Machu and Pichu

First up apologies for I think is our most photo heavy blog entry.

Lots of good photos and a fast connection here in Lima has meant Ive gone BIG.

DAY ONE

This is us with our gang of merry of porters. The little fellas were amazing. They carry up to 25kg of kit and race ahead of you, preparing food and putting up camp before you get there. It felt like being some kind of Victorian explorer on an expedition, 5 star camping with a massive entourage. The food was consistetly amazing. Amazing soups before each meal, and the porridge for breakfast was superb. I dont know how the cook managed to keep his standards so high over the 4 days.

400 people do the trail each day and they all have porters, there´s probably 2000 people that check through the entrance each day.

Kerry developed an alter ego called Kenny Volume, after getting called Kenny by our guide who couldnt read her name and a passing comment of ´volume´after a Liam Gallagher-esque swagger out of the bog. Altitude does funny things to you...

This is Kenny, veteran of the northern club circuit, getting Andean.

The first days walking was pretty straight forward, just gently warming us up for the more strenuous days ahead.

There´s still a few locals scraping together an existence up on the trail, hence the passing old lady and her donkey. Must be funny for them, the influx of gringos and porters each day.

After setting up camp (well arriving at camp because they´ve done it all for you) we had some grub, shared a one of the cartons of wine I´d carried up, and set about working out if there was any card games we all knew. Sadly there wasnt, so a hybrid game, with ever shifting rules was created.

Its name was INCA JACK.

Silverio - card shark

DAY TWO

We all slept surprisingly well, had some breakfast and confused all the porters by doing a morning workout, led by Tom´s very camp alter ego TK Mac.

MORNING WORK OUT WITH TK MAC

The 2nd day is meant to be the worst. An early start and then constant uphill untill you get over Dead Woman´s Pass at about 4200, and then make it down the other side in time for tea. There were alot of emergency stops to catch a breather or demolish a chocolate bar. Im really amazed how well everyone coped with the altitude given that we´d had weeks up high in Bolivia and they´d only had 2 days. I also was chomping on coca leaves all day long, trying to gradually cultivate the hamster cheek look the locals get. It really works a treat with coping with the altitude and giving you some energy. Im not surprised it was regarded as sacred and only for use by the Inca Kings, until the Spanish came along and got everyone on so that they worked harder.

Triumphant at top of dead womans pass...

....then off to get the Kenny Volume: Live triple dvd sorted

DAY 3

Another early start leaving in the dark, and walking uphill for 2 hours before breakfast came as a bit of a surprise after we´d thought we´d got over the worst of it the day before.

We did get a rare sighting of a Andean Deer though,on our way out of camp

After an enormous late breakie things started to resemble what we had expected from this famous trail. The paving was good, made out of slip resistant rock on a slight incline to promote good drainage, clinging to the sides of steep mountains, passing through incredible valleys and cloud forest. There was moss metres deep and plants growing on the trees in the warm damp environment. It really felt like the top of the world too, looking out at the snow capped peaks surrounding you. At a little military station there was a supposed fountain of youth, which me and Nicky figured we needed due to our advancing years. We seem to be the oldest backpackers out there.

Below is Virgelio explaining about star mirrors in another rambling monologue. You had to admire his passion for the history and culture of the trail and of Machu Pichu but he didnt half go on at times. Fair shout to him though, the Inca´s were a pretty impressive bunch.

Check out the ZIG AND ZAG technique as perfected by Kenny Volume. Its the only way to make it down a mountain

The broom sticks we have in all these photos are the walking sticks we bought at the village before the trail. We had heard big things about nice carved walking sticks but there didnt seem to be any of that, just poles with little cloth handles. We spent the 1st day complaining about lumping the things about, but after the 2nd and 3rd days up and downhill sections we became quite attached to them. We spent alot of time taking the mickey out of Sinead and Tom,saying that they were going to concieve twins on the trail and in a Posh and Becks Brooklyn Beckham stylee, were gonna call them Machu and Pichu. This caused some mirth when we discussed it with the guides who explained that although Machu Pichu means 'old peak' in the local dialect of Quechua, Pichu means 'penis´. Not quite the best pair of names...

This is a site used for experimental gardening of plants gathered throughout the empire.
and a weekend retreat of some wealthy Inca.
The stonework is incredible. Especially considering they transported the stones without the wheel, and had no iron or steel to fashion the stones with. These ones in a retaining wall have drainage holes.This is us with the porters on the last night after we´d had some speeches, and given them their tip. Some very strong handshakes with the guys, and some very shy kisses with the girls followed

DAY 4 - THE RACE TO MACHU PICHU

The final day was engulfed by some strange urge to try and get to the site before it got busy, even though there were 400 people in our campsite thinking the same and even more in the town below Machu Pichu, Agua Caliente, with a 2 hour headstart on us.

We got up at 4am so we could get in a queue and muck about with our cameras trying to entertain ourselves until they opened the gates to the final section of the trail.

The first glimpses of the ´lost´city from up at the sun gate were amazing

After chatting to the locals we got down to the classic photo op location to send the folks back home.

Photo shopped?

The building work inside the city was amzing and on a massive scale





Huaynu Picchu is a little peak beside the city. Nathan, Sarah and I decided we were gluttons for punishment and wanted to do some more climbing. The view was worth it.



We finished off down in Agua Caliente for the train back to Cusco, very tired but happy and proud of ourselves,looking forward to a warm shower and a few drinks, then maybe some more cuy claw dancing....

Cat and Nathan doing some textbook clawing