Machu Picchu

This time last week we had just set out on our 4day hiking trip to Machu Picchu. A 42km hike over 4days doesn´t sound too bad until you start climbing- i don´t want to see another mountain step for a long time- it was hard but well worth it.

We met the rest of the GAP group on the Thursday- 16 in total- 6Irish, 4Ozzies, 1Canadian, 1Norwegian, 4Americans. We transferred to Cusco, a city on the outskirts of the starting point of the hike. Had Friday to explore the city and the hike started on Saturday morning. The team consisted of us 16, 2guides and 22 porters. We could only bring 6kg each packed into a duffel bag. The porters carry our things, a max of 25kg and they pretty much run all the way so that by the time we reach the camp, everything is set up, our tents, basin of water ready for us to wash. It is amazing to see them run up those mountains especially at altitudes as high as 4200m. And it isn´t only the young guys, one guy on our team was 65 years old! The record holder for the fastest time to complete the trip was part of our team- he has done it in 3h45mins. And we took 4days!!!!

We were really lucky with the weather as we got 4 beautiful days- it made the trip so much easier and the views so spectacular. Day 1 was an easy introduction to the hike and wasn´t too taxing. We reached camp about 4pm and by 6pm it was dark and really cold because of the clear nights but they were a stargazers dream. We were in bed each night by 8.30pm wrapped up in thermals, hats, sleeping bag- i can´t remember the last time i was in bed on a Saturday night that early!!

Day2 is known to be the worst and i knew this before going on the trip. But boy did it hurt. We pretty much spent the first 4h climbing up steps, some almost at 90degress. The following 2h were spent going downhill, not very good for the knees. After the 4h uphill you reach the highest point on the hike, 4200m, known as ´Dead Womans Pass´ - named because the mountains give a profile quite like a woman lying down and not because a woman has died at this point; though a few of us felt lying dying by the time we reached it. I was lucky enough to only suffer some headaches from the altitude but others were quite sick over the few days. The high altitude takes awhile to get used to- eventhough i wasn´t sick, i was moving alot slower than at sealevel. The locals have evolved to deal with it- small feet to be able to manage the steps, big hearts and lungs for the thinner air. Even the wildlife is affected by the air. Parts of the trail are home to 12 or 13 species of humming bird. They cannot continuously fly like they would at sealevel, but must stop every few minutes to take a rest. This meant we were able to get photos of alot of them and appreciate their wonderful plummage.

Each day on the trip we got breakfast, lunch and dinner cooked for us by the porters- it was 5star quality-luxury camping i think!! 3course meals each time: soup, dinner and desert, fantastic.

The final days hike started at 3.30am- up for breakfast and to pack our stuff. At this point of the trail there is a checkpoint we have to go through. The hike consists of two parts- a 6km hike to the sungate, which are ancient ruins that look down on Machu Picchu. From there it is another 3km to the site. The earlier you get up the higher you are in the queue to get through the checkpoint. We were the second group in the queue. When the checkpoint opened at 5.30am it was as if it was the start of a race. There was an air of anticipation and everyone started increasing their speed to make it to the sungate as soon as possible. Most of this part of the trek is flat and it was great to get a good stretch in the legs. Rounding the corner for the last part of the first stage we faced a 90degree wall. Usually i would take forever to climb such a thing as i am not good with heights, but in this case nothing was going to stop me making it up the wall and i wasn´t going to let anyone pass me!! At the top of the wall you enter the sungate- wow, the view of Machu Picchu was spectacular. It was a beautiful morning and not a cloud in the sky. After we had all reached the sungate and taken time to cool down after our charge, we made the final 3km hike to the site. We were there by 8.30am and spent the next couple of hours touring the site. By 12pm the site is jam packed with daytrippers who take the easy option and get the train. By then we were making our way back to Cusco. What a fanastic few days.