Our four day trek began; Dory still having an upset stomach. We had an amazing guide, a chef, a horseman and four horses. The horses carried our overnight luggage plus the camp gear so we just had to carry a day pack ourselves.
In the end the trek was 54km long with 4000m of vertical climb. We found out quickly that it was not an easy trek uphill in the heat of the day, even being an Aussie (the Canadian must have been hot but did not miss a beat). We quickly took our guide’s advice starting early in the morning (aghh Peru time, not Brazil time). On our way to our destination of the Choquequirao ruins, we cross a bridge at the bottom of the valley which had very strong cross winds which the adrenaline junkies quite enjoyed.
It was like Dory had not left Sydney as she was picking grass… not for rabbits this time but for horses as they are really just Giant Rabbits.
Two days later, we arrive at Choquequirao. Wow, what a site! The ruins were incredible and there were hardly any other people there as the only access was on foot. It was unbelievable to see the work that had gone into carving rocks, setting up irrigation systems, arranging farming back thousands of years ago.
The coolest thing there had to be the llamas in the walls.
Our trek was made quite bearable with a level of luxury due to our chef who not only did all the cooking (Peru style omg YUM!) but carried all the cooking gear, some days with the help of the horses, so we only had to carry small day packs.
The four days hiking was definitely a highlight of the trip. The Andes tested us but did not kill us. We headed back to Cusco to relax… or so we thought.
The next day we headed to Machu Picchu but this can be done on a train these days so that is what we did. To our disgust, there were 4000 tourists a day visiting the ruins (a lot different to the previous ruins where we were spoilt). Doug chose the route which had us going up another elevation (I recall him saying, “don’t hate me but…”) We looked down on Machu Picchu and realised our feat once we were on our descent and multiple people attempting the climb ask us, in a PUFFED voice, how far they had to go.
We headed down to the main area which was an absolute site. The ruins were so unbelievable and it took such a long time to walk through. The views were remarkable and it is hard to believe how this was created so long ago.
Our Peru trip is done and I say goodbye to Doug, for now. A short stop in Chile on the way home (yes, I left the airport) where there is some very low lying snow and back Australia bound we go.
Comments
Post a Comment