Mark's Stuff

-=[ DAY TWELVE - Wed 21st June ]=-

After a long overnight bus ride, we pulled into the Puño bus terminal at about 3am and caught a taxi to our pool, spa and sauna equipped hotel – not that we actually used any of those facilities. Lula organised a late breakfast which we had about 10am before heading off for a walk around the streets and down to the lakeside docks, about 30mins away.

Puño is not a particular attractive town, and definately has a strong air of poverty about it. Although looking into some of the very basic and run-down looking shop fronts and houses located on dirty streets, they are furnished with all the latest creature comforts and electronic gadgetry.
The was a little bustle around lakeside, presumably the same celebrations as were going on in Cusco, but to an extremely smaller scale. The water’s edge and docklands are covered with a green floating moss, which looks almost like a carpet inviting you to walk over in order to board a boat. I think not!

Even though there was not a cloud in sight, at almost 4000m above sea level, and with a breeze blowing over the water the temperature was quite chilly. In the evening we walked down the only street in the city with any night life to speak of to find somewhere to eat.

< Back in Cusco | Lake Titicaca >

-=[ DAY ELEVEN - Tue 20th June ]=-

Finally a day with no wake-up call! Instead just a leisurely day taking in the sights & sounds of Cusco. And still being the leadup to Inti Raymi, ‘Festival of the Sun’, there were certainly a lot of sights and sounds. Kirsty & I spend a good hour or so in the main plaza watching a parade of school children dressed in colourful costumes performing traditional dances.

We then checked out a few museums before heading back to the square to see the end of the parade from a restaurant balcony overlooking the plaza.

Kirsty headed back to the hotel via some jewellry stores while I spend some time uploading some photos into my gallery. When I got back to the hotel, Kirsty greeted me with some bad news – while Cindy and Julie were also watching the parade, Julie was pick-pocketted of her money, credit card and passport. So they spent the rest of the day at the consulate, police station and airline office in order to get back to Lima for a replacement passport for Julie.

Meanwhile we were also informed of a transport strike starting at midnight, meaning that we needed to catch a bus to Puno at 8pm instead of 9am tomorrow morning.
It’s sad to have to say goodbye to Julie & Cindy in these circumstances, but hopefully they’ve enjoyed their trip up until now, and have a safe journey home. Goodbye guys, the last ten days with you were great fun!

< Machu Picchu | Puno >

-=[ DAY TEN - Mon 19th June ]=-

Okay, so all those previous early mornings had nothing on this one. Wakeup call came at 4am to get us up in time to beat the rush to the checkpoint 500m from camp. We were the first to arrive at 4:30am, and by 5:30am when the gate was supposed to open there were another 200 trekkers behind us. The guard arrived at 5:50, just in time to stop a collective effort by some of the guides to break the chain between us and Machu Picchu.

At around 7am we climbed the last 80 steps toward Intipunku, or the Sun Gate, and found ourselves looking down on the ruins of Machu Picchu below. Nursing aching knees and calves we waited with the crowds of trekkers for the sun to clear the mountains and hit the ruins.
It was an awesome sight when the entire Incan village was lit by sunshine, and the surrounding area still in shadow. Walking around the sight was definitely an amazing experience, even after it started crawling with people when the day buses started arriving. But to look down on it from the Sun Gate definitely made the four days of agony worthwhile.

A bus trip to Aguas Calientes followed by a 90 minute train ride to Ollantaytambo and then another 90 minutes on a bus took us back to our hotel in Cusco for a good night sleep on a comfy bed.

< Inca Trail – Day 3 | Back in Cuzco >

-=[ DAY NINE- Sun 18th June ]=-

Compared to yesterday, the third day if walking was easy. It was a fairly gradual uphill with spectacular views of the Andean ranges, over Phuyapatamarka Pass at 3800m and down to the impressive Phuyapatamarka ruins.

A knee-shattering 1200m descent down to 2600m got us to Wiñaywayna camp – the last camp before Machu Picchu. Since we were a camp or two in front of most other groups we arrived at lunch whilst other trekkers we arriving in dribs and drabs until sunset.

Being close to civilisation again, Wiñaywayna has a hospital, restaurant, bar and hot showers. I skipped the shower, electing to wait until back in the hotel, but Darren, Bob and myself couldn’t help but down a couple of out-of-date Cusquenas.

-=[ OUR PORTERS ]=-

This evening we were re-introduced to our porters, and presented them with their envelope of tips. It was nice to hear what each of them was carrying as well as what their assigned duties were – from carrying our duffel bags to the 9kg gas bottle and stove. From preparing fabulous meals to ensuring we had a bowl of warm water when we woke up in the morning. They all did an absolutely fantastic job.
And somehow our chef Carlos managed to produce a meal that we were talking about the previous day. From spaghetti bolognaise to lomo soltado and even jelly!.

< Inca Trail – Day 2 | Machu Picchu >

-=[ DAY EIGHT- Sat 17th June ]=-

Second day of the Inca Trail, and for our group definitely the toughest. Right from the start we were climbing stone steps – always up, never flat, never down – from 3400m to Dead Woman’s Pass at 4200m. Toward the end I was resting every 10-15 steps, gasping in the thin air and looking back at 100 other walkers and porters doing the same. As soon as I stepped on the level ground at the pass, I was greeted with a wall of cloud, blocking from view the steep downhill that awaited.

Having regrouped, recovered, and taken the obligatory photos, it was all downhill to lunch at 3600m at the Paqaymayo campsite, where most others would be spending the night. But not us. Instead we trudged onwards and upwards past the Runkuraqay ruins and over the 4000m Runkuraqay High Pass and back down even more steps to the Sayacmarka ruins. As sunset approached, and our calves and knees were feeling the the eleven hours of walking today, we elected not to climb the steps up to the ruins, and instead descended down to our second camp at Chakiqocha.

< Inca Trail – Day 1 | Inca Trail – Day 3 >