November 5 The last day

Thanks to the Pisco Sour I sleep long and then spend most of the morning trying to get all my things into the luggage and make it airplane safe. At exactly 12 - checkout time - I am done and ready for some breakfast. So I leave the luggage at the hotel and find myself a Starbucks.

I see the tourist bus company and I am tempted. I have all day to spend and haven't really seen Lima.

So I get a ticket. The bus leaves at 2:15pm and I am supposed to be there 10 min early. No issue. 

I read, write the blog and have good coffee. Somehow my mind is set on 2:30pm and so I show up there at 2:20 to see the bus depart. Here goes my afternoon. This was the only one.
I take a cab downtown to look at the historic part of Lima and end up in front of a building that could be the government. There is a marching band coming around the corner and marching inside the courtyard, so I am watching. They are rolling out red carpets and appear to be very busy. The street gets closed off and it seems like something big is happening. So I am sticking around. 20min, 30min, 45min, 1h... Nothing is happening and I am leaving. The area around this building is really nice.

I do some last minute shopping for the christmas tree. :)
After dinner I go back to the hotel and the taxi driver is already waiting for me.

In Lima airport I meet Carolina and Paul from the Inka Trail again. On the plane I fall asleep right away. When I wake up, I will be in the US :)

This was definitely one of the most adventurous vacation I ever did. It was a lot of fun and the experiences I made were unbelievable in the most positive ways.

Nov 4 Cuzco to Lima and Goodbye Arzu!

And again we are up early. The mess in the room is still big and our taxi to the airport is coming at 6:40. We hardly manage now to get everything inside our bags, but still we are outside and ready to get back to sealevel in time.

The airport is crowded with people and we are not sure whether we will manage to get to the front of the line before check-in stops. Luckily we find 3 self-check-in machines and we try to get boarding passes. For me it works, but Arzu cannot be checked in. So I wait in line at the baggage drop off and she is trying to find someone to help her. The lady tells her to go to counter 69, but in the 25 min she is there, there is nobody helping the about 20 people in line. When I am almost at the front, she joins me again and then she gets a boarding pass without any issues. Puh, that was close. We were already thinking about how to get to Lima on a different flight.

Once we land, Arzu is breathing the nice humid air of the sea, she is very happy and I have to admit that also my body also enjoys the amount of oxygen it is getting all of a sudden.

We grab a cab and let us drive to my hotel. It is in Miraflores, but the street is under construction, so we have to drag our things through the dirt for the last couple of meters. The room is not ready yet, but we can leave the luggage. First I need to find a laundry service and I am once again crazy bag lady. I could wash the stuff myself, but would be stuck there all afternoon, so I decide on the luxury service of having them do it for me - like I did all my vacation. I never had the chance to do it myself so far.

We have lunch and then want to do some shopping. I need some fancy shoes for a meeting in Boston on Wed night and Arzu can always shop :)

We go to Larcomar, one of the coolest shopping malls in Lima with a view of the ocean. Unfortunately it is very misty and so we don't see much. There are mostly small shops and lots of restaurants. So we are done fast without finding anything. We go to Starbucks and research other malls, let the taxi driver drive us there and are amazed. This is huge and has more than what we are asking for. After some fruitless attempts I find boots and am very happy. Luckily our luggage is already full, otherwise we could spend a lot of money here.

Going back to Larcomar, we pick a nice restaurant with a now clearer view of the ocean and celebrate Arzu's last supper... With Pisco Sour, the Peruvian national drink. I think we have more than what is good for us, stupid happy hour :)

When we get up and go to the hotel, we are both drunk!

Arzu gets in the taxi to the airport and I try to find the laundry service again where literally all the clothes I am not wearing, are. Luckily. I find it and luckily I didn't bring any money with me or I would have gone for a haircut right then and there, which might have looked funny, a drunk non-Spanish native trying to explain what she wants.

Nov 3 Inca Trail Day 4

The wake up knock on our tent is at 3 am :( NOT MY TIME!

I am not even really awake when we pack everything and go to breakfast. Omelette and coffee, but it is way too early and I cannot even think straight. We head down to the gate, which opens at 5:30 and are the second group to be there. I try to sleep again on the bench, leaning against the rock behind, but it is awfully cold although I brought my sleeping bag inlay to keep me warm. All through my attempts to sleep I can hear Israel and the Canadians talk and talk and talk. 

At 5 it gets light out and when the gate finally opens, everybody starts running like mad. Although it is not going uphill, it is hard to keep up and I feel very rushed. There is no time to take off even a hat and put it in the backpack, let alone a sweater. This would mean to be run over by the groups coming from behind. At one point I have to stop though because I am hot and here we loose contact to the group. So Arzu and I walk with Carlos and start enjoying some of the views along the way. He also helps us with the Gringo Killer steps, the last steep part up to the sungate. When we get on top, there is nothing to see, only clouds. I take off my ski underpants and we keep running. Now things seem to have slowed down for everybody. Israel, Fiona, Mike, Arzu, Carlos and I are walking together and then in between all the clouds Carlos makes a comment: This is Machu Picchu!

And there it is... Still hard to see, but clear enough to make me stop and be amazed. Israel is trying to ruin this moment with talking, but I choose to ignore him and enjoy the moment all by myself.

3 days of walking are forgotten. This is simply amazing!

We keep walking to enjoy the view from up close before all the day tourists come, but once we get there, there are already people running around in the ruins... But it doesn't matter. We made it!

I quickly change my t-shirt to feel a little more fresh - nobody is looking :) - and we take some pictures before we head to the official entrance to eat our snacks and then re-enter for the tour Ruben will guide us through.

I am a little overwhelmed by all the people. After four days with only the group there is now a lot of stress and hectic here at the entrance. I can hardly manage to walk through the masses. 

Once back inside we look for an Inka sofa (one of the terraces) :) and Ruben explains how Machu Picchu was found only 102 years ago by an American Yale professor with the help of a Peruvian farmer. 

After 2h of learning more about Machu Picchu and the Inkas we have time to explore on our own. The sun is out and so before we go anywhere, we lay on a rock. Then I go up to the temple with James and Jon while Arzu watches our stuff. There are only a couple more steps, so no big deal. The view is great but when we want to go down the guard shows us to the back and we have to make a huge detour to get back to Arzu. Oh well, what are a couple of steps more after 4 days of constant walking?

We explore some more, but nothing is as cool as the view we had this morning, where you could see it all.

Walking out to go to the bathroom and have a cappuccino is painful. Our legs hurt from walking down all those steps in the past two days. But we are strong and manage those last meters :)

Sitting in the coffeeshop with a cappuccino in our hand, we realize that we did it! And we are proud, so proud of ourselves! Who would have thought after my panic attacks in the night before we started that we would sit here, all sweaty but superhappy?!

We take the bus to Aguas Calientes to meet everybody for the last lunch and also get our dufflebags. The town is a typical tourist trap. There are shops and restaurants everywhere and everybody tries to drag you in to sell you something. I buy the last postcards for the Grandmas and Arzu is looking for a t-shirt but has no luck.

We go to the restaurant and the second everybody realizes there is wifi, we are all online to tell the world that we did it :)

Carlitos is leaving early and Isi is still on the mountain, but everybody else is there for a last common lunch.

It starts pouring and we realize that it is the rainy season after all. I skype with Mum, Tulli and Lisa and can see my Mum's relief that I made it back safe and sound.

Then we loose power and it is not coming back until we have to leave for the train station to go back to Ollantaybambo.

We get out our ponchos one last time and waddle to the station, which is very well hidden behind a market you have to walk through.

We board the nice tourist train and I finally try Inka Cola, the neon yellow bubble gum soda. Well, I guess there is a reason it never made it worldwide :)

In Ollantaybambo we switch to a bus, which should be faster than the slow tourist train. On the bus we play a fun game all the way to Cusco.

One asks a question and gives an estimated number. Then everybody says higher or lower and needs to reveal the information. Example: How many pieces of Llama clothing did we buy in the group? How many languages do we speak? How many people have we kissed on this trip?

This is a fun game and we learn a lot about each other. 

In Cusco it is the final Goodbye. Arzu and I give the duffle bags to Ruben and only have plastic bags now. We look funny. Arzu is wrapping her things in her poncho and so we walk through the city, get me a sandwich and make it to the hotel by 9:30. Arzu is asleep at 10, I shower, download the pics and fall asleep as well.

What an amazing experience!

Nov 2 Inca Trail Day 3

And once again I manage to poison Arzu with my deodorant. :) Today we will have a warm shower in the afternoon. We don't have much to walk today, but the path includes 3000 steps down. That will be good for our leg muscles.

While we are having breakfast, it starts to rain :( and except for the fact that we didn't buy the ponchos for no reason, this is no good. Everybody takes time to waterproof before we start walking. We look like a moving rainbow in all the colors we have. :) Going down the steps without slipping is a challenge, but we all manage and after a couple of hours the rain has stopped and we take the ponchos off.  Mine is wet from the inside as well, which is no fun since I took the one that was a little more expensive to avoid exactly that. It is too bad that we don't see anything. This part of the Inka Trail is supposed to be beautiful. Before we make it to the campground we stop at another beautiful and very steep Inka site. It is amazing how they could be built like this!

We did it... Now we are only a 5km walk from Machu Picchu.

We arrive at the campsite for lunch and also for the rest of the day... Before my body even cools down I am going to have a shower. Against what everybody writes on the internet, the showers are cold here as well. The building had to be shut down and so I have to be fast. 

Although I am almost freezing to death in there, I manage to wash my hair and pour water and soap all over my body, and it feels so good after. :) Everybody is jealous of my clean hair... 

After lunch where we almost ruin the table we all have some rest and Arzu tells me the funny story where Israel offers her a foot massage she resists. Carlos then asks from the next tent if he can have it instead, but Israel refuses. :)

At 4pm - before the other groups even make it to the campsite - we go to a nearby Inka Site which is equally impressive as the other one and Ruben explains more about the Inkas. Then we explore on our own and I have to show Carlos the way out because he is lost. :)

Arzu stayed back to read and relax and when I come back she gives me a massage for my troubled shoulder. So here I am half naked in a tent, rain dribbeling on the tent skin, being massaged by my friend... This could be the beginning of a good story, but it's not, don't worry :)

At Happy Hour we get 2 cakes and Phil manages to cut 13 pieces out of one of them. 

This is the last night for all of us and we say good bye to the porters since they will go straight to the trainstation tomorrow morning without a stop at Machu Picchu.

Carlitos is very sweet to organize a hot water bottle for me so I can fall asleep with warm feet. Wake up is at 3am!

Nov 1 Inca Trail Day 2

We get woken up at 5:30 am by Carlitos bringing us coca tea and asking how we slept. Like Babies! No, like baby llamas, he adds. :)

Today is supposed to be the hardest day. The temperature is ok, Arzu survived her first night in a tent and didn't freeze. We warm our clothes inside the sleeping bag before we put them on and do the baby-wipe shower. I almost kill Arzu with my deodorant when I start spraying inside.

Breakfast is amazing. We get pancakes, fruit, bread...

And here comes my body telling the story of today...

The legs: What is she doing today? We didn't have to work that hard in a really long time and although she seems to have not been working in a while and we had to work a lot more, this is really hard work now. We seem to walk up a really steep hill and there is not enough oxygen coming through. Hey, blood, what's up?

The blood: I am doing the best I can but whatever she has been breathing in the last couple of weeks has had a lot less oxygen. She must be in the mountains or something.

The eyes: oh yes, guys, she is and the views are beautiful. As slow as she is moving, I would have all the time in the world to look around and enjoy, but she keeps me on the ground because the path she chose to walk is very uneven and if I don't pay attention, the feet lose control and we all fall down the steep cliffs. 

The brain: "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight,..." I can do this, I can do this, just keep the rhythm and repeat the song. 

The mouth: What the f?$k? Why did I do this to myself? Why am I here and did not take the train like everybody else?

The legs: The group you are walking with is way too fast. Look at them, they are all trained very well. We need to slow down or we are not going to make it if we have to walk uphill as steep as we did for the past 25 min.

The brain: ok, we will walk slower, but then we lose contact to the group and the slow group is too slow. That way we might never make it up and according to the eyes, there is still a long way to go!

The head: why doesn't anybody put a hat on me? It is sunny out and i might get sunburned. 

... 2h into the walk...

The legs: we are going straight... What is happening? Are we taking a break?

The eyes: Yes, I can see the fast group resting and the view, the view guys! You should see this!

The legs: Shut up about the view, I want to relax...

The eyes: Sorry, we have to look and take some pictures!

The stomach: Am I getting some energy here? Is there a snack? ... Oh yes, there is!

The blood: I am not getting enough oxygen anymore. How much more do we have until the top? 

The eyes: we are at half way, but it seems like everybody is having the same issues with the breathing.

... 20 min later ...

The brain: "in the jungle, the mighty jungle..." Why is there nobody to talk to?

The eyes: because she is too fast for the slow group, where her friend Arzu gets pushed by the Israeli Israel and too slow for the fast group, where Paul is already coming her way again because the other team mate Ben lost his camera and he is kind enough to run down and up again to look for it.

But I can see the top, the boobie, Dead Women's Pass. This should be the highest we are going to.

The ears: I heard someone saying this is at 4200m and then we go down into a valley and back up to 4000 and down again before we can all sleep.

The eyes: I see Carlitos waiting for the slow group. 

The ears and the mouth: let's have a conversation!

The legs: oh yes, some rest!

... The last 20 min ...

I cannot do this anymore, I have no power and drag my body up on the walking sticks. Up on top the fast group greets me with a big applause. I try to catch my breathe to take some "I made it pictures" and am happy to be there!

When the whole group is there and had a little rest, we take group fotos and start the descent. It is steep and I would love to have my skies with me and some snow. The knees are not happy, but it is better than uphill. When I look around, I can already guess where we are going after lunch... Steep uphill again :(

But first there is lunch. And again Sebastian has outdone himself. I have no idea how he can cook such good things with so little equipment, which is all being carried by the porters. 

The spot where we have lunch is the campsite for the second night for most of the groups. They don't make the second "bump" until the next day, which seems like a good idea when I am resting on the ground, hoping some angel will come and carry me up the second mountain. But there is none and Ruben keeps telling us it is only 20 more minutes, but this is once until the first breakspot, then the Inca Site, then 3/4 up and then finally we make it to Dead Man's Pass. Considering that Dead Women's Pass is called like that because of a boob shaped mountain, you can only guess why this pass is called Dead Man's Pass :)

We have some Ritter Sport chocolate and make our way down. The stairs are really steep and uneven and it takes more effort to not fall than going uphill. Arzu, Ruben and I walk with the Canadians, but for me this is too slow and so I speed up after a while. It is misty, we are walking in the clouds, but after a while the view clears and we see a wonderful valley and we know, it is only downhill from here. :)

By the time Arzu, Ruben and I make it to the last Inka site for today, people are already coming back from the 100 steep steps up. Arzu doesn't want to go up and I am also more excited about the upcoming bathroom and so we skip it. Carlitos will not be happy since he is explaining this site, but we cannot help it. We walk to the campsite and are already washed and deodorized when the others make it here. Our tent is next to the guides and Carlitos tells us that snoring is not allowed. Well, we are the girls... So they should be the ones taking care about that. :)

For dinner we hear some ghost stories from Ruben and he claims they are all true. I am not so sure whether I should believe it and choose not to in order to be able to sleep. 

Our tent is not closing all the way and since the Canadians were talking about tarantulas coming into the tents at night, we need to improvise so that Arzu can sleep. Luckily the duffle bags are multifunctional :)

Those are the porters carrying everything for us, tents, tables, food, our luggage,...

Oct 31 Inca Trail Day 1

With a very bad feeling I am getting into the taxi at 4:05 and at the meeting point we meet Ben, who is also very pale. He tells us that he had been sick before and he is scared he won't make it. Well, that makes two of us. 

Everybody except for the two Canadian girls, which were already late for the briefing yesterday is on time. We also have some of the porters on board who will carry everything the same way we walk. We are on the bus for about 2h before we have breakfast in Ollantaytambo. The restaurant is open air and it is very cold. Since it has rained all night, it is also damp and I still feel sick, uncomfortable and not ready for a four-day-hike. My tablemates try to convince me to eat something to get some energy, but all I want to do is go back to Cuzco. We go to Ruben and Arzu explains that we are not sure whether we are fit enough to do the trail. He is very understanding and tries to tell us that everybody manages and we shouldn't be worried. We should try and until the second day it is possible to rent a horse or a donkey to come back if it is really not possible. After that there are the porters to carry someone out in case it is necessary. I am now thinking that I will at least try and I buy a banana to have some food for later when I can eat. The last 20 min on the bus. Everyone starts to get ready at km82, we are the first group to arrive. The porters pack their bags. We get a big plastic foil to put our things on while we buy the last necessities for the hike from the local women.

Here we go... I see the sign and we start the hike with a group picture.

Now I can't go back. It is cold and still cloudy and before I even realize it, Carlos stamps my passport with the first checkpoint stamp. I am on the Inca Trail. Now the only way to keep my self-respect is by ending it in Machu Picchu. I still don't feel well, but decide to walk it off.

We start easy and take several breaks on the way. So far it is going ok. When we stop at the first big Inca site, I am hooked and want to do this. The site looks amazing from above and Ruben explains why it was built here, what the different buildings mean and that you can see the shape of a snake surrounding it.

By lunchtime we already did half of our goal for today and it has not been that bad. We are greeted with a bowl of water for everybody to wash our hands and faces which is very welcome because it is sunny out and although it has not been that bad yet, we are all sweating.

We don't expect much to come from the cooking tent, but are all extremely surprised when we get handed little saucers with guacamole, grated cheese and a Nacho. Wow! And this keeps going. We get extremely delicious soup, trout with vegetables and rice and a vegetarian option and in the end Andean Peppermint tea for our siesta. It is amazing what can be done with a portable kitchen!

We keep walking and soon get passed by the 22 porters with all our things. Each one of them carries up to 25kgs on his back, all the way up and down just like we walk. They carry tents, our things, food, cooking gear,... Only the water comes from the mountains and gets filtered and boiled for us whenever we stop somewhere.

We walk past amazing mountain scenes and a camera cannot in any way catch the atmosphere.

After lunch we start going uphill and it gets a little more strenuous, but with all the good food in my stomach, I feel fine.

The group gets divided in two, the runners and the slow ones. I am finding myself too slow for the runners, but too fast for the slow ones and so I am walking alone.

Arriving at the first campsite I am amazed. It is beatifully located and has a great view into the valley we just climbed. I get some hot water and a towel to wash myself and use it extensively, also to dunk my feet. :) The tents are set up, the duffle bags with our belongings are waiting.

Before Happy Hour everybody is standing around in a circle talking and we notice that most of us are wearing Llama socks and Flipflops. It looks very funny and will probably be the sight for the next couple of happy hours we will have.

Happy hour consists of tea/ Milo (hot chocolate) or coffee with cookies and popcorn. This is the appropriate way to end a day of hiking.

We go from Happy hour straight to an amazing dinner and from there straight to bed. Everybody is dead tired from getting up so early and at 8 everything is quiet, literally.

What a good first day considering my doubts in the morning!

Mixed Feelings

I am writing this post on the night before the Inca Trail, but it will not get published until after...

It is 8pm...

This morning we went to the office of our tour operator to pay and rent the rest of the things. They gave us a map and we see how exactly we will hike the next couple of days. So it looks like the first day will start ok-ish with 12km, the second day looks like a night mare of 4h steep uphill, 2h downhill, 2.5 up and 1.5 down, all in all 16km. The third day is ok with 9 km more or less down and the last day is anyway when we are at Machu Picchu in the morning after a 5km hike.

So we have our moment but convince each other, that it will be ok. We can easily do it.

At 5 we have the briefing and get to know our guides and the group. Both guides are young and the group is also relatively young. There is one older guy, but the rest looks like to be in their 20s and 30s. Now Ruben starts to explain and I feel like I am getting more and more dizzy when I hear him talk. At one point I almost need to get up and go outside to get some fresh air. I feel sick. I don't know how I am supposed to hike uphill 6h in one day being a person that doesn't hike ever. What was I thinking? Everybody looks very confident and so I try to catch my breath and calm myself down. It sounds like once we survived the second day, it is a piece of cake. I don't dare to ask what happens if you get sick and cannot go on and noone else seems to think about it.

We come out of the meeting and I am ready to faint. Maybe my body will get sick tonight already so I can't go? What about Arzu? Will she go alone then? Did I really go that far and now I am giving up? NO! I will do this! We got all the equipment, we are ready and we will do this.

Now I can pack my bags.