That was a really great speech, Cold.

I forgot the other highlight of the day 3 dinner. It seems that many cooks bake a cake, icing and all, for the final dinner. Our cook had made a very large white cake. I think it said Feliz Navidad on it. But our guide asked who in the group had the next birthday. And that was DS2 who was turning 13 in a few days. So the entire group sang Happy Birthday to him. I can’t imagine being a 13 year old in a tent on the Inca Trail having people from 5 countries singing happy birthday to me. I wish we had a video of that.

We all went to bed right after dinner as we had to get up at 3:30am for day 4, or whacky day as we were calling it. There were probably two hundred hikers all staying in the same camp. Our plan was for all of our group to get up early so that we could get in line to enter the national park (?? – I don’t even know what we were entering) at 5:30 and then be among the first few to the Sun Gate to see the sun rise over Machu Picchu. Of couse each group has the same plan. As I said above it seems to me that it is all a ruse to get the porters back on the train so the company doesn’t have to pay them but I am not certain.

So up we got up at 3:30am in a pretty good rainstorm. We ate breakfast for 10 minutes and then packed up our belongings, threw on our headlights and left camp. Except we were only going about 200 meters to a waiting area at the entrance into the park. Everyone else in the campground can hear everyone else so we could judge each others’ progress. The reason we were hurrying was that we would have to wait at the entrance to the park until 5:30 as that is when it opens. There is a covered area outside the entrance with a bench long enough to sit 3 groups of hikers. Many groups of hikers would end up standing in the rain. We were the second group there so we got nice covered seats on the bench.

Once we had our spots the guides said that we could go back up to the campground to go to the bathroom if we wanted. Which many people did. So the rest of us spent the next 20 minutes defending the seats of the bathroom goers. I really didn’t like this process. But what makes it all particularly wacky is that it didn’t matter what time we got in the park (or whatever it is), we were not going to be one of the first groups to the Sun Gate to see the sun rise. We were up against 20-30 year olds who were going to race by us on the trail. And it didn’t matter anyways as it was pissing rain. Rain = no sunrise over Machu Picchu.

Finally at 5:30 our group was allowed through the gates. The trail from the gate to Machu Picchu took about 1½ hours. The trail was very wet and had its nerve wracking moments. In fact there was a line up of hikers behind us at one point. We came to a very steep downhill staircase through some rocks. Suddenly there was no one behind us for 10-15 minutes. I am guessing the person right behind us didn’t like the staircase and took a long time to get down it.

The sky was getting light before 6am.The rain had stopped but it was very misty. The trail follows the mountainside and drops into a cloud forest before coming to what our guide had warned us were the “gringo killer” steps. By his description this was an almost vertical set of steps that might pose a problem for some of us. Indeed the steps were an almost vertical flight of 50 steps leading up to the final pass at the Sun Gate. The person in front of me is a friend I have cross country skied with for 25 years. In cross country skiing you have to be very careful going up a steep hill that the person in front of you doesn’t hit you with the sharp end of their ski pole. Going up these stairs we were using our hiking poles. I told my friend I would let him get several steps ahead of me. I guess I didn’t give enough room. One of his poles slipped on the wet rock and brushed my cheek right under my eye. No damage but a near disaster.

There was quite a crowd at the top of the stairs. Most groups had passed us on the trail so we were all standing in this rather small set of ruins called the Sun Gate. From here you can supposedly gaze down at all of Machu Picchu spread out before you. It would have been a fantastic sight but all we got were glimpses though the fog. This is what it is supposed to look like:

http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies...chu-picchu.jpg

As I said above, some people have apparently burst into tears when their view from the Sun Gate was obscured by clouds. While no one in our group cried, one person did say afterwards that she would like to try the hike again in an effort to experience the classic view from the Sun Gate.

Aw, it is too bad it was raining when you arrived, cold. It was misty and foggy when I arrived but cleared up a bit by early afternoon so that I got some classic pics.

I can not believe they can bake a cake on a trek like that! Remarkable.

Ncounty here is my story about travelling with chidren. Many years ago my boss was the top public servant in Canada. She was speaking at an event about woman in the workplace. She told the following story. She had gone back to work after 6 weeks of giving birth to her only child ... a son.

She then proceeded to work very long hours and travel extensively for the next 20 years. She noted the tradeoff between working so hard and not being around her son as much as she wanted to be. But she said the one thing she and her husband did with their son every year was to take one interesting vacation to a foreign country. Every year they would ask him where he wanted to go and more than likely they would go there.

When he was 16 they asked him where he wanted to go and he responded "Um Mom, I am 16 now. I am really not interested in going anywhere. I'd rather be here with my friends."

As she told the story you could see the surprise and hurt in her, even though the event had taken place four years previously. I always think of that story when considering whether to suggest another trip to the kids. You just don't know when the last trip will be.

Wow, poignant story, Cold. I am still tucking my son into bed every night (he is 14 and insists it is my parental duty). Although some nights I am dog tired, I don't know when the last time will be so I soldier on and do it.

I think, and hope, he and I will be traveling together for many more years though.

I like looking at the link above as it reminds me that the last part of the hike was all downhill - 1200 feet down. This part of the trail was crowded but everyone was in a good mood. We were all close to our target.

With everyone together on the trail it was a good opportunity to look at the demographics of who does the trail. I would say most were between 25-35. We might have seen a couple of people older than us. :(( Most had excellent hiking gear. While there were some non-English speaking Europeans my guess is that 30% were English speakers and 40% were Spanish speakers. The rest were from other parts of the world. Of course this was only one day's sample on the trail.

Hikers enter the site from the left side as you look at Machu Picchu. The first place you come to offers a platform with a terrific view right out over the site. Everyone wants their picture taken here, both individually and as a group, and every group seems to have about 15 cameras. That's a lot of pictures. The guides try and move people along who are lingering too long on the platform. This created a bit of tension while we were there. Several people said things approximating "Would you F off. We spent 4 days walking here. We are going to take some pictures."

Having entered the site (or perhaps it just looked like we had entered it), we walked down quite a long staircase to the entrance, bought a drink ($$$) and went to the bathroom. We then turned around and reentered the site. I think we did this in order to submit our official entrance tickets to the grounds but I am not really sure. We were in hiker mode and basically going with the flow.

I won't go into detail about the site itself. I thought our guide did a tremendous job of telling us about the various elements of interest. It wasn't an easy job as everyone was taking pictures, talking to other hikers and, in my case and that of several other people, just gazing around. Take away Machu Picchu and you still have the most stunning scenery I have ever seen. Mountains, valleys, and a river way down below. I thought standing on the Great Wall offered tremendous vistas. But Machu Picchu is in another league.

Notwithstanding the excellent presentation by our guide, when he finished most of us did not linger on the site even though our agreed upon lunch down in Aguas Calientes was two hours away. Machu Picchu had lived up to expectations but we were tired and looking forward to sitting down in a restaurant and having a beer. And it was starting to rain. So we exiting the grounds and climbed aboard a bus for the exciting trip down into town. I would not want to drive that switchback road every day. By the time we got to the bottom it was really raining. The river was raging. We could only imagine what it looked like two years ago when floods killed some people and tourists were stuck in town for five days.

While it was a great visit to the site and wonderful to be sitting with friends, it was also a sad moment. We had trained so hard for the hike and now it was over. The people sitting beside us had lost half of their group on day one. We felt sorry for them. And we would soon be saying goodbye to some of our new and good friends. And I will say that we felt sad about saying goodbye to our guides. It is a job for them and three days later they would be starting with a new group of hikers. Still, you don't do something that hard with people and not form bonds. And it is not an easy life they have. We think of them often.

Thanks so much for this detailed blow-by-blow of the trail from the point of view of the "VC". Especially from the POV of the "ass-slider" over 50-club, who have always wondered if we made the wrong choice in taking the easy way up by train and bus. Your descriptions really flesh out the photos that we have all pondered.

When I was walking up, I passed the older, slower trekkers coming down the steps from the watchman's tower, and they looked pretty whipped!

A couple of things, cold...

Your description of how the Vertically Challenge cope (or fool the brain) is very accurate! For myself, when flying, I take the isle seat so that it feels like I am just sitting in a room. I want nothing to do with the window seat although sometimes when passing over snowcapped mountains my curiousity enables me to take a quick look. Every time we head out west, my husband and I make a day trip to the Grand Canyon. The first visit I could hardly move I was so riddled with fear of falling in the canyon (kind of hard to do when you barely make it out of the parking lot, lol). This past trip I really started hiking the rim (using the brush as that visual barrier you were talking about) and it was going really well until I got to a spot where it was just open rock and started to think...and that was that. Maybe the next time I'll make it a bit further on the trail...

It's not surprising that you formed such a bond with these people -- you really depended on each other! In any event, you really painted a very detailed picture of your family's experience and I really enjoyed reading. I'm hoping there are more details that you will share with us!

Again, thanks for writing (and now you can go back to the Lounge where you need not write more than a sentence at a time - heehee) ;)

About traveling with children....You have given your kids a great gift!

I have been traveling with my sister's family for many years now. It has been interesting to watch the kids' (now 26 and 28) travel desire wax and wane with age. My nephew figured out what he was missing a few years ago and hasn't missed a major trip since. My niece is always asking where to next. They both just moved out of the country and my sister thinks their wanderlust was influenced by all the travel they did growing up.

Really enjoyed your description of hiking the trail and the experience with guides and porters. Thanks for taking the time to provide all the details.

"..Take away Machu Picchu and you still have the most stunning scenery I have ever seen. Mountains, valleys, and a river way down below. I thought [.......] offered tremendous vistas. But Machu Picchu is in another league. "

Those were then at the time, and are still now, after many years since of amazing travel and moments, my exact thoughts and memories of MP. I was humbled by the sheer beauty and size of everything around me up there. It reminds one how insignificant and tiny we really are in the grand scheme of nature. You look down, way, way, down and realise how high you are, then you look up and see things even higher above you. It truly is a magnificent and very introspective place.

We were lucky to have 2 bright and sunny days with just a light drizzle on the first afternoon. We had 3 hours there and were among the last to leave as the light was fading. We also witnessed the sun rise early the next morning and the shaft of light that passes through a series of holes in the rocks to briefly illuminate a certain spot of significance in a cave room.

Thank you for an interesting report of the trek. I'm sure it will rank as one of your most memorable trips - for many reasons.

Mlgb - You should have seen us after day 2.

STW - I am still not certain I have captured the VC issue, although all I can do is relate my own impressions. Everyone is different. But in rereading my words, if anything I have underplayed how often I said to myself "Jesus H Christ - I can't do this section." But having no choice helps a lot. You really do have no choice. You just have to blank your mind out and start walking.

Jackie - we have always been there to watch over the children. Our daughter now wants to go to Tunisia for four months. Suddenly travel seems less like a great idea.

Mathieu - you're right about the insignificance you feel. At one point I remember feeling like a little ant climbing over this much larger presence. Accompanied by many other little ants of course. Boy was it crowded the day we were there.

I sent my sister an email upon the completion of the hike. My family had suspected that I was trying to kill my wife with this adventure and I wanted to let them know that if that indeed had been my strategy that it had failed. She asked whether the rest of the trip would be anti-climatic. We had to agree that it would be. Even with another week to spend in a great country like Peru, what we had focussed on for so long had now been completed.

At our lunch down in Aguas Calientes I spoke again to the group about what a brilliant decision the Canadians had made not to take a private Canadian tour. We had so much fun with the Belgiums/Irish and lone American. Indeed after we returned to Cuzco we saw the Irish and American again twice and then the Irish duo again in Puno. The Irish know how to have fun. We admired their zest for life.

I had not heard good things about the train from AG to Ollantaytambo. Our first impression was very positive. Leather seats and nice windows. But it soon became apparent that leg room was non-existent. I was sitting with three people from South Korea. Eventually I had to stand as there was no leg room. The train tracks parallel long sections of the Urubamba River. Our rafting company had said they prefer to raft the upper sections of the river as they are much cleaner than this section near Machu Picchu. That certainly appeared to us to be the case. There was a lot of garbage in the river.

We arrived back in Cuzco about 6:30 pm. All of us gave Raul a hug. In the case of our daughter the hug may not have been the last one as she, Raul and the Irish went out to a bar that night until 4:30am. I suspect Raul was buying our daughter drinks with the tip we had given him. Being back in Cuzco it was time to climb the stairs back up to La Piccola Locanda again. I was assuming we would now fly up the stairs as by then we were in top shape. Wrong again. Those steps were really difficult. Except for DS2 who ran up and down them trying to establish a new personal best time with each attempt. His best time was 30 seconds.

There were two events of note on our last remaining day in Cuzco. We had agreed to take a half day biking trip with the same company that took us rafting. They picked us up at 1 pm the next day. We drove out the back side of town on the road to Pisac. Three of the six of us mountain bike regularly. But two of the six could almost be considered non-cyclists. This was a tough combination for the guide to figure out what to do with. The first mile of our ride was on the road to Pisac. This was not my idea of mountain biking. Though I will give Peruvian drivers credit. I found them to be very careful drivers outside of the cities. Eventually we turned on to a dirt/mud road and rode through the country side. The route was ultra-safe until near the end when we were coming back into Cuzco. There we were attacked by two dogs. The guide said he had never seen that before, which was a bit hard to believe as there were stray dogs everywhere.

We then drove in a van back up to the start line. This time we split up with the two non-cyclists sticking to the original route and four of us doing a "single-track" route. This trail was narrower and steeper with lots of loose rocks. I am not sure what happened about half way down the trail. I must have been putting extreme pressure on my brakes and perhaps the rear brake released as suddenly I was ass over teakettle. I went right over the front handlebars and landed on my back. DS2 behind me thought I was dead. The guide thought I was dead. I knew I wasn't dead but soaked up the attention for a minute or so. We then coasted into town and called it a day.

The other notable event on this last day in Cuzco was that one of our friends flew home. He certainly had work issues to contend with, but we also suspected that with the hike over he just wanted to get back home. And he must have really wanted to leave as his rerouted ticket was Cuzco-Lima-Bogotá-Toronto-Ottawa. And the additional charges must have cost a pretty penny. His wife stayed with us for our final days in Puno and Lima.

why can't you just go to some nice quiet beach like everybody else?

Isn't it funny how you can keep running into your travel companions on your journeys, cold? I really enjoyed that element of going through Peru.

In Puno, I was walking around the main street solo at night and spotted one of the other gals who was also traveling solo who was having dinner with another solo female traveler. Her face lit up when she saw me like I was a long lost friend. I joined them for a delightful dinner.

Sorry to read of your bike accident but glad it wasn't any worse.

lol, sm...

SM the whole point of these trips is to produce iconic pictures for our funerals. The beach doesn’t do it. Ncounty – with kids and phones the whole follow-up meeting process was arranged by text messaging. Though I know what you mean. We met two Fodorites in Beijing and then again by accident in Xian.

So I am going to wrap this report up by offering a paragraph on each of a few subjects, in two instalments. First, the Inka Express to Puno. Those of you who have taken it know the IE has a separate bus station. Well at least that is what we thought. The bus station appears to be one small room in the southern part of town. But it didn’t matter. Everything was very organized. When we got on the bus the guide asked us who our tour guide was. When I said we didn’t have one he looked confused and asked again. I don’t know the purpose of the question. Rules? Tips? The bus ride was pleasant enough. The guide kept insisting that we stick together at the stops – a request many of us ignored. And the kids got sunburned in about ten minutes at one stop. But we arrived at the scheduled time.

Juliaca – I don’t mean to pick on cities down on their luck. And we had often read that Juliaca was down on its luck. But my my. I thought parts of Cairo looked run down. They now look like Beverly Hills compared to the parts of Juliaca we drove through on the way to Puno. On our way from Puno to the Juliaca airport a few days later using a different route, the city looked okay.

Puno – Our dominant memory of Puno will be firecrackers. We were there during a celebration of some sort (can’t remember what it was). But we must have heard 2000 firecrackers in three days. Usually just below our hotel window. The town has a nice square and a very interesting market. For some reason the family wanted to stick with the “tourist” market near the docks. Our guide had told us to go there. I found the local market more interesting, especially with all of the animal parts on sale. You couldn’t buy animal parts at the tourist market. And it was a Saturday morning so the local market was very crowded. I can see why people in big cities like to travel to smaller towns for the markets. Lots of activity to watch.

Uros – so I know P_M and others have had good experiences on these floating islands. And I would say we had a good time but partly because we admired the slick business approach of the islanders (as I mentioned above). They had their routine down pat, including singing “row, row, row your boat” to us as we paid 10 soles a person to be rowed from their island to another. One of our friend’s brothers did his PhD in Peru and told us when we got home that very few Uros residents live on the islands. They live in Puno and head out to the islands every morning. I don’t know if this is true but it would be consistent with what we experienced.

Sillustani is a pre-Incan cemetery about 40 minutes outside of Puno. Once again, the ruins were interesting but overshadowed by the physical beauty of the place. You could sit there all day and look at the lake and surrounding hills and eventual mountains. Unfortunately a storm blew in with plenty of thunder. Right in the middle of the site is a very large lightening rod. The guide was showing us this rod as the storm blew in. I asked whether we should be inspecting a lightening rod during an apparent thunderstorm. The guide responded that he hadn’t seen any lightening yet. I don’t think this guy was much of a planner.

Well I take that back. He had a plan to take us to a nearby farm where we could see how a local family lived. We have been around and get the drill. But we would rather the drill be above board, especially after the Uros experience. So we asked the guide what was expected of us … buy something, tip the owner, pay for pictures??? It turned out it was all three. But still it was worth it. The grandmother at the farm gave us the tastiest baked potatoes, although they were ultra small apparently because they don’t use fertilisers. Seeing all the animals standing around it was hard to believe they needed fertilizers. The fertilizer was everywhere.

We really didn’t mind supporting the local economy as much as we could. In fact we way over tipped just about everyone we came in contact with. I know that is a questionable thing to do. But this area saw its share of unrest last year, some of it directed at mining companies in the area and some of them Canadian companies. We were giving back in our own small way.

Elevation – we had had no problem is Cuzco (11,000 feet) and none that we noticed on the Inca Trail. But in Puno (12,600 feet) the lack of oxygen was noticeable, especially at night. Someone probably knows the answer to this but my theory was that our respiration rates went way down when we went to bed to the point where we were not getting enough oxygen. Every minute or so we had to take an extra breath. I could see how this would panic some people. It was not a comfortable feeling.

So funny about Juliaca, cold.... I was amazed as I rode through that town on the bus. It reminded me a of a cross between an outpost in that Star Wars movie with renegades and sleazy bars and the setting for Mad Max, the Thunderdome.

I've never seen anything quite like it other than a movie set; it was quite entertaining.

I did ok in Puno but it was a bit of huffing and puffing climbing the hills in the out islands like Amantina and Taquile (which were gorgeous). My tour mates on Amantina looked on with envy as I ascended to the hilltop on my horse which they had all passed up; one of my best decisions on this trip.

Great trip report!.... this has to be yet another one of your most memorable trips.

Wow.. kudos to you cold and the entire cold clan

I would have loved to have seen the face of the porter at the squat toilet "Quechua equivalent of WTF?" LMAO

When I started reading your report I thought I could do this (no fear of heights to slow me down) but I honestly don't think I could go 3 days without a shower especially after all that hiking which incidentally I probably couldn't do either...

I spent Christmas Day in an inner tube floating down a lazy river with my family. It was 80F and at sunset I sipped margaritas and walked on the beach.
Just like you we got a little sunburnt on vacation :)

LOL to sassy cat.

Someone described Uros as "human zoo." I'm still glad I went because how can you go to Lake Titicaca and not? But U could have done with a higher entry fee and a five minute visit, rather than the sales pitch. I decided not to go rowrowrow your boat in Uros. I waited on the ferry and it was interesting to watch the islanders after the tourists left.

Our guide between Puno and Bolivia said there are many more islands now than when he started guiding. Some obviously built just for tourist trade.

Can't think of too many spots that impressed me as much as Machu Picchu. It's up there with Grand Canyon at sunset, Milford Sound in the right weather, and maybe Torres del Paine.