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Friday afternoon I left the boys in Mancora (it was tearful…haha) and got the bus to start my marathon journey to get to Colombia. First was a bus to the border with Ecuador, where we were shuffled along by our attentive bus attendent from one office to the next. Luckily an English girl and three Aussies were also on board. From there Helen and I were given new bus tickets in the border town on the Ecuadorian side which took us to Quito (Ecuador´s capital city).  We arrived in around 8am where I had to change bus terminals to meet the girls.

All went well, and I met them there around 11am (it was tearful..haha!) where we got our next bus to the border town of Tulcan. From there we got a taxi to the border, a hassle free stop at immigration and then another taxi to the bus terminal on the other side in Ipiales. After an hours break for food we got on our FINAL bus to Bogota with Fronteras. Time passed quickly enough and we arrived (50 hours later) in Bogota. Phew! Not a journey to be repeated again soon.

We had a briefing the night before in their office (llama path tours-you can check them out on the internet). There was 16 of us in total in the group. The 5 of us, Emma and Eugene a couple on their honeymoon from near Ballymena who were lovely, Stacey and Tim who were moving back from Australia from New York who were really fun, Valerie and George (a couple from Calgary who were 58/64!), Melissa and Stefanie who were about 23 and from Canada and then Ben, Alice and Hannah who were from Oxford. Typically it was the 3 from the UK who ended being the odd ones of the group. They were typically public schooled brits. Will tell more about them later!

Day 1 we were picked up at 4.30 in the morning in the main square in Cusco and then we drove about an hour and a half to this little village Ollantaytambo for breakfast. Then we drove another 40 mins to the start of the trek. Its really strict getting into it and you have to have your passport and everything ready. Even if someone in our group had cancelled nobody else could have taken their place! Then we did a pretty easy hike for the first 2 hours and then just stopped at the top of the first pass and took photos. Its crazy- theres a couple of villages in the middle of it all! The rest of the day we saw two Inca sites and then eventually landed at our campsite. We were sharing 2 bed tents which were grand. The toilets for the most part were squatting toilets in the ground but at least most of them flushed. The smell off them was horrendous though, I refused to go in the middle of the night!!!! The food on the trail was amazing- they had two chefs the whole time but I couldnt take complete advantage because as usual I was getting awful stomach cramps. The first night of the tour was actually Elaine’s birthday and randomly one of the Canadian girls birthdays as well. We were all introduced to the porters that night so we had to stand around in a massive circle and saw where you are from and your age. Then at the end they brought the two girls into the middle and had made two fresh cakes for them, they were literally still warm. It was amazing that they can come up with things like that in the middle of nowhere. All the porters had to introduce themselves as well and say what they were carrying and how many children they had. One guy was 54 and carrying 25kgs!! The season to be a porter is quite limited so they do a 4 day tour with all the stuff and then start the next day again, they dont even take one day off to recover. I was asking why they aren´t able to keep some of the standard stuff at some of the campsites, like the tables and chairs, but the government wont allow them to have anything permenant there. I suppose it gives jobs to a load of people as well which otherwise wouldnt. Our guide Raul had been a porter for 3 years before becoming a guide. He studied tourism in college for 4 years before he could become a guide so its taken really seriously here.

We got up the 2nd day at 5.15. This was the toughest day by far. It was basically all uphill in the morning up to the Dead Womans Pass at 4200m. We were pretty much the last ones up before the older couple but the rest of the group were super fit. Didnt care though as we made it in the end. The altitude all got us as well so we would literally walk about 10 steps and take a break. Then another 10 and a break. We had bought coca leaves and coca toffees which help with any side effects. I tried the leaves first because they were stronger but I put them in my mouth and dry reached. They were so foul I would have rathered the altitude sickness. We all just went on the toffees then because they gave us a sugar rush as well. This was the worst day of my cramps- We had all hired walking sticks so I ended up walking like Nana for the most part. Didnt care what people thought!!!!! The girls were calling me Granny O Grimm. That was about 5 hours walking before lunch.We kept on meeting this group of 4 going up the same pace as us. A mom and dad and the daughter with her boyfriend. They had managed to get on a tour last minute (I have no idea how) so didnt have much of the proper gear at all. The mom was a bit overweight and was doing it in jeans. When she got to the top of the Dead Womans Pass she just burst out crying with relief. It was actually really nice as we all kind of knew how she felt and other people started welling up as well. After that it was about another hour or so to the camp. All downhill. Its kind of frustrating to come down all the height that took you so long to climb! Lunch was lovely. You arrive in and they have bowls of hot water to clean you up and cold drinks on trays.
Then after lunch it was 2 hours uphill and 2 hours downhill which was grand. That night I just conked out. Everyone was nearly too tired to talk so we just fell into bed. Other groups dont do the 4 hours after the Dead womans pass but looking back it was so nice to get it out of the way and know that you had an easy day ahead of you.

The third day was pretty easy in comparison. There were no massive inclines. Everything was much more gradual so instead of just looking down at the ground like the rest of the days we could actually look at the scenery loads. We were above the clouds for loads of it and just walking through really lush vegitation so it was fab. We got to our campsite by about 3 in the afternoon and just had lunch. Then there was a building a few minutes away (still in the middle of nowhere here) that had hot showers and you could buy drinks and chocolate. Washed for the first time in 3 days which was amazing. Then we met at 4 and went to see the final Inca site. It was an amazing terrace that went on for ages. All the sites have been mostly restored but you could see from this one that parts of it were left as is. It just looks like any other forest so I dont know how anybody ever actually discovered them. This is where the drama started. In all of the reading material and at the briefing before we left we were told that its expected that you tip the porters. Different figures were given. It says at least 60 in the leaflet, which was then 75 at the briefing which was then 100 when Raul reminded us we needed to do it on the last day. Everyone else had just kind of wandered off to look at the ruins so myself, steffi, the australian couple and Eugene from northern ireland were the only ones left. We said we would base it on 75 per porter, 200 for the chef,and 200/250 for the guides. That would have worked out at about 125 soles per person which is about 40 euro. At the briefing the night before I thought it was a bit cheeky but when you see what the do you have no problem giving it. We said it to everyone then that to bring it that night to dinner. All of a sudden the Brits were having a problem with it. They said that they had already paid for the trip and that they werent going to be paying extra. Alice was saying that shes 20k in debt and is going back to do medicine, and Benjamin was saying that he wasnt going to pay out of principle. Still cant figure out what that principle is. The canadian girls didnt know if they had that much either. It was just annoying because if 5 people didnt pay out of 16 they would just assume that we were all being cheap and didnt give enough. Eventually the two english girls said theyd pay and the Canadians gave what they had left but Benjamin wouldnt pay. We started to call him Benja..mean after that. He was so aware that everyone didnt like him (turned out everyone thought he was a gobshite even before that) but he just brazened it out. Whats worse is that theyre all from Oxford and all went to boarding school and everything so are loaded. They had also travelled across the US which is the most expensive country you can go to so he was just being a cheap bastard. That night the girls went down after dinner to have a drink but I was wrecked from the walking and wanted to be awake the next morning so went to bed early. There was a massive thunder and lightening storm which was amazing. The whole tent would just light up.

The next morning we got up at 3.30 and had breakfast quickly. We then had to walk about 15 minutes in the dark to the checkpoint which is the entry to the actual site. The sooner youre down there the better chance you have of being up at the sungate when dawn is breaking. We were probably the third group to get there. Then you just practiaclly run for about an hour. You cant even stop to take photos because all these groups are behind you! That was one of my favourite bits. The clouds were down below us in the jungle and everything was still really cold and it was light but the sun wasnt up yet. After about 40 minutes we got to the “Gringo killers” reälly steep steps that you had to go up on your hands and knees. Then we were at the sun gate. At that point youre still about 40 minutes away from Macchu Picchu but youre looking down at it. That was my favourite bït of the whole trip. The only people up there at that time are the people who have done the trek. Everyone is just on a high and we took loads of photos. Then we went down into Macchu Picchu and again just walked around and loads of photos. Cant really say much more about it as its just like in the photos. The only thing is that theres aboiut 2000 people wandering around. Then we got the shuttle bus down and had lunch with the group for the last time in Aguas Calientes which is the most expensive town in Peru as its just tourists. Then we got the train for 2 hours back to Ollantaytambo and then göt a mini bus home. We were wrapped up in bed asleep by 9 o´clock. We were sharing the dorm room with a guy called Alan from Inniscarra. He couldnt believe that we weren´t goïng to go out and celebrate.

Well I think that just about covers it. Have just being going out here since and taking it easy during the day. Going up twoards Ica now as were cutting out Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. Theres no point in going unless we hike and its meant to be tougher than the Inca and were just too wrecked.

Click on the thumbnails below for the slideshow box to show up.

We left Isla Del Sol the next morning on the first ferry, back to Copacabana where we had organised our bus tickets for Cusco.

A quick lunch and we hopped on the bus. Copacabana looks surprisingly better in the daytime – lots of market stalls and cobbled streets, but I would still only recommend a night or two there at most.

So firstly ofcourse, we got fleeced with the price of the bus tickets and ended up on a shabby, old version of what we were told we’d be on – next time we will check out the bus in person before handing over any cash and dont believe them about fully cama seats in Peru!

For the second half of the trip, I was sitting in the first row, aisle seat which was fine until around dinner time when a woman got on with a big coloured bag, that reeked of meat of some sort, really strong smelling stuff. When I looked again I saw she had a big kitchen knife (about 12 inches long) and slowly was opening the bag. At this stage I had to cover my mouth with my scarf to stop retching.

So, she started cutting off pieces of meat with the knife and putting them into plastic bags to sell to everyone on the bus. Out of the bag she was pulling bits of bone and what looked like squishy bits of liver and kidneys, it was all to be eaten…with a boiled potato thrown in for good measure. There were plenty of takers and when she asked us about having some we all had to tell her we were vegetarian. She could see from our faces we werent too impressed but she didnt really care anyway. About a half an hour later she hopped off again, waiting for another bus to come along – lucky them!

Cusco so far is lovely, a pretty colonial town, extremely touristy but nice and relaxing for inca trail preparation!

We left La Paz for Copacabana and Lake Titicaca, on the Peru/Bolivian border (it is 3,811 m above sea level) by mini bus, arriving there about 10 pm. We stayed in Hostel Imperador, Copacabana and despite the smell of sewage we survived for the night.

The next day we got a ferry to Isla Del Sol, taking about 2 hours where we hiked up to see the famous Inka ruins and then hiked back the length of the island (8km – our biggest hike yet!) to get to the main “town” where we were staying the night.

All the people living there use donkeys to cart their stuff up the ridiculously steep hills so we were really glad not to have our big rucksacks. La Paz was catching up on us so after some delicious quinoa soup and fresh trout it was bed time for us.