Do llamas lay eggs?

We have just got back from a trek to Machu Picchu and we’re now recovered after all the walking, we had an amazing time and it was one of the best things I have done since we’ve started travelling. So I can remember it all when I’m an old man and have trouble remembering even my name I’m going to write a mini novel about it all, you can just look at the photos to get the gist….

Day 1: Mollepata – Soraypampa. 18km. 700 metres ascent, 0 metres descent.

We started off bright and early and caught a bus from Cuzco to Mollepata at 4am. We met the other people we would be trekking with, 6 Americans, 2 Brazilians, 2 guides and us and got acquainted over some coca leaf tea and breakfast before we set off.

The trail at the start was fairly easy and lulled us into a false sense of security; this was going to be a breeze. We wandered through rolling hills and dusty paths up to a big hill where we had our lunch and relaxed before setting off again.

In the afternoon we set of again, now a bit sleepy from lunch and the mornings walking and we walked, walked, walked and walked some more. Slowly but surely we approached the snow capped peak of Salkantay. We arrived at our camp after 7 hours of walking, with aching feet, feeling very tired and had dinner before we fell exhausted into freezing tents at 8pm. It was one of the longest and coldest nights ever and I didn’t get hardly any sleep, at about 3am I even managed to break the zip on my rental sleeping bag and spent the rest of the night swearing at the bag and the cold and the tent and pretty much everything.

Day 2: Soraypampa – Challway. 20km. 1050 metres ascent, 1700 metres descent.

We all got up in the pitch black at 4am and stumbled around in the freezing cold to get breakfast.

We were all cheered up no end when one of the American girls asked in all seriousness whether llamas laid eggs. Brilliant. We informed her that they did and also had feathers and exchanged stories about how we had either not slept or slept very little and we sang happy birthday to Christy. We all seemed to be in a very good mood despite our lack of sleep and we set off for what we knew would be the most gruelling day of the trek. We started off walking along a valley next to an icy river and as our campsite disappeared behind us we saw the massive Salkantay Mountain looming ahead. We worked our way up a steep series of switch backs up the mountain which was hard work but well worth the view from the top when we finally got there.

We had a bit of a group celebration before realising we were actually only about half way up to the pass and that most of the climb was still ahead. On we plodded, walk walk walk walk walk.

We continued heading upwards stopping off at a nice frozen lake, played with a calf and then headed towards the top of the pass. At last we reached the top of the pass and had amazing views of the mountains surrounding it and the valleys leading from it. We stopped for a bit to take in the view, rest, drink some birthday rum and undertake a spot of mountain rock golf.

We set off down the other side of the pass into a mist filled valley. It was good to see a change of scenery from the icy top to more green with birds singing and packhorses charging by in the mist.

By the time we got to have lunch we had been walking for 6 hours and we were exhausted and settled down to a nice siesta before setting off again.

After lunch the scenery changed rapidly again as we descended into a mist topped jungle valley with a river flowing down the middle.

As we walked on slowly with tired feet horsemen and porters with massive backpacks came running past making us feel very unfit.

After 3 more hours walking we reached our next campsite which was perfectly placed in the jungle near a river. We played cards, had dinner and our chef brought Christy out a birthday cake which we had somehow magically cooked oon a gas stove. We then sat around a camp site telling stories, one of our guides who didn’t speak much English decided to tell a story with the help of a translator. Unfortunately it didn’t make any sense as it was about a woman who changed into a puppy, a man who went for a wee with a girl tied to his leg and Dracula, either way it was quite entertaining in a weird sort of way. After we settled tired down and slept perfectly for the night.

Day 3: Challway – P. Sahuayaco. 14km. 0 metres ascent (yay), 1020 metres descent.

We woke up early refreshed and ready for another days trekking. We set off first through open hills and then went into the jungle again on dusty paths high up winding around high above the river below.

We continued through the jungle stopping at a beautiful waterfall, met some locals and after for a game of football, gringos against Peruvians. We lost after we scored in our own net and kicked the ball into a fast moving river.

We finished walking early at 1pm and celebrated by going to some hot springs to soak our legs. In the evening we all got together for dinner and celebrated with some wine and rum. We were in a tiny village but our guide told us about a nightclub there, I didn’t know whether to believe him because he liked winding people up but he persisted saying it did exist. A few of us went to investigate and were surprised to see it did exist. Based in the main room of the bottom of a small two storied house and decorated with a stripper’s pole and a wolf skin on the wall, it was quite possibly the weirdest nightclub ever. It was owned by an old lady who promptly fell asleep on a chair at the bar when we arrived and left her 10 year old relatives to run the bar. An interesting mix of Dr Dre and traditional Peruvian was being played and we stayed for a few hours taking advantage of the constant happy hour rums. After we went back and slept perfectly again. Tent sleeping was getting easier by the day.

Day 4: P. Sahuayaco – Aguas Calientes. 14km. 80 metres ascent, 0 metres descent.

We woke up covered in ant and mosquito bites, in our drunken state we had forgotten to put any repellent on and had made a great meal for the local wildlife. We got up and went for breakfast only to be provided with entertainment like none before. Across the road from where we were eating there was an open sided metal shed. A live cow was lead in, it was stabbed in the head, had its throat cut and the drama unfolded something like this...

It was quite shocking and put me off my breakfast a bit (not enough to stop me eating it, thankfully it wasn’t beef) but it was a brutal education and thankfully the cow playing along splendidly and died fairly quickly, after twitching a lot and banging its head on the floor a few times. I think it’s good to see what happens to the animals which we eat so it was a good experience in some ways. We tried to decide whether it was better to be a intensively farmed cow killed with a bolt gun, but who would have to live in a shed all its life, or to be a free range Peruvian cow who lived outside happily all its life but got killed by being stabbed in the head. We decided the Peruvian cow’s way would probably win, although being a cow in India would be better.

We set off walking later in the day and regretted lying in because sun was beating down. We were now out of the jungle and we trekked along dusty roads alongside a river.

We walked until we reached out lunch spot and enjoyed eating in the shade. After lunch we continued on briefly entering the jungle to see an Inca sacrificial stone where llamas were sacrificed for the gods. Christy and Ben reconstructed what this would have been like, to great effect.

After we walked along a railway line for at least 1000 hours before finally and very happily reaching the gringo filled town of Aguas Calientes, tired and very smelly, where we had a hotel with hot water and a comfy bed waiting. We had a final meal together and then went to bed early, ready for Machu Picchu the next day.

Day 5: P. Aguas Calientes – Machu Picchu. 14km. 800 metres ascent, 0 metres descent.

We woke up at 3:45am to start the 2km trek to Machu Picchu, it sounded very easy but was in fact 2km of almost vertical steps up to the site, which was even harder in the pitch black. We stumbled and panted up the steps until we finally reached the site in time to see a beautiful sunrise over Machu Picchu, it made all the trekking even more worth it as the tour groups didn’t get into the site until about 11 so missed half of the fun. The view as you walk into the site is amazing and it was much bigger and more impressive than I thought it would be.

I decided to climb the mountain next to Machu Picchu to get a better view, from the top Machu Picchu looked tiny but I got a good view of the sadistically winding route up we had slogged up in the morning.

After that climb Christy and I fell asleep in a meadow for a bit then wandered around some more.

After spending the day hanging out with llamas we caught a train and then bus back to Cuzco where we fell asleep for the next few days.

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All in all it was an awesome trek and I hope we can get some more trekking done in the rest of the countries we go to. I am going into the rainforest tomorrow for the next month, apparently there is a satellite internet connection when there is no rain (not sure how often that is in the rainforest mind) so with any luck I might be able to add photos of me wrestling jaguars and racing on anacondas.