Diary 'Trekking the Inca Trail' by Lisa Tame "Standing at Heathrow airport waiting for the hospital reps and guides to turn up, not knowing anyone I thought to myself what am I doing I could be at home with my friends and family getting ready for Christmas. Now travelling isn’t a problem to me, I’ve been to many places and have flown to New Zealand on my own but standing here with forty other people many of which already knew each other was quite daunting… I was on my way to Peru to trek the Inca Trail raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). The Inca Trail is Peru's best known hike and combines a stunning mix of Inca ruins, mountain scenery, lush cloud-forest and rich jungle.Ìý It’s a challenging 45km trek to altitudes of 4,200m through mountainous jungle leading to the sacred Inca city of Machu Picchu.
 | | Cusco City |
I have raised £2,944 for the hospital most of which came from an auction held at the Falcon Hotel in Bude with a friend who was raising money for the NSPCC by running the London Marathon last April. My fears didn’t last long; Greg and Paul our Discover Adventure guides along with Harry and Louise our GOSH reps arrived; got us all checked in and with that friends were being made. The flight saw us travel from Heathrow to Miami then onto to Lima and finally Cusco, our home for the next couple of days to acclimatise to the altitude. Cusco is at about 3,400 metres above sea level – quite a hike for a girl who lives by the sea! Cusco is a beautiful town and is a World Heritage site, quite different to what I expected and in the late afternoon sun as the temperature dropped the cafés serving hot coffee were a great place to watch the world go by. Day One Our first full day in Peru consisted of gentle walk of ‘8’ hours designed for acclimatisation purposes in preparation for the big trek starting the following day. Visits to Inca ruins were made and our local Peruvian guides explained their meanings and what they would have been used for.
 | | The temple and fortress of Saqsaywaman |
The following day saw a very early start (4.30am!) as we had a two hour bus journey to get to the start of the Trail at Chilca where we were checked into Machu Picchu National Park and the first challenge a swinging bridge over a very fast flowing river! The first day of the trek was quite a gentle start with a couple of climbs and fantastic views of Mount Veronica which stands at 5000m. It wasn’t until lunch time on this day that we realised how much work the porters who were with us did, they carry the equipment for cooking, tents, bags … you name it they carried it. Lunch was amazing considering that we were in the middle of nowhere and set the precedent for the rest of our eating experiences on the Trail, we certainly couldn’t say we weren’t fed well but as we were burning up to 600 calories an hour it was a great excuse to eat plenty! Our first night’s campsite was set below Mount Veronica capped in snow. Popcorn and coffee were greatly appreciated after our first 10km on the Trail it was an early night after dinner to get ready for the following day – our big climb up to ‘Dead Woman’s Pass’ standing at 4,200m (our camp was 2,700m). Not a bad night’s sleep was had despite the donkey which insisted on munching the grass right behind our tents. Day two We started at 5am with a bright sunny welcome and by 6am we were back on the trail; an on going climb on narrow paths provided us with the fantastic views and great team spirit as people began to feel the effects of the altitude. The two doctors on the trip were worth their weight in gold with plenty of advice to deal with altitude sickness.
 | | The rocky descent |
After lunch the rain and cloud came in and resulted in a brightly coloured line of ponchos walking the trail to Dead Woman’s Pass an extremely steep and relentless climb rewarded with a massive sense of achievement at the top although not views thanks to the rain and mist. From the Pass it was then a challenge on the knees as we began the descent to our next campsite on slippy rocks due to the rain and mist much concentration was needed to avoid a tumble but spirits remained quite high and those suffering from the effects of altitude were helped along by Greg, Paul and Ozzie our ever happy guides. The views of the mountains as we walked down called for many photo stops especially between myself and my photo buddy Jo. That night my tent buddy Katherine and Jo’s buddy Jane were not feeling too well so Jo and I ventured down to the mess tent in the cold for dinner and it was cold, the campsite, near the ruins of Runkuarcay, sat next to a fast flowing river below a range of mountains where the clouds kept coming in… one minute the mountains would be there and the next hidden in the mist – quite magical and much better than any TV programme. Day three The following day both Katherine and Jane were feeling much better and so we started off at a slow pace on a steep climb away from the campsite, along this part of the trek we passed an Inca ruin looking down over the valley and still it was uphill – it’s just to the next point we kept hearing our second high pass at 4,000m and eventually that next point arrived as did a welcome break. At this point there were interesting statutes made from stones all around, maybe as markers made by past trekkers.
 | | Inca City ruins |
And now for the downhill Greg told us and boy was he right about 7 hours of downhill to say the least to Winayhuayna. The steps were incredible, giant steps for little people like me! But still the views were stunning and slowly as we descended into the cloud forest stillness and tranquillity reigned. To say it was beautiful is an under estimation, the whole trek had been fantastic but this section leading to the lunch area had an aura all of its own, you could smell the freshness from the trees and moss as we wandered through in twos and threes. During lunch the rain came in again and it was at this point I remember suddenly feeling extremely tired, the first time, so far, that I had felt like this and it was a difficult twenty minutes to get through as we started yet another uphill section full from lunch and in the cooling rain. However this didn’t last long as my tent buddy Katherine and Jo caught me up and soon we were giggling away again. The rest of this section was quite an easy going enjoyable walk along a ridge overlooking the forests; the vegetation was array of autumn colours – orange, rust, reds and sunset yellows as we approached a section Mark one of our DA guides held back for us to walk through an amazing tunnel formed in the rocks. | "It’s difficult to explain the sense of achievement when looking down on Machu Picchu and thinking I’ve made it" | | Lisa Tame |
As we progressed along this section the mist started coming in again and although it wasn’t cold, when we reached the pinnacle it was certainly windy. From here we began our descent to Winayhuayna, the lower we got the better the weather and we were soon rewarded with fantastic views of the valleys and surrounding mountains, but still we descended our knees knowing about it at this stage! As we approached Winayhuayna, Greg and Paul continued to keep us motivated and pushed us to keep going, little did we know our group was about to break their record time for getting a group to the campsite and we did … by five seconds! A sense of achievement and elation was in the air as we celebrated with a few beers and looked forward to showers hot or cold. Dinner was still cooked by our travelling chefs but instead of being served in the mess tents we’d become accustomed to there was a hall where we all ate and enjoyed the night telling stories of the trek so far. Day four The following morning saw a later start of 7.30am and the porters ceremony, where we had the opportunity to give them any unwanted equipment, t-shirts, food etc.. and it was here we said goodbye to our fantastic team of porters as they headed back down the mountain and we set off for Machu Picchu. And so onwards, the final stretch was taken quite slowly to enjoy the scenery, this section was a walk in the park compared to the terrain we had already covered. As we reached the last section greeted by a short amount but incredibly steep steps our guides walked on in front to allow us to walk to the Sun Gate individually or with our new found friends.
 | | Trekkers raising money for GOSH |
Jo, Katherine and I opted to walk together – we’d started together so we finished together, and it was amazing. It’s difficult to explain the sense of achievement when looking down on Machu Picchu and thinking I’ve made it, all those months of training and fundraising and now I’m here, and boy was it worth it. I’ll leave it at that for the Sun Gate, everyone in the group had their own time there and it’s something that can’t really be understood unless you’ve been there and for those that haven’t I urge you to go and enjoy it. From the Sun Gate it was a short walk down to Machu Picchu, quite enjoyable as Jo and I snapped away. It was quite a shock to the system on arriving at Machu Picchu, having only seen people from our group for the last four or five days suddenly we were overcome with other people visiting the site, who had caught the train. Still we enjoyed the time there and explored the site but I think it was here that many of us understood what Greg had told us at the start ‘It’s the journey not the destination’ And here I’ll leave Machu Picchu an amazing historical site… and down the long winding road to Aguas Calientes to catch the train back to Cuzco and our celebration party…. Day five Feeling extremely sorry for them I crawled out of bed at 5.30am the next day to say goodbye to the majority of the group flying home following the party, twelve of us were going on to the rainforest along the Tambopata River, but that’s another story… Now having caught the bug for trekking and fundraising for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity I have now set my sights on trekking in Namibia in May 2008, this trek is double the distance in extremely hot temperatures. If you’d like to read about my fundraising for Peru and also like to donate to the Namibia trek please visit the following web pages www.justgiving.com/lisatame and www.justgiving.com/lisanamibia | 
