WE SURVIVED THE INCA TRAIL!!!

Hello all,

Just wanted to write and let you know that we all safely finished the Inca Trail! Would´ve written yesterday, but had a slight problem that I could not get out of bed...

This is just a quick summary, as you´ll probably look more at the photographs instead (they are uploading now).

Ok, so after a terrible nights sleep due to some idiots in our dorm being very noisy and they kept on turning on the night, we left at 5.20am to face the Andes. A 2 hour journey to the start of the trail. Haz managed to get through the control alright at the start, and we saw the porters having their bags weighed due to the new regulations.

The new regulations are brilliant, and well worth the hassle of now having to book 3 months in advance. Only 400 people are allowed on the trail daily now (including porters, and our group had 10 porters, 1 guide and 1 chef, and 1 personal porter for 6 people. So really, it´s only about 150 tourists climbing the trail). This is brilliant for the tourists as it is much quieter, and also it means that the trail is well maintained, very clean (the porters have to carry all the rubbish down the mountains again, and government workers clean the toilets and carry the loo roll back down to the town again).

Additionally, the porters (or chaskis as they´re called here), are only allowed to carry a maximun of 20 - 25 kg, rather than the 80 kg they were carrying previously. That is more than I weigh! They could´ve piggy backed me...

The trail was absolutely stunning. The first day was easy, only walking about 12 km, and climbing very little. The porters were amazing. They carried everything. Whenever we reached our next resting spot, they had already set up camp, had cooked us a 3 or 4 course meal (on the top of the Andes, with only cold running water a walk away, and 1 gas stove!) William our chef was absolutely amazing, and managed to cook us a cake on the last night saying ´welcome to Machu Picchu´. I wanted to marry him for his cooking abilities! The porters were so strong, and were running up inclines where we were puffing and panting. So friendly, and they clapped when we made it into camp - slightly embarrassing as they had done far more work than us!

Gentle walk the first day, past an Incan ruin, with Freddie our guide being very entertaining. He was funny and so encouraging - definitely got the most out of our group. We had 6 people in total - all of us were girls. Helen was from Australia, Marie Francis from Canada, and Betty from Ireland. Crashed out after another 3 course supper at about 8pm - nothing to do in the evenings and hadn´t even brought books or journals with us as they were too heavy. J, Haz and I were carrying all our own stuff, no personal porters for us! I was carrying 10kg, and joked that I was a ´media chaski´- half a porter. If only... The trail was absolutely stunning, though slightly scary when the path is only about a foot wide, the stones are uneven and wobbly, and there is a sheer cliff face on one side... but we made it.

Day 2 was difficult. 5.30am start, with Abel bringing us a lovely cup of tea in the morning to our tents - very civilised! So respectful, they really looked after us girlies. Gentle incline in the morning, and we were shown how to eat cocoa leaves for stimulation. They are also the first ingredient of cocaine, so we had to take a neutralising substance. Also highly addictive. Made our mouths go numb which was quite interesting! Felt like we had just been to the dentist, but far more fun. It can make the body go numb, but Freddie was very keen that we spit them out when our mouths went numb. He did look after us! We then began our ascent of 1200 metres. It was very difficult. Spent about 3 hours doing it, and were exhausted when we reached the top. Carried onwards and upwards, and got to the Dead Women´s Pass in one piece - altitude 4200 metres. Made a little ceremony to Pachumama (mother earth), for the good weather we had and also the good weather we hoped to have. Donated to her some rocks and had a local spirit to drink. We toasted Pachumama with it. Left Marco, the personal porter who was always finding us when we were lost, to finish up the spirit. He had wanted to join in the ceremony too, but think we left him a little more drunk than when we met him! He was 50 + years old, and far quicker than us all. Highly embarrassing! A 90 minute descent down steps to our camp for the night. Again, exhausted so passed out until supper, then passed out again after supper! Freddie was very mean and told us ghost stories about people who have died around Dead Women´s Pass. It didn´t help that a trekker actually did die about a week ago, of a suspected heart attack. The poor porters had to carry the dead body down to the local town, as no emergency services around here! Anyway, after the ghost stories, Freddie told us to close our eyes, he dimmed the light (gas lamp), and put on the scariest mask I have seen. A Peruvian version of a gimp mask, but in wool. We all screamed. I was absolutely terrified, and even after I slapped him, he kept the mask on! Had nightmares that night...

Day 3 - 5.30 am start. Climbed up another mountain to get to the mountain pass. Another descent down, and a stop at Incan ruins. Then another half hour walk to lunch. Again the chaskis had sorted everything out, and had put up our meal tent (they also slept in the tent after our supper), facing the view as we were on top of the mountain. Absolutely stunning - a meal with a view! Gentle walk after lunch to get to the third mountain pass. We had to go through an Incan tunnel, and that was fine. We took photos, and as I was walking through, I saw someone resting by the side. Thought it was a porter waiting out of the sun and taking a rest in the cool. Suddenly Freddie with his wretched mask peered round the corner. Again, I screamed. Terrified again. Luckily though he was kind and took off the mask so I could walk past him... We made it to the third mountain pass, and then began the 2000+ steps down. Very tiring. Was horrible on the knees - absolute agony. I was with Marie, who was very speedy, and we went straight down to camp, rather than seeing other ruins, as she was unwell and we both needed a wee. Didn´t fancy the bushes! Managed to have our first shower of the trip, and settled down for the night. Some of the tents were less than a foot away from a cliff edge, so we had to be careful where we stepped... said thank you to the porters as they were dashing away quickly after breakfast the following day. They were absolutely brilliant.

Day 4 - early start at 4 am, to queue up to enter Machu Picchu. A quick walk (only 4 miles) to the Sun Gate, to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately it was cloudy then so not very spectacular, but luckily the sun came out for Machu Picchu. Got to Machu Picchu about 7.30am, and were able to dump our bags etc before Freddie gave us our tour.

No words really describe the place. The setting is glorious, and Freddie had seen our journey as a pilgrimmage, if not to religion, then to mother nature. For example, the Incans believed that gold was the sweat of the sun, and silver is the tears of the moon. It was hard to disagree about the journey being a pilgrimmage. It sounds awful, but Machu Picchu was almost an anticlimax, as our journey had been so special. The journey and M P were so complimentary, that it could not have been more perfect. Whoever travels up by train really only gets half the experience. The trail was difficult and painful, yet we did it. Some runners do the trail in just under 4 hours. It took us 4 days. There is a huge difference between tourists and the locals.

We had a tour round M P and were then left to our own devices. The place is stunning - you will see from the photographs. We were absolutely shattered after all our walking (and ached), plus the sun was coming out, we had little water (or none), and the ´lazy tourists´(as Freddie called them) were arriving. So we headed down to Aguas Calientes town after a mooch about M P and chilled out there. Betty and I went to some beautiful outside thermal springs that were set in the valley with mountains around us. So pretty. And the hot water was absolutely perfect for our aching bodies! I had completely wrecked my knees after the car accident last year, so they were grateful for me soaking them...

Made it back to Cusco after a train journey and a bus journey. The bus journey was very scary - I am not a nervous passenger but the driver was crazy. Nearly took out a motorised rickshaw. Made it back in one piece and very very tired. But so satisfied that we completed the trail, very proud of ourselves.

As I said, I would´ve been emailing etc yesterday, but unfortunately I realised that I could not actually get out of bed! Haz and J were fine, albeit tired, but I was very dizzy and sicky if I became vertical. So stayed in bed all day. What a luxury!

Feeling much better today, and am just uploading photos onto Picasa. Will label them in a minute.

Hope all´s well with everyone,
Much love,
Al xxx