Lares Trek - Machu Picchu
Trip Start
Jul 25, 2007
1
28
124
Trip End
Ongoing
Machu Picchu,
Peru
Monday, September 17, 2007
THE GROUP
We now consisted of myself & Enda, Andy & John (Irish), Daniell & Michelle (Swiss), Ray & Janine (Australian), Carey & Terra (American) and Charlie & Lizzie (English). W had two guides Paull and Mauro, and then a team of 7 lads...4 horsemen and 3 porters
DAY 1... 11km walking distance
We journey through Pisac to Calca for about 2hrs where we stop for breakfast
2
. Calca was in the middle of the Sacred Valley where there are fab views of the famous Sacred Valley of the Inkas and the farmed terraces of Pisac. We went to the local market here where we bought various toys & school supplies for the children we would be visiting in villages and schools along the trek. We then had breakfast and we set off in the bus for an hour to reach start of our hike.We had a nice soft hike for 2-3 hours going through an old Inca road of Totora Canyon, where we passed some skulls and bones of old Incas who had been buried in the mountain. After 3 hrs we met up with bus again (yes this hike sounds nice & easy so far...we thought the same but they were only breaking us in!), which took us to Lares Hot Springs to relax and then eat lunch. These natural Thermal baths ranged in temp from 25, 35 and 55 degress celcius which you can see Enda enjoying! Lunch was fab, and we were totally amazed at what the porters could turn out on such little resources. By the way at this stage Andy (one of the Irish lads) was already feeling fairly rough. He had found the morning trekking tough and didnt seem to be improving.
After lunch we walked for 3 more hours to Huacahuasi ( 3,700 mts ). During this part of trek Andy got progressively worse, was constantly short of breath and was finding it tough to walk. He had headache & was taking tablets every few hours as well as coco leaves & smelling some herbal lotion Paull our guide had
3
. Got to Huacahausi round 5.30pm where we had our first camp site near this community (actually the porters had our tents up when we arrived, a bowl of hot water & soap outside our tents, and the in the eating tent had hot chocolate, coffee, tea biscuits and popcorn all ready for us...they were outstanding!). So we freshen up in tent using the old reliable baby wipes and change into sleeping gear...all of which is watched by nosey local kids poking their heads in tent door. You say goodbye to them hoping they´ll leave but no such luck. Enda was in process of cleaning his nether region with baby wipes absolutely bollock naked, and still they watched on...guess they never see white willies in Peru, it was a new sight for them! By now Andy was feeling totally shit and had gone to bed wasnt fit to eat or drink so went to his tent straight away.Then another superb display of culinery skills and dinner was brought out...soup for starters with garlic bread, main course of rice, chicken in lovely sauce, tomatoe & cucumber salad, yukka (local potatoe cooked like spicey wedges), avocado, onion & tomatoe salad, and a spanish tortilla (like quiche)...think there was more too but cant remember.... all this cooked on 2 ring gas stove and served hot. Then after dinner there were various teas, coffee, hot chocolate etc. We mostly drank coco tea it helps with digestion and the altitude. Then it was off to bed about 8.30-9pm. Slept like a log...but poor Enda kept managing to ´slide´out of his sleeping bag dont know how, he blamed it on the sleeping bag liner!!
Meat Market in Calca
! DAY 2... 14km walking distance
Huacahuasi - Ipsaychocha Pass 4,400m - Ipsaycocha Lake-Patacancha
We wake up at 6:00 am for an early breakfast so we can start walking around 7:00am. We are all im tent having breakfast when John (Andy´s friend comes in ). We ask him how Andy is but apperntly he´s no better. He was reciting the alphabet in his sleep and totally raving. Andy eventually makes his way to the breakfast tent, stumbling and staggering on his way!
He doesnt look the may west at all, but the guide encourages him to get some food and hot drinks into him. Its then decided it might be better if Andy is put on one of the horses for the next stage as its the highest part of our trek. so they saddle up a horse for him. We then realise how out of it he is when Andy´s main concern is ´what is the name of the horse´! He consoles himself in answering his own question, and says ´the horses name is Andy´! With a little help from the lads he is thrown up on the horse and sets off passing us poor trekkers out as we pant our way along.
After a while walking uphill we stop for a short visit of Huacahuasi community, where Paull brought us to a lady´s house and we see the traditional lifestyle in the Andes
Little Village near Totora Canyon
. He explained about the ancient customs and traditions, ancestral secrets for farming activities, how to preserve their products, the modus-vivendus of their villagers , the process of weavings with their significances. The lady brings us into her house (very dark, smoky and smelly). She has lama skins hanging from the roof, a pet lamb running round her ankles, embers buring in the fire, and a guinea pig or ten running round her bedroom part of house! (guinea pig is a speciality here and served in most restaurants...tastes quite nice actaully, more on that later).Then its fairly tough constant uphill climbing until we arrive to the pass, where there are wonderful views of the mountains and stone houses and enclosures lie scattered along the valley bottom. We stop here beside a wee lake to eat some snack and have drink.
Then we continue climbing for 3hrs ½ on to Ibsaycocha pass ( 4,400 meter ), the hardest part of the trek. Its kinda cold & very breathless for duration of this part.
Inca Ritual
When we get to the top Paull our guide does an Inca ritual with us. We all gather a stone and build a heap or pile (largest stones on bottom, smaller to top) in respect to the mountains for allowing us to reach the top safely etc. He then opens up a bag of coco leaves & we each take three leaves
Market Area in Calca
. You hold the leaves like a hand of cards, with the stem part between your thumb & forefinger. You then think of a mountain or scenic place at home (Clare hills or Benbulbin) and ask Pacha Mama (mother earth) to look after those at home. Before you place the leaves in the centre of our rock formation you hold the leaves up and blow through them. First raising them to the left and blowing a breath to the moon, then raising them to the right and blowing a breath to the sun. Finally you place your 3 leaves in the centre... and hopefully Pacha Mama has being looking after you all safely since!!!We then began the descent to Ipsaycocha lake for our lunch. When we get here Andy is in a tent totally out of it. His pulse is really fast & blood pressure high. He ends up being put on the oxygen tank but it doesnt do him much good. Hes no longer fit to sit on a horse so everyone starts worrying a bit & wondering how the hell we´ll get him down. First the lads start talking about making a stretcher out of the tents and poles....but to no avail. At this stage his friend John was also lying in a heap on the ground not feeling well at all either!!! Eventually its decided that the porters will carry him down on their backs!!! These wee Peruvian porters are only 5ft max! One of them grabs a blanket, puts its under Andys arse & throws him up on his back like a little bay, and starts running
Market scene in Calca
. It ends up that Mauro (our second guide) and 3 other porters all go with Andy aswell as his friend John. It leaves a worried Paull (our guide) with the remaining 10 of us, and only 3 porters to do the work of 7...dismantling tents getting horses ready etc!
After all that settles down we head on our way (well whats left of us anyway...we were beginning to wonder were myself & Enda next seeing the Irish were dropping like flies!) and continue for 3 hrs more to get to the Patacancha community. As we walk we pass children herding llamas and alpacas high in the mountains near our second night camping.(3,700.meters). Its gas kids appear out of nowhere, come sprinting down mountains seeing what we´ll give them...sweets, treats toys etc. Charlie (the English lad) was giving out marbles along the way...some kids thought they were sweets though so they had to be swifly taken from there mouths!!! Anyway got to campsite and set up for our 2nd nite.
Another fab dinner...soup, breads, spaghetti bolognaise, pizza, tortilla...so much food. Then we finished off with a local speciality drink. Cant remember name in Spanish, but apples, lemons, sugar & cinamon are all boiled in water for few mins. They are then added to hot black tea. You pour the tea in your cup and then add rum...it was fab. We´ll make it for ye when we get home
Anyone for a spud?
. Gorgeous without the rum too, real winter warmer. Then it was off to bed again.DAY 3.... 16km walking distance
Got up at 6am and had breakfast. After breakfast we had to give some of the toys to the local kids who had gathered around our tents with their mothers. It was kinda shit, because we though the toys we bought were being given to a school alone, where the teachers would be in charge of distributing them at play time etc.
But Paull the guide decided we should give these kids something, so they were handed one thing each, like 1 marker, 1 hair bobbin, 1 dinky....of course the kids who got a biro were pissed off with the kids who got a dinky car and it wasnt long before the tears started! So we gave them a football & Paull got them all in a group & up to the local sandy football pitch...once the football came out the tears dried up thank God!
Willoq Primary School
So off we went walking, this day was all downhill. Next stop off was a village called Willoq which is famous for her people clothed in the famous red ponchos. The first porters for the Inca trail ages ago came from here and most of them they only speak Quechua the language of the Incas.
We stopped off at a primary school in Willoq
They have loads of spuds!
. It was better than we thought it would be, but was still very poor in comparison to our schools at home. The kids were very dirty, snotty noses etc. (We really should have brought baby wipes instead of toys...but you couldn´t keep them in supply of baby wipes, seriously!)Alot of children were barefoot and their feet were very rough looking. I´d say the skin on their feet was tough than soles of our shoes...no messing. Alot of dodgy toenails, or no toenails at all, but they seemd happy out. They all had colourful native style Peruvain tops on, and then the boys wore beige trousers made out of barley bags. They sang a song for us and their teacher (man in his 70´s) did a native Quecheun drama piece about a lama being sacraficed. He looked gas, and all the kids were pissing themselves at him (while we tried to compose ourselves and not giggle too!)
We brought them a box of lego and a class football, and white board markers for the teacher. Others brought them colouring pencils, biro´s, pencil sharpeners, toys etc. They were delighted with all the goods & their eyes really lit up...(not like the kids at home in school who feel they should be given a day out in waterworld once a week!)
We took loads of photos & then they went totally wild (doubt the teacher was too impressed with us disturboin his class!). They loved the digital camers being able to see themselves back on the screen and really played up to us
Over 4000 different types!
. Some of the girls were shy, but most of the boys were posing & shite-hawking trying to get us to take photos & videos of them. Check out the photos.Our 16km walk down to Ollantaytambo village took 5hrs and was much lower helping with the breathing ( 2900 m). On the way down we met a local 68year man who was wandering the roads, he was pissed on the local beverage called ´Pisco´and his mouth was full of coco leaves, which they all chew over here. Paull was talking to him & he read our future by reading the coco leaves. He said we were going to have a safe journey & that our sick friend (aka Andy!) was going to be ok! At this point we felt fully reassured!!!!!!!
We had lunch then in Ollantaytambo( an amazing town in the heart of the Sacred Valley with huge Inca remains). For those interested in the history part here is an excerpt (if not, just skip the italics!)...
"Ollantaytambo was a very important fortified city, built as a "tanpu" and also in order to enable control of the roads toward the "Antisuyo" (jungle). According to many historians also in order to allow protection of the great Inkan Capital from attacks of the "Antis", their worst enemies. Today, its name as "fortress" is common, which in practice is improper because it did not have just a warlike or protective duty; but, that of a complex city with an ample urban sector and religious temples
Market Scene in Calca 1
. As a fortified city, it had some protective elements, among them a protective wall with few entrances surrounding the town, many "pukaras" or strongholds and watch towers strategically located. Besides, for the noble population dwelling in this city there was a very ample and well planned urban sector, a plaza surrounded by important buildings and toward the town's south an impressive "Kallanka"; that is, a building which dimensions are colossal and completely roofed. It served as a lodge and perhaps also as barracks for the numerous army of the region.The present-day town is located in the same site where the urban sector was in Inkan times. It is really interesting because it is the only spot in Peru where it is possible to find people living in the same buildings that served as homes for the nobility of the Inkan Society. Some of its narrow streets still keep their water channels where very clean water flowed for the population use; they are by the middle or at one side. The streets still maintain their Inkan names. The town was divided in rectangular blocks with a very well planned geometrical layout giving the impression of being a town designed by modern architects. Every block was compound of two "kanchas" (apartments); the street gates had double jamb doorways which indicate that those were real palaces with rooms around a central patio. At least the lower part of the buildings is original and made with "pirka" type walls that were covered with a clay coat and possibly also had mural paintings
A fine set of balls on this bull!
. Today, their thatched roofs were replaced by red tiles and it is possible to breath a certain air of modernity as the town has electricity and tap water; but in short, the town has still an Inkan taste. Some decades ago in Ollantaytambo, a worldwide meeting of the "Indian" representatives was carried out and they declared this town as the " World Capital of Indianity". By that time there were some efforts willing to help for an effective conservation of original structures; in practice, it is so little what was and is done for that purpose, and it is so sad to prove that many of its innate elements are being lost slowly.Towards the town's east is the Pinkuylluna hill (pinkuyllo = wind musical instrument similar to the "quena" or Andean flute) where an imposing huge building stands out and about which there is a lot of myth. Some very imaginative "scholars" argue that it's been a school, a hospital some others, jail others, and even a hurling precipice!; according to archaeology and the Inkan architectonic characterization it was a "Qollqa" or "Pirwa"; that is, a granary or storehouse for food, clothing and weapons for local army. It has many doorways and openings that allowed ventilation, and surely they were built up there to enable protection of the stored goods. Likewise, some other smaller buildings are located in outstanding spots or angles of the mountain that served as watchtowers for controlling movement of persons in the valley"
The town was really amazing though and evidence of Inca civilisation was unbelievable
The local laundry in Totora Canyon
. All the houses had Inca foundations, the streets were all built Inca style with channels in the centre to allow water to flow through...would love to have stayed in this village for few nights but had to plod on. Had lunch in this town (by which time my feet were destroyed with blisters after all the down hill trekking...(uphill tough on lungs, downhill rips your feet!) After lunch we got the train and had a really scenic journey to Aguas Calientes (approx 90 minutes journey.) On arrival we checked into our hostal for the night with hot showers! Was so nice not having a ´babywipe´shower! Had dinner theer and wandered round the town. Then it was off to bed again as we had to be up at 4.30am to catch bus up to Machu Picchu.DAY 4 ... MACHU PICCHU
Up at 4.30am for breakfast before taking the early bus directly to Machupicchu. Got to our goal and it was pissing from the Heavens...the rain was bouncing back up off the ground! It´s still 15 mins walk up from here to the famous view from the terraces at the end of the trail. At first the view of the citadel was covererd in cloud but then a gentle breeze came & cleared away the cloud. It was unreal. Felt quite eerie and mystical and as the mist moved and Mach Picchu appeared you could hear everyone gasping with the view before them.
We were snap happy taking oads of phots...dressed in our waterproof leggings and jackets...we were looking hot!!
Walking through the Canyon
!We got bit carried away taking photos then realised Paull was calling myself & Enda as he was about to give talk on the place, and the rset of our group were all gathered round him. Anyway when we got over hadnt the group bought two wee chocolate cakes and had candles in them and started singing happy birthday to myself & Enda.... I nearly started crying the tit that I am, but it was all very emotional!!!. So we blew out our candles & then they gave us a bottle of beer each...at 6am! It was so thoughtful and really made our journey to Machu Picchu all the more touching.
Machu Picchu itself left us lost for words. Its a very humbling place & you feel quite ignornant in the presence of these masterful & highly intelligent civilisation. We´ll let the photos do the talking. Enjoy xoxo
