With over 1.5 million tourists visiting Cusco every year it isn't surprising that the beautiful little town nestled in the Andean mountains has more to offer than simply being the gateway for the Inca Trail. My Rough Guide was chock-a-block with museums, art galleries and Inca relics and ruins to explore, and the closest one to Jack's Cafe was the famous 12-cornered San Blas Inca Stone, literally a stone's throw away (please excuse the pun!) from where we were having lunch. An idiot could locate it in under a minute. It took us twenty. We wandered around the building trying to spot the famous stone, and it wasn't until a local took pity on our stupidity that we finally found what we had been looking for. A stone. A stone that looked identical to every other brick in the wall, with the slight exception of one or two more corners. We couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed with our first sighting of an old Inca relic, but we were quickly cheered up by photos with another old Inca relic and her baby lama!
The next day we set off in search for objective #4. We were finally going to give our tired and aching trekking feet the cushioned soles and ankle support that they had been desperately screaming out for ever since we had subjected them to the Converse torture of the Ciudad Perdida. With every other shop in Cusco selling everything and anything one could possibly want or need for the Inca Trail, we wrongly assumed that achieving this objective would be a walk in the park. We couldn’t have been more wrong. After the thirtieth shop brought out yet another small-fitting size nine shoe for Forrest to squeeze on to his size twelve feet, we came to the conclusion that his size probably didn’t even exist in Peru, after all a small Peruvian man would find it pretty difficult to balance on such enormous feet! Just as we had resigned ourselves to the fact that Forrest was going to have to give Wilma (our guide from the Lost City) a call to ask to borrow his sandals again, we finally found the only shop in Cusco that sold shoes not made for borrowers and managed to get Forrest kitted out in the right size, while I managed to find shoes that didn’t make me feel like a middle-aged frump. We even managed to successfully barter both pairs of shoes down to a very reasonable price, objective #4 DONE! We separated to celebrate our new purchases – Forrest to the Irish Bar to watch the football and me to skype with my beautiful Jenny, who although owns A LOT of shoes, has nothing quite so stylish and sexy as my new walking boots! A night of Kings with a group of Australians can only lead to one thing; dancing on the tables to the Spice Girls and a bad hangover the next day.
We dragged ourselves out of bed and fought off a pretty bad Kings hangover in order to peruse the local markets in search of warm alpaca clothes, and presents to send home (if we ever got round to it that is, we were still lugging stuff around from Brazil!). Steering well clear of the food stalls in the centre of the market (rotten foetus egg was not a pleasant prospect in such a delicate state) we haggled our way around the touristy artesania and successfully obtained everything we needed for the Inca Trail, warm alpaca jumpers, socks and hats, and presents for friends and family (resisting the urge to get Phoebe an alpaca wool Inca mask for fear that she would actually wear it in public). Forrest even managed to get himself a replacement for his beloved Abercrombies back at home in the form of stripy “traveller pants” which unfortunately I couldn’t get him to promise not to wear in public! Another yummy meal at Jack’s Café of beef and red wine stew with mash topped off another successful day, but it wasn’t a patch on Mummy Cross’ Monday night leftovers stew.
Friday 8th April was the official start of our ‘Gap Adventure’ as we checked in to an actual real life hotel, a much neglected commodity in the hostelling world of the Gap Yah, and I made use of the free wifi and had a bit of an emotional skype with my parents while Forrest went off in search of a new daypack to store all our new purchases in. Feeling a little homesick, I tried to lighten my spirits by playing a rather cruel trick on my parents by pretending that the teeny tiny alpaca jumper purchased for Godbean was actually for their new Grandchild – they weren’t particularly amused! I said bye to my parents as they wished me luck for our impending adventure, and rushed to the briefing programmed for 5pm. When Forrest still hadn’t shown with one minute to go I feared that he’d forgotten all about it, but he made it in time albeit slightly flushed. As everyone was getting settled he quickly explained in rather hushed tones that he’d been unable to find a suitable inexpensive daypack, so had instead treated himself to a massage by one of the young Peruvian girls around the main square. My annoyance quickly disapperated (I thought this was a real word but a squiggly red line forced me to do a quick google search and found out it is a J.K Rowling Harry Potterism!) as he explained that his experience was not too dissimilar to the Friends episode where Ross gives a massage using a toy truck and wooden spoons, and his highly qualified masseuse even managed to answer the phone and hold a five-minute telephone conversation while prodding poor Forrest as he lay on the makeshift massage table willing it to be over.
The briefing’s purpose was for us to meet our fellow trekkers and to introduce us to Gonzalo, our primary guide for the trek. Gonzalo explained the itinerary for the next few days, and talked us through what to expect from the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. He also explained that although we were given a 6kg weight limit for our duffel bags which were carried by the porters, 3kg of this was used up by sleeping bag and sleeping mat. As I desperately tried to work out what weight allowance this worked out at (6-3=?), I realised that not only was I not going to be able to take my entire toiletries case with me, I may also have to forgo a few packs of Tangfastics that we had bought for the trek especially. Nightmare. We spent the next couple of hours getting organised, packing and weighing our duffel bags, before going out for a Friday night all-you-can-eat Indian buffet and then bed.
As promised Gonzalo met us bright and early at 7am at the hotel and we boarded the bus for our Sacred Valley Tour. I was hoping for a couple more hours shut eye before we arrived at our first stop, however Gonzalo was a talking machine and proceeded to tell us everything and anything about Peru, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, the Inca Trail, Incas in general and even about the Peruvian election taking place that weekend. The first destination on our itinerary was a small Peruvian village, supported by Gap Community Projects. Gap employ the men from the village as porters, and support the women of the village by bringing through bus after bus of tourists all eager and willing to buy the local produce. We were given a talk on how alpaca wool was made and dyed, using natural substances available to the women, and then not so discreetly prodded towards the market stalls. Already completely alpaca-d up we couldn’t justify purchasing any more lama jumpers, however encouraged by Gonzalo we did buy a big packet of coca leaves which we were told help with acclimatization and altitude sickness. Objective #1 DONE!
After a couple of stops to take pictures of the stunning views of the Sacred Valley, we arrived at our first Inca citadel, Pisac, just as the weather turned sour allowing us to try out our very attractive ponchos bought especially for this eventuality as we explored. The impressive ruins gave us a small taste of what to expect over the next few days as we wandered around the ancient gardening terraces and the watchtower. The next stop was a yummy buffet lunch where we were treated to alpaca stew and cheesecake, before visiting a chicha (traditional corn beer) house. Here we were taught how to make the beer and even got to try a little of the two varieties, but the highlight was playing the traditional local game where the aim was the throw gold coins inside a frog’s mouth, earning points depending on where the coin fell. The game gave the group the opportunity to loosen up, as we laughed at each other’s attempts at the game, all of us failing to get the coin anywhere near the table let alone in the frog’s mouth! Sadly we were dragged away from the chicha house, and back on the bus in the direction of Ollantaytambo where we were to stay the night before the trek started the next day. Once we had checked in to the hotel, we went to explore the Inca Fortress of Ollantaytambo, an impressive ancient citadel suspended in the mountains with a view over the town and the surrounding valley. Here Gonzalo explained a little more about the Inca stones used in the buildings and walls, which were often enormous and didn’t need any form of cement or reinforcement due to the skilful masonry of the Incas, and the 12-cornered stone that we had been so disdainful of in Cusco became slightly more impressive. Left to our own devices we wandered further up the mountainside to explore and it wasn’t long before the guards were blowing their whistles at us to make us come down which we took as our cue to leave, and we all ventured in to the pretty little town for a group dinner before what was to be the latest night that week with bed at nine pm!
The Inca Trail Day One: It was time for the walking to begin, and feeling confident that not a single pebble would thwart me in my new walking boots I pushed aside thoughts of Josh and Kyle giving the Lost City trek a 7/10 difficulty level and the Inca Trail a NINE! We had only been walking for a few minutes when Gonzalo gathered us all around and asked us to take out three coca leaves for an offering. Slightly bemused, we reluctantly did as we were told as he explained that we were going to make an offering to Pachamama, or Mother Earth, to ensure safe passage on our trek, and the three leaves represented the three levels of Inca beliefs. After playing a little ditty on his panpipes, Gonzalo “made the offering” and instructed us to make our own and told us that we should leave our leaves at a place of our own choosing along the trail. I am aware that this all sounds a little corny and trite, but I was happy to accept any help that Pachamama had to offer me. The walking never really picked up any sort of momentum on the first day, as we all kept together as a group, which meant we had to stop and wait for everyone to catch up every ten minutes, frustrating Forrest but I was more than content with the relaxed walking pace. There were a couple of uphill climbs which, due to the altitude, left you a little out of puff, but we always stopped at the top for the rest of the group so it wasn’t really a problem, and compared to the horrific first day of the Lost City trek, the four hour walk to the first campsite really was a walk in the park. It wasn’t until we reached our first camp that we realised the enormity of the porter’s role. Not only did they carry our bags, all the camping equipment and cooking facilities (including the kitchen sink pretty much) but by the time we arrived they had already set up all of our tents, erected the kitchen and dining tents and begun cooking dinner and they still managed to find the energy for a game of football against anyone stupid enough to try their luck against the healthy lungs of an Andean porter. I was happy to sit on the sidelines, but Forrest eagerly joined in and contributed to the trekker’s win of 2-0. I doubt he will ever play a game of football in such beautiful surroundings, or with such little oxygen again. A snack of popcorn and hot chocolate was quickly followed by a beautiful dinner and a game of cards with our new friends, before we headed to bed in our little red tents.
The Inca Trail Day Two: We were woken in our tents by the porters bringing us a cup of coca tea and a bowl of warm water to wash ourselves, no doubt the best room service I have ever had! I guzzled down my coca tea, desperate for that much needed little kick of energy it would give me in order to tackle DEAD WOMAN’S PASS! With my iPod in and Rihanna powering me along, I was confident that I was going to make it, rather than roll back down the mountain like I feared in the Lost City. Rihanna was quickly replaced by Louie who nattered me all the way up the 2400m pass and ensured that I didn’t in fact become a Dead Woman as we tackled the steep mountainside together. Louie was an absolute star, encouraging me to walk that little bit further before resting and not only helped me up the pass but encouraged absolutely everyone she encountered who seemed to be struggling. For the last few hundred metres we were a little mismatched group of five, all bullied by Louie to the top. Our efforts paid off, for although the view was obscured by cloud we could see how far we’d climbed and after a few obligatory summit photos, we began our descent down to the camp with Melissa and Steve who had been waiting for us at the top. We arrived at camp at 11:30am to be greeted by Anna, Keith and Forrest who had already been there for an hour, and celebrated our success with Tangfastics as we waited for the rest of our group to arrive. The hardest day was over and we had finished before midday! A chilling afternoon reading and admiring the view was in order, before being introduced to our 21 porters without whom the trip would not be possible. That evening we had another delicious dinner and a game of Uno while we all crossed our fingers for clear skies as we had been promised an Astronomy lesson from Robin and Dennis. Unfortunately the clouds meant that it was to be another early night, but I can tell you know that as a Taurus I am stable, loyal and loving and as a Scorpio Forrest is clumsy… oh wait, that’s Astrology (I’m playing the game Mum, I’m playing the game!)
The Inca Trail Day Three: After our coca tea breakfast in bed we emerged from the tent to find that we were completely submerged in cloud which meant a pretty cold, damp and miserable start to the day. Day three brought us the longest day of walking and another steep pass to tackle, but we stopped often to explore the various Inca ruins along the way, and once at the top we all congregated together for a group summit photo that hadn’t been possible the previous day due to the different walking speeds of the group. It was a few hours walk to where we would have lunch which turned out to be pretty dull due to the clouds obscuring any view around us, but we did have to pass through an Inca tunnel carved through the cliff face which was pretty awesome. Lunch came as a welcome relief from the gloomy day outside, and we cheered ourselves up with a game of Celebrity Head as we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. I emerged victorious as I baffled everyone with my celebrity, Pablo Escobar, having thrown them with a ‘yes’ to ‘Am I from the Northern Hemisphere?’! After lunch we began our descent down to the final campsite, the aptly nicknamed ‘Gringo Killer’, but by this time the weather had cleared up slightly and we were able to admire the beautiful exotic orchids and other fauna that adorned the cloud forest’s path as we trekked on by. We quickly explored one final Inca ruin, believed to be a resting place for travellers heading for Machu Picchu, before heading to our final resting place, Winay Wayna or ‘Forever Young’. Forrest relished the opportunity for a semi-hot shower while the rest of us were content with supping down beers as we admired the view of Machu Picchu mountain, and it wasn’t long before we got a little rowdy and rounds were being bought for the group, the guides and the porters. After dinner we were treated to an immense cake by the porters as they sang traditional songs for us accompanied by Gonzalo on his panpipes. The music took a slightly weird turn when the music changed from Peruvian folk to Celine Dion’s classic My Heart Will Go On and we took this as our cue for bed.
The Inca Trail Day Four: Our earliest wake up at 3:30am as the porters had to quickly pack up all the tents and rush down to catch the first train back to Ollantaytambo. We joined the queue of people all waiting for the gates to open at 5:30am, where it seemed as though there would be a mad dash to the top. As it was, there was no pushing and shoving and we began our final hours walk towards the Sun Gate for our first sighting of Machu Picchu. Anna, Forrest and I were leading our pack and we had been walking for about 45 minutes when we heard laughing up ahead and figured that we must have reached the Sun Gate. It didn’t take us long to realise that it was in fact screaming as we heard someone shouting “just hold on to the tree, someone has gone to get help!”, and as we passed the commotion we realised that a girl (who turned out to be one of the girls we had tackled Dead Woman’s Pass with on day 2) had somehow fallen off the path and over the edge of the cliff. Luckily she had landed amongst the vegetation and was in no immediate danger so we didn’t hang around for fear that we would create further problems as people began to gather on the path behind us all jostling to get past, but Gonzalo and Fireman Keith were the heroes of the hour making a rope out of ponchos to rescue the girl, who had fallen about 25 feet and escaped with only a sprained wrist! She was incredibly lucky as a further three metres along the path there would have been no vegetation to break her fall, just a sheer drop down the valley, and we slowed our pace down a little after that as reaching the Sun Gate before the crowds for that perfect photo no longer seemed as important as just staying on the path.
When we reached the Sun Gate disappointingly our view of Machu Picchu was entirely masked by a thick covering of cloud and we couldn’t help but feel a little cheated out of the emotional reaction we had heard about upon first sighting of the impressive Inca citadel. We hung around at the top for a little while, but Gonzalo and Victor were convinced that the clouds weren’t going to clear for some time and we half-heartedly headed down to the ruins. Every now and then the clouds would shift offering us tantalising glimpses of the ruins before they moved and obscuring our view, but we managed to get a couple of photos with the buildings in the background rather than just mist. Disheartened, we cheered ourselves up with a breakfast of pizza and quiche and by the time our tour was about to start the clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining. Lead by Gonazalo we explored the ancient citadel and now that we could see more than a metre in front of us it wasn’t hard to understand why Machu Picchu attracted so much attention. Even the loud obnoxious American tourists in jeans and trainers couldn’t ruin the magical atmosphere as we relished in our accomplishment and in our beautiful surroundings. After the tour we headed off to see whether we could climb Huayna Pichu (like we’d not done enough of that!) but all I can say on that subject is WOW as I pass it over to Forrest’s Final Thought to describe the ascent up the awe-inspiring peak!
The five of us stupid enough to want to walk more left Machu Picchu and rushed down to Aguas Calientes to meet with the rest of or group who were waiting for us with Pisco Sours in a little café. After a hurried cocktail and a rushed lunch we headed for the train station, where we all got comfortable for our scenic train ride back through the mountains to Ollantaytambo. We patiently waited for about an hour without leaving the station when a woman walked past holding her camera up to the window shaking her head knowingly. The picture on screen was of landslide damage to the train tracks a little further down, and it quickly became apparent that we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Rather than be sensible, put our feet up and get some well-deserved shut eye while we waited for the train to set off, we of course decided to make the most of a pretty crappy situation and head for the nearest, cheapest bring-your-own-booze drinking establishment. All sixteen of the trekkers joined us, of varying ages from 23-69, and what followed was an extremely funny game of Kings while we drank away the hours until it was time to return to the train. For anyone not familiar with the wonderful drinking game that is Kings (also known as Kings Cup or Ring of Fire) I’ll give you a little idea of the rules; a deck of cards are placed face down around a pint glass, and one by one participating players chose a card which corresponds to an agreed rule, such as ‘8: Pick A Mate’, ‘9: Bust A Rhyme’ and ‘4: To The Floor’. It isn’t as simple a game as say Snap, however the rules are written down for everyone to see and every time a card is picked that person has the opportunity to see what the relevant rule is, but it still managed to baffle, confuse and eventually defeat the older members of the game as we all steadily got rowdier and rowdier. We became so absorbed in the hilarity of Margaret’s inability to grasp the concept of the game as she got drunker with every card picked that we lost track of time and realised that the train was about to leave without us. Although we were having ridiculous amounts of fun the thought of spending the night in Aguas Calientes was not appealing and we all half sprinted, half stumbled back to the train where our fellow passengers looked delighted to see such a well-behaved group of reprobates join them.
Two bottles of Pisco later and we had somehow convinced the rest of the members of our carriage to join us in a game of Toothless Vegetables. I think it was probably a case of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’, but in any case ‘bwocowi’ was a very welcome vegetable participant! I would like to tell you more about the three hour train journey back to Ollantaytambo but in truth it is slightly hazy, but that was definitely the altitude not the alcohol. When we eventually made it back to our bus six hours later than planned we were informed that the return journey to Cusco would take slightly longer than expected due to another landslide and everyone’s exhilaration turned into exhaustion and it was a rather subdued and quiet four hours back to Cusco. Arriving back to our hotel was a joyous occasion after such a long day and we fell in to bed, too exhausted to even have a shower, but extremely happy with our amazing Inca Trail.
We said goodbye to our Inca friends the next morning, promising to share photographs and memories once we returned back to normality. Feeling that there was more to see of Cusco, we fought away fatigue and headed off to Koricancha, where lamas, Inca ruins, Catholicism and modern art combined meant that we felt that we’d done enough touristy stuff to reward ourselves with a little pampering. Forrest went for a sexy massage with a sixty year old Peruvian man (HA!) while I went for a manicure and pedicure with Louie and Melissa. It wasn’t the most professional operation to say the least, just ask poor Louie who had opted for the less relaxing bikini wax, but you have to laugh when you end up filing your own nails, the dirty foot water is spilt over you when the girl’s phone falls in to it and you come out with nails of varying lengths and with varnish all over your hands with the exception of the nails! A massage was needed to relax after the ordeal, topped off with a fun night out with the girls and Briefcakes at Wild Rover.
Going to bed at six and getting up at eight is never a very good idea, and those of you who have ever met Forrest will understand how much of a worry it was for me when the alarm went off but luckily I managed to drag him out of bed and to the airport. Probably an even bigger accomplishment than the Inca Trail itself! It was back to Lima where we didn’t do very much at all apart from visit CrossFit Peru and CrossFit San Luis as Forrest was determined to save every single penny possible for steak and red wine in Buenos Aires!
We had an incredible experience on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and met some truly wonderful people who helped to make the trip an unforgettable experience, definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far!
Forrest’s Final Thought…
It was in Paddy’s Irish bar on an idle Wednesday afternoon in Cusco, whilst watching the Chelsea vs Man Utd champion’s league game with my fellow Mancunian Gap Yah’ers Kev and Juan Carlos, that the idea of climbing Huanya Picchu was first thrust upon me. The advice was simply that it was a “must do”, the views were spectacular, breath-taking even and far superior to those at the famous Sun Gate.
The first meeting with Gonzalo and our fellow Gap Adventurers in Cusco the night before we left for Ollantaytambo gave me the opportunity to enquire about the possibility of the climbing it. I was informed that it was a possibility, however it depended on many factors, namely the weather, the speed at we reached Machu Picchu on the final day (in order to sign up for it) and fact that only 400 people were allowed to climb it each day. So it was settled; we would reach Machu Picchu at break-neck speed on that final day, the weather would be great and we would for sure being amongst the first 400 people to sign up!
Unfortunately this was to prove not to be the case. Although we were amongst the first people on the Inca Trail to reach the Sun Gate and thus Machu Picchu on the final day, I was informed that people who spent the night in Aguas Calientes would have reached Machu Picchu at least an hour before us. In addition to this the weather situation, with so much cloud that we could barely see five feet in front of us, didn’t bode well. And so when Gonzalo, upon reaching the Machu Picchu, asked one the security guards to radio through and ask about the state of play, we received the dreaded news – Huanya Picchu was, despite the gloomy weather, all booked up. No!!!!!!!!!
Not to let this ruin my day, and with Gonzalo at the helm, we set upon our wonderful guided tour of Machu Picchu. As the day started to clear up and delightful blue skies appear, and although it was hard to feel disappointed with the stunning sights surrounding us, I couldn’t help but feel that day would have been made just that little bit more complete with views from Huanya Picchu, especially now the weather had significantly improved. However, the ritualistic coca leaf offering to the Incan gods at the start of trip must have paid off and our fortunes were to change. A fellow guide informed Gonzalo at the end of tour around Machu Picchu that, for some unknown reason, there were still places available to climb Huanya Picchu! Yes!!!!!!!
With most of our group understandably tired after four days of trekking, it was only to be Melissa, Lou, Anna, Bea and I who set off to the climb the awe-inspiring peak. On our way through the checkpoint at the bottom of Huanya Picchu, we all filled what looked like a huge visitor’s book with the usual details of name, passport number, nationality etc, as well as a signature. Although this may have simply been a formality, someone did inform us (which has not been verified) that we were actually signing a declaration in case we fell off and plummeted thousands of metres to our deaths; something which has happened before! We were told that the peak takes 45 minutes to climb, however we were pushed for time and decided were ascend as quickly as our tired legs and aching feet would take us. From afar Huanya Picchu looks almost impossible to climb due to its steep sides, however once we started climbing, steep seemed like an understatement. The windy paths and practically vertical stairs made for a difficult climb, however the Inca Trail had left us in good physical condition and although tired, we surprised ourselves with our fitness and speed and managed to overtake most other climbers with considerable ease. This, combined with our enthusiasm to reach the peak, meant that we arrived at the top in an impressive 29 minutes, a time that would have been even quicker if it wasn’t for the retards towards the top who obviously hadn’t quite mastered the art of climbing steps (you may think retards is a bit insulting however to say that they were going at a snail’s pace would be THE understatement of the century!).
At the top we were greeted with one of the most stunningly beautiful sights that one could ever see! Kev and Juan Carlos were not wrong, spectacular and breath-taking it was indeed and in my opinion, not just a “must do” for anyone visiting Machu Picchu but a “must do” for anyone full stop! It was only here you could grasp in its entirety the awesome landscape surrounding the lost city of Machu Picchu, and appreciate the brilliance and aesthetics of Machu Picchu itself. This view was quite simply the highlight of my Gap Yah adventure thus far!
p.s To those you wondering about my footwear situation on the Inca Trail after the now infamous Ciudad Perdida in Colombia, I am pleased to inform you that this hike went without a glitch. The purchase of some proper hiking shoes proved to be a great call, and although this will surprise and maybe even disappoint some of you, I am pleased to report that I did not stumble, fall or injure myself throughout the whole trek. Needless to say, Senor Clumsy is no more, dead. And anyone who continues to use the clumsy tag will be subject to the UK’s libel laws.
