12th September - Inca Trail, Machu Picchu and back to Cusco

We were woken at 4:30am to continue up to the Sun Gate. There was almost a slight catastrophe when a porter got over-excited and disappeared off with my rucksack, but Aldo managed to retrieve the situation and all was well. I accidentally managed to pack my walking socks in my sleeping bag and, although I had thought that I could walk without them, I decided at breakfast that this wasn't going to work and so unpacked my sleeping bag, retrieved my socks and then repacked the sleeping bag again.

After a quick stop to give tips to the porters and to Aldo, who was leaving to go home, we continued on the trail up to the Sun Gate. We arrived just before the sun came up and watched as it lit up the city. It was quite impressive.

James and I were feeling sufficiently refreshed that we zipped down with Chris to Machu Picchu without any real bother. On arrival, we trundled down the hill to the left luggage booth and deposited our rucksacks. We then headed back into the city. We met Augusto and the rest of the group and arranged to meet them again at 8:30am We had a quick look around, and then sat and waited for the rest of the group.

Augusto took us on a tour around the site and then let us wander around on our own for 3 hours. James and I decided to head up Wayna Picchu, the big hill behind Machu Picchu for a few photos. We headed up some steep steps and through a tiny, tiny Inca tunnel to reach the top. The views down onto the plaza were amazing. As we were heading back down the other side I heard someone calling my name. Jamal had raced up behind us and was just at the top of the hill, so we waited a couple of minutes for him to get down and join us for the descent. It was steep and steppy, but after 45 minutes, we were back down at the city site. James opted to go to the toilet, Jamal to sit with the others and I decided to head up and over to the other side of Machu Picchu and to wander out to the Inca drawbridge. It was interesting to wander amidst the ruins of the city and I could have spent the entire day just looking at the site, but time was against us and we eventually had to get the bus back down to Aguas Calientes.

As we wound our way down the zig-zagged road to the town, some half crazed youth ran down the steps and screamed and waved at the bus at every junction. Of course, at the bottom, the bus driver stopped and let him on board to collect money for performing this feat. Being tight, we avoided eye contact!

We had lunch at a little restaurant in the town and then had a wander around. Jamal, Chris and I headed down the railway track and then doubled back along the river-side up through the market. We bumped into James and Zoe who were haggling in fine fettle and I continued along the opposite direction of the train line, up over the top of the train station and through a run down housing estate. I then passed through another little section of market and back to the restaurant, where I sat and let my stomach recover from yet another bout of stomach cramp.

Later that afternoon we took the train from Aguas Calientes back towards Cusco. I chatted with an Israeli guy who was sitting opposite me until we arrived at a town beginning with the letter 'O' whose name eludes me, where we transferred to a bus which took us back to the plaza in Cusco. (Note from Chris Newte: it was Ollanta!)

Once we arrived, Jamal and I headed to the photo shop and the tourist police while the others headed up to the Youth Hostel. Unfortunately, the photo shop couldn't take the passport photos there and then and so we had to abandon that idea. Neither did the tourist police offer any particular insights into whether the passport had been handed in, so we returned to the hostel and met up with the others.

After a quick shower and a change, Zoe, James, Jamal and I returned into Cusco and met up with the rest of the group for drinks and some food at a very funky pub. After I had had my soup, I headed round for an hour on the Internet before trying to run home (the streets of Cusco aren't particularly safe at night, but the altitude still caused problems, especially when trying to run up hill).

I arrived back at the Hostel at about 12:15am and, thinking that everyone was already asleep, dragged all my things out of the room into the corridor to pack them into my rucksack. I finished off at about 1:15am and then crept across to my bed. I no longer had an alarm clock, and so I assumed that someone else would have set their alarm clock. Even so, I set my count-down timer on my watch to bleep at 5:30 ish, just in case!