Inca Trail contd

Ok, so the second day, finally crawled to the top of that first pass (after there had already been a false pass which was EXTREMELY cruel) and then there were probably literally 1000 steps down to the campsite for that day. My ears were popping like crazy, because I managed to do that section in like 40 minutes. But then we were done for the day at like 1:30 in the afternoon, which was nice. Had a big nap, tea time, and a great sunset in the mountains. Then the next morning we got up early again and started on the second pass, which wasn{t so bad, and when you got to the top of it, there were these hazy lagoons which were pretty neat looking. And then on the way down from there, there were several ruins, one of which was quite large and pretty spectacular. It had a single staircase up to it, and was surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs. I forget what it{s exact name was in Quechua, but it was known as the {inaccessible town{ in English. And then from there we had to keep descending to where we had lunch, back in cloud forest areas, and then start ascending up to get to the third pass. This was the longest day of walking, with more than 15 km of trail to get through, although it was probably the most beautiful, with waterfalls, caves carved into the mountain, etc. We were all pretty tired by the time we got to our campsite at Winay Wayna, but our guide made us drop all our stuff and continue on a little bit further past the campsite to get a tour of his favourite ruins. And it was pretty neat' we got there just as the sun was starting to go down, and there were rows upon rows of agricultural terraces and baths. After it started to get really dark though, we headed back to the campsite, which was the largest one yet, with a restaurant and actual bathrooms on site, which i definitely took advantage of and paid the 5 soles for a hot shower. Which probably didn{t do much considering we still had more gross sweaty hiking the next day, but it definitely made me feel better in the short term, so i figure it was worth it.

That last day we got up at quarter to four to make sure that we would be the first ones in line for the final checkpoint, which didn{t even open until 5:30,n it opened it was a mad sprint to try to reach Intipunku, the SunGate of Machu Picchu as the first group. We almost did it, but a few crazy Norwegian guys from a group behind us overtook us so we weren{t the first ones there after all, despite hiking faster than i imagined possible for at least an hour. One of the guys was trying to pass us, and Angie, one of the Australian girls was trying to stop him by weaving back and forth, so he sort of joke tackled her to get past. Which then made her wheel around and whack him so hard with her walking stick that I practically heard bones crack. Just to give you an idea of how intense this race was. But like i said, it didn{t really matter because by the time we got to the sun gate, expecting the postcard view, we arrived to find a) that we weren{t the first ones there, and b) all you could see was cloud. Literally, not even the outline of a mountain was visible. Kind of disappointing.

So we stayed there a few more minutes, recovering and hoping that the fog would start to lift, which it slowly was, and then we carried on for the last 20 minutes or so of walking from there to Machu Picchu itself. Which was probably the most leisurely and easy section of the whole entire trail. Which of course meant that I managed to sprain my ankle. Literally 10 minutes before we got to Machu Picchu. I was sooo disappointed, because even though it didn{t seem to be too bad of a sprain, I wasn{t sure if I{d be able to climb Huayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking the ruins, which was sort of what I{d been looking forward to the whole time. Anyway, we got our team picture taken again, got a tour of the main parts of the ruins, and then at the last second I decided to risk it and forewent the last half of the tour in favour of the climb. Apparently it should only take like 45 minutes, but it definitely took me just about an hour to get up there, hobbling along, especially since the stairs are so steep that you have to cling to this railing and stop every two seconds for people coming back down. But you go up all these stairs, and then get to the ruins part near the top of the mountain, where it really gets steep, and then you continue on, have to shimmy nearly on your stomach sort of diagonally upwards through this gross little cave thing, climb up a ladder and then suddenly you{re on top of the mountain. I don{t know what I was expecting exactly, but I guess I hadn{t really thought that it would literally be some boulders up there, and you{re literally perched on the peak of the mountain. Absolutely spectacular, with Machu Picchu and Intipunku visible below you, and mountains in every direction you can see. It really did feel like I was suspended in midair, because you can{t see any of the stairs or mountain below you. But I didn{t linger too long up there, because it was already so crowded with people all jostling for the best picture spot that I thought I may be shoved off into oblivion, especially with a crippled foot.

So we started back down, looked at a few of the buildings that are up there, and then I went back down to explore Machu Picchu a bit more. Although by that time I was so exhausted and dehydrated that I wanted to get over to the exit and get something to eat, but somehow got lost slash stuck in the maze of buildings for about half an hour. I could see where I wanted to get to, but every time I thought I had it figured out, there was another dead end or a tomb or something. I know I should have been still marvelling at all of the stonework and detail, which was amazing, but at that point I was just getting really annoyed. But anyway, finally got it figured out, and actually I think it{s good that I didn{t get to completely look at everything I wanted to there, just because it preserves some of the mystery and awe, you know?

So then we had to take a bus down to meet up with the rest of our trek group at a restaurant in the town of Aguas Caliente, which is at the bottom of the mountain, had a little goodbye ceremony and then we were off to the train, which took an unbelievably long 5 hours to get back into Cusco. Had a good chat with one of the British couples, Sam and EJ on the train though, and also had a funny little moment with an older man whose wife was sleeping, and this huge moth kept flying around her open mouth. At first he was trying to shoo it away, and then just sort of shrugged his shoulders and gave up, at which point he realized that I was watching him and laughing, and then we took turns pretending to herd the moth back and forth to each other, and laughing hysterically when it landed on sleeping people nearby. We never even said anything to each other, but it was a very amusing diversion in what was pretty much otherwise a really long and boring train ride.

Basically fell dead asleep for 12 hours or so, only to wake up Sunday morning to realize that the cold I had been harbouring during the trek had now decided to kidnap my voice completely. Seriously couldn{t say a single word. Which sucked because I had already used up all of my Halls and didn{t have hardly any bottled water left, which made for a very interesting and mimed visit to the store (the pharmacies here keep all the products behind the counter, so you have to ask specifically for the things you want- that was fun). But I did manage to get some necessities and went back to bed for a few hours, and the voice started to come back a little bit at a time, though it{s still nowhere near normal.

Started spanish school at Amauta yesterday, as well as switched hostels into somewhere with more people around, which hopefully will provide some entertainment. The showers were almost painfully hot though, which is an unusual improvement over the last place at least. The first 2 hours of spanish class with the first teacher were pretty rough, as it felt like I was being tested on all sorts of things that I hadn{t been taught yet and was just expected to know. And she wasn{t very patient. But then the second girl was much more helpful, and it was more of a lesson and practice, which seemed manageable and will likely be useful I{m sure. We also had a nice welcome dinner for all the new students which was free, but not really that good of food. Among other things, there was this pasta served that was supposed to have spinach on it, but basically was rubbery spaghetti with green goo. mmmmm

Anyway, now I{m in an internet cafe across the street from my new hostel waiting for my trek pictures to try to upload, which is painfully slow as usual, and also waiting for my laundry to get done (supposed to be finished at lunchtime) which hopefully is true, otherwise I{ll be wearing these pyjama pants to school for lack of other clothing options. Weird.- suddenly it{s like i{m back at university again :)


Ok well I think that{s all for today- at least some of my pictures should be up on snapfish today, although my camera battery might not live long enough for them all to get up there, so some of the machu picchu ones might get up tomorrow or the next day. Hope things are well with all of you- keep the emails coming, they definitely provide some much needed entertainment and keep me feeling up to date on things back home.

Love always,
sarah