Step by step

In cusco there are quite possibly a thousand different travel agents, offering a variety of trips to Machu Picchu. After much deliberation, we decided to go for a 4 day 3 night inca jungle trek.

Day 1.

We were collected from our hostel at 7am and made the rounds picking up some others on the trip, this was all before a premature halt on proceedings to pick up the mountain bikes. An hour later we where on the road to Ollanyatambo, and a quick stop off for a bite to eat. After another 30 minutes, or so, in the minibus we arrived at our starting point; a wet, windy and cold car park 4,700m above sea level. This is where we got a feel for how our trek may go, they had brought 13 bikes, for 13 tourists, seemingly forgetting we needed a bike for our guide! Then once people had gotten on their bike a number of problems arose, one had a flat tire, anothers brakes didn't work! Fortunately all discovered before starting the descent! A case of wrong place wrong time meant I was given the task of leading the way on the bikes, with no instruction as for when to stop, I pointed the bike downhill and off we went! Initially travelling through cloud, and with spray coming up off the road we were slowly but surely getting wetter and wetter, at some points a slight increase in temperature insured a steaming of my glasses, making a true case of the blind leading the blind! Eventually we came out of the cloud and the temperature rose considerably but so did the depth of the streams we where riding through, ankle deep, knee deep either way our boots ended up soaking, not a good start to the three days walking that lay ahead!

Day 2:

After an early night we were up and on our way for 7am, we left initially in the back of a flatback van, in a scene that wouldn't of looked out of place in the Beverly Hill billies! The van dropped us about 2km up the road at a landslide, and from there we began our walking. The first hour or so was spent walking on a road above an extremely fast flowing river, with some amazing surroundings! After about 6km of walking we began the jungle part of the trek. Complete with natural face paint, we scrambled up a steep pathway surrounded by tropical flora, including pineapples trees, coca planTs, coffee beans, cocoa plants, and banana trees. After almost an hour of uphill walking we stopped in a refuge, where the guide showed us products of the forest, this place had a little monkey that was tied to a lump of steel, apparently to stop it robbing things out of your bag!

After the short rest we continued on the forest path, until we reached a "stream", that was wide enough, and fast enough to need the guide to build some makeshift steeping stones, and a use a big stick to balance. With everyone safely across we joined what was part of 14,000km of inca trail, this included narrow pathways over large drops, and numerous boulder made steps. Once at the highest point we were given a brief history lesson, not that many were too concerned at this, as the views on offer where more than distracting!
After spending a short time at this peak we started to descend the 500m we had climbed, this eventually put us in the forest, at riverside, where we stopped for a much needed rest and relaxation in hammocks, and awaited our lunch, with chickens and ducks running amongst our feet! After a couple of hours rest we climbed back up to the road on the final walk to Santa Theresa our resting place for the night. On route we came across a lowered and modded car stuck in a small stream with the guy looking for a miracle to get it out! When we arrived in Santa Theresa with their equivalent of carnival was in full swing, all we wanted was a wash and beer to sooth our aching feet, and another early night!

Day 3:

What should of been a full day of walking along a road turned into half a day, we cheatingly replaced the mornings walk to hydro-electrica with a bus, by doing so we didn't really miss much. We still got to see the man made waterfalls, a result of the hydro electric plant, but we avoided lots of walking on muddy roads.
At hydro electric we booked into the site, and proceeded to walk the 12km to Aguas calientes, along the train tracks. Walking the rails along the edge of the river was surprisingly hard work, but the scenery surrounding us was spectacular, especially getting the first glimpse of MP, and Wayna Picchu. On arrival to Aguas Calientes we had some free time and visited the hot springs for a few hours, a pleasant and welcomed relaxation! That night with dinner one guy ordered Cuy, a local delicacy, or to you and me roasted guinea pig, needless to say it was passed around the table for all to try. It didn't taste bad, it was a little like duck, and just as fatty!

Day 4:

An early start of 4am for the climb to MP, all to ensure we got an entrance stamp for Wayna Picchu (only 400 visitors a day are allowed to climb the steps to the top) when we set off through the town a light drizzle started, once climbing up to MP the drizzle turned to rain. The climb also turned from a stroll to a race as our guide arrived late meaning there was a large group already ahead of us. After 40 minutes of running up steps, the breathlessness caught up with us and we had to stop, fortunately only 5 more minutes followed to reach the entrance. At this point in time, rain still pouring, it seemed a silly idea to want to climb more steps to Wayna Picchu, we did however get the relevant stamp!

Once inside MP we made our way into the ruins, and the pictures and postcards really can't do it justice, the place is huge!

We where given a whirlwind tour and brief history of the ruins, and then we where left to our own devices. We took this opportunity to be fleeced on a cup of tea, £2 a cup! The rain started to subside and we went out to get our postcard pictures of MP, but when reaching this point we where engulfed in cloud, this seemed to add a whole mysticism to the place.

Finally came the time for us to climb Wayna Picchu, we started the 45 minutes of stair climbing at a reasonable pace, reaching the 20 minutes to go sign ( just like Alton Towers) in only 15 minutes, we where flying. After a cocky couple of minutes the stairs steepened and became less stair like, more like ruts cut into rock, and our pace slowed. When reaching the ruins and what we thought was the top we were faced with yet more steps, I could have cried! After some crawling through caves and climbing over boulders, we reached the peak only again for our view to be obscured by cloud, so patiently we sat for an hour with mother nature teasing us with clear views either side of MP, but never actually of MP! Then came the worst part, the descent the stairs were ludicrously steep, so much so I bumped down part of the way on my arse, only the plus side a little way down the clouds parted and afforded us amazing views of MP.

After arriving back on the sacred turf of MP the weather had lifted and w took the opportunity to get some sunny postcard pictures, before heading back to Aquas Calientes and catching a beer and pizza before, Peru rail took us back to Cusco.

Oh...someone by the name of Richard Gere was at MP, the same day as us, stealing out limelight!

Pics to follow (we promise)...