South America 2007

Wow! The Inca Trail was amazing and so was the Guide aptly named Angel. However, do not underestimate how difficult the trail is, I had some serious breathing problems because of the altitude. It took me 4 days of hardcore hiking to Machu Picchu to an altitude of 4200M at the highest point. My guide was great though and gave me some strange red liquid to cope with my altitude sickness and some coco leaves to chew along the way. He also had to drag me up a bit of the way as I physically couldnt make it.

The first night in the mountain range I had an early night as had to get up at 4am. Before bed though played with some of the local kids, unfortunately they don´t speak spanish but quechua, although had fun playing with their only toy - a balloon. First night was freezing and really uncomfortable as the tent was pitched on a slope and I ended up continuously slinding down the tent and eventually accepted that I would have to sleep all night crouched by the door in the feotus position.

The views were amazing though and I loved waking up in my tent to the beautiful mountain top views. Weather was not that great though, rained alot and Cuzco in general is freezing cold.

The second night I had a massive snake crawling under my sleeping bag. The guy I shared the tent with was a gentleman though and got out of the tent in the freezing cold to shake out my sleeping bag.

So far loving this trip and seeing Machu Picchu was definately worth the trek, even if it did mean 5 days without a shower! Met a great girl from New Zealand and we decided to take some ´natural´ photos on Machu Picchu (meaning old mountain in quechua) in where we thought was a discreet place. One of the security guards managed to see us and called the police, so even though it took 4 days to get there we had to vacate quick smart before they got to us!

The jungle vegetation along the Inca Trail and the spider bite on my leg has also given me a taster of what is to come - the Amazon!