Cusco, Peru

29th August – 6th September 2017

I think this is the longest piece of writing I have ever written in my life, sorry. It was a tough but incredible experience being in Cusco.

We left Raqchi just after 1, and Rianne and David said we would have about 4 hours to get to Cusco, for our final stop of this leg of the trip (which seems so strange because it feels like we were just starting it in Lima)!

We weren’t driving for very long before a toilet stop was requested, obviously – but we were still at high altitude so we needed to keep drinking lots of water. Rianne and David couldn’t seem to find a service station for a while and there was nowhere else to pull over, so the toilet stop was much later then requested. We stopped around 3 o’clock, and Rianne realised we were only about half an hour away from Cusco. As Cusco is the Dragoman base and where the workshop is, the truck had to be parked there and we had to get transfers to the hotel; however the transfers weren’t booked until 5, so we would be very early and the transfer people weren’t answering their phones.

To waste some time, Rianne had spotted a set of ruins a few kilometres back, so decided we could visit those while we waited. We drove back to them and because we were taking Michelle (the guide that translated for us in Raqchi) to Cusco, she gave us a brief overview and tour of the ruins. She explained that the smaller stones were from the Huari tribe (I think) and the larger, more organised stones were from the Inka tribes later on, when they took over these ruins.

While we were at the ruins, Rianne managed to get in touch with the transfer people and they could pick us up at 4, which was perfect as I was just getting a headache and was ready to get to the hotel. We left the ruins and drove on to Cusco.

We arrived in Cusco at 3.58 so by the time we had emptied the truck (as it was staying at the workshop and would have had lots of people going on and off it, we had to take everything), the transfer buses had arrived. We loaded them up and drove on to our hotel, which was about 20 minutes away.

At the hotel, my headache had become much worse and the painkillers weren’t doing anything for it. I was originally put in a room with Sabrina and Stephanie, but as MC didn’t want to climb the stairs to the third floor, she swapped with Stephanie and ended up in our room. I was a bit sceptical and first because I had heard that she snores but she is also very aware of this and didn’t want to keep us awake, so offered to pay to stay in another hotel – I couldn’t let her do that and she was very grateful for it! Everyone went to dinner but I couldn’t face it, so I had a snack and went straight to bed to try and sleep off my headache.

After going to bed so early I thought I would have got a decent night’s sleep; it wasn’t so great, but I wasn’t woken by MC, so that was good. We had a free day on our first full day, so I lay in bed for a while before getting up and dressed and going to breakfast.

When I left, MC and Sabrina were still asleep, so I crept out and met a few others at breakfast. It was a buffet type breakfast; I had fruit, cereal and yogurt and then had bread with some caramel spread which was probably very unhealthy but very good! They even had hot chocolate!

After breakfast, me and Sabrina met Hayley, Naomi and Phoebe in reception to go to the markets. We left quite early because we were up, but didn’t realise until we were out, that nothing would be open! We wandered through the square and down the main street to the bottom where the main markets were. As there really wasn’t anything open yet (with it being only 8.30), we decided to find a café and waste some time. I didn’t get anything in the café but it all looked really good!

After we had sat in the café for a while, we decided to give the markets another try. We walked back down the main street and there were lots more stalls open now. We walked up and down all the aisles of all the different markets, looking for the best deals. The weather was gorgeous, so it was nice to just wander in the heat. After getting a few bargains between us, we walked back up the main street to a different café that David had recommended for the cakes – some time had passed by now and we didn’t just spend the day in different cafés.

When we found the café – which was just next to the main square – we realised it was the same one that we had been in earlier, just a different branch. We sat outside, but as it was in the shade, we got chilly, so quickly moved in. I ordered chocolate cake and it was a huge piece! It was that big I couldn’t eat it all – my stomach must have definitely shrunk on this trip because that’s twice I’ve not been able to finish chocolate cake! I did take the rest back though because it was so good.

After the cake stop, Naomi, Hayley and Sabrina went back to the hotel and me and Phoebe went to a different market we had spotted on the way. We didn’t stay in there long and after that, Phoebe decided to go back, so I wandered for a bit on my own, which was nice.

I ended up back in the main square which was a beautiful place that I didn’t really notice earlier in the morning. It was much busier now and a lot more was open; it was also much more annoying because there were people trying to sell tours and massages and get you into their restaurant and there’s only so many times you can be polite.

Before I went back to the hotel for a chill, I wanted to buy a camelback water bag for the hike – it holds more water than my bottle and it is much more practical to just have it in your bag with a straw. I also wanted to have a walk around on my own and look at the pretty city, with the very cute side streets.

After I while, I did walk back to the hotel (which was much further away than I remembered – I had to stop at one point and check the map to see if I was going in the right direction). I got back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon chilling. I took some time to organise myself and get everything ready for the hike.

Before the meeting at 6, I went back out for a walk. I wanted to get some cash out and get some emergency snacks for the hike. I was back with plenty of time to shower before meeting the new people and having the meeting with our tour guides.

We met the guides for the hike to Machupicchu just after 6 and they explained everything that was going to happen in the following days. We all got a duffle bag that we needed to put our things in and we had to also take our own day pack. We had the chance to ask any questions and make sure we were all okay to start.

After the meeting, we had a short time to pack and organise ourselves before meeting at 7.45 for the departure/ welcome meal. Rianne had spent the previous night running around, looking for a restaurant to fit 34 people (because including us 22, there were 12 more joining – but some others will leave after the hike), however 14 people pulled out of the group dinner because they wanted to go off in their own groups which I found very rude and unfair on Rianne.

We ended up as 20 and went to a gorgeous restaurant. The service was great and the waiters were very attentive. I ordered pizza and it was very big – bigger than I could manage but I did my best.

After dinner, a few people went out for drinks, but I walked back to the hotel with Katie and Jack to get an early night ready for the 5 day trip up to Machupicchu.

The second night with MC wasn’t as successful as the first: there was lots of snoring and not much sleep on my part. I tried my best to get some sleep but I found myself counting the hours down until I had to wake up, so it wasn’t great really.

Day 1 of the trek to Machupicchu:

After the rubbish night’s sleep, I had to be up and ready (with my duffle bag fully packed) for 7am. I went down for breakfast just before half 6, put my backpack in the storage for the next few days and went to reception to wait.

We had to walk down the street, round the bend and up a slight hill with all our things, to get to the bus – it was like the trek started early. We all boarded the bus and drove about 5 minutes up the hill to Saqsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman) – an Inka sight in Cusco. We looked at the structure of the ruins and how it was a zig zag shape, so when it is looked at from above, it is a lightning bolt shape. We walked around the ruins looking at the different structures and ended up at the top, which had beautiful views of the city.

After reaching the top point, we walked back down and across to another point. We walked up a bit more – which is a challenge in altitude – and found some stones that were in a slide shape. We had a go at sliding down, which was slightly painful but very fun!

From the slide, we walked to a tunnel in the ruins. The first one was relatively small, but the second was much longer and it was pitch black inside! It was okay because we all went in, in a line, so we just followed the person in front of us, but there were some low points and some sharp bends. We all made it out okay though.

We got back on the bus after going through the tunnel and drove about an hour to Chinchero. In Chinchero, we went to a weaving demonstration in the village. The woman sat us around and showed us the alpaca wool when it is first sheared from the alpaca; it was dirty, so she showed us how they wash it before using it for anything. She grated a yucca plant into hot water and filtered out the bits to make soapy water. Once she had washed it in the water, it was so much cleaner – it was clear to see the difference.

After the wool was washed and dried in the sun, she spun it to make it long pieces of wool, ready to dye and use for different products. All the dyes that they use are from plants or leaves, so are all natural products; she showed us how to make the different colours. In the two pots on the stoves, she was boiling wool with particular leaves in one (to make the green) and part of a cactus in another, to make a red colour. She could also use different crystals to change the shade, so they can make such a range of colours using completely natural products.

Once the wool had been dyed, it can then be used to make the different alpaca products. She showed us some other women who were weaving the different colours of wool to make table runners. I’m not sure how they do it because it looked like they were just twiddling the pieces of wool, but she created some very intricate and detailed patterns. After the table runners were made, there was then someone else weaving the edging and stitching it to the edges of the table runners.

We had time to look around the stalls after but I resisted the urge to buy anything this time, as much as I love it all!

On the way out, we visited the alpacas and fed them some grass, which gave us the chance to take some photos with them – even though I did freak out slightly when they got really close to my face.

We had a really short drive to the centre of Chinchero, where we walked to their ruins, which were used to bring in different materials to the village on llamas and alpacas. We looked at the agricultural side of it and the guide explained that there are different layers of terraces for the different crops – he said that the different layers can change the temperature by a couple of degrees, which is important from some crops. We had some time to look around the centre before we got back on the bus again.

After a bad night’s sleep, I used the next drive as nap time, as it was another hour to get to Zurite. However, when we arrived, I was more tired than I was before and it was burning hot and lunchtime but nothing was being done about any of those things at that moment. We had arrived in Zurite for a special ceremony for the village. The money that we pay to Dragoman, fund a community project in Zurite where we give the community alpacas and llamas to help them with their income. Apparently this ceremony doesn’t happen all the time, but we happened to arrive on the right day (I don’t know if they say that to everyone though). The mayor and other people made some speeches but it was all in Spanish, so I didn’t understand anything.

After the first set of speeches, there were some dances by the locals. When they finished their dance, they got us up to dance with them – it was so hot though, I don’t know how they coped in their full costumes.

There were some more speeches and the presentation of the llamas and alpacas to the women of the village. Rianne had to make a speech on behalf of Dragoman; again, I’m not sure what she said because she spoke in Spanish. There were more dances after the presentation (but I got away with that one), before the ceremony was over.

Once the ceremony had finished, we got the bus into the centre of the village and went to a house. For the first night of the trek, we were staying in dorms (12 girls all in one room was not what I wanted to hear after such a bad night previously). In the house, we got our lunch served to us. It was three courses and way too much to eat just before a big walk! It was about 2pm before we ate as well but we had soup, followed by chicken in a peanut sauce and then granadilla for dessert.

Pretty much straight from lunch, we got in the bus again and drove about half an hour to Killarumiyoq at 3540m above sea level, ready for our first walk of the trek, which would take us back to the house we just drove from. We got there just after 3 and we were told it was a 3 hour hike, so we were worried we would be getting back in the dark.

Joel (one of our guides) talked to us about the different Inka traditions in the national park we were in. We looked at caves, we looked at rocks shaped like condors and shaped into the sun and moon and then we saw a waterfall, before the walk back to the house began.

It was an easy walk in comparison to some that we have already done, but there were still some inclines that made me out of breath. We saw all sorts of different animals along the way and at one point, we were cut off by quite an angry cow who didn’t want to let us pass and we weren’t arguing with it!

Joel was really impressed with our speed. He said that we got back to the house in record speed and he couldn’t believe how well we walked as a group; even I was shocked that we all managed to pretty much stay together throughout the walk. However, we knew that this was nothing in comparison to what we had coming for the rest of the trek. We got back just after 5, after doing a 7.72km hike – which wasn’t bad at all.

When we got back, we had lots of time to chill out. They provided hot drinks (including hot chocolate), crackers with butter and jam, and popcorn – it was a real treat! We all sat in the bar area, which was like a common room, and had a chat while we ate our treats.

By the time dinner was served, I was not that hungry at all. That worked in my favour though, as I wasn’t really keen on any of the food served. The soup was a noodle type one, we had a vegetable mushy thing with rice for mains and then a peach slimy jelly thing for dessert, so it’s lucky I was full.

After dinner, we got a run-down of the next day, before getting invited to a bonfire. The guides thanked us again for our generosity with the alpacas and llamas for the village and said they were having a bonfire to burn coca leaves – during the ceremony in the afternoon, there was a man carrying out a ritual with coca leaves and it is normal to burn them on the bonfire afterwards.

We all went to the bonfire where the ritual continued (in Spanish) and he threw lots of different things onto the fire, but I’m not sure what they represented. I only stayed at the fire a little while, as I was so tired and wanted an early night before the first real day of trekking.

Day one was a very easy warm up into what was ahead of us, but it was good to try and acclimatise the people who had just joined and got us ready (sort of), for what was to come before reaching Machupicchu.

Day 2 of the trek to Machupicchu:

It was an early start, as we were woken up by the guides knocking on our door at 5.45; well I was woken up by Naomi’s alarm but apparently the guides knocked too. We had half an hour to get ourselves up and ready (with our bags all packed) before breakfast at 6.15. Breakfast wasn’t really anything that I liked, besides fruit and bread. There was also a very runny porridge type thing which was not good, even after I tried it with jam and cereal in it and I didn’t like the strawberry yogurt either, so I just ate more bread to try and get energy for the hike. We put our duffle bags out ready to be collected and got our day bags ready, filled with water before leaving just after 7.

We started off by walking through the little village, towards the base of the mountain. We had two horses with us, which were emergency horses – they were there to carry emergency things but could also carry people’s backpacks if they needed a rest, or carry people if they were really struggling. It started off as quite a casual walk but the steep inclines soon came very quickly. It wasn’t too bad, as we could have regular breaks, but they were still quite a climb.

Quite near the beginning, we stopped to see some ruins. I’m not sure what they were called but from above they looked like a hummingbird – which was quite cool because I don’t know how they would know that from on the ground when they were being built.

Further on down the trek, at one break, we were waiting for everyone to catch up (those that like to rush, had gone on ahead though) and some people were really starting to struggle – we were getting higher in altitude and the hills were constant. Katie panicked when she caught up to us, as she was struggling to breathe. She was fine after a while but I stayed towards the back with her to make sure she was okay; she also put her bag on the horse as this point, so I made sure she had plenty of water.

We carried on going, and as we were getting higher, the views were getting more and more beautiful; every time we turned around we could see right into the valley of where we came from and with the sun shining down it made a pretty picture. We stopped again a bit further and the guides were now getting worried about the group that had basically run off ahead because they said there were many routes they could have taken. I felt a bit sorry for the guides because we were all their responsibility and they couldn’t find the people in front because they didn’t wait.

We eventually caught up with them, as they had stopped at the highest point of the day. I arrived there at about 11.30, so had done it in 4 hours and 10 minutes according to Jonathan. From the pass that we were at, there was an extra bit to walk up, which wasn’t included in the hike but most people walked up anyway. I decided to go to the top because it meant that I had climbed up 1000m and there were some beautiful views all around. It was a difficult climb to the top though because it was practically vertical at the end, and it was even harder coming back down. I did make it to 4450m above sea level though.

From the highest point, we had about an hour more to go until lunch – but it was mostly downhill. When we arrived at the lunch stop, everything was set up for us. There was a cooking tent, an eating tent and two toilet tents. Lunch was all prepared and cooked for us too – it was perfect. We had a vegetable soup to begin with, followed by a potato pizza thing with sandwich stuff (and lots of guacamole!) and then fruit for dessert – it was a lot to eat when we still had quite a hike to do. Also by lunch, there were quite a few people feeling sick because of the altitude so a big lunch didn’t help them.

We set off walking at about 2.15 – we had to have half an hour ‘nap time’ before walking again. We were walking mainly downhill at this point, towards the campsite for the evening. Going gradually downhill to begin with was great because it didn’t hurt my knees and I could breathe! However, the hills got steeper and it became difficult to go down. We got to a point and could see our campsite in the distance, but it was on the other side of a valley that we had to go down and then back up again. We kept going and the second set of inclines weren’t exactly welcomed but we knew the campsite was at the top of them! We arrived at the campsite at about 4.30-4.45 and it was great to see the tents were already set up for us; all we had to do was pick a tent and pick a partner. Me and Sabrina partnered up (Naomi had previously asked me but changed her mind and asked Phoebe instead but I wasn’t bothered) and chose a tent towards the back on the edge – the view wasn’t as good as the front row but all of those were taken by the time we had arrived.

The food tent and cooking tent hadn’t arrived at camp when we got there – we were too quick (apparently the quickest group they have had according to the guides) – so we had time to get our things set up in our tent and put some warm clothes on before chilling out for a while. I felt my legs seizing up very quickly, so I tried to keep moving, but I also wanted to just sit and chill after a day of constant walking!

Once the eating tent was up, we were all invited in for hot drinks, popcorn and crackers with jam again; I didn’t learn my lesson from the night before though because I filled up on hot chocolate and the snacks before dinner.

Dinner was served pretty quickly after the snacks; I didn’t have the soup starter because I was bored of soup and obviously pretty full already. The main was a beef stew thing which was tasty, with a chocolate pudding (which was just chocolate sauce) which wasn’t really that great. After dinner, we had a ‘well done’ for trekking 13-14km and briefing about the next day, from the guides (Joel, Michelle and Juan) before we went to our tents and went to bed.

In the tent, I was lay in normal socks and alpaca socks, thermal leggings and normal leggings, my pyjama top and two fleeces, my hat and gloves and my sleeping bag – I was still cold but Joel told us it won’t get to 0 degrees, so I thought I would be okay! Me and Sabrina could hear people talking about outside and wondered how they had so much energy and why they weren’t going to bed: we then looked at our watches and it was only 8.03, so kind of understand. At about 10.55, I had to check the time because I was so cold and wanted it to be morning but it wasn’t, so the second sleeping bag had to come out!

Day 3 of the trek to Machupicchu:

After a rubbish night’s sleep, despite the normal socks and alpaca socks, thermal leggings and normal leggings, my pyjama top and two fleeces, my hat and gloves and two sleeping bags, it was time to wake up at 5.30. The guides knocked on our tents and asked us if we wanted tea, coffee or hot chocolate to help us wake up – it was like we were living in luxury (besides the tents, of course)! We had forty-five minutes to get ourselves ready and packed up before breakfast. Stepping out of the tent, it explained why I was so cold: the water buckets they had given us the previous night to clean with had completely frozen over and were just ice blocks – Joel clearly didn’t know his weather stuff!

Breakfast was a strange quinoa and apple soup thing, which I didn’t eat. Then they brought out bread and jam and butter, and omelettes with sausages – it was a good start to the day. We then had breakfast birthday cake for Stephanie, which was strange but okay. We ate breakfast and then got provided with our snacks for the day before setting off. We met the cook crew and porter crew before we left which was nice because they work so hard for us and it was nice to know who they are.

We should have set off at around 7, but it was just before 8 before we left (South American times). We started off on our daily hike, which was longer than the previous hike (17-18km), but it wasn’t as steep – supposedly.

The first part of the walk was quite an incline and as Jack still wasn’t feeling well from the day before, we (me, Katie, Jack and Sabrina) took it nice and slowly and stayed near the back – I also find it a lot harder because it was so cold and the first part of the day’s hike. I realised that one of the main reasons I like to stop (besides the breath breaks) is to enjoy the views; I find myself staring at the floor when walking up the mountains and I don’t enjoy views.

We got to the highest point of the day and had a good rest there. We assumed it would only be downhill from here, but we were wrong.

We were walking for about 5 hours (with many stops in between) when we got to our final stop before lunch. At this point, Jack had to get a taxi back to Cusco because he hadn’t improved since the previous day and the altitude was making him feel really ill. I felt really sorry for him because no one wanted to have to go back but it was the best thing for him.

On the way to lunch, we got lost a couple of times – I don’t think Michelle knew where she was going. We got there in the end, but it wasn’t quite set up yet because they had to take our tents down from the morning so I guess it took them a little longer to get there. We had soup (of course) to start, but I didn’t have any again. We then had piles of pasta and vegetable with beef – there was so much, we couldn’t have eaten it all if we really tried. We then had apples for dessert and ‘nap time’ afterwards for half an hour.

We left the lunch spot just before 3 and I hoped that it wasn’t too far as it was only 3 hours until it was going dark. We had quite a bit more to go uphill after lunch and it was a struggle; the walk was so long and our legs were getting very tired, so me and Katie just hung back and took our time, with Juan. I ended up on my own for a little while, in between groups, and ended up walking down the wrong path, to the bottom, before I realised and had to walk back up – nothing like burning some extra calories! Just to make it even better, the rain started to come, so the cameras had to go away and the rain coat had to come out; the rain was icy cold and hurt so much when it hit me, but it didn’t last very long luckily.

It’s amazing how quickly the weather changes here, we all spent each day wondering whether to wear the fleece or not: when you put it on, the sun comes out and when you take it off, the sun goes in – typical. The photos show how much the weather changes, I can go from wearing my woolly hat and scarf and fleece, to none of that and my sunglasses within minutes, it’s very strange!

We eventually reached our final peak of the day and the views were beautiful with the snow topped mountains in the distance. We then began our final decline of the day, which I now decided I hated because my knees were in agony; I can recover my breathing when going uphill, quicker than the pain recovers from going downhill.

After a few minutes, we finally had sight of the campsite! The decline was quite steep though and after using ibuprofen gel, walking sticks and tape, my knee wasn’t much better, so I just wanted to be at the tents.

We arrived at the campsite just before 6 and Sabrina had already reserved us a good tent at the front. We adopted Katie for the night because Jack had gone back and we didn’t want her to be alone. We set up our tents inside and Juan massaged more gel into my knee – which was painful to begin with but okay afterwards, it helped a lot.

The dinner tent was soon ready and we went in for more hot chocolate, popcorn and crackers; I finally learnt my lesson and just had hot chocolate and a little popcorn. We had just sat down and one group who were already there, got up and moved to a different table which we thought was very rude but they seem to have formed their own little group since starting the hike.

As we were sat there, Joel came up with a present behind his back for Stephanie; they had brought her a bottle of pisco for her birthday and told her to share it out because the fourth day was a little easier, so I put a splash into my hot chocolate which tasted great! We sat there for a while and chatted, keeping warm, before dinner arrived.

Dinner was more pasta, which seemed too much for one day but it tasted even better than lunch! We had spaghetti with a choice of sauces (so I chose Bolognese) and lots of cheese! It was very filling though, having two lots of pasta in one day. For dessert, we had purple corn pudding, which was jelly like and tasted good, but I didn’t like the bits in it, so I didn’t eat it all.

After dinner, we had our evening briefing with Joel where he told us the plans for the next day, before he sent us off to our tents to bed. I was wrapped up just as much as the night before (with my scarf as an extra), plus we had an extra body in the tent, so I hoped for a better night’s sleep.

Day 4 of the trek to Machupicchu:

After a slightly warmer night, we were able a bit of a lie in because we only had a short walk ahead of us; we didn’t have to be at breakfast until 7.30. The lie in was needed because I still woke up a fair bit during the night because I was cold and because we were camped on a slant, I kept sliding down my sleeping mat towards the door, so I kept on having to reshuffle myself back up. However, the two guys in the tent behind us (who we didn’t really know very well because they only just joined and didn’t walk at the same pace as us) woke up at 6 and had very loud discussions with each other, starting with how they had an hour and a half until breakfast; Sabrina tried to shush them but it didn’t work. As they were so loud and I wasn’t getting any more sleep, I got up at 6.30. I had to pack away all my layers anyway (including the two sleeping bags), so I guess I needed some extra time.

Breakfast was a little later than planned (obviously) and at this point we started taking bets on how late we would be leaving because we should have been leaving at 8 and only sat down for breakfast at 7.45 and we still had to prepare our packed lunches. Breakfast was good again: I didn’t have the runny oats, but I had pancakes with dolce de leche (the nice caramel sauce I had in the hotel) – it was a great final breakfast to give me the boost I needed.

After breakfast, the guides came to our tent (the medical tent, as it had been renamed) and strapped up Katie’s feet completely because they were covered in blisters and strapped my knee up as a precaution, as the day was mostly downhill. The eating tent was then reopened for us to go and make our own sandwiches, ready for the walk ahead, as the porters and chefs weren’t coming with us for the rest of the trek.

Despite the delay, we left at 9 (which wasn’t too bad considering). To begin with, we carried on down the mountainside we were camped on, towards the valley. Once we got to the bottom, we had to go back up (obviously), but it wasn’t as steep as the previous days and it wasn’t as long either. Some of the paths were a bit boggy though and I had opted for my trainers today, as my insoles won’t fit in Char’s boots, but they support my knee better. I was trying to decide which way to go and thought I saw a solid bit of ground; as I jumped onto it, I slid straight over the other side into the bog – it’s a good job I was in my own shoes!

Just under an hour later, we arrived at Ollantaytambo ruins. The views from here were stunning; we could see straight into the valley and the sun was shining down. We had about 45 minutes sat down, enjoying the views and wandering around the ruins; there wasn’t any kind of tour, so I don’t know much about them besides they had good views.

From the ruins, we carried on down into the valley. The steep declines were really taking their toll on my knees, but I carried on anyway because it was worth it. Directly under the ruins, was a waterfall, so we walked towards that. It was pretty to see but the paths up to it were so slippery, so I was so far behind the rest of the group; this didn’t bother me but the comments from the others about how the back people were so slow, were getting annoying.

Just before the lunch stop (which was early because the walk was almost over), we had a very steep and gravely path to get down. I took this one very slowly and had to grab onto various people’s hands to keep myself stable. Towards the end (where it was the steepest), I just kept running down towards Joel who would catch me and then move on a bit so I was okay until the bottom. We stopped at the bottom and ate our packed lunches with the pretty views once last time.

After our lunch stop, we had a half an hour walk to a village, where the horses were waiting with our duffle bags and a bus was waiting to take us to Ollantaytambo for the night. I couldn’t believe the walk was over. We got our bags and got on the bus. On the way back, Joel asked us if we wanted to go to a brewery in the valley; it had to be a whole group decision and even though I don’t like beer, I agreed to go anyway. We were at the brewery for half an hour (they were only allowed one drink each) before we got back on the bus and head towards the town – we actually left on time too!

We arrived at the hotel at around 2pm. We all checked in and showered, which was amazing after no showers for a few days. We had the option to chill for a bit before there was a chance to go for an optional tour at 4. The rest of the group (Hayley, MC, Joe, Char, Jack and Elaina, who hadn’t done the walk because they had either chosen to do the train package or were ill) met us at the hotel, so it was nice to have the whole group together.

At 4, Jose (who we hadn’t seen since day one of the trek) met us in reception to take us to the ruins in Ollantaytambo centre. Most people didn’t go because they wanted to stay and drink, but I heard it was worth seeing and I had nothing else planned. We walked ten minutes into the centre before we were there (which seemed really strange). When we got inside, we couldn’t believe how busy it was, especially because it had been only us the whole time we were hiking. Jose said that the classic Inka trail is like it was in the ruins: full of people and lots of waiting for people to move. He also said that this was a good opportunity to get an understanding of the structure because when we visit Machupicchu it will be that busy, we will be moved along and he won’t be able to explain much.

Jose gave us a tour of the ruins. First of all, he explained the terraces: they were built to support the structure of the temples that the ruins were built for. We looked at the bricks and could see how carefully they had been chosen and chiselled down so that they fit perfectly into one another, to give the best support. He showed us the bricks at the top and said that they had been put in there for restoration purposes to keep the strength of the structure. When the ruins are looked at altogether, from a distance, you can see that they are a llama shape. The Inkas did this by following the constellations in the sky – wherever there was a gap in the stars, they would see shapes and build temples to fit these shapes.

We looked at the houses and how they were constructed. In the times when they were used, they would have had thatched roofs. The thatched roofs would be used to act as a generator to keep the air fresh inside the house for whatever reasons the family would need. This would work as the air would blow in at the bottom of the roof and then flow around the house, as more air blew in a bit further up the roof and so on.

Next, we walked to the top of the temple to see the Sun Temple. We could see that the Sun Temple was high in priority for the Inkas because it had a double door to enter and this always meant importance. There are stones that are still scattered about the Sun Temple, which have started to be chiselled down but never made it into the structure.

The stones for some parts of the temple had taken quite a journey to get there; they had been chosen from the top of the mountain opposite because that type of stone was wanted. It would be cut into large pieces and brought down the mountain (probably rolled over lots of tiny little stones). When it got to the bottom and the stones met the river, the Inkas decided to redirect the river around the back of the stones, so that they could use what they wanted. There are still some stones on the mountain that look like they are in the process of being moved; these are called the lazy stones, as they never made it to the temple.

The Sun Temple is at the top of the whole temple because it represents the sun, the mountains and men.

As we looked around at the views from the temple, we could see across to a mountain with a face in it. The face was believed to be the face of the King of the Mountains and is there to protect the land around.

We walked around some more of the temple and back down to the ground level. We walked into a part of the temple which was only recently discovered in 1976. Once it was discovered, it was dug up and the water fountains were revealed. The water that comes out of the fountains comes from the glaciers all the way up in the mountains.

 

Finally on the tour, we went to the Moon Temple, which was at the bottom of the temple. The moon temple is there to represent the moon, the water and women. It had the Andean Cross symbol on with the three stages; the number three was very important to the Inkas.

After the tour, we walked back to the hotel and had a group meeting at 6pm. The meeting was with Jose, so that he could tell us the plans for the final day of the trek. It was a short meeting and once it was over, he gave the option for a group dinner at 7.

Most people left before 7 and made their own plans with each other, but me, Katie, Jack, Hayley, Phoebe, Amelia and Simon went with Jose and Juan (our favourite tour guide because he always stayed with us), to dinner. Jose chose the place and although he lied about the prices – he said it was much cheaper than it was – it was good food. I ordered pizza and you just paid one price for the size you want and then get to choose any five toppings to go on top – it was tasty.

After dinner, we all walked back to the hotel, ready for an early start in the morning.

Day 5 of the trek to Machupicchu:

The alarm went off at 5am and after four days of trekking through the Andean Mountains, the bed was unbelievably comfy and neither of us (me or Sabrina) wanted to get up. We did though, as we weren’t trekking all that way and then missing the end point! We had breakfast and then met everyone in reception at 6.

After a short walk down the road, we arrived at the train station. Our train wasn’t until 6.40, but we had to show passports and tickets to get through to the platform. Once we were on the train, it was an hour and forty minutes until we reached Machupicchu. On the way, a lady came round with a menu and told us we got a free drink with our ticket and some snacks. This was a nice surprise; I had a tropical cocktail (basically passion fruit juice and mango juice) and we all got some biscuit type things and a chocolate, which was nice.

We arrived at Machupicchu train station around 8 o’clock and then had a short walk to get to the bus stop – it was a lot of travelling to get to one place! We only had a short wait at the bus stop – which was good because Jose had said that we might have to wait over an hour. We got on the bus and after 25 minutes we were at the top.

We needed our passports to enter, and once we were in, we had to stick together as a group which was hard because everyone just wanted their photos. Jose allowed us about 10 minutes to take photos before moving us along.

We all gathered on a grassy area, and although it was only 8.30, the sun was already beating down on us, so I quickly changed into my shorts, but on sun cream and then put on insect repellent as there were bugs everywhere!

While we were sat there, Jose explained the background to Machupicchu. He explained that it is both an urban and an agricultural area, as they had the city and the terraces for crops. Machupicchu was never discovered by anyone, as people always lived there, so they always knew it existed. Strangely enough, the mountain beside the city of Machupicchu, isn’t called Machu Picchu Mountain, it is called Huayna Picchu Mountain. Machu Picchu mountain was behind where we were sat, so it does exist but isn’t next to the city. Huayna means new mountain and Machu means old. I’m not sure why the mountain name doesn’t match the city, but there are many mountains around the city, all with their own temples at the top. Jose said it was a good place for temples as there was the running river nearby.

People were never interested in Machupicchu at first, they kept being told about it, but would never want to go and see it. In 1911, an explorer went there to see it and he took a camera. Once he took he photos back and showed people, they were amazed and wanted to see it for themselves – this is when it all began.

After Jose’s introduction, we were able to go off and explore on our own. A group of us decided to go up to the Sun Gate. It was more of a trek up than we realised and it was a very hot day, but with lots of little breaks, we made it! It was interesting to see as it is the place that the sun first rises in the morning, however, only on the 21^st December does it actually rise directly in the centre of the Sun Gate – as it is the changing of the seasons. The Sun Gate is also the place where the people doing the Classic Inka Trail, enter into Machupicchu.

After a short break and a wander around the Sun Gate, we walked back down towards the city. On the way, we saw two different marriage proposals – I wonder how many of those happen a day! We went into the city of Machupicchu and had a look at some of the buildings, but we decided that the best views were from above because you get to see the full beauty of it. Also by this point, we were very tired and ready for a break.

We walked through the city to the exit and got in the line for the bus back down. Although the line was huge, we didn’t have to wait too long and we were soon down at the bottom.

When we got off the bus, there was a man holding a sign saying ‘Dragoman’ and it’s a good job Katie spotted it or we would have carried on walking. The man was just there to tell us there was a change in meeting places because some of the others had decided to get lunch at a particular restaurant.

After a short break at the bottom, we walked to the train station, ready for the 2.30 train back to Ollantaytambo. We got the same service on the way back and I chose the same drink. We arrived back around 4 and walked back towards our hotel to get a bus to back to Cusco. As much as I tried, I couldn’t nap all day, so it had been an extremely long day with lots of walking involved.

We arrived back in Cusco at around 6.15 and had to walk a bit to get to the hotel. We got our duffle bags and had to empty them quickly, in order to return them. Rianne came out to see us all and asked us about a trek that people had been interested in for the final day in Cusco. Me and Katie had spent the whole trek to Machupicchu discussing whether or not we wanted to do it, trying to weigh up the pros and cons. In the end, we decided we would regret not going, so we booked onto it for the following morning.

After a very quick shower, we went out for dinner to an American place – it was nice to not get soup for a change. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel to try and get some sleep in before we had an extremely early start – earlier than we were first told!

After me waking up every hour to make sure I didn’t miss my alarm, it then went off at 3.30am. The initial getting out of bed was a struggle, but as soon as I was up, I was okay. It was a super quick get ready time, as we were told we were being picked up between 3.40 and 4.10 – it sounded like torture.

I was in reception from about 3.45 and we were collected at 3.50. Once everyone had been collected from different hotels, we were given a short welcome briefing before being told to wrap up in the blankets that they had provided and go back to sleep. We had a three hour drive (and a little nap) before we arrived at the place for breakfast. It was very cold, so I was glad I had my layers – I had carried them every day on the hike and barely used them so it was nice for them to be needed. We had an omelette and bread to eat and a weird tasting hot chocolate, before we got back on the bus.

After 20 more minutes, we arrived at the bottom of the hike, 4480m above sea level. When we arrived, he told us that me and Katie hadn’t paid for our entry, even though it was included in the price we paid, so we had to pay again – he did question it later though and we got our money back.

We followed the guide for a short time, before we just carried on at our own pace and he stayed to help those at the back. It was nice to not be put down by others running ahead and then gloating about it when you arrive.

We found the beginning relatively easy and we managed to maintain a pretty constant pace for the first 4km (with a few breaks in between). After the 4km mark, we had become much higher up and the paths were getting steeper. I was finding it quite hard to breathe, so I just took it really slowly and kept stopping for breaks when I needed them. We got to the top (5200m above sea level) in about 1 hour 45 minutes and it was freezing! As soon as we didn’t have the mountain blocking the wind, the temperature changed dramatically and we had to pile all our layers back on – we had taken them off because it got to hot walking; the weather is so strange here!

We took our photos as quickly as we could (when people weren’t in the way) before heading back down. The views were stunning and it was amazing to see the different colours in the mountain.

On the other side of the viewpoint, we had a great view of the mountain Ausangate which was covered in snow, as it is the 5^th largest mountain in Peru, at 6300m.

After we had taken our photos, we made our way back down as we were too cold to just stand still. We were back down in just over an hour and then sat at the bottom waiting for the rest of the people to come down. We sat and thought about how much walking we had actually done in the last few days and how crazy we were for doing another morning hike at such high altitudes. We waited in the sun for a while but after an hour, we were too cold, so we went back to the bus. The others weren’t too far behind us, so once they arrived, we drove back to the breakfast place, for lunch.

Lunch was buffet style and there was lots of good food on offer. I had lots of carbs to replace the energy I had just used.

After lunch, we got back on the truck and we were all very tired and ready for a nap. Our guide gave us a quick explanation into why the mountain we just hiked was called Rainbow Mountain. He explained that there are four main colours: red, yellow, blue and purple (which weren’t very clear on my photos because it was quite cloudy when I was up there). He said that these colours are formed by different minerals being oxygenated. The browns, greens and greys that we could see, were a mixture of minerals together.

After the explanation, most people had a nap on the way back to Cusco. We arrived back at around 5ish, so two hours before we were told, which was nice for us. We got dropped off next to the main square and had to walk up to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, Jack had taken my laundry in for me, when he took his and Katie’s. After we had showered, we went to collect it and they had put all of our things together in one bag, so we had to sort all that out before we could pack.

As my ankle was very sore because of my bites from Machupicchu, I decided to have a night in on our last night in Cusco. I packed all of my things back into my backpack – which was a challenge – and then started to sort through all my photos of the past few days – which was also a challenge, before going to bed.

Cusco has been amazing and I cannot believe how quickly a week has gone, but I also cannot believe how much I have done in a week. This is definitely a place I would like to see again some time. I would love a few days rest now, but there’s no time for that, it is time for our final Peruvian stop, in Puno.

To travel is to live, Katie x