state and raring to go.
2 hours later we were on our way to Lima airport. The flight was at 6am but lonely planet had advised us to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours early to confirm a space on the filght as over booking of flights was common. As it turns out the check in didn´t open until 4.40am! Grrr… The first time we were let down by “The book”. After checking in we headed for the security checkpoint where the lady there found 2 brand spanking new swiss army knives in my carry on luggage. Oops! I reckoned that was the end of them but the girl was very nice and allowed me to go back out to the check in and check them in. This involved a very nice lady called Devora calling the baggage handling guys on the radio and bringing my rucksack back so I could put the knives in it. Things went smoothly and soon we were bound for Cusco where we would spend a few days acclimatizing before embarking on the famous Inca Trail. Arriving into Cusco at about 8am we were shattered from the general lack of sleep. Fortunately the hostel we were booked into had the most comfiest beds of all time and we slept till lunchtime.
We bummed around the town for a bit and got to know the other people in our dorm. That night we went out with some French guys and a pair of Argentinian girls. The clubs/bars in Cusco are cool except for their fecking addiction to the poisonous “music” that is reggaeton – a mix between reggae and English hip hop. Both Fi and I detest the genre with all our mights but unfortunately it is unavoidable in Cusco, and all of South America for that matter. Still we made the best of the night and made it into bed for about 4.30. This was a good idea as the next day was the day before the Inca Trail. As we had to get up at 5.30 am on Sunday for the Inca Trail, it was a good idea to be shattered the night before. The beds in Loki (our hostel) were so comfortable that we spent the day in bed just chatting to the people in our dorm. That evening we went for an orientation meeting for the Inca Trail and to meet our group. The meeting filled us with a mixture of apprehension and excitement about the 4 days which were to come. The 8 other people who we were to spend the next 4 days with seemed really nice too.
At roughly 6am on the Day1 of the Inca Trail we were picked up by the SAS truck from our hostel. From there we made our way to a little village for breakfast where we bought walking sticks and high calorie snacks for the journey. Then it was on to 82km where we began the journey. The first half of the day was great. Easy going, nice weather and some beautiful ruins. We stopped about midday for our first Inca Trail meal. What a surprise! Personally I had been expecting sandwiches or something similarly easy to make. The genius porters had whipped up an array of extravagant dishes involving many ingredients using only a tent and a gas cooker! I can´t remember specifically what the meal was that day but over the next four days we were to enjoy things such as avocados sliced with diced cheese, stuffed bell peppers, rolled chicken with ham and veg inside, cheese covered aubergines, deep fried cauliflower (I´ve no idea how) etc… The second half of day one was tougher with a fairly steep uphill climb. We arrived at our first campsite at about 4.30pm and after dinner at 7 I went straight to bed!
Day 2 was by far the hardest. We climbed “Dead Woman´s Pass” to an altitude of over 4000m only to descend down a steep and slippery terrain for a few hours. Then we had lunch! It was difficult to eat lunch knowing that we had another peak to tackle after lunch albeit not as tough as Dead Woman´s Pass. By the time we reached our campsite on the 2nd day we were well and truly jacked. Still we had finished the hardest part of the inca trail and the majority of it. Some groups only did one peak on the 2nd day leaving them with another tough day on day 3. That evening I had a cold shower and played a few rounds of Shithead and Asshole before hitting the sack. We were allowed a lie in on the morning of day 3. We didn´t have to get up until 7am! Day 3 was easy however with only a mild peak to climb and a beautiful trek through the cloud forest. We arrived at the campsite for day 3 at lunchtime giving us a whole half day to relax. Unfortunately there was a café/restaurant at the campsite with a bar. This was a bad idea considering there were 4 Irish on the trek. We hit the bar at about 3pm and enjoyed beer and shithead until we were kicked out at 10.30pm. Possible a bad idea since our wake up on day 4 was at 4am.
Despite being tired and slightly fragile from the previous night´s beers, we were all so excited to be so close to arriving at Machu Picchu that we got ourselves to breakfast by 4.30am no problem on Day 4. We set off as quickly as possible in order to be the first ones to Machu Picchu. Arriving at the checkpoint gate at 5am, we were the 2nd group there. When the gate opened at 5.30 am we all rushed through, eager to get to the Sun Gate where the first view of Machu Picchu is. There was a steep climb immediately before the Sun Gate but none of us cared and we raced up it with only one thing in our minds. Alas we were sourly disappointed! The weather had dealt us an unfair hand and there was nothing to be seen except a thick white mist. We waited a while but the best view we got was the outline of some of the buildings. So we trudged on down another 40 minutes to a ridge just above the city where the classic postcard view of Machu Picchu can be seen. Although there was a better view from here, the mist was still thick so we headed down to the city itself. Machu Picchu was awesome and our guide gave us a tour of the city which lasted a good hour. After this we relaxed in the café waiting for the first bus to Aqua Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu. While waiting here we observed the bus loads of American tourists arriving from Aguas Calientes and thanked our lucky stars we had arrived at Machu Picchu before them!
Half of us arrived in Agua Calientes with only one thing in mind – the natural thermal springs! What better way to rest your weary body after the 4 day inca trail than in a hot pool of natural water. It was perfect and we would have stayed there getting wrinkly all day if we didn´t have our last lunch together at 2pm. At lunch we said goodbye to our guides and to some of our group who were staying in Aguas Calientes for the night. We then went for the 4 hour train back to Cusco. The train was the most useless train of all time. It crawled along at a snails pace, all the time squeaking and groaning. We finally made it to Cusco in quite an irritable state with only dinner and bed on my mind. Fi in fairness to her went for a few with the other Irish lads from the group however I was in no state to join in. Asleep by 10pm, I enjoyed a 10.5 hour sleep which has left me in my current giddy state and raring to go.
# posted by Grum @ 7:49 AM 
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