Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

English below

Machu Picchu

So nach einer längeren Absenz schreibe auch ich wieder einmal etwas auf den Blog. Es ist viel passiert in den letzten Wochen und durch den Diebstahl, bei dem ALLES gestohlen wurde, hatte ich leider anderes zu tun als hier zu schreiben. An dieser Stelle noch ein GROSSES Dankeschön an meine Schwester, welche in dieser schwierigen Zeit unsere grosse Rettung war und uns so viel geholfen hat. DU BISCH DIE BESCHT WOS JE HETS GITS!! Langsam aber sicher tritt nun aber wieder Normalität ein und wir fahren mit unserer Reise fort.

Wir haben uns am 23. November auf einen 4 tägigen Marsch Richtung Machu Picchu gemacht. Mit dabei waren auch 4 Amerikaner, welche zur Belustigung und zur Unterhaltung für mich und Roni beitrugen... Beispiel gefählig? 2 Amis haben 12 Liter Wasser aus Amerika mitgenommen da sie nicht wussten, ob es hier Wasser im Supermarkt gibt! Die anderen 2 haben gefragt, ob man den Pfad in Flip-Flops machen kann...

Eine hat amVorabend noch gefragt, wieviel Gepäck man dem Träger mitgeben kann. Unser Tourfüher sagte, man darf maximal 6 Kilo mitnehmen. Sie brachte dann aber doch einen Rucksack der 15 Kilo schwer war und behauptete, im Hotel haben sie es gewogen und es waren 6 Kilo... usw... Amis eben...

Der Trip selber war eines der besten Erlebnisse, welche ich in der freien Natur erleben durfte. Wir sind 4 Tage Berg rauf und runter gewandert. Dabei waren auch Steigungen auf über 4000m und dann wieder runter auf 2000m dabei! Der Höhepunkt war dann das erreichen der Inkastadt Machu Picchu. Eine Stadt von der man nicht weiss, weshalb die Leute plötzlich nicht mehr da waren und wie man zu dieser Zeit solche Bauten bauen konnte. Nun denn schaut euch die Bilder an und schreibt fleissig Kommentare, falls Ihr Fragen dazu habt.

Gruppenbild beim Start bei KM 82/Group photo at kilometer 82 (start)

From Nov 23rd to Nov 26th Andi and I hiked the remaining part of the old Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I was really skeptical about doing the trek because it seems like everyone and their dog does this trail and I was thinking more along the lines of  "do I really need to do something that everyone else has done? Will it really be that great? Will it be ruined by all the other people (just like myself)?" but I am SO SO glad that Andi said that he really wanted to do it and that we forgot about the money and just booked it. It was definitly the highlight of South America thus far. It was AMAZING, and not at all commercialized and ruined the way that I had thought it would be. There was one time on the third day when I felt a bit annoyed by the amount of people on the trail but that was only for around 30 minutes of the entire 4 days.

The first day we were picked up by our tour company at 06.30 and we drove to Ollantaytambo town where we had some time to buy any last minute things we had missed (we got some coca candies and chocolates for day two, as well as a flashlight), and have a small breakfast before we got into the van again and drove to km 82-the start of the trek.
The first 300 metres went straight up. Oh god. What am I doing here? Although the first day is called the "Easy day" it was the hardest for me, I think I just wasn't quite prepared and my body had forgotten what it was like to work out! Andi also had a hard time on the first day because he was sick with a fever and stomach cramps, most likely from a bbq we had had a few nights before. But we made it through the first day, and even saw some of the first inca ruins we would run into on the trek.

Day 2: our porters woke us up at 5.30 at our tent with hot water and tea to start the day, and by the time we organized ourselves and packed up everything, they already had breakfast ready in the tent. After breakfast we started the "Hard day" hike. I was really scared about this day because everyone said how hard it is, and our guide repeatedly reminded us how difficult it was going to be. After 10 min of gentle uphill walking, the trail suddenly went straight up,and Carolina, our guide, points to a mountain peak way in the distance and says "thats where we are going" hahahahah, you're funny Carolina. I thought it was a joke. It wasn't. But I was feeling better today, and after the first half hour of uphill walking, my body's memories of working out and training earlier this year kicked in and with my head down I powered through the 4 hours of climbing (over 1,000 metres), arriving at the first pass-4200 metres- just 15 minutes behind Andi and over an hour before the other half of the group!!

At the top of the first pass 4225 meters baby!!

Group shot at the top of the pass

Day 3: The third day started the same as the second day with hot tea and breakfast and our first challenge of the day was the second pass of the hike at 3950 meters, but we stopped to visit some more inca ruins on the way up. Then started the downhill part of our journey. At the beginning I was walking down the steps until I just couldn't stand it anymore and started running. Andi was running as well and together we ran down 250 metres in just 19 minutes and it felt amazing. That might have been my favourite part of the trek! After that point we stayed with the rest of the group until the 3rd and final pass (3670 meters) of the trek, after which Andi, Tina and myself ran/walked down the millions of steps (1000 meters) to the third camp which had warm showers and beers!!

At the top of the second pass

Running down the mountain

Inca tunnel

Day 4: We woke up at 3.00 am to the sound of pouring rain! NOO! but it didnt last too long and by 4.45 we were standing in line at the checkpoint for the final stretch to Machu Picchu. We were some of the first through the checkpoint and power walked to the sun gate for our first view of Machu Picchu which we didn't get due to the fog. Andi and I waited for the rest of the group there (which I was thankful for because the last steep stairs and uphill bit just about did me in, by that time I was beyond done),

dieing on the last really steep steps up

 and we all went together down to Machu Picchu. WOW. WOW. Machu Picchu is SO incredibly amazing, and I think it was made even more so by doing the hike and seeing all of the inca ruins along the way, and hiking the trail everything was a build up to the final point and it was not disappointing! We stopped to take the mandatory Machu Picchu pictures:

Here we are!

and then we started the guided tour of the city. By that time I was so tired and the muscles in my legs were protesting but I was interested and so pushed through the pain. After the tour we took a bus down to a town called Agua Calientes and had lunch, then hopped on the train back to Ollantaytambo, then the tour guide van dropped us off at our hostal. Exhusted but with big smiles on our faces.

Some pics

Some of our most recent pics for your enjoyment ;-)



Old school bus-train from Riobamba to Palmira



Enjoying a sunset in Huanchaco

Huanchaco again and the traditional fishing boats

Chan Chan-"replicas" of ruins that were once there....ruins are cool, replicas of ruins....not so much

In Andi's words "if there is a sunset, anywhere in the world, girls will want to take pictures with it"

Taxi van!

Ruefers in Peru

Andi gettin his surf on

Full cama bus rides baby

Review

So, just a quick review of what we've been up to since posting last time from Banos:

(if I write about everything this post will be impossilby long so you get point format....deal with it)

• Thurs Nov 4th: hopped on a bus from Banos to Riobamba where we could catch the train part of the way to Cuenca. But there wasnt any availability so we had to spend two nights in Riobamba which was made better by the fact that we ended up in a pretty cool little hostel
• Sat Nov 6th: got on the old school train from Riobamba to Palmira the ride was really cool with amazing scenery going through the mountains. We got to see a lot of little farms and indeginous people which is something you miss on the bus cruising on the Pan American highway the whole time. Upon arrival in Palmira got on a bus that was supposed to take us to Alausi but instead they just dropped us off at a gas station on the side of the road to get on another bus to Cuenca.
• Sat Nov 6th and Sun Nov 7th: met up with our Norwegian friends from the jungle, Daniel and Wenche in Cuenca and had a good time
• Monday Nov 8th-really long bus day!! got on a bus to Loja (5 hours) arrived at bus station and booked ticket to Piura for midnight that night. Andi's knee was injured and so we didnt want to be walking around so we spent the entire afternoon and evening in the Loja train station playing cards and eating chicken.
• Tues Nov 9th-arrive Piura, hate it and book a bus outta there for the next day.
• Wed-arrive Trujillo and head directly to Huanchaco for some relaxation
• Thurs-spent the day admiring the ocean, walking around this cute little town and at night had some beers with fellow hostellers. Came home around 1 am and WE'VE BEEN ROBBED-SSSHIIITT
• Fri-spent the entire day with the stupid policemen in Huanchaco trying to get everything sorted out for passports,police reports etc. Ran into Tyler Haywood-Farmer in a restaurant later though!
• Sat Nov 13-Wed Nov 17th- hung out in Huanchaco, hating Peru for the most part, trying to get all of our shit sorted out, had some surf lessons (which I didnt love at all, but Andi was pretty good at!!) and waited and waited and waited some more for our travel cash card to arrive so we could go to Lima
• Wed Nov 17th- travel cash card arrives!! and we are booked on the night bus to Lima (full cama of course.....that means we had a seat that turns into a bed, like first class on a plane)
• Thurs Nov 18th- Arrive Lima, run between copy shop/internet shop and Canadian embassy finally figure it out and now just have to wait 2 weeks for my new passport
• Fri Nov 19th- Andi gets his new passport and we jump on a bus for 22 hours to get to Cuzco
• Sat Nov 20th-Arrive Cuzco!

So there you have it folks, the adventures of our last few weeks, on tues we will do the inca trail hike and then its just a matter of waiting around for my passport before we can move onto Boliva! Will post pics as soon as possible!

Robbed

So, there has been a lack in posting lately as all of our important stuff (passports,credit cards,all travel documents)was stolen from our hostal here in Huanchaco Peru (including laptop) we are currently trying to sort everything out, and without a laptop its been a bit difficult to get online. Once everything is back to normal and we know whats going to happen etc, we will update you on our trip from Ecuador to Peru and everything thats happened since. Stay tuned all!!!

"Nobody says you must laugh, but a sense of humour can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected and smile through the day" -Ann Landers reminds me that as much of a pain in the ass that this is, its gonna make a great story later, and most importantly, reminds me to smile :-)

Baños

Ueli enjoying the view-Baños route de las cascades

The Ruefers behind the waterfall

just out for a bike ride-route de las cascadas

hiking up the volcano

going white water rafting....and yes the helmets WERE necessary in the van!!

rafting! SOO much fun!!

why not?!?!

Baños

Baños -Deutsch unten

The internet is really slow here in Riobamba, I will post pictures from Baños as soon as we get a better internet connection!


After the experience in the jungle we settled down in Baños, a little town that is the Interlaken of Ecuador but with a river instead of lakes and towering volcanos among the mountains, every 5 steps is another tour company offering white water rafting, bungee jumping, jungle tours etc etc. Once we arrived Andi decided that we absolutely had to climb the volcano Tungurahua (which erupted 11 years ago, and as recently as 3 months ago had little eruptions). We booked the tour for our second day in Baños, but in true Ecuadorian style it was postponed. Instead we rented bikes and rode along a 25-30km stretch of road along which were many waterfalls. We took some old,open cable cars which run at an alarmingly fast pace, and literally crawled on our hands and knees to get behind the final waterfall.

Then, we could finally climb the volcano. 1500 metres over 4 kms, for those of you wondering yes, that is practically straight up (more like climbing then hiking) for 4 km!! It was difficult but we made it and it was awsome to be standing up at 3800 metres looking over all the other mountains! Then we somehow made it back down and rode bikes down to the bottom of the volcano over cobblestone streets. That may have been the worst expereince ever, downhill biking over old cobblestone streets...I don't recommend it!

That evening our Danish friends from the jungle arrived in Baños and it was nice to see them again. We also went white water rafting with Jacob (Kat didnt want to join) and that was probably the highlight of our time in Baños. Andi had a gigantic smile on his face the entire time and we were lucky that we had a great guide who took us over all the big rocks and made the trip really fun!

Now we are in Riobamba waiting to take the train direction Cuenca from there we will start to make our way towards the Peruvian border since we need to be in Cuzco by Nov 20th in order to acclimatize for our inca trail hike on the 23rd!!






Baños

Diese Woche verbrachten wir hauptsächlich in Baños. Man kann es etwa mit Interlaken vergleichen, so viele Aktivitäten konnte man hier machen. Einziger Unterschied, Rafting und Bungee kosteten nur 25$!!!!

Zudem haben wir einen Vulkan bestiegen, was sich als echte Herausforderung herausstellte. In 4 Kilometer 1500m Höhendifferenz ist nicht ganz einfach, Wir haben die Herausforderung jedoch gemeistert und sind wieder gesund im Tal angekommen. Abgesehen davon, haben wir unsere Kollegen aus dem Jungel wieder getroffen und ziehen nun mit ihnen weiter. Es ist ein Pärchen aus Dänemark welches zwar einiges jünger ist als wir, aber echt witzig und angenehm.

Zur politischen Situation in Equador: es ist sehr amüsant zu sehen, wie Politik hier verläuft. Als der Präsident vor ein paar Jahren gewählt wurde, hat er das Salär der Polizisten verdoppelt. Im September musste er jedoch Einsparungen machen und hat das Salär um ein paar Prozent gesenkt. Die Polizei hat daraufhin den Präsidenten gekidnappt und sich im Parlamentsgebäude verschanzt. Daraufhin hat die Armee den Präsidenten mit Waffengewallt befreit, so schien die Angelegenheit geregelt. Die Polizei trat jedoch in Streik und hat die Strasse mit BHolzstappeln (welche Sie dann anzündeten) versperrt. Zudem herrschteAnarchie, was der Kriminalität doch sehr in die Höhe trieb. Noch am selben Abend einigte sich der Präsident mit der Polizei und es kehrte wieder Normalität im Lande ein. Das beste daran war jedoch, dass es keine Sau interessierte, was passierte und jeder es für "normal" hielt....Equador eben...

Nächster Stop auf unserem Trip ist Cuenca.