Someone Keeps Moving My Chair: The Machu Picchu Pilgrimage

G'day viewers! Okay, with all that emotional stuff out of the way, lets talk Inca Trek!
The morning after an epic karaoke session, in which I performed Ricky Martin, Shania Twain and The Backstreet Boys (questionable choices, I'm fully aware), we boarded an eight hour bus. We arrived in Cuzco so long ago now that I cant really remember when it was. We have visited Cuzco the way that I prefer, staying four nights and really getting a good feel for the place. If we had only stayed one or two nights here, I may never have realised that if I wear my most hipster clothes I can get offered cocaine up to six times a night!

Livin' la vida loca

The city itself is beautiful. Having been the capital city in Inca times, many of the buildings still use the foundations laid more than five hundred years ago. It has definitely been the hardest city to navigate and get my bearings, and travelling with three women means that they are usually reliant on the one male's directions, its just genetics.

Plaza de Armas(tands)

Stand and smile average is going up

On Friday we set off for the town of Ollantaytambo, a sort of base town for launching into the Inca Trek. We met our porters very briefly here and realised just how large a bag with 25kg of stuff is. Some of the porters just wear their sandals and they all do this awkward bent over shuffle along the path, but it is very effective!

The start of the trail

The first day of the trek is considered the 'training day', and maybe I didn't properly prepare myself mentally after hearing that because the two hours at the end of the day were some of the hardest of the lot. We made it to camp and had a more formal introduction to our 'Angels'.

Our porters, cook, and guides. 13 staff for the four of us

The second day we were to climb to our highest point. At almost 4300 metres, Dead Woman's Pass really took some doing. At the top we waited for Dianne, who was not lagging all that far behind. That's when I got all girly about my admiration of her, but you know all about that already.

Tomas and 'his girl'

Top of Dead Woman's Pass

Gran is beating the porters

Day three was challenging for me, due to about 75% of the day being steep downhill. Gran, Steph and I all had potentially troublesome knees but nothing went wrong and we made it to our third campsite to enjoy our final delicious meal prepared by Luciano, using only the bare essentials in kitchen equipment. Day three also provided the most beautiful and unexpected moment of all. We were lead by our guide, Tomas, with our eyes closed to a lookout point. When we opened our eyes, before us was the most incredible view of waterfalls, steep mountain sides, and beautiful Inca ruins called Wiñaywayna. The name means 'Forever Young' in the local language, and although it comes from an orchid that grows nearby, it seems absolutely suitable a name for these ruins. They were discovered even later than Machu Picchu and with hardly anyone at the site, the beauty was overwhelming. A great present for Gran on her birthday.

Winaywayna

The beauty of Winaywayna

Day four, the final day, we were up at 3.30am, and then waited until almost six for the gates into the World Heritage Site to open. After two comparatively easy hours of walking, we reached the Sungate, where we expected to get our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. The 'Cloud Forest' lived up to its name, and we couldn't see ten meters in front of us. We waited and waited, and received a quick lesson in the correct pronunciation of Machu Picchu. 'Machu Pick-choo' means Old Mountain, whereas 'Machu Pitchu' means Old Penis, no one wants to hike for four days to see an old penis.
At the start of the tour, I was delegated as the Chosen One. Being born in the dry season, I could control the weather and make rain go away just by blowing as hard as I could in the direction I'd like the clouds to go. So as we stood in thick cloud at the Sungate, I was called upon to clear the skies and reveal the wonders which lay behind.

Just making sure everyone had a clear day to check out Machu Picchu

I couldn't stop looking at this mountain, its incredible. Named Happy Mountain

The rest of the day was spent exploring the magnificent ruins, the perfection of the stonework. Most of the time was actually spent just wondering, 'how the fuck did they get that rock up there?', a question that still plagues me. Other stonework reveals that these people understood the summer and winter solstices, which suggests they had a calendar, and other rocks were carved in a way that when the right shadow was cast, it revealed the Andean Cross. There is no true evidence that Incas had a written language, but Tomas seemed pretty sure that there must be somewhere, and I think I agree with him.
Machu Picchu, one of the new wonders of the world, is an amazing place. The history and beauty, combined with so many engrossing unanswered questions, make it a truly fascinating place.