The Inca trail: Day 4 and Machu Picchu
It was around 4.30am when we got up but it didn’t feel that bad. The porters were rushing around to get everything packed so that they could make the train back in a couple of hours, a headlong hurtle down the mountainside for them. The rest of the campsite was also up and about. This was the big day. It was what we had all been walking for. Today we would all finally see Machu Picchu. And the weather looked fine!
My last memory of that campsite wasn’t a good one. Mornings always mean emptying the bladder. Many of the toilets over here are a hole in the floor with foot grips either side. I’d got used to that by now. This morning, I was greeted by a large poo pizza sprawled over where the right foot should go. I felt slightly sorry that someone obviously had a stomach upset on the last day of the Inca trail but why were they trying to give it to me? I held my breath and even at that awkward angle, with any false move of the ungripped right foot making life VERY dangerous, I made the hole in the ground. Men really do have it easy sometimes.
We said “goodbye” to Julio and the porters which was really sad. Although we hadn’t talked to them much (not through want of trying, but more through a lack of Quechua and Spanish), they’d been a big part of our lives over the past few days. We hoped we’d been good and pleasant customers.
And so we joined the back of the queue for the final part of the trek to Machu Picchu. The park gate to the final part of the trail doesn’t open until 5.30am, and it was highly amusing to see all these eager trekkers standing there waiting for a good 30 minutes, unable to go anywhere and missing out on sleep. It was a lovely morning too and the trek was very pretty once again.
For the past few days, we had got used to porters running past us to get to the next campsite or lunch-spot but of course, they were not here today. Instead, we had eager hikers racing (at times dangerously on the narrow path) past us and each other to be the first to the Sun gate and Machu Picchu. And they didn’t seem to notice us when we stood aside for them to trip past us. What was this all about? Why race though the final part of a gorgeous walk? Why miss the flowers and mountain views on the way past? Why pay money to miss all that? Why be rude to people who are courteous to your stupid whims?
Idiots aside, the walk was peaceful and pretty again. Em was feeling the stress of the past few days in her knees today but it didn’t matter, as we’d soon be reaching our goal.
At the Sun gate, the valley was shrouded in mist and we must have waited half an hour for Machu Picchu to appear. Breaks in the cloud were full of promise but all we saw were mountain tops. That was fine – it just left us in suspense for longer! Hikers were limping along this final path which made me feel like less of an invalid. “You’ve made good progress”, Tys in the back of our heads again!
We continued to walk down to Machu Picchu and as we turned another corner, there it was! Machu Picchu did look wonderful perched on the mountainside. The long trek had been well worth it for this view. Eug managed a “stunning” but was for once, lost for words. It was worth all that walking to see the look on his face too.
“SUPERB”!
Tags: Peruvian tales
mihai