Photo and text: On the Inca Trail

Cuzco is a lovely place – very similar to Arequipe with a Plaza Di Armas dominated by huge old Spanish colonial style buildings. We’d arranged to meet up with Ali and Damien who had decided to go to Ica rather than Pisco and Arequipa. It was good to see them again. We spent a nice couple of days sharing beers, swapping stories and eating good food – finally we had found somewhere beyond Lima where we could get a decent meal. Ali and Damien had managed to get themselves on a short list for the Inca Trail. The organisers were having to forge their passports to get them in. That might sound dodgy – and it is, but they do it all the time. The waiting time was a week, rather than the usual month. Even so, we decided we simply didn’t have the time to do it. And I have to say, after my experience on Colca Canyon I was feeling a little raw and nervy to do another trek so soon – the blisters still hadn’t healed. But, also we were in mid October and our flight out of Chile is on 10^th November, so we decided to get the train to Agua Caliente – the nearest town to Machu Picchu and walk from there.

I hate to say it, but I found Machu Picchu a bit of a let down, I'm afraid - I think because I had been looking forward to it so much and I had always imagined it as peaceful and for some reason deathly silent. There's no denying it's an amazing place, but by 10am it is completely over-run with tourists. So much so that you virtually have to walk round it in single file. I really enjoyed climbing Huanu Picchu - the mountain overlooking the site; and finding the Inca tunnel and the drawbridge was amazing. It’s breathtakingly stunning, but you couldn't sit still and take it in for more than two minutes before some arrogant shit would ask you to move out of his shot.

We arrived there bright and early, so we did manage to see some of it with relative peace for a couple of hours, but by the time we got back from the Inca drawbridge the place was swarming. One tour guide had a group of 12 old women and was keeping them all together by blasting on a f**king whistle! I bit my tongue quite hard that day. Never mind.

The surrounding countryside is breathtaking and I found myself regretting not having done the trail. My lungs had started to get used to the altitude and I had had no trouble at all walking around, or climbing Huanu Picchu – parts of which have wired rope attached to the slopes because they are so steep. It was an unforgettable part of the visit. The people that do the trail are so exhausted by the time they get there that few of them climb the mountain. The bus loads of tourists would never be able to make it up there, so we pretty much had it to ourselves which was fantastic. The view of Machu Picchu from up there was amazing. Tim took a photo of me at the top, sending a text message of all things.

We were making our way back down we heard a huge crash and rumbling echoing through the mountains. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I saw a fluster of birds, but beyond that nothing, so we just carried on making our way down. About 5 minutes later we were met by a very flustered looking attendant who we had previously met at the foot of the mountain where we had had to sign in. He told us that there had been a minor landslide. Judging by the look of relief on his face when he saw us I guess we were quite lucky that day – again. By the time we got back onto the Machu Picchu site it was about 5pm and there was barely anyone left there. Wonderful. We spent another couple of hours walking around just taking it all in and then we walked all the way back to Agua Caliente.

We managed to get out of the jungle before it got completely dark and arrived on the road that led us back to town. By this time it was pitch dark apart for one thing that I’ll never forget. There were loads of bushes on the track, all of which were lit up by fire flies. They looked like Christmas decorations. My legs were jelly by the time we got back, but it was a memorable day and a beautiful place, so well worth the pain. I just wish they would limit the amount of people allowed in or ban pensioners with whistles at least.