In readiness for getting up for Machu Piccu, today's coca tea call was at 4:30. Thanks to the numerous cockerals calling however, we were awake and ready. We packed up our tent for the last time, had a delicious breakfast of fried egg and plantain, and set off on the morning hike.
The climb began through Lucmabamba, soon leaving the settlement and winding its way across and up the side of the mountain. We were greeted by a flock of green parrots, squawking away as they flew over us. The path had vegetation on each side, with the occasional glimpse of the increasingly beautiful view. We ourselves were getting warmer and warmer, very thankful that the sun was illuminating the other side if the mountain! The rest of our group had decided to rest this morning, so we were able to take a more normal pace for us. This meant an hour and forty-two minutes later (I know this exactly as it was a record by six minutes for our guide!) we were at the summit, which was a surprising clearing of mossy trees and hanging climbing plants.
There was no view at this particular point, so we descended a little to a stone structure which was an Inca checkpoint. From here we could look out into the distance for our first view of Machu Piccu itself! This was amazing, the mountains looming through the sparse clouds. We enjoyed this view for a while, recovering from the climb, a total ascent of 2500ft.
We had to descend even more than this - 2750ft in fact. However, although this was steep, the narrow, winding path was enjoyable. We could hear the river and some very vocal but not biting insects, as we clambered down through alternate patches of sun and shade. At the bottom was a very long and questionable suspension bridge, which we crossed one at a time, before getting into a taxi (I wasn't expecting this) to the entrance to the Machu Piccu National Park. Here we wrote down our names and passport numbers - quite common for this information to be asked for here - and got back into the taxi until we got to Hidroelectrica, which is at the start of the railway.
A few minutes walk along the railway and we were at our lunch stop (at 09:00!) and waited for the others to arrive. The day went fairly downhill from here, as we waited two hours for the others to arrive, and for a the small amount of food for lunch (we had said goodbye to our own chefs at breakfast). We then waited another half hour before setting off on the last trek of the tour.
This involved walking from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes via the train line that connected them. Thankfully, there weren't many trains - we saw three in the three hours it took - but it was quite uncomfortable walking on the rocks around the sleepers. The track goes around Machu Picchu, so we were able look up (a long way!) towards what we would be exploring tomorrow. We could also look up at the incoming rain clouds, which came with some impressive thunder! Waterproofs on, we continued on for the second half of the walk, finally reaching Aguas Calientes.
The town itself must have an extremely transient population; this was evident by large number of hostels, restaurants and minimarkets - in a somehow much less quiant way than Cusco. Our guide showed us to our hotel (not much use as we wouldn't have our belongs for a few hours) and then nearby we found a lovely bakery where we treated ourselves to a carne empanado and some cakes for tomorrow. We also stocked up on some snacks, knowing how much climbing was to come and how hungry we got today.
The climb began through Lucmabamba, soon leaving the settlement and winding its way across and up the side of the mountain. We were greeted by a flock of green parrots, squawking away as they flew over us. The path had vegetation on each side, with the occasional glimpse of the increasingly beautiful view. We ourselves were getting warmer and warmer, very thankful that the sun was illuminating the other side if the mountain! The rest of our group had decided to rest this morning, so we were able to take a more normal pace for us. This meant an hour and forty-two minutes later (I know this exactly as it was a record by six minutes for our guide!) we were at the summit, which was a surprising clearing of mossy trees and hanging climbing plants.
There was no view at this particular point, so we descended a little to a stone structure which was an Inca checkpoint. From here we could look out into the distance for our first view of Machu Piccu itself! This was amazing, the mountains looming through the sparse clouds. We enjoyed this view for a while, recovering from the climb, a total ascent of 2500ft.
We had to descend even more than this - 2750ft in fact. However, although this was steep, the narrow, winding path was enjoyable. We could hear the river and some very vocal but not biting insects, as we clambered down through alternate patches of sun and shade. At the bottom was a very long and questionable suspension bridge, which we crossed one at a time, before getting into a taxi (I wasn't expecting this) to the entrance to the Machu Piccu National Park. Here we wrote down our names and passport numbers - quite common for this information to be asked for here - and got back into the taxi until we got to Hidroelectrica, which is at the start of the railway.
A few minutes walk along the railway and we were at our lunch stop (at 09:00!) and waited for the others to arrive. The day went fairly downhill from here, as we waited two hours for the others to arrive, and for a the small amount of food for lunch (we had said goodbye to our own chefs at breakfast). We then waited another half hour before setting off on the last trek of the tour.
This involved walking from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes via the train line that connected them. Thankfully, there weren't many trains - we saw three in the three hours it took - but it was quite uncomfortable walking on the rocks around the sleepers. The track goes around Machu Picchu, so we were able look up (a long way!) towards what we would be exploring tomorrow. We could also look up at the incoming rain clouds, which came with some impressive thunder! Waterproofs on, we continued on for the second half of the walk, finally reaching Aguas Calientes.
The town itself must have an extremely transient population; this was evident by large number of hostels, restaurants and minimarkets - in a somehow much less quiant way than Cusco. Our guide showed us to our hotel (not much use as we wouldn't have our belongs for a few hours) and then nearby we found a lovely bakery where we treated ourselves to a carne empanado and some cakes for tomorrow. We also stocked up on some snacks, knowing how much climbing was to come and how hungry we got today.
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