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Next day 5am wake up and after
breakfast we set off hiking, that was after one of the lads in
our group got charged at by a local bull with horns that just
seemed to be roaming about down the street. Soon woke him up.
We walked probably 8 hours in
total climbing some serious elevations, steps of all sizes,
walking along some very narrow high edges as well as various
river/gorge crossings that you had to walk a high beam with NO
rails. You can see why this trip had no porters or donkeys
carrying our stuff, there’s no way they could have made the
climb. The manual cable bridge across the rivers was good fun…
We also saw some amazing views through the valley, really
spectacular. That made the trip worthwhile! We rolled into a shanty town
(that had smooth paths, yet unmade roads, how bizarre), dirty,
sweaty and hoping for a hot shower. We were surprised as the shanty
street called our home for the night had luke warm water… So a
good feed and bed.
Another early start, trek not
as long this day so we thought! 6 hours with longer lunch break
and we walked miles of rail tracks into the village at the
bottom of Machu Picchu. We arrived into Machu Picchu still with
some day light only for a quick check into our hostel and drop
off our packs to re-load with our head torches, water, cameras
and warm clothing. Well what we did next was madness! When we
booked the trip the guide told us about this other mountain (Putukusi)
you can climb next to Machu Picchu which gives you great views
of the ruin with the sun setting. It was as good as straight up
rock climbing. The rocks were big, so were the steps as well as
wooden ladders just nailed to the side of the face that seemed
to go on for an age, the first ladder must have had 100 steps
with a vertical climb. No ropes or rails we carried on. It
sure was a case of don’t look down.
We reached the top after
just under an hour of uphill climbing with a wee bit of light
left. The view was pretty good, the light wasn’t brilliant but
you could make out the various walls of Machu Picchu in the
moonlight. The temperature had really dropped. So after some
drink and photos we got our head torches on. Only 6 of us went
up. 3 of us had head torches and one had a normal torch. So
with maximising on the light we set off back down. It was a
great team effort to get down helping each other. Probably
better in the dark as you couldn’t see the drops! Later on
during dinner we found out our guide had never done that route
before. Nightmare! So it turned out to be a long trekking
day. It really was great to do even if really stupid… Much
needed food and sleep that night.
04:30 alarm call the next day
to start the hike up to Machu Picchu in the dark ready for
sunrise. We got up there as the first lazy arsed people arrived
by bus. It was a just reward to have done what we did to see
the amazing sight of Machu Picchu 2400M up. The views were
really incredible. We spent a good few hours wandering around
and taking photos (lots of photos), as it’s just one of those
sights you can’t help but be impressed by. Why did the Inca’s
build such amazing cities in the sky?
After sunrise came up we had a
guide take us around telling us more about the ruins. By 10am
the sun was baking and all the clean tourists (straight off the
bus) started arriving in coach loads.
We started the long trek back
for a just reward of coffee and cake (no surprise) and some
lunch before the train and bus journey back to
Cuzco. A quick
drop by the ice-cream shop for a group ice-cream before getting
back to the hotel for a long hot shower. God it felt great! I
think we where in bed that night at 21:15 and probably slept a
good 10 hours. So a nice easy day in Cuzco was had the
following day…
Just like to say, we had a
great trip with a great bunch of people. Good luck guys with
what you’re all planning to do in your lives… |
