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Inca Trail, Day 4: Machu Picchu

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006
Well, today is it. The last day of the trek, finally reaching Machu Picchu. We were up at 4, breakfasting, and on our way. We followed the train tracks to Machu Picchu Town, though did have to watch, because the tracks were live. We had plenty of time to get off the tracks if a train was coming… though sometimes not much room, as we were hugging the river on the other side. Compared to the rest of the days, this hike was nothing, and wasn’t very long til we got to the town. We dumped our gear in a restaurant they had reserved and boarded a bus, driven by yet another crazy Peruvian driver, to take us up to Machu Picchu. Once there, Victor gave us about a 2 hour tour of some of the highlights before sending us off to explore on our own. There’s really not much I can saw about it but… WOW! The site is just so big, with so many ruins… Part of the reason we were trying to get there so early was to avoid the flood of people, and I’m glad we did. There were still others while we were there, but just a couple isolated groups. The masses came later, though. I have to admit, there didn’t seem to be quite the energy as I felt at Wiñaywayna.. surely due to the traffic it sees daily, but the sheer size and views were still enough to make you tingly. Words cannot describe how cool it was, and if a picture is worth a 1000 of them… ehh, I’ll cut with the clichés and just show you the damn photos… [read on]

Inca Trail, Day 3

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006

P4190162.JPGThe day started with a bit more up stairs, which after the previous day should be nothing… but nobody was particularly happy about it, nonetheless. But the 3rd day should be the good one… in theory, we should be pretty used to the hiking now, and the hardest part is over, and the scenery on Day 3 is some of the best… except for the fact that most of the day is spent going down these Incan steps. It started bothering Joe pretty badly… his knee starting giving out and was having to take things rather slow. Lindsey, on the other hand, was wise enough to hire a porter for the day after nearly dieing the day before. At times she was kind of bumming about not being able to pull through the whole way, but we assured her it was for the best. She proved herself plenty, and there was no reason to overdo it and put herself in any danger through overexertion. Besides, this way she could actually enjoy herself for the day, and not struggle through it. So today was quite the shift in dynamic as she plowed ahead and skipped down parts of the trail. I had my 2 REI trekking poles, and though much more expensive than the walking sticks everyone else bought in Ollayntambo, I was sure glad I had them. Using two poles to support my weight I think helped a lot on the way up, and definitely did on the way down. Once I got in a groove, I was able to pick up quite a bit of speed cruising down the steps.

[read on]

Inca Trail, Day 2

Monday, May 1st, 2006

Holy fucking stairs! All fucking day! My God. Have you ever done a stairmaster for 8 hours, at a 45-60º+ incline carrying 15 kg on your back, with the sun beating down on you? But not even, clean cut ... [Continue reading this entry]

Inca Trail, Day 1

Monday, May 1st, 2006

Well, the day began with quite the excitement. I was sent down to deal with checking out while everyone else finished packing up their gear. For some reason this was a difficult process. Admittedly, the desk guy’s English wasn’t the ... [Continue reading this entry]