Macchu Picchu

I really don´t know where to begin. Today was the culmination of boyhood dreams, hard work and a shitload of walking. Macchu Picchu was everything I imagined it to be, eventually, and was a picturesque as one could hope for.

The group woke at 3:50am, packed all the stuff and stumbled to the breakfast table. A few people were nervous about the climb, but I was feeling pretty sparky. At 4:30am we started walking down steep slippery paths in the dark - what´s a blind cliff-top walk between friends? Arrived at the checkpoint after 15 minutes or so and stood in line. Most of the wait was spent listening to the Perth girls embarass each other with ´blonde moment´stories. At one point, as the darkness slowly faded, a European tour group came marching down the path with one girl declaring 'Hexcuse me. Bhut I need to join my thour grhoup.´ She probably used more 'h's' now that I think about it. Stan and Sam slagged off at them which was good for a laugh. It's strange - the Euros I've met this tour seem to be quite impatient. Scots/Irish/Poms/French are all good, it's the mainlanders you have to watch out for (Yes, I'm aware that France is on the continent).

After a pretty long wait the checkpoint was opened and we started the 2 or so hour walk to the Sun Gate. By this time light was slowly pouring into the world and we could see the mist hanging in the valley at least 600 metres below us. At a few places there was a good 200 metre drop just feet from the edge of the path. Was fun looking over the edge - it almost felt as though I would fly if I jumped. We walked through surreal forest and along narrow clifftop paths for quite a while, and even though we were talking and making noise, the sound seemed to get eaten up. Very strange. Many trees, many drops, and some light rain later, we found ourselves at the base of 50 ridiculously steep stairs. Very old, quite slippery in places, and pretty bloody dangerous if your attention lapsed. Made it up them no worries (pretty easy after climbing our jarrah staircase back home) and continued to the Sun Gate. At one point there was an image straight out of Crouching Tiget, Hidden Dragon. There is a scene at the end of the movie where the female lead is leaning on a pretty crappy railing which overhangs a massive cloud-covered drop. It was like that, but without the Chinese people.

We arrived at the Sun Gate to find Macchu Picchu completely obscured by cloud a long way below us so we waited for the slower people to catch up before setting off down the hill to a sacrificial altar shaped like a llama. It's a pretty solid rock really. I think I have a photo somewhere. After another 20 minute wait (I don't like waiting) we walked further down to a mini Macchu Picchu site where we waited AGAIN. From there it was a 20 minute walk to Macchu Picchu proper. Shortly before arriving (5 steps in fact) Ruth fell flat on her arse. 45km with no worries, only to trip at the last second. We walked the 5 last steps to the lookout spot where every Macchu Picchu postcard picture is taken and saw... Fuck all. The whole bloody city was covered in ten tenths cloud. No buildings, no roads, no mountain, no view. Completely anti-climactic. I dubbed the rock 'The Rock of Dissapointment' and we sat around in a fairly dejected silence. Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of. I can look at view-obscuring cloud at home. After sitting for 20 minutes or so we walked down a path we COULD see and made our way to the ticket office. I got my passport stamped with the Inca Trail stamp of approval - there was no way I was leaving without it - then stood in line for tickets.

Having regrouped, we began our tour. Partway through, the sun made a brief appearance, then buggered off. Cheeky bastard. Fifteen minutes later the cloud lifted, the sun came out and we were met with the awe-inspiring sight of Macchu Picchu mountain, Macchu Picchu city, and all the grandoise stonework. It was a hell of a thing. Everything is absolutely perfect. The town is well-spaced, the roads are dead-flat (barring stairs of course), the stone walls are enormous and the mountains are dominating. Bright sunshine lit the city and made the llama-trimmed grass glow. The view is indescribable. The valley is too deep, the mountains are too high and the river below is too fast to comprehend without physically being there. The tour ended, leaving us to explore on our own. I headed back to the Rock of Disappointment with the Perthies for postcard shots. I also saw a midget that looked just like Ewan McGregor. I took 3 photos without him noticing.

Pictures done, we walked down MORE BLOODY STAIRS to the bus station and caught the bus to our lunch and train spot. Both Sams bought 'I survived the Inca Trail' shirts from a short fat woman who didn't budge much when it came to bargaining. Caught the train back to Ollantaytambo then transferred to a bus back to Cuzco. At one point during the bus ride back, Sean turned to me and said 'You can see why they worshipped mother earth, hey?'. I couldn't have agreed more as a turn in the road had just revealed a view of mountains, trees, fields and glaciers. The place is magic and I'm damn proud that I came this far and did the trek. Seeing Macchu Picchu without the trek seems a bit cheap, a bit 'everything-on-a-silver-platter'. We all went out to dinner that night to celebrate and a few of us went off to a club where I danced like a pillock until 1am.

Bloody terrific day, one of the best of my life so far.