Cuzco and the inca jungle trail

Eeey guys,
The last couple of days we spend a lot of time with english speaking people, so my thoughts are in english.
Iam going to wright this story in english aswell, and hopefully I don´t make a lot of mistakes:P.

My last story ended in Nazca so I will continue with the busride to Cuzco.
That bus ride was horrible, we booked the uncomfortable bus. I didn´t sleep much in the bus and when we woke up the next day we found the comfortable position of the chair. How ironic:P:P.
Around 1 o´clock we arrived in Cusco and we went straight to hostel Eco Packers. It is a really nice hostel with warm soft beds and nice breakfast.
We wanted to arrive in Cusco a couple of days before the inca jungle trail, because we had to get used to the high altitude. And really you have to because we noticed already very soon that its difficult to breath around here and to get enough oxygen :P.

Nikki would come to Cusco that same day so we where looking forward to her arrival.
We checked out the dorm and went to the television corner in the hostel to chill a bit and wait for Nikki.

Around 6o´clock she arrived, and it was amazing to see here again. She is such a sweet person and really good company.
After she was settled, we went for diner. Because we where all tired of the long bus ride, we went to sleep after that.

The next morning the plan was to go to the inside market.
It was so big and too many nice souvenirs. That´s the reason we went back to the hostel with bags full of souvenirs and stuff for ourselves:$:$. The strange thing and the thing that made me very irritated was that the people over there didn´t want to negotiate about the price. Everytime we found something nice, and it was for example 35 soles we asked for 20soles and we hoped to end up paying 25soles. The only thing the people told us was, yeah for 20soles you can only get the small bag and not the big one; or, this sweater is really alpaka and worth a lot more. blablabla we only payed the gringoprices:S:S.
That afternoon we booked the Inca Jungle trail. We already made a reservation with an organisation but the trainticket wasn´t included. It would cost us 50dollars more to book the train, so we wanted to book the whole tour with another organisation!
Nikki adviced us to book a side tour to Huayna picchu as well. Its a mountain next to Machu Picchu and you can oversee whole the area. It supposed to be beautiful.
The problem is that only 400 people a day can go up that mountain. Sandra and Jessica are rushing to cuzco to do the jungle trail with us. But we don´t have there passport numbers so we cant make a reservation for Huayna picchu for them.
Sorry Jessica and Sandra, but we really wanna do this!
We didn´t do a lot more that day, because Mief didn´t feel very great. After diner we went for a little nap. But when we woke up, Mief felt only worse so we didn´t went to party but just slept on.

That morning Nikki and I went on a quest!:P. Mief wasn´t feeling very well and that evening we wanted to go out, so she needed the rest.
Nikki said that it is not a problem to take some cloths home with here, but only when we buy her a nice bag where she can put them in. Because in four days she is going home and otherwise we have to carry it for four more month. That was so nice of her!
We went back to the market and when we arrived there it started raining like crazy. So we where stuck there for a couple of hours and there was no other option than shop for a little while longer:P
Around lunchtime we went with the three of us to the chocolate museum. It was more something like a restaurant and you can take classes to learn how to make chocolate. On the whales there you could find a lot of information about the history of chocolate. We learned that in this part of the world they invented chocolate.
We ordered nice hot chocolate and we had to put stuff in it ourselves like cinnamon, honey or pepper. Really nice!
Around 8 o´clock we went to the Mc Donalds to meet up with Jessica en Sandra but also with Janne and Jeannette (The two danish girls we met in huacachina). They are going to do the real Inca trail. Wouw respect for them!:)
The Mc Donalds is the perfect meeting point because its in the middle of the big Plaza of Cuzco.
For the first time this trip we had a big girl group and it was nice. With the whole group we went to a nice restaurant and it was a loud chatter over there with all that girls:P.
After an icecream in the Mc Donalds, Jessica (who traveled for almost 60hours by bus to be in Cusco on time :O), Mief, Nikki and I went out for a party.
First we hit a salsa bar, but because the people where dancing so smoothly, we got scared and went to another place:P. We had a great dance-evening with the four of us and around 3 o´clock we went to bed.

The next morning Mief is really sick with a sore throat, headache and
she´s coughing all the time. So we decided to take it slow the next couple of days.
But because of that we didn´t see a lot of cusco:P So after we get back from the Inca trail we have to do a city tour:P.
This week they celebrate Samana Santa in whole South America. Today it is Holley Friday, so around 6o´clock the streets are filled with people. They are walking in a big line through the city and heading towards the church. They are carrying a statue of the holy Maria. Its an impressive and beautiful thing to see.
After this we wanted to go to the supermarket, but the streets are still covered with people. They are all so arrogant and don´t want to move, so we can´t go past them:S.

The next day we had another day of doing nothing. Because the inca jungle trail is starting tomorrow we are taking it slowly :P.
Around 7pm we have a briefing with the tour guide of the inca jungle trail about the next couple of days.
He told us the exact same as what was written on the paper we got. But okay now we knew that our guide was called Willy. Like Free Willy:P.

For diner we went with the three of us, because Nikki would leave us tomorrow and we wanted to have a goodbye diner with only us. We had a lot of girl talk and we had a great time. But we almost had to say goodbye and that was not a nice thought. But we are going to see each other in Holland for sure!!!:)

Now it is the day of the Inca Jungle trail and we have to get up around 7.
Of course the guide is to late and we have to wait for another half an hour:S We say goodbye to Nikki and we headed up to the white van we have to take up to the first mountain (Abra Malaga).
In the van we meet up with our group who exists of 13 people. (Daniel and Daniela (Chilli), Valeria and Marina and Eugenia and Eliza (Argentine), Lullu and Joanna (El Salvador and Colorado) and Ifran (New York))
At first the contact was very small, but after the first day you feel the bound beginning to get bigger, because you are in the same adventure.
We drove with the van through Sacred Valley up to the mountain I was telling about earlier.
First I sat down next to the driver, but he was smelly and talking to me in Spanish all the time. I tried to sleep a bit, but Willy told me I had to change places or talk to the driver to keep him awake. Okay great!!! I will swap places than:P.
We arrived on top of the 4200m high Abra Malaga, and they gave us bicycles and helmets. Mmm we looked so beautifull with that equipment:P. It was very misty and we couldn´t see like two meters in front of us. We had to cycle the same road as the cars, so we where a bit scared:P. But in the end it was the most great thing I ever did. We only needed to use our brakes ones in a while and the rest of the time we could enjoy the view and watch the road:P. Down the mountain we saw forests comming by and far away we saw mountains with snow. And yes in case you would ask, after a while the mist went away. While bicycling we got so much speed, it was amazing. At some points the waterfalls that came out of the mountain crossed the road and we had to cycle through it.
After a while our pants and shoes where totally wet:p. Hopefully our shoes will dry. But the problem was that I forgot my flipflops:S.
On one part the road was almost blocked, because a lot of mod and dirt came down the mountain. And we also saw a carcrash. The truck drove himself into the mountain, luckely nobody got hurt, but the truck was a mass.
Halfway the trip Joanna fell down her bicycle and hurted her knee very badly. She had to take the van back to the hostel and she couldn´t do the hike of the next day.
All the time the van was behind us to take care of us if something happened to us.
We wanted to take pictures every now and then but the vandriver, the smelly one:P, wouldn´t let us. He used the horn of the van to tell us we had to move on:S grrr:P.
Around 3 o´clock we arrived in Santa Maria. It is a little town in the middle of the jungle. We had lunch over there, a bit late but yeah it was food:P and after that we went to our hostel. It was not a lot of luxury, but it was enough for now.
I was all sweaty and wet, but the showers where cold so I diced it would be a sweaty and wet four day trip:P.
We tried to socialize with all the girls of the group, but the problem was that two of the Argentinian girls didn´t speak english so it was difficult. We played carts with Joanna and Lullu and after dinner we went straight to bed. It would be a heavy day tomorrow, so we needed our energie:P.
The next morning we had to get up around 6.30 for breakfast because willy wanted to leave around 7. There where three other groups that where hiking, and we didn´t want to walk in a big line.
We had our big backpacks with us, not with all our stuff but only the things for the hike. But still its not easy to carry them all the way up. Willy said that if we would pay 5 solles for each bag, a van would take it to the next hostel.
We filled our big backpacks with stuff of 5 people and then we only had two little bags with four people:)

We started our hike and walked along the riverside for two hours. It was beautiful to see only mountains surrounding you:). But we had to climb one of those:S:P. The first part was easy, but after 2hours we took a part of the real inca trail.
It was very steeply, hot and wet. We all had difficulty's with breathing and especially Daisy couldn´t breath properly because of her sore throat.
But we managed to get up onto The Monkey hut where we could take a little rest. We saw a lot of fruits hanging in the trees, like bananas, avocados and pineapples. I never saw something like it.
The view was amazing and indescribable.

Sometimes there was not even a normal path, you had to climb really and take some slippery steps.
On the highest point of the inca trail we sat down and Willy gave us some history lessons. About that the inca trail was in the beginning only used by the military and that
there was a strong believe about the gods.
The ritual we had to perform at the top was nice.
We took 3 coco leaves between our two fingers and they had to point each to a different mountain in the nearby aria. Then we had to face each mountain and blow against the leaves.
After that ritual we had to go down again. That was sometimes quiet scary, because there was not really a clear path. And you felt and heard the stones falling down next to you:O.

After like one and a half hours going down we reached Qellomavo. It was a small village in the middle of nothing. We had lunch there while the jungle was surrounding us:).
Around two o´clock we started walking again and luckily we didn´t had to walk down a lot anymore.
Then something very exciting happened. We entered the valley again where the river was and we had to cross a side stream.
Two other groups of hikers already arrived at the side stream and where thinking about a solution. Because... There was no bridge over the side stream.

In the end they used a couple of trees where we could clime over to reach the other side. Wouw real adventure!!!
Then we had to walk for two more hours on more or less flat ground, but we where done with it. Our legs where hurting and I could feel the blisters on my feet already:S.
We had to cross the river two other times, but this two times there was a solution already. So we didn´t had to use our creativity:P.
The first one was ¨just¨ a bridge. You saw that it was falling apart and it was very wobbly.
The second one was a cable car just going straight over the river. You really have to see the pictures about that one, because its difficult to describe. But they needed one guy on each side of the river to pull the cable car to the other side.
Then we reached the hot springs (Agua´s callientes). Willy asked us... ¨Do you wanna stay in the hot springs to enjoy the warm water and then take a little van to the next spot where we are going to spend the night, or do you wanna walk with me for three hours more?¨ Okay that decision was fast to make! Everybody stayed at the hotsprings so Willy had to wait for us:P.

The hotsprings are always natural and are headed up by the nearby vulcano. There where three different bath, with all there different temperatures. The water was delicious and after that long hike we enjoyed it even more.
Unfortunately it started raining when we entered the last and hottest hotspring. So we left, tried to dry ourselves and went into the van.
Just before we entered the van the driver said that there where already two people inside.
They where very old Peruvian and they drank a lot of alcohol:P They smelled like crazy and the driver warned us for the alcohol and the possible vomiting:P Nice thing!!!
After half an hour of driving we entered the village Santa Teresa.
Also the hostel in this village didn´t had a hot shower, so again I would smell for the next couple of hours:P.
Mief and I had a private room in the hostel, so that was very nice. We chanced our close into something dry and went to the diner.
There we met 3 dutch guys that would join us for the next two days. They did the inca jungle trail in three days so they did only the cycling and not the hiking. They where complaining all the time:S Really duchies:P.
After diner we heard that Santa Teresa was a party town. So even with our sore feet we wanted to go for a little dance.
Together with the Argentinian girls and our Switch Friends we found a nice club and stayed there until 11o´clock pm. Pfoe we where so tired and so we had a nice sleep.

The next morning we had to wake up around 8 o´clock, so we had a bit more time.
Again we had two options. Or walk for six hours, or do zip-lining in the first three hours and drive with a van to the lunch spot and walk three hours from there.
Of course we went for the zip-lining, and not only because of the three hours more walking, but also because it is an amazing thing to do.
We had to clime to the highest point with an helmet and armor around our hips.
At the highest point they attached us to a cable. But the cables where every time so high, so I had to jump to reach time.
My feet couldn´t reach the floor, so I was hanging there. It felt like your hips and cross where pulled apart:P.
But then luckily they gave you a push and you had the feeling that you where flying above the abyss. The view was beautiful and the feeling amazing!
We could do 6 lines and on one line you could even turn you body, hang upside down and luckily we could make pictures and a movie during that one.

After the zip-lining the brought us to the lunch and then we had to walk for three more hours to Aguas Calientes. The town where Machu Picchu is located nearby.
The Three hours hike was okay, because it was a almost flat road next to the railway. But it started raining after an hour and didn´t stop until we reached the village. Also my legs and feet didn´t want to move anymore and I couldn´t wear my shoes properly.
But finely after, what felt like six hours of walking we arrived in Aguas Calientes.
Willy put us with the four of us (jessica, sandra, mief and I) in another hostel, because the rest was full.
But it wasn´t a problem, because this hostel had more luxury, and we had a hot shower:):).
After the hot shower we went for dinner. But I was so tired, and my feet hurted so much that after diner I wanted to go to bed straight away.

The next and last morning we had to get up around 4 o´clock, because our group wanted to be the first ones who would enter machu picchu.
Mief felt horrible and didn´t had enough breath to clime all the steps of the stair.
Because we had to clime a slipery stair of 2000 steps up to machu picchu.
Jessica and I, we had more speed climbing up so around 6.20 we arrived at Machu Picchu.
Mief and Sandra took it a bit slower, but that was not a problem because this is something you have to do with your own speed.

But then, OMG we entered Machu Picchu. It is so beautiful. Undiscrible and definetily worth the title of one of the seven wonders of the world.
With our group we got a guide, who told us a lot of the inca´s and theire way of living in Machu Picchu.
After a while we saw Mief and Sandra. We where so happy that they made it up, although they didn´t feel very good.
Up in Machu Picchu we spotted Janne and Jeannette. Wouw they did the Inca trail and walked for four days in a row. We where so proud of them!
Mief and Sandra where not able to clime anymore, but there was still a trip planed to go upto Huayna Picchu.
So with the four of us we went to the office and asked if we could give the ticket of Mief to Jessica.
So around 11 o´clock Jessica and I started another hike, up to Huayna Picchu.
It was a big clime, but we did it in 40 minutes instead of an hour.
The view from the top of the mountain was amazing. You could oversee whole Machu Picchu and the other mountains that where surrounding Machu Picchu.
After half an hour it started raining and we got scared about the fact that the way down would be slippery. Luckely we made it down to Machu Picchu.
But still it was not over because we had to walk back to Aguas Calientes, so down the 2000 steps of the stair.
Sandra and Mief already went down, because otherwise they had to wait in Machu Picchu for us.

Back down in Aguas calientes I really cursed everybody and everything. My feet where hurting like crazy and I wanted to throw away the shoes imidiately.
Around six o´clock we took the train back to Ollantaytambo where a van would wait for us and would bring us back to cusco.
I did some kind of gangsterwalk, because I couldn´t walk normaly with the swollen feet.
At 11 o´clock we arrived in Cusco and went to bed straight away.
I took the tape and the bandages of my feet and there where a lot of yellow wounds underneath it:S.

Because of the ritme of sleeping during the inca jungle trail I was already awake very early.
We went for a breakfast and after we took a nice hot shower and on clean cloth we went to buy new shoes.
We wanted to have new shoes, because in this area it is quite cold and the old shoes would remind us of the hiking and the blisters:P.

Around 3 o´clock Janna and Jeanette came to our hostel.
The birthday of Janna was during the Inca Trail and today we would celebrate it with the group.
They bought us a really nice birthdaycake with Mango and a lot of chocolate.
We bought her a little pressent and we sang a birthdaysong for her.
Jeanette helped me to take care of the wounds on my heels. We putted healing cream and sanitary napkins around it:P
Around 8 o´clock we went for a birthday dinner and after that we partied in the club.
It was a really great evening!!:)

Today we are probably going to the Inca Museum if we have the energy for that:P.
And tommorow we are going with Janna
Jeannette to Arequipa. Another really nice place where you can hike a lot:P... Jeah!!:S

Jessica and Sandra are going to leave us today:( But probably we will meet again somewhere in Bolivia!!

Iam very sorry for the big story, but yeah a lot happened in this last week.

Big kisses Lot