Macchu Picchu to Lima

wow already it feels like so long ago that we were all waving goodbye to our host families on Amantani Island. Since then i´ve done the Inca trail and visited Macchu Picchu and now i´m writing this from lima before i fly out to New York tomorrow night. Having been living away from a lot of western culture for the past three months, especially the past month living on the island and being able to count on one hand the number of times i washed, and not being able to count on both hands the number of times i ate potatoes, it is the strangest feeling being in a big city. Now that i am in Lima with its cars, smog, fast food chains, shopping malls etc etc i feel totally overhwhelmed, aware, and unable to process everything. Like in the movies where a caveman is transported into the future and they cut his hair and give him a shower and dress him up but he still walks and has no idea about anything - this is the closest i´ve been to understanding how that caveman feels. Sounds stupid but that is the closest i can describe.

The Inca trek was four days of hard walking but totally worth it. The first day was fairly easy and pleasant with an amazingly big and tasty lunch cooked by the porters. We got to campsite fairly early with a view of big snowy mountain in the distance. The night was cold and i was scared in my tent because i couldn´t sleep and all night i could hear a cow outside my tent chewing really loudly and breathing. For some reason i got it in my head that the cow would fall and crush me in my sleep - so i didn´t sleep much and was very glad when the morning came.

The second day was very tough. probably my toughest walk. The morning, starting at 7, was 5.5 hours of continual and steep uphill walking with a heavy pack on my back. I started off well and energised and then after and hour or two i got exhausted (that damn cow near my tent) and started going quite slowly and taking breaks. The track was quite full of people and there were lots of people struggling in the hot sunshine. The scenery was quite good but that was the time when you more concentrate on the dusty gravel path and try not to look up too often. It´s also the bit when you tell yourself you´re an idiot for thinking you want to do the inca trek. But then when you finally finally reach the top and stop and look out over where you walked you feel so satisfied and excited about the next bit.

That second day was Dead Womans Pass and we walked for anoither hour or so steeply downhill after that to the second campsite. This campsite was the highest one and pretty damn cold when the sun went down. We sat around in the dark under the clear starry sky as the mist rooled up the valley and told scary stories. It was pretty fun if a little cold. We had another awesome meal, not that i remeber what it was, but i´m sure it was good and then had an early night as were all exhausted from the days walk.

The third was the most diverse and spectacular of the three days. we stopped at several ruins along the way and had to cross two passes. The environemnt syarted getting jungle-like and moist and humid and started seeing more flowers and birds. The first pass of the day was stunning when you reached thew top and looked out across the next valley and the snowy mountains in the distance. The second pass wound around a mountain side with a few uphills and downhills and even a few wonderful wonderful flat normal paths with neither an up or a down to speak of!!! The descent down from the last pass was good at first as it was downhill but after several hours (including a lunch break about two thirds down) of downhill walking it was a killer, especially on my knee. Having doubted being able to even do a one day walk with my knee i was amazed i was able to walk so far, so the pain that continued to get worse as i went on pounding down the mountainside didn´t really matter because i knew i was going to make it to the end. As i limped into the final campsite at altitiude 2000m (so nice and not cold) next to the Urubamba river and facing the back of macchu picchu with my walking stick and heavy pack, sweat soaking my clothes, dirty sweaty hair, stinky shoes, aching legs and puffing like crazy i felt so satisfied and happy that i´d completed the trek. suddenly being clean didn´t really seem so great but looking around me at the mountains and the river, and the thought of being at macchu picchu the next morning was enough to keep me going for anohter night of camping. I´d ,managed to avoid squat toilets in peru up until then, but that was the only option at the campsite. I was going to have one of the cold outdoor showers there but ended opting for the river instead - which really didn´t clean me at all but i think it made me think i was clean.

After an apparently bad tip ofr the porters we got up at 4.30 next morning to a very miserly breakfast and walked along the rail tracks for an hour or so until we arrived at Agues Calientes. The base town for Macchu picchu. It´s a shame we couldn´t walk the classic way through the sun gate and see the ruins appear in the valley, but due to a landslide we had to avoid that way and go via the town and via the bus up the hillside.

we got to the macchu picchu ruins by 6.30 when it was still misty. It was diffcult to see anything much further than a few metres. It was a bit eery and mysterious to walk in and not be able to take everything in. As the mist rose away and the early morning sunshine burnt through the ruins slowly became visible. Suddnely we were standing amongst the stone walls and terraced hills surrounded by tall pointy jungle mountians with warm sunshine just scraping over the hills and through the remaining clouds. It was a pretty stunning way for the ruins to appear, made for not walking through the sungate. We walked pretty far up to the sun gate anyway to get the class9ic view over the ruins. I knew the ruins would be pretty fascinating, but what i didn´t expect was that the surroundings mountains and views would be what makes it so beautiful there. You could see why the incas built it in such a way and also why it had been lost for so long. It feels so remote and isolated. You look out past the ruins and out over the vastness of the mountians and the valleys and feel so small but so happy to have seen such a beautiful part of the world.

The rest of that day was spent running back down the hill to Aguas Calientes, to avoid the 18 soles bus ride, running past other tourists and making them wonder why the hell we would want to run down the hill. It almost felt like an explanation as we ran past one group hollering and with Stephen yelling ¨voluntarios!!!¨.

In the late afternoon we all headed up to the hot springs (aguas calientes) for a much needed relaxation session. After briefly washing off in the cold running water next to the pool I got in the very warm water and it was like heaven - especially having had no hot shower for almost a week, and only one hot shower in over a month. We stayed there until dark and sipped on pina coladas. agghhhh

The next day we all discovered that if you´ve already seen macchu picchu and been to the hot springs, then there really isnñt much to do other than walk the railway lines, sit on rocks near the river, or eat tourist food at expensive restaurants. I opted mostly for the first two until finally 4 o´clock came and we got on the train fotr the four hour ride to cusco.

That was less than 24 hours ago and now the program has finished and i´ve said good bye to everyone, flown to Lima and here i am for 24 hours in Lima with Amy and Will before i say goodbye to them as well and head to New York by myself.

For now i am still very sad to have finished the program and left everyone, and also feel strangely disjointed at being in lima and not being with a bunch of people and wondering the hell i am doing.

Overall though i feel happy to have gotten so much more out of the program in Peru than i ever expected. For that i feel happy and optimistic and looking forward to the next part of my journey.

Nicky