We very nearly lost out but with a mammoth effort to leave the toilet behind and some more cash thrown at it, we got there, and weren't disappointed.
Our revised inca trail consisted of: taxi to Poroy, a very cool expedition train ride to aguas calientes with amazing views as we climbed the Andes from savannah to full on jungle, and then a very scary bus up to the lost city.
What struck us both when we first walked through the sun gate was the view. You feel on top of the world in a spectacular way, due to the fact you are on the peak of a mountain with other even taller mountains hemming you in. It's also quite frightening, my stomach felt zero gravity several times that day as we walked around the ruins, one wrong step and you'd hurtle to your death.
I'm surprised in postcards you always see the same view, its the famous peak of wayna picchu with the ruins in the forefront. I think there are even more awe inspiring snapshots, although none looking back do it justice, it's somewhere you've just got to go and see for yourself, it really does live somewhere beyond all expectations.
We didn't bother with a guide or a map, as we weren't prepared to pay s/100 (£20) to listen to someone say
"we don't really know but we think...." we thought we can make our own mind up. There is noone patrolling which route you take, so we took our own route, and spent a good 3 hours exploring. The ruins are amazing, it's not like Pompeii where once you've seen one ruin you've seem them all, each building offers another unique view of the surrounding mountains. It would have been amazing to live there, and the views are worthy of the work it must have taken. It's so advanced as well the irrigation system, terraces and the way they have channelled water at that height. It puts some cultures and communities to shame, and shows how clever these people were, aliens maybe. It must have been amazing to have discovered it, and great for us that it was the 100th birthday of that re-discovery.
We talked about going back someday to get there by traditional inca trail, but actually on reflection we've now spoilt the surprise, it would be like reading the last chapter of a book, then going back to the beginning, there's no point.
In the following days we did some smaller treks and we struggled, don't get me wrong we did them faster than all the other people, so not as unfit as I thought, but that feeling of going up hill over uneven surface, not being able to catch your breath due to the altitude is not fun, and I couldnt be bothered to look at the view and lose my pace. So all in all we've decided it was fate and we're pleased we saw it the way we did. Plus to top it off our return journey included a 2.5 hour bus back to cusco from ollytantambo along with about 30 other passengers who had completed the trek. Let me just say they fucking stank, it wasn't a pleasant journey. They were also all young and annoying, again a lot of Americans so this helped add to our post rationalisation.
To try and give you a pathetic word based description of the feeling it provides: mysterious, emotional, breathtaking..... Frankly that doesn't do it justice, I'd need to show you in expressive dance.
You've got to go and see it, along with angle falls, it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
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