Inca Magic Tour – Inca Trail, Sacred Valley & Lima
The Inca Trail & Machu Picchu
First stop on the Inca Trail adventure was Saqsaywuaman, a bit dissapointing but good views over Cusco. Then we stopped at a Llama farm which was actually really interesting. I didnt know that LLamas and Alpacas are from the same family as camels. As well as feeding the Llamas we also got to see the process they use to dye the wool and how they weave it etc to make all the products from it.
Next stop was just a good viewpoint to get photos of the Sacred valley although I found the young girl with a pet dog to be a much better photo!!!
Next was Pisaq which was a lovely walk around the Inca ruins, it was a nice day by this point and the walk really awakened me. Then we drove to Pisaq´s famous market where we had lunch, which was unfortunately gross, I think Kate made that quite clear to everyone nearby though!!! The market was great, bought a nice journal and could have spent loads on jewelary but thought it was quite expensive – I later found out it was a lot cheaper than everywhere else – doh!!!
The final destination of the day was Ollantaytambo, more Inca ruins – this time not accompanied by the sun and beautiful scenerary – just lots of steps so preferred Pisaq to here. Then we went to Doris´s house where we were meant to be staying for the night, but we actually ended up staying at some other house just down the road which had locked us out when we arrived back there after dinner at 9pm!!! After deciding not to risk more local familys cooking we had declined dinner at Doris´s and went in search of pizza. The first place we went to looked lovely, a proper pizza place that did oven baked pizzas & looked scrummy. About 10 mins after ordering they came back and told us they had no pizza??? After giving them a small amount of abuse we left, the next place we found was closed, so we settled for a nice looking cafe that also served pizzas. After an hour we were still waiting for our food. Two hours later we had one by one received 4 of the 5 pizzas ordered and so decided to cancel the last one – which we still had to pay for, it was the mose unbelievably bad service I have ever had and they received a great deal more abuse. Apparently the meal at Doris´s was really nice!!!
The next day after having our duffel bags weighed ready to give the porters we took the scary bus ride to KM82 our starting point of the Inca Trail. The first day was good, I thoroughly enjoyed it, I stayed at the back with 3 others and made lots of photo stops. The hardest part was knowing what to wear and I was continually stopping to put on my poncho, take off my fleece, put on my fleece, put on my rain jacket etc etc. The weather was continually changing, one minute I needed sunscreen and my cap, the next my poncho. The second day however was not as enjoyable, in fact it was quite horrendous 5 hours of hard uphill slogg to 4200 mtrs with the same challenging weather (which I actually didnt care about today, I just left my fleece around my waist and got wet) left me gasping for breath. There were a couple of times when I really didnt think I would make it. Everytime I thought we were nearly there the mist seemed to move a little revealing the path went even higher. I was thankful that I was walking with Jo who was also finding it difficult and we encouraged each other – I dont think I would have made it otherwise. Once we got to the top I was so relieved and really wanted to sit and rest for a while, but we had been walking so slow that when we got there I was cold really quickly, so had to keep on walking – I was also really hungry, so I had it in my mind that the faster we walked the sooner I could eat! After about an hour and a half downhill we reached the campsite and had lunch and the afternoon to rest.
The third day was about 10 hours of walking, it wasnt particularly hard, just long – the last bit really dragged, finally arriving in Aguas Calientes after walking down the railroad to nowhere! It was much longer than planned because of a landslide near the sungate which meant we couldnt camp where we had origionally planned and then walk to the sungate the next morning. We had to keep on going past the campsite (stopping there for lunch though which really rubbed salt in the wounds) and all the way down to Aguas Calientes and take the bus to Machu Picchu the next morning. We stayed in hostal in Aguas Calientes instead of camping as no-one (especially me) wanted to walk the extra 45 minutes down to the campsite and then back up again in the morning, plus it was only 5 sols extra and meant we could have hot showers as well – supposedly (im saying nothing Jo and Charli).
We arrived at Machu Picchu by 6am in time to watch the sun rise over its walls which was pretty amazing and worth getting up at 4am. I was very impressed with Machu Picchu, and that I had made it, although I was having to drag myself up on every step as I was walking around it because my legs were so stiff from all the walking!! By 8am Kate & I were starving so we went and got our passports stamped and checked out the cafe there. Had the best luch of chicken salad sandwich at 8 in the morning, it was very expensive but also very worth it.
We got the bus back to Aguas Calientes around 11 and I spent the afternoon shopping for prezzies for my nieces and nephews. After spending way too much money we all got the train back to Cuzco, spending the 4 hour journey wisely – playing cards!
Eventually back home again to Cuzco (after a short detour back to the train station to pick up all my shopping that I had done earlier in the day and managed to leave on the train) for a day of rest and recouperation. Not as relaxing as I hoped after visiting the post office to send parcels home and then the internet cafe, getting laundry sorted and packing ready for our flight to Lima. Although it was only an hours flight – it was the worst flight of my life – it is not a good idea to stay up drinking free cuba libre´s all night and not going to bed before getting on an early morning flight. Thanks Vanessa and Adam, I blame you for my use of the sick bag for the entire flight, and in fact the whole of the next day!
Lima was okay, a bit boring and very smoggy. Kate was ill all the time so I just did a city tour and then went to Chinatown for dinner – that was amazing though, the best spring rolls and duck with noodles ever – well since I last had Chinese from Chopsticks in Bolly that is anyway (ohh how I miss OK Chicken, chips and rice)!!!!
And that was the end of Peru, another country crossed off and a new adventure about to begin in Ecuador…..
Tags: inca trail, Lima, Machu Picchu, Peru, sacred valley, Travel
Aymi
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