Hello Everyone

We had an overnight flight to Santiago from Auckland, and arrived before we set off (having crossed international date line), which left us feeling a little jetlagged and odd. Checked ourselves into our accommodation - a cool apartment in the arty Barrio Brasil district, only 5 minutes walk from central Santiago - it was ace. Spent a couple of days exploring Santiago and its cool neighbourhoods and we loved it. The weather was beautiful, although it was very smoggy, and Santiago was very Spanish and a bit scruffy. There were no public toilets anywhere, however, which proved problematic as Z had a bit of an upset stomach since NZ. Excellent supermarkets, though.

Flew to Cuzco, via Lima on the 17th April, which gave us a few days at altitude to acclimatize before tackling the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. Cuzco was very touristy, but also very pretty. It has a beautiful main square, surrounded by colonial buildings and a huge Cathedral and museum, and many narrow, cobblestoned streets radiating from it. It was once the capital of the Inca empire, which stretched from Colombia to Chile, and has been constantly inhabited since Inca times. We suffered a fair bit with the altitude in the first couple of days, with pounding hearts, difficulty sleeping and shortness of breath, but it sorted itself out eventually. On our first night we tried the local delicacies: guinea pig and alpaca - both very tasty. Visited a few local ruins, including Saqsaywaman, which was once an enormous Inca sacred area, with numerous temples (they think), and was most impressive. It was constructed with huge, irregularly shaped interlocking rocks, built to withstand earthquakes (common in this neck of the woods). Unfortunately, the Spanish looted most of the rocks to build their homes and cathedrals in the city, so now only the foundations remain. Ironically, the buildings the conquistadors built on top of many sacred Inca sites in the city crumbled during earthquakes due to their inferior design, leaving Inca walls and foundations still standing.

On the morning of the 20th, we were up at 4am to drag our sleep deprived asses to meet our group to start the Inca trail (we did it with SAS - highly recommended). There were 16 in our group and we had 2 guides, Saul and Gilberth who were both lovely. A bus took us to have some breakfast at a little house on a hill overlooking Urubamba and the Sacred Valley, which was a nice start to the day. We then had a brief stop in Ollantaytambo to stock up on Coca leaves and walking sticks. The first day we walked about 17km through the most beautiful mountain scenery we've ever seen. It was supposed to be an easy day but it was pretty hard going. The trail is about 35 km long, and winds its way over the Andes and through 3 passes, the highest of which is Dead Woman's Pass, about 4200m (14,000ft) above sea level. The path was often quite narrow and slippy, with sheer drops down the side of the mountains.

The second day was really tough, waking up at 5am, we started the hardest stretch of the trail, with lung-busting climbs and knee-knackering descents. Z took it steady (she insisted on staying at the back so she could go really slow), and T forged ahead, wired on Coca leaves, and we made it! Getting to Dead woman's Pass wasn't as tough as the steep ascent after lunch. Some of the guys really suffered with the altitude, totally not being able to breathe, and at times they felt they wouldn't make it. They were dropping like flies: stomach bugs, chest infections and altitude sickness were really taking their toll on some of our compadres, but they were all so cool - just sucked it up and got on with it. There was a great sense of camaradery and we whooped like an audience at a Jerry Springer show when we all reached the end of a tough bit.

Luckily, the 3rd day was a relative walk in the park, with a lie-in (6.30am) and an 8km stroll to the final camp, which we reached by 12.30, and after lunch we had the rest of the day to relax and have a much needed hot shower. In the afternoon we visited Winaywayna, some beautiful ruins which were thought to be a retreat for royalty and important Incas, with residential and sacred areas. It was nestled out of sight in a niche in the mountainside, and remained undiscovered until 1945. Most of it is original, and it was very impressive. In the evening T and the SAS team suprised Z with a cake for her birthday, which was lovely and she was really moved. Some of the guys caught a huge Tarantula outside the bathrooms, stuck it in a plasic bottle with some moths to feed on, and paraded it around, much to Z's disgust!

The scenery along the trail was just indescribable, so we won't even try. The weather was constantly changing. One minute there would be glorious sunshine, reflecting off the snow capped peaks and the emerald green terraces; the next we would descend into a cloud forest and be shrouded in mist and fog, making it very atmospheric and mystical. There were many ruins along the way, and Saul would stop us and tell us all about them. He was amazing - so knowledgeable and really passionate about his people (and pretty fit too).

The 4th and final day (Z's birthday) we were up at 4am and for the first time on the trek it was absolutely chucking it down. We started our descent to the great Machu Picchu in complete darkness, with torrential downpours, thunder and lightning and thick cloud, leaving us wondering whether we would actually be able to see it. We arrived at the first checkpoint at about 5.30, and there was already a large queue of people waiting to get in. After another hour hike in the rain we reached the Sun Gate, where you are supposed to get your first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Unfortunately, we couldn´t see a damn thing due to the thick cloud. We hiked for about another hour and a half before we got to the entrance to the ruins and had to wait for what seemed like an eternity, in the rain, before we could go in (we had to wait for the other groups to subside). It was well worth the wait. Despite the rain, it was one of the most incredible sights we´ve laid eyes on. Have a look at the pics in the next entry. Saul gave us a tour of the most important sites for a couple of hours, including Temple of the Sun, Condor Temple, the Sundial Temple and the Royal Palace. We didn´t spot any Condors, but there was a friendly Falcon and a Chinchilla. There were millions of orchids dotted around the place, it was beautiful.

The rain subsided fairly quickly, and after the tour, T and the boys decided to scale Winay Picchu, the big mountain you can see behind Machu Picchu in the pics. It was immense - respect to Alan, who was determined to get to the top, despite his bleeding lungs! They got some fantastic aerial views of the ruins below and nearly killed themselves in the process.

We should also pay huge respect to the Chaskis (Saul insisted we call them that - it is the Inca word for runner and is more respectful than "porter"). These boys were incredible. They carried up to 25 kg a day of our junk, running past us on the trail in their sandals. We would get to camp at the end of the day, and our tents would be set up, with all our belongings in there, and tea, hot chocolate, coffee, popcorn and snacks waiting for us. They woke us up with Coca Tea each morning. The food on the trek was amazing and delicious. We had a real feast 3 times a day - how they did it we don't know, and I can´t believe they managed to rustle up a birthday cake - what stars.

We also had the best group ever. Everyone was so cool and we all got on really well. Respect to Iris; Moth, Sam and Clare; Dave and Kat; Luke and Keeley; Tyler, Megan, Kevin and Bill; Alan and Jack. After the trail we went for a celebratory lunch in Aguas Calientes and then caught the train back to Cuzco. We met up again in the evening for more partying in Cuzco, and finally made it to bed 24 hours later. It was one of the best birthdays Z has had.

Peace out everyone, don´t be strangers......

More pics in next entry