Inca Trail trek diary
Read diary entries from our challengers Amanda, Laura, Alison and Vicky on their journey to Machu Picchu in Peru.
Laura Pitcher
Today was the 'easy' acclimitisation day; it was great to finally be out in the fresh air after around 30 hours of travelling. We saw some great sites and met with our local guides - all great guys and they certainly put my mind at ease. We had a great laugh when we got to one sacred site. The natural rock was so smooth, three of the group took a slide! All the school children watched and laughed. We all look a bit healthier now and are just about to tuck in to some guinea pig!
Hi to everyone back home, love Laura
Alison Dainty
It must have been the 30 hour journey to get here, but (unusually for me) I've not stopped eating. I had thirds for dinner last night and thirds for breakfast this morning. I've just sat and eaten guinea pig (which tastes a bit like duck) but will not be asking for seconds on that! Have had a brilliant day with lots of laughs. Look forward to what tomorrow brings.
Vicky Pyne
The challenge is completed...I survived 30 hours in transit! A combination of Bacardi and Diazepan contributed! We had our acclimitisation walk today and I'm pleased to report that I've had my very first Peruvian shewee. I felt very smug as the other girlies bared their backsides beside me. Quick hello to my gorgeous Alice and Milly...Mummy's having so much fun.
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Amanda
A very early start this morning. We were taken by bus through some spectacular countryside with breathtaking views over the Urubamba River and valley. We stopped off at Ollantaytambo, the home town of some of our guides, to buy last minute supplied such as snacks, cocoa sweets for altitude sickness and walking poles. Very pretty town bursting with activity - mainly people on their way to the start of the Inca Trail at Km82.
Another bus ride took us to the start of our adventure. Here our excitement and nerves grew as we donned our day packs, liberally applied sunscreen and stocked up on water (each day we were expected to drink at least three litres of water).
We had our passports checked and stamped and finally we were off across a rickety Indiana Jones style bridge over the now roaring Urubamba River. This was a bit of a hairy experience as the bridge was swinging in the wind and I was joined by six horses carrying packs!
The first day's walking really introduced us to the beauty of the Andean countryside. Walking through the Sacred Vally of the Incas, we stopped at ruins along the way and our guides told us of their history. We also began the ascents which would become the theme of the rest of the trek!
While we carried everything we would need each day in our daypacks (snacks, waterproofs, sunscreen, bug spray, cameras etc), the rest of our kit, tents, food and all of the equipment needed for 30 people to walk and camp along the trail was carried by the porters, or chasquis as they are called in the native Quecuan language.
We made it into camp early that night. The sky was so clear that we could see thousands of stars and our first snow capped Andean peak.
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Amanda
Up - that pretty much sums up day two of walking. Other words that could be used to describe it include: pain, determination, coughing, rain, courage, exhilaration.
This was by far the toughest day. We climbed 1,100 metres to Dead Woman's Pass, the highest point on the trek at 4,200m above sea level, which meant that for some the affects of altitude sickness really kicked in.
For me, this was when tonsilitus took hold and Andrew's temperature started to go through the roof (the Doc diagnosed him with a virus). The fact that everyone made it to the top is a testament to team work - everyone encouraging eachother. I know I wouldn't have made it without Andrew.
Once at the top the only way was down. It was very cold, windy and wet by this time - and the rocky steps that make up the trail became slippery - all the more dangerous when you are going down them. Two hours of down steps got us to the next camp site. I managed to slip at one point and took a tumble but my pride was hurt more than anything else and I have a couple of prize bruises as souvenirs!
The atmosphere in camp that night was one of celebration. We knew that we had completed the most difficult part, even though the following day involved 12 hours of walking. It was an early night too.
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Amanda
I woke up feeling pretty dreadful but the Doc gave me some antibiotics for my throat and Andrew paracetemol for his temperature.
This morning's warm up led by Mimi, one of the hospital play specialists who was on the trek, was hysterical. She did a song about a beaver and had us all doing the actions and the porters laughing at the weird foreigners!
This was a beautiful day's walking, long though not as strenuous as the previous day. The terrain undulated all day and took us through the cloud forests with its orchids and colourful mosses. There was a lot of singing in the group - mainly stirring pop anthems to keep morale high. At lunch (did I mention that every meal was three courses?!) the heavens opened and the purchase of the waterproof trousers paid off.
Camp that night was the last stop before Machu Picchu and so is a busy site. There was even a bar and a shower (which some were brave enough to use) and we had dinner under a proper roof whilst enjoying a beer or Inka Kola (tasted like cream soda). We said goodbye to the chasquis after dinner. They were taking our bags back to Cuzco for us in the morning and we wouldn't be seeing them (the chasquis, not the bags) again.
It is traditional to make presentations of tips to each group, and so we all met together to say thank you. I got to shake the hand of the man who made us custard and apple streudal for pudding one night. While eating dinner we had been talking about what food we would most like to appear on the table and I had said that I would love custard - and miraculously this is what was served for pudding!
The chasquis are amazing men - they are mainly farmers who work on the trail to supplement their income and they can legally carry 25kg per day. We had a team of approximately 40 men with us and every one has their own job which means that the setting up and dismantling of the camp every day is a seamless process.
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Amanda
I was awake at 4am. Simon had said that it was a noisy camp and he wasn't kidding. We had to be up at 4.30am anyway so I was already dressed when the chasquis came round with tea and a bowl of warm water as they did every day.
This was the final day of the trek - the ascent to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu. Again it was raining, but after another comical warm up, we were off. It takes about an hour from the camp site to the Sun Gate, and apart from one very steep flight of steps (not looking forward to seeing the photos of this - there really wasn't a good angle to be taken at) the going was good.
Just before we got to the gate we stopped to make sure that we would enter the site together. We were all wearing our charity branded t-shirts in preparation of our celebration group shot on arrival.
Walking through the Sun Gate was a very special experience - we had made it! There were tears, hugs and bottles of cheap champagne were sprayed as we had our group photo taken. This was the first time that we had any phone reception and so there were many tearful calls home.
It was another 30 minute walk down to the main site of Machu Picchu and once more it rained. But as the cloud eventually cleared, the Andes were revealed in all their glory, and amidst the peaks, there was Machu Picchu.
Pictures in books do it no justice. There is something magical about the place. As you approach it, it elusively dodges between the clouds but then suddenly reveals itself. It deserves its 'wonder of the world' status. As we walked around it with our guide, Saul later in the morning, the sheer brilliance of the Inca race was brought to life through his passion for the site, the history of the Incas and his country . There is meaning hidden in every building, every stone.
Two hours barely scraped the surface of what Machu Picchu had to teach us, but we were all tired by this time and most headed down in a bus to the town of Aguas Calientes at the foot of the mountains for some light shopping and relaxation. That evening we got the train back to Ollantaytambo, a two hour train trip which gave us the opportunity to reflect on the trip and to dream of the hot shower and the beds that awaited us back at the hotel that night.
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Amanda
Finally, a day when there was no early wake up call, when we could sleep as late as we liked and do what we wanted with the day - and I wake up at 6.15am!!! I was not alone, however, and was joined at breakfast by some who had woken up at a similar time or who had had only a few hours sleep after stoically going out in Cuzco when we got back the night before!
After breakfast most of us packed in anticipation of our departure the following day. It is only once you have had a shower and are wearing clean clothes that you realise how much you must have stunk on the previous days walking as you pack your dirty kit! Andrew and I spent the day pottering around Cuzco shopping, eating and visiting the Inca Museum.
That night was our celebration meal at a restaurant in Cuzco. We got taxis to a bar for cocktails (it was chucking it down again) and then round the corner for food. A lot of us had alpaca steak for dinner, which is lovely and tastes a bit like pork.
We presented gifts to our Discover Adventure leaders (the company who organises the trip) and we swapped buddy nominations (we each had a buddy that we had to keep an eye on to make sure that they drank enough water, applied enough sunsceen etc).
The wine and beer flowed, memories were savoured and the dancing went on into the night.
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Amanda
And so here I am sat on my sofa at home with a cup of tea and chocolate digestive - a year's worth of training and fundraising and a week's worth of intensive walking - over.
This experience has changed me. I have learnt that even at my most tired I have reserves that I didn't know I had. I have met people who it was an honour to spend such a special time with and have been humbled by some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. And all for a great cause - the children at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
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