Sheer Exhaustion

9-26-08

So the 4am wakeup wasn't too enjoyable. The taxi was late so we could have probably slept in till at least 4:20. We were taken to a market where we met the rest of our group. The van they had hired only had 9 seats and we were eleven so me, an Australian named Glenn, and Karin (one of the Swedes). I slept in the taxi, 1. because i was tired, and 2. because I didn't want to be awake to see our crazy driver drive off a cliff. We arrived about 25 minutes before the rest of the group (again I was trying to figure out why the taxi drove so fast since we were so far ahead of the rest of the group). We met the rest of the group, ate breakfast, and started our trek. We started in the town and walked along the road most of the first day. Although walking along a road where trucks and vans past was not the greatest experience the views of the Andes were indescribable. 19km (12 miles) later we arrived at our campsite. We had views of both the Salkantay Mountain and another enormous glacier mountain. It was cold that night and we were all exhausted so we played some cards, ate dinner and went to bed very early.

9-27-08

We woke at 6am and hike 4 miles up to the highest point we would hike during the trip. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and we were not able to have a full view of the Salkantay Mountain but we did get an idea of how big it was. We were 4600 meters which is about 15000 feet above sea level. We continued on and hike and additional 14-19km (9-12 miles)(our guide was a little funny about the numbers so we are not sure exactly how far we hiked, but it was far. We arrived at our second campsite and the sky opened up about 10 minutes later. It poured all through the night.

9-28-08

We awoke extremely tired from two days of difficult hiking. We hiked through the jungle and along a river. The scenery was amazing and although we started seeing some bugs around the hike was still very nice. We arrived at our campsite which was abolutely infested with bugs. They were everywhere and absolutely loved Unger. He had a cloud following him around everywhere we went. A van took us down to the hotsprings at Santa Teresa. It was relaxing after 3 days of hiking. The night was definitely the worst night of sleep since the ground was uneven and there was a lot of noise since our campsite was next to a road. We all woke up eaten alive. I have bug bites all over my arms and lets and 5 days later there still big welts and they itch a lot. We found out they are sand flies which in my opinion are worse than mosquitos.

9-29-08

The last day was the worst day of the trek. The guide did not give us the option of doing the first half of the hike in a van or walking and it was along a road with lots of cars kicking up dust. We ate lunch at the hydro-electric power plant where the train station starts. We spent the second half of the day walking on train tracks. It got very repetitive, difficult and boring. We did however see our first glimpse of Machu Picchu very far below the mountain, so that was nice. After 4 days of hiking and 70-80km which is about 45-48 miles of hiking we arrived in Aguas Calientes. We had an option to climb up another mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu but I decided I was a little too tired. Unger and Elli went. I ate lunch and relaxed. We went to dinner with the group and had pizza.

9-30-08

We woke up at 4:20am and waited for the bus to Machu Picchu. We were able to get on the first bus. We got in and went straight to Huayna Picchu mountain which is the famous mountain that is behind Machu Picchu in all the pictures. They only allow 400 people up each day so we were happy to be the first people up the mountain. It was a difficult time since we were all still tired from our trek but the views at the top made it worth it. We stayed up there for about an hour and then went back down to meet our guide for the tour of Machu Picchu. Unger and I decided only to do part of the tour and instead just sat there and looked at the incredible ruins from a lookout point at the top of the ruins. We then walked down to Aguas Calientes, ate lunch, checked internet, and met the group for happy hour at a bar down the street from the hotel. We caught the train to Ollantytambo and then caught the bus into Cusco. Overall the trip was a success and I was happy I was able to accomplish it.