Peru part three - Lares trek and Machu Picchu.

So it was time for the big challenge! The one we all were looking forward to, and wondering the most how would go. The Lares Trek. I was originally going to do the Inka Trail, but because my original trip got cancelled I didn´t get the permit for the Inka trail cause we got there on a different day. It didn´t really matter too much though. We started off from just outside Lares town, with our daypacks, walking sticks (oh yes the proper ski-pole-like ones) and Coca-leaves.
The first part wasn´t very difficult, we walked through really nice landscape, lush and green. Had a couple of hours hike before lunch. The food on the trek was amazing, we had our own cooks who made three-course meals for both lunch and dinner.
We started off at about 3400 meters above sealevel, and our camp for the first night was at about 4200 meters. Which meant we had some climbing to do, which we discovered not long after lunch. We had just walked through a little village when we came to a steep hillside. I thought "no way we´re going up there??" But oh yes we were! It was almost vertical and we were all out of breath before we´d walked 20 meters... But we all made it in the end, I´m very glad I had my walking sticks and my mantra: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!"
We started hiking at about 11 am and reached camp at about 5 pm, and went to bed at about 8 pm... I didn´t sleep very well, it was really cold, even though I had thermals and a woolly jacket. There was frost on the inside of the outer tent and the water in the bowls outside were bottomfrozen the next morning. Nice! It warmed up quite a lot when the sun came though.
Before we started hiking we got invited to visit a local house next to where we had camped. It was very simple, no electricity or water, and just one room. One part was the kitchen and the other the bedroom. In the bedroom there were loads of guinea pigs running around. And no, they were not pets...
The first part of the second day hike was quite hard as we had to go over a pass which was 4500 meters, and again we had barely started when we came to an even steeper hillside than yesterday. Yup, we were going up! Coca-leaves and walking sticks are priceless...
It was worth it though, the view from the top of the pass was amazing... Untouched mountains as far as you could see, a lake at one side and Llamas and Alpaccas grazing all around. The whole of the trek was pretty amazing actually, we only saw 4 other tourists, and only for about 5 minutes, and then nobody else apart from locals and animals.
After the pass it got easier as we were going down again. By 4 pm we reached our second camp which was also the end of the trek. It was really good to get there, everybody had sore feet and knees, so the rest was very welcome. We celebrated with a couple of drinks and cardgames.

The next day we went to Aguas Calientes, which is the town of Machu Picchu, where a couple of the girls and I went to relax in the hot springs for an hour. Mmm... Got up at 4 am the next morning to get an early bus to Machu Picchu. We got there in time for sunrise, and man, it´s amazing! It´s such a big area and all the ruins are intact, it´s really impressive. And it wasn´t as touristy as I thought it would be (at least not that early), it was actually quite peaceful sitting there watching the sun come up over the mountains. Then we had a guided tour of the ruins before we hiked up Wayna Picchu, the mountain next to Machu Picchu. Only 400 people are allowed to do the hike every day, so we were lucky! But it was HARD! It´s a really steep mountain, and the path consists of steps winding themselves all the way up to the top. It took me about 45 minutes to get to the top, but it was worth it! You get such a great view over Machu Picchu, and all the surrounding mountains. Back at the bottom I wandered around by myself for a bit exploring before we set off back to Cuzco. Went out for dinner and drinks and had a wonderful night to celebrate that we all made it! Definately one of the most beautiful things I´ve ever done.