Week 2 - The Salkantay Trail and Machu Picchu

So this week John and I did the five day and four night trek to Machu Picchu. It was not however as easy as we had anticipated. Here is how it went:

Day 1 Monday- We arrived in Cusco in the afternoon and as soon as we got off the plane we could feel the sudden loss of our breath and the slight nausea of being at such high altitude! We were told to rest as soon as we got to our free hostel (courtesy of John's Auntie) and to eat very little. So we went next door to the hostel for some soup and Coca tea which is specifically for altitude sickness. However the tea was unsuccessful and as soon as I was back to the hostel I was back in bed and I no longer had the soup inside me. :(. A woman from the tour came by late in the afternoon/eve to brief us on the trip.

Day 2 Tuesday- We had to get up at 4AM for our bus ride to the start of the trail where we had to buy our first breakfast. I ordered pancakes and coca tea but this was a waste of money as again I was ill. We met our tour guide Manuel who in the days to come we found out was not so helpful. Our group consisted of two Americans from Florida called Megan and Pete, one Canadian called Dave, two other Americans from Seattle  called Josh and Duke, a few Germans  called Veronica, Stephan and Christian, a few Argentinians called Eness, Gabi and Yamilla, a few Dutch and finally a bloke Krishna from San Diego USA.
The first day was trying and John and I only just made it to the lunch spot. We soon learnt this trek was not for the faint hearted. Our first camp was the coldest camp and we slept in so many layers that night as the temperature dropped to -10 degrees Celsius.

Day 3 Wednesday - Today many of us decided that for the steepest climb we were going to pay to take a horse up to 4600m. It was pretty frightening on some of the sheer drop ledges we climbed up. When at the top we made some sort of offering to the mountain consisting of 3 coca leaves per person, and covering the leaves in a pile of stones we found scattered around the area. It was hard to understand our guide's English and so we are still unsure why this happened...

 The trek down was much better than the first day but still exhausting and both John and I this time got ill. I only managed to throw up twice which was an improvement from Tuesday!

The second campsite was much warmer as we were on the outskirts of theJungle. Now out came the bug spray, which for John did not help one bit. I finally begun to get my appetite back as we were now at lower altitude and that night was the first meal I kept down!

Day 4 Thursday - Another early start but luckily it was only a half day trek. However when our tour guide tells us "a short 3 hour walk" it turns into 5 hours! We finally reached half way point with burnt faces and took a short bus ride to the next camping site. We helped put up our tents, (which I am sure was not part of the deal) and changed into our swimming gear. We then headed off to the hot springs which was lovely after three days walking. That evening we drank and danced by a massive fire until late.

Day 5 Friday - In the morning most of us opted for the bus ride at a cost of 10 soles each, and were dropped off in the forest where we supposed to walk for no more than 3 hours to the final town Aguas Calientes. This town has a distinct feature of a rail road running straight through the middle of it.. This was our favourite place apart from obviously Machu Picchu on the trek. However due to Manuel’s ridiculous time keeping skills it was far more than 3 hours. We finally arrived at our much needed hostel and took a much needed shower! After everyone was clean we had our final dinner in a restaurant covered with dead rabbit fur (:S) not really my cup of tea. Some of us then decided to go to a karaoke bar where the most famous songs were ‘’murdered’’.

Day 6 Saturday- Today we went to Machu Picchu, the conclusion to our journey. Today we decided to ditch our tour guide and make our own way to the ancient Incan City. We took our time walking round and taking in the spectacular views. We returned to Aguas Calientes and had our lunch and waited until evening for our train and bus ride back to Cusco where we then slept for the remainder of our time there.

Hope everyone is well
Much Love
Vicky y John