Fast forward four months and my sister, her boyfriend, two friends, Italo and I meet up in Cusco (Italo and I had just taken the 24-hour bus ride from hell but the second we got to Cusco almost all was forgotten). We had a few days to tool around before our trek and got to know the city which is gorgeous. Then, it was time to meet our guide and pack our packs.
I was particularly nervous about the hike because I had vowed to quit smoking 1 month before the trip, but after the earthquake I gave myself an extra week, you know, because I thought I was going to die then and didn't so may as well ruin my lungs. Then, I quit for about a week and then, all bets were off. During this time, I was also running to get in shape (I live in Santiago Centro so that's almost equally bad for your lungs) and that plus altitude got me really nervous.
Meanwhile, my boyfriend who refuses to exercise and will not quit smoking could probably run a marathon in record time tomorrow because he's just annoying like that.
Anyhow, back to the hike. Our first day we met the 2 other people in our group (we made up 6 of the 8) and immediately hit it off with Frank and Andre. This was a relatively easy day until the last 2 hours that were straight up. I hadn't slept the entire night before so I'm pretty sure I shed a tear halfway up because I was so tired and dreading the next day because everyone says day 2 is the hardest.
This is me before the rain and before it got rough
Luckily, a lot of coca tea and a good night's sleep pumped me up for the next day and we all had a blast despite walking 4 hours up the steepest stairs/rocks/dirt I've ever seen and then straight down only to eat lunch and do the same thing again. The views we saw were absolutely incredible and made it ok that I'm now missing two toenails because of the downhill parts (duct tape is god-sent on hiking trips when your body starts falling apart).
We were all smiles from here on out
From night 2 on out everything was a piece of cake (not really, but in hindsight it was) and so much fun. The company we used provided us with some of the best food we had in Peru and really high quality service so I was sad to say goodbye to our crew at 4am on the last day until I realized it was only a few hours to our final destination. It was kind of a race from the entrance to the Sun Gate, but since it was overcast that was a big letdown and we just pushed on to Machu Picchu.
Our wonderful group
Let me just say that it REALLY is all it's cracked up to be. I'm the kind of person who is usually let down when something is hyped up, but this was incredible. We were all like little kids taking pictures and marveling at the views while our tour guide got angrier and angrier because we just couldn't sit still and listen to him. Unfortunately, our camera died on our 2nd picture there so I don't have pictures on my computer, but Italo was clever enough to film some videos with our Flip Camera set to, of course, Los Jaivas--a Chilean band that was invited to play on Machu Picchu, which explains the title of this post. That song, Pregón para Iluminarse (not one of the songs they played on Machu Picchu, but it's my favorite), was stuck in my head the whole hike, but I couldn't get the tune right and it became a running joke. I still can't do it!!
The rest of the trip was great, but nothing compared to Machu Picchu. I was really disappointed in my Lima experience but I'll blog about that and the really stressful parts of our trip (it ended with an email from my suegra saying our entire apartment had flooded and we would be coming home to a floorless, empty apartment) next time. Before; however, I'll leave you with my favorite picture from the trip because I love getting dipped :)
3 comments:
When you started this post out you weren't really doing so well on selling the whole experience :P
I'm so glad you had a good time though, I know this has been a long time in the making!
Looks like you had so much fun!! I want to hear all about it.
Ohhhh I LOVED the Inca Trail! I seriously felt like it changed my life. Never before have I been so one with nature. It was such a spiritual experience and the whole hike you could just feel the presence of past Inca Kings haunting those misty cloud covered mountain jungles. I have never before had such an incredible experience and I highly doubt anything could top it. It was above and beyond all the hype I´ve heard about it!
And I went with Llama Path too!!! They´re just amazing! They treated us so well and I loved how eco-concious and environement friendly they were. Their staff were so knowledgable and passionate about what they did. I highly recommend them to anybody planning the Inca trail.
Also, just curious, did you ever meet Freddy (or Tarzan as they call him)? He was one of the guides and one of the reasons our trek was so amazing. I´ll never forget him, he was such an awesome tour guide!!! I actually think I recognize the guide in your photo. I think he was a friend of Freddys!
Anyway, glad you got a chance to experience that trek. I think it´s definitely a must-do! Everyone should try it!
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