Cusco and Machu Picchu
Trip Start
Jun 15, 2008
1
11
102
Trip End
Jun 14, 2009
Cuzco,
Peru
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Arrived in Cuzco after as 22hour bus journey and from reading the travel books we were expecting very little air and would find it hard to breath. So when we got off the bus and realised we had plenty of air we started getting cocky and rubbishing altitude sickness - oh how wrong we were!!! About an hour later i could feel a tightening around the chest and noticed that my breaths were shallower than normal and sarah had a little bit of a headache but we were still good at that point. After ringing Sarah´s parents and Aunties in Chicago we went for lunch and i tried Guinea Pig (wont be doing that aghain in a hurry and Sarah had a nice steak). We felt a bit tired after that and but it down to the bus journey so went for a short nap. Later on we went for dinner but alarm bells started to ring cause i was not at all hungry! and our legs felt heavy and Sarah´s headache was still there. After dinner we were so tired we went straight back to the hostel but my stomach was playing havok with me churning all night and we both had fevers, so really no sleep all that night.
14-07-08
Got up, both of us feeling like we had gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson and limped down for breakfast
Chapel of San Blas alter
. Then came our saviour Cocoa Tea!! This stuff is great within a half hour my stomach had stopped churning Sarah´s headache had dissapeared and we were able to get a few hours shut eye. The travel books say that acclimitisation can take between 2-3days and that staying in bed for a day is often the best way to overcome it-so we did just that. Going for dinner now and both of us are feeling a lot better but still tired. 15-07-08
Dermot had a rough night last night with a fever. When we got up in the morning we were acclimatised so we went around Cuzco town to see the sights. The Plaza de Armas is lovely. We took a few phots there and we'll post them up soon. Later we walked up towards San Blas and had lunch in Jack's Cafe which is recommended in the Lonely Planet. Lunch was fab, after we looked for and found the old inka rock with 12 sides and then up to the Church in San Blas to see the famous wooden pulpet that was made of 1200pieces and over 4 years- i gotta say it was impressive. The rest of the day we spent chilling out and walking around and people watching.
16-07-08
We had booked a trip to the sacred Valley today so at 8.45am we set off by minibus with a group firstly to the area called Pisac where we climbed up the side of a mountain to see the remains of an Inka astrological site. We both started getting really worried for Friday cause the short walk up the mountain had both of us out of breath. Next we travelled down to Pisac town where the annual festival was in full swing so the bus stopped and we were able to take good photos and videos of the dancing on the streets
Chapel of San Blas alter2
. Next we travelled to Urumbaba where we had all you could eat lunch for 4 euro equivalent. 16-07-08
We just took it easy today and sorted our stuff out for the Inca trail.
18-07-08
Inca trail day 1!
We were collected from our hostel at 6am and drove for about 2 hrs to Ollantaytambo. Sarah had been bursting for the loo for the last half hour due to the diamox. We had breakfast there and then continued by bus to KM82 the start of the 4 day Inca Trail. We had a few mins to organise our things meet the group and then started the trail. There were 16 people in the Peru Treks group(family), 6 Irish,4 Americans, 4 Dutch, 1 Scot and 1 New Zealander for which we had 2 guides, one cook and one assistant cook and 21 porters! - see the picture of the porter carrying the gas canister, these guys really earned every penny. The first day was supposed to be easy and from a climbing point of view it was but the heat and the lack of oxygen kinda got to us abit. It was clear from the off that we were not all going to be hiking together and it soon came to a status quo of the fast group then the Irish rear guard made up of Stephen Cliona Sarah and myself with Diane from Wisconsin aged 58 holding up the very rear guard. We were even slower than Dan, Diane's son who is a minor league baseball player with a leg injury and was using his pole as a crutch. We got to the first campsite at about 5pm and after changing, having a few Cusqueña's, dinner and a few card games we bedded down for the night as our wake up call was for 5am
Pulpit of chapel of San Blas
. That night Sarah found it cold in the tent but i was roasting- (probably due to the Cusqueñas!).19-07-08
Inca trail day 2!
We got up and had breakfast and started off early. Dan and Diane had left 2 hours earlier than everyone else as Diane had really struggled the previous day. We cought up with them after two hours at the first resting place. Diane pulled out of the trail at that point and had to go back down by a combination of horse riding and walking with the second guide who we didn't see again until the last day at Machu Picchu. So that made the 4 of us literally Paddy last in the group. We had a great system going for us though we used to take breaks every 15m altitude climbed - thanks to the watch Ronan got me (thanks man it's really cool). The second day we had to go up 1200m to Dead woman's pass then down 2 hours to the second campsite. We'll it took us an extra hour to get to the summit but we did it and the feeling of accomplishment was great. We decended towards the second campsite but before we got there they sent some of the porters looking for us to help carry the bags to lighten our loads. Cliona and Sarah gave up there bags and we got to the second campsite at about 4.30pm. We had lunch then siesta then dinner at 7. The cook Braulio was excellent. We all went to bed early as we were so wrecked.
20-07-08
Inca trail day 3!
Before i start on day three i just gotta thank some people(Nicola,Paul and James- thanks for advising us to buy head torches and hydration packs, they were well worth it)
San Blaa
. Anyhow up early again and headed off to see so cool Inca ruins and onto the second pass. We had lunch then onto the third pass. The legs were getting weary now and Cliona had been sick all day so we were travelling slower but getting there quicker as we took less breaks. After the third pass we saw another Inca site then had to decend 1000m to Wiñay Wayna the third campsite. An hour away from the campsite again the porters had to come and guide us home and this time only i carried my bags the full distance Sarah and the rest all handed their bags to the porters. The campsite was very large with about 20 camps there. We met up with Una a friend of Stephen's and Cliona's that had been on a different tour group and went to the pub for the one! Later we had dinner and we had to thank the porters and cooks and guides for all their work as we wouldn't be seeing them after tomorrow morning. Then back to the pub for a few more Cusqueña´s!! Wake up time was to be at 3.30am so we headed to bed at around 11pm. 21-07-08
Inca trail day 4 Machu Picchu!
Bright eyed and bushy tailed we were first up and first ready for the off. We left the camp at 4.15am and headed down to the park check point to queue until the checkpoint opened at 5.30am. Once through the checkpoint Sarah and I set the pace with the rest of the group struggling to keep up. The guide was shocked and asked how come today we were able to go so quick to which the reply was "Cusqueña's" but i reckon the cold air of the morning before sunrise made it easier. We arrived at the sungate just as dawn was coming and we took some photos there looking down on Machu Picchu before the place was thronged with tourists. Another 30mins or so and we were down at the location where the postcard photos of Machu Picchu are taken from.
