The Inca trail

Not a good start to our adventure.  Both Jen and Stew woke up with diarrhoea and vomiting in the morning but bravely swolled some immodium and boarded the bus for the drive to kilometer 82 on the Cusco-Macchu Piccu Railroad where the famous "Camino de Incas" starts from.  Breakfast was laid out for us on the bank of the Urubumba River and we met the rest of the group that we would be travelling with - two American couples in their 50´s, a young American couple and Australian couple in their 20´s and an American father and his 30 year old daughter.  Crossing a suspension bridge over the river we started out on the first day of the trek which involved a fairly gentle (Viv´s perception!) up and down walk before lunch which was a very impressive affair set up in a tent with camping chairs around the table.  This was just a sample of the incredible food they managed to produce for us over the next four days in the middle of nowhere.  That afternoon was a very tough, never ending slog up 500 m of stairs to L´luchapampa, our spectacular camping spot for the night, surrounded by glacial peaks at an altitude of 3700 m having walked 15 km and climbed 900 m overall.  After dinner we crawled into our tents (-5degrees!) early to try get as much sleep as we could before our next early morning start which would involve a climb up the remaining 500m of Dead Woman's Pass to an altitude of 4200m - the highest point on the trail.  And so we got into the rhythym of this very challenging but incredible walk to Macchu Piccu.   Another 15km and 900 m of climbing on day 2 and 10 km and a 1000m descent on day 3 with spectacular scenery along the way from the Andean highlands down to the cloud forest with a number of impressive Inca archeology sites along the way, villages, colourful  local people going about their everyday lives, pack donkeys and Llamas. 
Our group was great and we had lots of fun along the way with Stew in the dining tent at night regailing us with stories and jokes.  Poor he and Jen really battled over the 3 days with the stomach bug which made the walk even more challenging.  To put it into perspective - both felt that it was even more challenging than their Kilimanjaro climb!   It was amazing as we negotiated the sometimes almost vertical steps up and down, to see the porters (21 of them in all) jogging passed us in sandles with 25 kg packs on their backs!  We could not fault the organisation or the staff.  Eric our Andean leader was a great storyteller and on the cliff tops and Inca terraces, brought the history of the Incas alive for us.  On day 4 we awoke at 3.30 a.m. as we wanted to be one of the first groups to arrive at the Sun Gate of Macchu Piccu - a two hour platoon-paced walk away through the early morning jungle surrounded by the wakening insects and birdlife.   We were blessed with wonderful weather along the way and this morning was no different as we finally emerged through the Sun Gate and there lay Macchu Piccu below us in all its glory.  Spent the morning exploring the ruins, had a lovely lunch and made our way down to the village where we drank Pisco sours with the group to celebrate and caught the train back to Cusco in the early evening as dusk fell on the magnificent mountainside.  It was great to sink our weary bodies into a hot bath and onto a soft mattress for a good nights sleep.   Today has been an admin day catching up with washing and packing for the next part our adventure.  Off to Puno and Lake Titicaca in the morning on the First Class Bus.