Machu Picchu

Day 1

We did a 4 day jungle Trek to Machu Picchu and it was bloody wonderful. We in the standardly slow South American way from Cusco and headed straight for the highest section of our trip to do some mountain biking. Although us Welsh are used to and always prepared for the Rain this time we failed, the only two in the group without waterproof gear, I've never wished for a poncho so much. We headed off down the mountain, after having to carry our bikes through the rivers of waterfalls and ride through more waterfalls we got to our first night in Santa Maria.

Day 2

Today we had a 13 mile trek to conquer. Our group was now 8; 2 Swiss, 2 Germans, 2 Chillain and our guide Rene and us Welshys. The first half of the day was making our way along part of the Inca Trail, the path originally used by the Incas to send messages using messengers who ran on these tiny paths across the mountain side. We made a few stops on the way to shelter from the sun, one of which included chewing some coca leaves and having a shot of some home brew alcohol which had a dead snake in it... 

After lunch we had to cross the river. Not so much the Wye with raging rapids and bridges that conveniently had sometimes no railings or missing planks. Although this was nothing compared to the next hurdle - Death River. 

        The only way to cross this river again was via this shitty basket. Monmouthians imagine The Ferrie wire, great for a leisurely trip across the river in a boat on the water. Well Jamie I think we need to give this guy some tips as his wire was about 40m across and 70m up from the river and his boat was essentially a big basket, oh and you had to walk down a cliff to get there. Our Swiss pals informed us that they have these at home but it is only used for passing parcels etc and it is strictly illegal to put humans in, but nope here we were popping three people in at a time. 

We rewarded still being alive by having beers in the Natural hot springs and then having a night of Inca Tequila (horrible stuff with chilli), after visiting the equivalent of club griff we had a few tactical chunders ready for the next day of the trek.

Day 3

With 9 hungover humans at breakfast we decided it would be a great hangover cure to go ziplining... But anything was better than Death River again! After 4 ziplines one of which was 1.5km long and 250ft up from the valley we started our way to Aguascalientes. Our afternoon walk was 3 hours from Hydroelectria to the town that sits just below Machu Picchu. We followed the river and the trainline for the whole way, before an early night for an early rise the next day. 

Day 4 

We set off at 4.30am to be let into the bottom of Machu Picchu at 5am. With 1760 steps to go, the keen hippes in their Llama jumpers and hemp trousers are quickly left behind and only the fastest and fittest get to the top first, which suprisingly us. So basically it's amazing and so worth sweat to get up there. We left about 11am as the guides with the umbrellas started to arrive and it's too busy. So with 5 hours before our train back to Cusco we headed for the hot springs and the bar.