Finally the Inca Trek....

Well what an experience the Inca trek was. It was a hard little trip, some really tough moments, but definitely one of the best experiences in my life. After getting to the entrance at 3pm, Cessar and I power-walked the 12kms in 3 hours. The first day wasn't that hard, we arrived at camp just before dark, with lots of claps from the rest of the guy. It was great to see them all again after all the hassles that I'd been though.
The second day was probably the hardest, it was another 12kms, but most of it was up hill. Just think of a million steps, and that's what it was like. The weather was pretty miserable through that morning, but by the time that we had reach the highest point the weather had cleared. The weather is so temperamental up there, one minute it's pissing down, then the sun is out.
I can't complain too much, my backpack was just over 6kgs, but the poor porters were carrying at least 15kg, and they needed to leave after us, and arrive at camp before us to set up the tents and get the food prepared. So you would regularly see them running to get in front of you.
Talking of food, it was amazing, so much great food. I gave Alpaca meat a try, and I was the tour's garbage can, always knocking back others leftovers.
The 3rd day was probably one of the best, lots of downhill steps and some amazing scenery. I was a bit worried about the weather, the last stretch before camp on the 3rd day it absolutely pissed down. All you could do was kept your head down and walk.
Every night on the trek it rained, but the last night was the worrying one, I had visions of Machu Picchu being completed covered in mist. We woke up at 4am on the final day, which was the earliest time, after a 5.30am and 5am start on the previous 2 days. Actually it was very weird, because even though we were getting up pretty early, we were expected to go to bed at 8-9pm. This didn't really work for me, and the rain on the tent meant it was hard to get a proper night sleep anyway.
We arrived at the final check point at 5am, and started through when it opened at 5.30am. Our group was at the front, so I decided to speed to the front (I tended to be near the front for the whole tour...except for the first day of course!) for the 5km walk before I got to Machu Picchu.
I managed to be the first to the Sun gate, which is the place that you can first see Machu Picchu below, but unfortunately there was loads of mist at 6am in the morning, so I had to wait for another tour leader to arrive to make sure I was heading in the right direction. After being there was 10 minutes, the mist gradually move, so you could start to see it.
We spent the morning taking lots of happy-snappys and learning about the site. I might be the first person that has carried Vegemite to Machu Picchu, hopefully Kraft might be able to donate a few jars for my effort.
After a few hours of a guided tour, the dutch sisters, Ishka, Sasha and me decided to climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain which gives you a great view of the whole area. The way up was reasonable tough..a 40 minute hike , but the way down was one of the scariest things I have ever done. The top section, the stairs were so steep and small that you needed to crawl down to feel like you were in control. It was great to finally get down after that, even though it was great to do it. Wayna Picchu was the hardest stretch for me, after 3 days of solid walking it topped it off for my body, we were all pretty buggered at the bottom.
One last thing that capped off the tour was the bus ride down to Aguas Calientes, down the mountain. A little kid ran down the mountain in Peruvian gear, going through a path while we snaked down the mountain. This was a fair effort, the bus ride was about 20 minutes, all this to earn himself a few bucks at the bottom when he jumped on the bus...and supposedly he does this a few times a day.

Having 2 passports isn't always a good thing

When I check the ticket I realised that I had used my Aussie passport for the trek, these details were on the ticket, and the problem was that my Aussie passport was in the safe of my hotel back in Cuzco. This was a big problem I was told by my guides...I might not get in. I tried to get in, but the rangers wouldn't have a bar of it...so while the rest of the group went through, I was standing around like a tit. Anyway, after some deliberation by the guides, and a call back to the company in Cuzco, the only thing that could be done was head back to Cuzco to pick up the Aussie passport. As you could imagine, I was pretty deflated, but was lucky that the assistant guide, Cessar, was such a top bloke. With the help of Mr Speedy González taxi driver we made the return trip back to Cuzco, and were back at the start by 3pm, only 4 hours after we should of started. The taxi ride cost 120 soles, about 40 bucks, so it wasn't that bad after the trouble I got myself in. The trouble gave me a chance to get to know Cessar and now I have a Machu Picchu entrance stamp on both of my passports for the trouble..I bet not too many people can say that!

Start of the Inca trek

Everything worked out great last Wednesday, I got picked up at the hotel 6am. I managed to organise everything the night before so I was all set. There was 13 others in the group, and everyone kept fairly quiet for the bus ride, except for Cristal (from Vancouver) and me. She had slept in so she was too amped, and I was too excited to sleep.

We arrived at km 82 at about 10am after stopped in Urubamba for brekkie, and it was great to see the sign showing us that we were about to start the trek, all we needed to do was show our passport and ticket to the park rangers so we could begin the 45km walk over the next 4 days.

Two Nations Restaurant

I have managed to find my favourite restaurant on the trip so far, it not just because it's extremely cheap, but that is one very good reason. The food and the service is great, and the place is pretty funky as well. Funny enough, the 2 nations that it refers to is Peru and Australia. I believe an Aussie bloke met this Peruvian sheila, and the rest is history.
I have eaten there the last 2 meals, and for 5 soles at lunch, or 10 soles at dinner (6 soles to a pound) you get garlic bread, soup, a choice of mains and a drink, how can you go wrong with that. To think I was eating a crappy pizza for 18 soles alone earlier in the week! They used all good quality stuff, and they wash all the veges in purified water, which is good to know..I don't want to be sick again on this trip! Anyway I only have one more meal until I embark on the Inca trail tomorrow morning, so I will be heading to the 2 Nations again tonight. I tell ya, I wasn't expecting to find an 'Aussie Burger' in South America....beetroot here we come!

Cuzco the city of Museums

Over the last 2 days I have managed to visit 7 museums of varying quality with a ticket (boletoturistico) bought to access 6 of them. The only 1 that I thought was any good was the one outside of of 6, Convent of Santo Domingo, which has some interesting stuff on the Incas, and the best painting out of any of the museums. The ticket costs 70 soles, or 35 if your a student, thank's again STA! It also good for some of the Inca ruins, but to access the fancy churches in the main square of Cuzco you have to pay extra, gotta love the catholic church trying to make a few extra bucks, like they need it! Besides getting some culture into this trip, I visited the closest Inca ruins to Cuzco, Sacsayhuaman, try saying that after a couple of cervesas. It is only about a 15 minute walk from the town, but pretty good exercise as it's all up hill. I had a good time checking it out, but this young Peruvian soon-to-be shaman took a liking to me, so I spent 25 minutes with him practising condor arm waves and depth breaths, while he told me some history of Cuzco. I decided against one of his little practises, he said that urinating is one way of releasing negative energy, but I told him that I released all my negative energy earlier.

Pisac to lift the spirits

Now you can't go nearly 4 months travelling alone to have a few down days along the way, and due partly to my fault yesterday was one of them. The day wasn't bad, it just that since I'm not staying in a hostel, I'm having dinner by myself the last few nights, and in a restaurant, that can sometime be a bit off-putting. I actually don't mind it, I picked a small little place, decided to have a pizza and cheer on Peru as they played Paraguay in the 2010 football world cup qualifying...they have a bloody long road in South America! Anyway, 5 minutes after I sat down, a group of 9 sat down from some tour..filling out the whole of the floor, so I felt like I had crashed their party, plus the service towards me was non-existent after that.
This morning didn't start off in a good way either, I went to buy a couple of bottles of water and a chocolate bar from a supermarket, but I only had a 50 sole note, with the goods coming to just under a 5er. Now when I pulled out the note the bloke looked like I'd pulled out a knife. So I couldn't buy the stuff, so I walked out of the store f'ing and blinding...unfortunately not in Spanish!
Thankfully the rest of my day was fantastic. I took a little bus to Pisac, only 32kms from Cuzco, but a good hour journey with it travelling at a snails pace up the winding road. I got to see Peruvians with Lamas or Alpacas..I can't tell the bloody difference, their mud brick houses with pigs and dogs running around.
Pisac has a massive market on Sundays, but I decided to quickly bypass this, and hike up and see the Inca ruins, which is a 5km walk up and a fairly difficult one especially in the mid-day sun. It took about 2 hours to climb and see everything. The walk was also good, I met a really cool French couple on the way, it was great to have a chat with someone after a day cruising by myself. We then shared a taxi back down to Pisac and had a quick walk around the market, I didn't look too hard, but there was some very cool stuff there.
After have a drink with them at their funky hotel, I just caught the bus back to Cuzco, and I meet some cool Israelis on the bus. It's the people that make travelling fun they say.....

A Kangaroo..the symbol of the world!

Now, I have done a bit of travel over the last 10 years, and one symbol keeps popping up all over the world, from Japan, Australia (funnily enough), Belgium, Slovenia, England and now in Peru, Lima. Now using a Kangaroo from a transport company, I can kind of understand, even if it's in Japan..but this latest one in Peru was pretty strange to me when I saw it. I bought my plane ticket from Lima to Peru in this travel agent, and they had this company selling travel insurance I believe..the company was called EuroAmerican whatever....using a Kangaroo as their symbol. Who thinks of this? What's a Kangaroo got to do with, America, Europe or Peru for that matter!