Machu Picchu & Cusco

Cusco was stunning, I had the best week of my life and met and made friends that I know I'll keep in touch with, or even plan a future trip with! The inca buildings had simplistic beautifully cut stones to make up the bases, but intricately carved fronts that overlooked the square we came to be so familiar with. There was actually a McDonalds looking out with an imitated inca style front and a Brown M, there, much to our horror! The nightlife was vibrant and going to clubs was an interesting affair. Once they spotted you walking across the plaza towards them, the club promotors would rush out and surround you, throwing free drink vouchers at you to persuade you that their club was the one you would have the best night at. At one point they actually picked us up and had us arm in arm, a bouncer either side of each of us! A little unnerving!! We lost our little llama finger puppet that we'd had with us throughout Peru and had featured in lots of photographs, in one of these almost violent moments and we grieved (for a moment) when we finally got into the safety of the club. His proudest moment had been reaching the top of Machu Picchu and climbing a plant to survey the view. Which was stunning, easily the best view I've laid eyes on in my life. When we got to the top, we just sat and absorbed for hours. We had some of the best weather too so we were lucky we could see as far as we could - there are often clouds of mist that hang around over the valley but the day we were there it was clear.
The climb up was epic. We began, (Nick & Grant -the kiwis- and Ash, Dick & I - the English) in the pitch black, at 4am, barely able to see the dirt track infront of us. The rugged edge of the sheer inky mountainside above us was barely visible. Just the absense of stars told us it was there. We strode ahead alongside a roaring river and nearly jumped out of our skins when a streak of black leapt out of nowhere and circled us. Puma!! Oh wait no, just a dog! We continued in determined silence - the 3000 stairs we had to climb ahead of us would take us 2 hours, we'd been told. We crossed the bridge and began the first set, after scrambling around in the dark to find our tickets which we were told we had to fill in. We did so on eachothers backs & the rocks , squinting to see, and were finally let through! They were alot steeper than i was expecting. I had to take a kindof run at some of them to get the momentum to get up them. Even the boys with their longer legs struggled a little. We were all panting and soaked through with sweat in minutes. The altitude made breathing a lot less effective and we had to stop for Grant, who felt sick at about 2000 steps in. He'd hammered it a little too hard striding ahead of us - that'd teach him! We'd stormed up most of the way with a few brief water breaks, the path lit only by a keyring torch and Dick's trusty Nokia! We stopped for breakfast in a conveniently placed mud hut, rushing down our oreos as we were passed by a few groups, determined not to get any further behind! About 10 minutes later we could here whoops and shouts above us and we knew we must be near the top. We rounded the last corner (the path snaked its way up) having been able to turn off our toches for the last stretch as the first hints of sunrise arrived. Exhausted, but having expected a longer treck, we tagged onto the bunch of people waiting for the gates to open. I reckon we were about the 75th people to arrive. The night's cold shook off our hot sweats and we began to shiver as we waited, being wet didn't help! The sun began to illuminate just the peaks of the mountains across the valley from us. The que grew and grew behind us and we got through the gate just after the first buses began to arrive and the girls got off to be reunited with team Shelly!! We met our guide - Pedro - and he dubbed us the spice girls in his thick accent. He took us round the site, always pointing out the "condor" shaped rocks. We were exhausted after 2 hours of history and step climbing, and flopped down with our backs against the ruins at the end of the tour. It wasn't even 9am yet. We ate "lunch" and regrouped to climb our next challenge - Wanapicchu. I've never climbed so many steps in one go in all my life. But the view at the top made it worth it. We had clear skies so we could see 360 around us, including the river winding below us on one side, Machu Picchu shrunk down to postcard size on the other and the snaking scar of the dirt track up to the gate that we'd cut through that morning. It seemed impossibly far below us. "Dinner" on the flat rocks at the top was just wonderful. The air was filled with our laughter and chatter. Eventually, reluctantly, we climbed down the precariously steep stone stairs perched at random angles, clutching at the rocks beside us. Our legs were complete jelly by the bottom and each step down sent a new spasm off. We were ravenous by this time. We'd been surviving on biscuits and fruit and plastic cheese and ham bread rolls. We tore into the rediculously overpriced burgers and quiches gratefully. Refreshed with the whole afternoon ahead of us, we climbed to the top of the Machu Picchu area to the little stone house where we sat and absorbed another gobsmacking view. I watched the Llamas nibble on the shelves of grass below us and the maintenance staff milling around watering the land. Some tour groups were just beginning their rounds and we looked on at them pitifully. They wouldnt have time to climb Wanapicchu for that spectacular view of the velvety gree mountains around us. We collapsed down on one of the shady shelves, all 8 of us, not wanting to leave but too tired to go anywhere else! Finally we plucked up the energy from who knows where to power down the last 3000 steps to return to our "hostel". We'd stayed there the night before, 8 of us packed into 4 beds because they didn't have enough room! But they refused to let us shower when we got back!! We argued them down and a few of us had icy cold ones. We were so filthy from all the dust and sweat but without fresh clothes to change into it seemed a little pointless!
Team Shelly (our friend Ashely had his name mispelt on his ticket and team Shelly was born) went out in search of a large replenishing meal accompanied by free drinks. We were gravely dissapointed when the huge portions of enchilladas we were promised turned out to be less than a starter sized portion each. I don't think I've ever seen such angry faces. We stormed out (not before wolfing them down) and onto the next place where we were won over by free garlic bread and 8 beers for 35 sol (9 pounds). We had a great train ride home, our spirits lifted again by the food, we joked our way back, chatting to the yanks sat next to us periodically. That day, one of the longest too, was a sure highlight of the trip.