Hardcore hikers ;-)

Yeah, that's how we feel having finished the four-day Inca Trail to the lost city of Machu Picchu! Considering our lack of shape this hike was quite a challenge for the two of us... Sometimes on the way to the top it was like we wouldn't make it, but then when you get to the top of the mountain you forget all about the difficulties - just enjoying the view!
Guess it's like that with many things in life ;-)

At 6 am the 22nd we were picked up from the hotel in Cuzco by our local guide. From here we took a bus to "km 82" - the starting point of "The Inca Trail"; an ancient route used by the Incas in old times, 42 km long, passing mountains, valleys, Inca ruins, waterfalls, small lakes, cloud forests and ending in the historical site of Machu Picchu.
Our group consisted of nine excited young hikers, these fellow travellers being; Fanny and Dan from Belgium, Kate and Victoria from Australia and England, Michael from Australia and the two 'loco' Danish guys, Soren and Dennis. In addition, we had two guides, one cook and twelfe porters. In this company we felt like royalties having fifteen men to take care of us! They carried most of our stuff, put up our tents, made us dinner, had nine balls of water ready for us at any time we wanted to wash our hands and they were in general helpful with everything we needed.
The first day was quite easy, walking 9 km with no steep hillsides so we were all quite optimistic about the three upcoming days. Second day was killer though! We woke up at 5 am by the porters serving coca-tea in our tent :-) Then we started trekking up the very steep mountain which kept becoming steeper and steeper as the hours passed. At some point, we could see the top in the distance but it seemed impossible to reach! The last 200 meters we stopped every 10 meter to catch our breath ;-) ¡Of course only caused by the high altitude and not our physical condition! Finally, we reached the top "Dead Women's Pass" (4215 masl) and the relief was incredible. Just after reaching the top, an amazing male condor flew by - just over our heads! Stunning, almost like it was waiting for us :-) After taking group pictures and enjoying the beautiful view we started the two hours downhill hike on the other side of the mountain. After a couple of minutes walking downhill we had completely forgotten the earlier difficulties! We arrived to the camp in the valley and five minutes later it started raining heavily - we felt lucky :-) The porters had the lunch ready for us and after that we had a nice 'ciesta'. The cold evening was spent in the dinner tent talking and playing cards.
The third day started early aswell. The terrain was now changing, where in the beginning of the trip there was little vegetation and many rocks, we were now starting to walk into 'the cloud forest' - the area between the highlands and the rainforest. On our way we stopped at several amazing Inca-ruins in the mystical cloudy scenery. Having walked approximately 8 km we stopped to have lunch. After the lunch we took a short trip to 'el baño' and when we returned to the dinner tent our group was gone! So the two of us walked completely alone for a couple of hours in a scenery like nothing we had ever seen before. It was pouring rain and total silence around us. We felt like we were walking on a path of history and the plants, caves and stunning cloudy mountains surrounding us was like in a fairytale. After 16 km of walking we arrived to the camp soaking wet and exhausted, but with big emotions filling our bodies and minds. Here we had the luxury of a wonderful 'hot' shower - the first in three days! In the evening Tinna twisted her knee, but it didn't seem that serious.
The final day we felt the adrenaline filling our bodies since we knew that the trail would lead us to the famous sungate and thereafter Machu Picchu. Tinna had some problems with the knee but nevertheless we walked really fast resulting in us being some of the first (and the first in our group, hehe..) arriving to the sungate. Climbing the last steps and walking through the stone gate, unbelivable views opened in front of us. We saw a huge valley with tall green mountains, a river in the bottom and the proud city of Machu Picchu arising in the middle on a mountain top. It was just after 6 in the morning and the sun was shining in the blue sky! We felt so lucky, considering that this is the rainy season and the chances of seeing the city on a bright day are very small. We walked 45 minutes down to the ruins of this amazing Inca city and our guide gave us a two hour tour around Machu Picchu. After this we went to ‘aguas calientes’ (hot springs) and relaxed in the ‘natural’ brown water. In the afternoon a train took us back to Cuzco where we fell asleep emidiately after four adventurous days.
The following day was pleasently spent at the hospital with Tinna’s swollen knee, she is now limping around and beeing the reason (again) why we haven’t moved on to Lake Titicaca and Bolivia ;-) Hopefully we will be fit-for-fight after a couple of days resting here in Cuzco.

Hugs and kisses

Elka & Tinna

PS. We have uploaded some pictures from Ecuador and Peru on our fotosite – hope you like them :-) Though none from Machu Picchu yet...