I go on these treks for the experiences and the changes that they bring about, not to take photographs or write an accurate travelog. What I provide below is my retrospective recollection of the trip with snapshots for my friends. It may be inaccurate and the photos will be of only mediocre quality.
You can click on the images to see larger versions of them
A long tedious flight to Lima, via Amsterdam with KLM. Meet the other 14 trip members at the airport in Lima where we are met and brought to our hotel. Get to try Pesco Sour, a rather delicious Peruvian cocktail before turning in knackered. Find I will be sharing my accommodation with Gavin for the duration of the trip.
Qoricancha, The temple of the Sun
A short flight in the morning to the Inca capital (the navel of the Inca world), Cuzco. We meet our guide, David [Da is pronounced like in daddy] and his assistant Roger (pronounced Rocker!) at the airport. The first thing that strikes you here is the number of people on the street trying to sell something to the tourists - postcards, Inca clothing, pictures etc. We also see a number of people milling around the square and cathedral, including very young children dressed in traditional costume and carrying lambs etc to look "cute" - they approach and say "Take a picture - 1 sol". Given that the children are out of school and are probably being made to work for their parents I don't subscribe.
We have a short tour of the city including seeing Qoricancha, The temple of the Sun. We see the first sign of the remarkable precise stone work of the Incas - look at the round base of the temple. The cathedral is too busy to visit today. We spend some time a Cuzco as part of our acclimatization for walking it is situated at an altitude of 3,416 m which enough to be started with for us ground hogs.
Processions in Cuzco the day before Inti Rayma
This is the day before the Winter Solstice festival, the Inti Rayma and there is a procession with all sorts of groups in traditional dress playing music, dancing etc. At night one of the groups gives a performance outside the front of our hotel - I am able to get a good view from the bedroom window.
Some dancers practising for the Inti Rayma
Inti Rayma Procession at Qoricancha
This is the day of the Inti Rayma (Party of the Sun) festivities. We get to see that three times during the day, in front of the temple of the sun, in the main square of Cuzco and then in the afternoon we go to the main celebration at the Sacsayhuaman ruins above the city where we have a good seat. This celebration was constituted in 1948 (I think) since we obviously have no written record of what went on with the Incas. Below is the blurb from flyer about this festival.
The Sun the main god of the Inca Civilization was considered the creater of all that existed. He presided over the destiny of human beings and the universe.
The Inti Rayma, the most luxorious feast, was devoted to the Sun in order for it not to abandon the earth and its children and offer people warmth and happiness. They should offer sacrifices and adore it. From the Qorikancha to the Huaqaypata each Winter solstice Cuzco vibrated in the sacred. The Inca and his court got ready in purity and fasting to surrender homage to his father, the Sun
Inti Rayma Procession at Sacsayhuaman
- boy can those Inca princesses
swing their hips
The Inca giving out his blessings
at
Sacsayhuaman
The Inca sovereign of the Tawantinsuyo presided over hte central party sacrificing the Llama Willaq Uma. After opening the body of the animal he saw in the viscera and bowel the announcement of future events. Soon after, he concentrated the sunbeams, whose sacred fire should be kept by the virgins of the sun until next year. Thousands of worshippers coming from the "Cuatro Suyos" or four regions, with fervour and rejoicing accompanied the services and offerings to their gods with dances and songs; and the Inca princesses offered the sacred bread (sankhu), the chicha with which the Inca began the toast to the Sun imploring prosperity, solidarity, wisdom as well as the best crops for his people.
The remains of Inca store at Tarhausi
We take a bus trip via the remains of Tarhausi which was a kind of Inca store/administrative centre. The care taker lives in part of a colonial ruin next to the sight - we got to see inside his single living room, with Guinea pigs, cat, droppings and all. We also stop to buy some supplies at another small village including nick nacks to give to children we see on the trip.
The caretaker at Tarhausi lives in the room behind
the
right hand door of this colonial ruin.
Caretakers cat and Guinea pigs
Our group in Mollepata, from left to right,
Lucie Seal, Michael Seal, Peter Newman, John Williams, Pauline
Collins, James Karn,
Simon Reynolds, Alison Reynolds, Lawrence Pope (WC),
Samantha Newman,
Elizabeth Clarke, Mark Graham, Gavin Dronfield, Geoffrey Clarke
We are dropped off at a small town called Mollepata to start with a short acclimatization walk to our first camp sight at Marcocasa. We stop outside the village school and hand out stuff to the kids who are obviously interested in the gringos. Our wranglers with their horses also pick up our duffle bags (<13kG), tents and supplies here to bring to our first camp site while we carry only day sacks for the walking. We also meet our cook and his two assistants. Our first night under canvas
Some Idiot in the way
of Salcantay
The wranglers with the horses and our baggage head
off
Trek really begins today from the southwest facing slopes of the Andes, moderate precipitation means we have course bushes and gnarly trees and small parrots can be heard in the distance and occasionally even seen.
Amazingly when we are resting at the side of the trail, in what appears to be the middle of nowwhere, two small children appear, sit down on the trail and offer to sell us soft drinks.
We climb gradually northwards heading from the farming hamlet of Soray. The massive bulk of Salcantay (6271m) dominates our view for most of the day. We camp at around 4000m at Salcantay Pampa below the face and glaciers of this peak. It is ******* cold here at night.
Being the masochistic type I (alone) go and have a whole body wash in the freezing cold river coming off this mountain.
The group at the Chiriasqa pass (5050m)
What is Lawrence doing on the left hand side?
We walk up to and over Chiriasqa pass (means 'chilly Inca') today - this is the highest point at which we walk on the trek at 5050m (or thereabouts -there is some disagreement over the actual height but I like to think I have walked at over 5000m).
The climb to the pass, close to the glaciers and ice walls of Nevado Salcantay is quite steep, We also pass through Pampa Japonesa the base camp for a Japenese mountaineering expedition.
The walk up to the pass is very slow - indeed I slow right down and use forced breathing. Even though I am going slower than David many stay behind me. Quite a few complain of bad headaches and are taking painkillers. My slow methodical approach seems to pay off and I make it to the top without too much discomfort.
At the top there is another American walking group which we have seen throughout the day as it is very spread out. Some of them are carried over by horses and one poor soul who cam up by horse required oxygen. Apparently they are with a Shaman priest on some sort of a soul searching trip - Yanks are weird.
We camp at around 4000m in the grassy meadow of Pampa Cahuna valley and it is another bitter night
Yours
truly again
The
Inca Canal and some farms
We walk along the valey and Salcantay appears again in a new profile. We pass the terminal moraine left behind by East Salcantay glacier and follow a river which later becomes perfectly straight as it was made into a canal by the Incas.
We camp at Paucarancha, an Inca Fortress. The Americans also camp there. The afternoon is free here and we have some beers. The wranglers prepare a lamb and potato barbecue for us to eat in the evening. The barbecue is of the buried kind with the fire light, the meat potatoes and a sauce put on it and the whole thing covered and buried to cook for about 45 minutes. Personally I thought it tasted good and had 3 helpings of the lamb - others where not so sure.
This is our last night with the wranglers.
Wrangler starting the barbecue
Wranglers opening the barbecue
We join the main Inca trail today and the porters (all 24 of them) take out stuff. We need to reduce our duffles to 10kg (not a problem for me as I travel light and only had 8.5 kg in mine in any case). Excess is sent back to Cuzco. We have a long climb through the cloud forest to the meadows of Llulluchapampa, over the Warmihuanusca (Dead Women) pass at 4150m. e have a long steep descent to our camp at Pacamayo valley valley (3600m). Quite a few people are ill today - the lamb is blamed but I am not so sure. I appear to be one of the lucky ones.
Runquracay ruins (I think)
An easier climb past the ruins of Runquracay, over the Runquracay pass. We pass the ruins of Sayajmarca and enter the cloud forest. We pass through a short Inca tunnel onto the Amazon side of the continental divide.
Looking down on the cloud forest
We camp at Phuyupatamarca
While everybody else is recovering Lawrence and myself take ill. A very uncomfortable and difficult day for me today as I am ill. Unable to eat anything during the day and the tablets I take don't appear to help.
Our porters, the cook
and his two assistants.
Ruins at Winay Wayna
Machu Pichu from a distance
From the ridge we go down to the ruins at Winay Wayna decide to take the antique Inca trail rather than the more common Inca steps trail. This walk brings us down through forest and we see many Orchids etc. As we come down we see the train line and river running to Machu Pichu and eventually we get our first glimpse of Machu Pichu from a rather hazy distance. We continue waliiung down and eventually come to the Inti Punku, the famous gate of the Sun. We get a full sight of Machu Pichu from here.
View
from Inti Punku to Machu Pichu
Group Photo at the Sun Gate
We descend to the city and are lucky that the weather is clear so we get a good vieww around Machu Pichu itself. We get the bus down to the village of Aguas Callentes where we all get a shower and relax with a drink in the baths of the thermal springs. The pastime of going from hot tub to jump in the cold baths is also practised. We walk back to the nice camp site at Puente Ruinas for the night. This is our last night camping.
Machu Pichu
Machu Pichu
We get the bus back up to Machu Pichu earl(ish) in the morning to miss most of the day tripper tourists. We have free time to explore the ruins.
Lawrence and myself return to Aguas Callentes and have a rather excellent lunch at a restaurant there with more than a few beers. We watch the activity around us on the street - the children playing to which we give treats, a flower woman, dogs, ducks, tourists, the local police and our waiter from the restaurant who appears to be running up and down the street to obtain the ingredients for our meal. At the end of this as we meet up with the rest in a somewhat drunken and exhilarated state. We take the train to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. Ah the luxury of a shower and a hotel bed.
Some locals.
The kids got a lift up the hill in our bus.
We explore the sacred valley of the Incas by bus today. We visit the ruins of Ollantaytambo and Pisac. We return to Cuzco in the evening.
Free time in Cuzco - do the usual shopping for trinckets. We also visit the cathedral.
A herd of cattle on the altiplano.
While most head for Lima and home, Mark, Sam and myself on the extension take a bus ride across the altiplano, the high Andian plains. It is a long drive (7 hours) with stops at many ruins etc and is quite interesting. You get to see the real poverty many people here have to live in. We arrive in Puno, a chilly town on the shores of Lake Titicaca where we spend two nights. Our hotel is actually outside the city - but given there isn't much to Puno thats probably just as well.
Floating Uros town - Waterworld anyone.
We spend the day with our guide here, Alice visiting the floating villages of the Uros on Lake titicaca as well as the burial towes at Sillustani.
The villages are built on a bed of cut reads and they do literally float - they can be towed using motorboats
Inside a Floating Uros village.
View from a Reed boat.
We had a trip around some of the islands on a reed boat - since it was Sunday we saw the locals playing volleyball on one of the islands.
We have a flight back to Lima on an AirContental plane with peeling paint on the wings and oxygen masks falling out of their stores and spend the rest of the day around Lima. We visited main square, saw the changing of the guard which is about as interesting as it is in London (yawn) and visited the Archaeological museum where we saw some shrunken heads but (unfortunately the Inca section was closed). A local cam up to us and chatted for quite a while - he wanted to know about the UK and improve his English.
The long tedious journey back to blighty. We had a little excitement at Amsterdam where the landing had to be aborted, apparently due to another plane on the runway. Got back at about 22:00 very tired as I didn't sleep on the plane and tried to coordinate my meals with BST.