We survived the Inca Trail

Im saying this because someone died while doing the trail. They were doing the same trail as us(4day 3 night) and were about 50 feet from our camp site. He was a 55 year old man travelling with his wife, daughter and son in law. Apparently he had supper, said he felt tired and went to bed, in the morning, he was dead. They tried to heli lift him out but there were too many clouds so the porters in that group had to carry him down the mountain. Now on to happier news, we did survive the Inca Trail. It was truly incredible, a once in a lifetime experience. The first day was by far the easist, it was barely uphill and we only did around 10k. Our group consisted of 3 people, us(obviously) and a guy named Jon who was from England(Im going to take a slash on my beannie). We eventually joined another group of 4 consisting of a couple from Spain and a couple from LA. Im not going to upload any pictures because anything on the internet doesnt do it justice, you have to wait til we get home to see. Colin has taken about 1100 pictures so there will be a Peru show when we get back. Anyway, back to the Inca Trail. Day 2 started at 3300m above sea level, and eventually climbing to Dead Womans Pass. Dead Womans Pass is just above 4500m so it is officially the highest point we have ever been on this planet and it was well worth the 6 hour hike to the top. This day was by far the hardest thing either of us had done in our lives. Jon made it up at least an hour before we did because he was by far the fittest in the group, and he made sure to point it out. We met so many people from Canada, it is as if we are taking over the world one "eh" at a time. We met a girl from Sask, we had made fun of her because she had paid a porter to carry her backpack for day 2 even though it was maybe 10 pounds, maybe. Then the next morning we saw her again and she proceeded to go in front of our campsite and change shirts, we didnt know what to make of it. All the porters stopped what they were doing and started watching her(sorry Christine for posting this for the world to see). We had carried about 85-90 percent of our things so we were bringing up about 25-30ish pounds which after 4 days becomes a little heavy. The food was absolutely fantastic, I dont know how they made it all. The couple from Spain were on their honeymoon so the cook made a honeymoon cake on top of the mountain and we had it for breakfast day 3. There was something special about doing this trail, just walking on a path that was built by a civilization that had dominated a continent made your head spin. The amount of work that had gone into building this trail is truly remarkable. Day 4 was the big day, the day we were to see Machu Picchu. We woke up at 4 in the morning to start our hike because we needed to beat the tourists who went by train and bus. We got to the sun gate at 7 and were excited because this was the first glimpse of it.....foggy, it was all fog. People were saying "we hiked 4 days for this", "WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY", and so on. So the tour guide for the other group went on this cell phone and got a pictures of Machu Picchu and held it up against the fog, we all cheered and marveled at this truly spectacular site. So we continuted hiking and as we progressed the clouds started to disappear and we finally saw what we had climbed all the way here for. WOW. We were suprised at the scale of it. It is maybe 1k long and maybe .5 wide, it is truly awe inspiring. We did our tour and then decided to climb Wyuanu Picchu(sp). It is the tall mountain in the backround of the classic Machu Picchu picture. The way up was fine, we had climb through narrow tunnels and up ladders beside 200m cliffs. The way down was another story, for a good portion the only way down was a staircase that was 1.5 feet wide and at a 60 degree slope with nothing to hold onto... one slip. We made it down alright but it took the same amount of time up as it did down, for those who climb mountains, you can imagine the challenge it was. After finishing the trail, we celebrated at Jons hostal and spent the next day just chillaxing. For anyone who has any desire to do this trip, we strongly recommend that you do it, it is beyond anything you can imagine.

We are now in Puno and are going to the floating islands on lake Titicaca. We are going to spend a night with a family to see what the average day is for someone who lives on a floating island, it should be a very intersting experience. We have 9 days left and by looking at the schedule it is extremely full.

I guess this is it for now. Talk to everyone later, and see you in about 10 days.