Inca Trail - Day 3
Trip Start
Apr 10, 2006
1
45
47
Trip End
Jul 24, 2006
Cusco, Peru
Friday, June 9, 2006
We woke before sun rise with the mandatory cup of coco tea. The camping part of the trip had been five star, with the porters looking after our every need, even ready with bowls of hot water and towels as we ventured from our tents. The days might have been warm and sometimes hot, but the nights were bloody freezing, and I was glad I had a 0deg sleeping bag plus liner, but I still went to bed fully clothed.
Sun rise as beautiful, and it set us up nicely for the rest of the day. Leaving shortly after a hearty breakfast, we headed up hill for about an hour and then down step after step after step through jungle clad mountains - I was having to protect the knee I'd damaged in China, and this down hill stretch was in some ways more arduous than the uphill. I actually developed a bizarre way of walking down hill with my staff, which I held in both hands, outstretched in front of me. By raising and lowering the staff I actually found my back and therefore body weight moving back at varying degrees and the pressure on my knees totally removed - it may have looked odd but it was highly effective.
We lunched at another main camp, and toured a local ruin, then passing through the final Inca Trail check point, headed on our last stretch.
Tired, but in awe of the scenery we trekked on, and on, and then climbed the final steps to the Sun Gate, the final Inca lookout before Machu Pichu.
What an amazing sight, looking down on what was once an incredible city of stone some 2/3 km in the distance. The stories of it's demise still baffle me as I can't believe anyone could have taken this place in a fight, it appears so impregnable.
I am not going to bore you with history, I am not even going to give you my feelings, I will just say if you go top South America, get to Peru, book yourself on the Inca Trail (book early), walk it in three days and get to Machu Pichu during daylight via the sun gate..... don't think about it; Do It!!
