Continuing down...
As we passed beautiful calm lakes and through enchanted wooded areas, the stunning valley ahead came into view. Although still pretty cold, you could feel with every step the warmth increasing and i made plenty of time to take lots of breaks to take in the views and realise where I was and what I had just accomplished.
After a couple of hours, one of the most beautiful rock formations and waterfalls came into view in front of a huge snowcapped mountain in the distance, one which I have managed to keep as a snapshot memory and hope to remember for years to come! We continued trekking down, crossing streams with the group quite spread out (everyone taking it at their own pace - we wern't going to be coming back anytime soon so we had to make the most of every moment!)
Lunchtime was our next group pitstop. We had a surprise instore that one of our cooks mums lived on the mountain side, a family of indigneous Peruvian mountain people living in a traditional Andes stone house, and we had the wonderful chance of going inside and seeing how these people lived in the Andes. A lady and the young girl sitting outside the front were busy weaving Poncho's whilst we got a glimpse inside the dark and smoke filled hut. The thatched roof inside was black with soot, and one out of the 3 small rooms was full of guinea pigs running around. This house was an amazing experience - something I could have never imagined being able to experience and was amazed by the way these people manage to live in such a different culture to what I was use to.
After a big lunch and lots of begging dogs (and strawberry jelly made somehow with river water), we continued down for another 4 hours with the drive of knowing we had some cold beers waiting for us to celebrate our achievement and last night of camping. By now the knees and big toes were really in pain but the thought of a real flushing toilet at the camp we were staying at kept each foot moving one in front of another!
Last Camp
Reaching our last camp was one of the biggest reliefs I have experienced! Seeing the sun shining on a lovely flat camping space and some cold beers the crew had brought along for us to celebrate finishing our trek was wonderful. And the camp even had space for us to hold a campfire and so the final evening was filled with funny stories of the trek, lots of getting to know one another (its strange how you get to know different sides of people depending on what activity you are doing) :) and discussions of what the next day would involve - our visit to Macchu Picchu. Late night and lots of beers had by all, a well deserved chill out night for all :)
Macchu Picchu
The Lares Trek we did was chosen because it is more remote than the standard Inca Trail, which sometimes you will find a few hundred people trekking with you at the same time, whereas our Lares Trek allowed us to view the Peruvian Andes in all its natural beauty, without bumping into any other trekkers or tourists for the duration of the trek. This did mean though that we didn't get Macchu Picchu on our actual trek but had the next day after our trek to go visit one of the wonders of the world.
A few hours coach journey from our last camp to a train station where we jumped on PeruRail. This few hours train journey I must say was probably the most amazing train journey I have ever been on and probably one of the most beautiful in the world. Through the valley of the Andes at the beginning of the Amazon Rainforest where Urubamba River flows, the train journey twisted between mountains and historic Inca ruins and arrived at the town just below Macchu Picchu where we would have to get a coach up to the Wonder.
On entering Macchu Picchu, it totally blew my mind. Much bigger than I expected, we were rewarded with a 3 hour locals tour by our Peruvian Trek Guides who knew the whole history of the ruins, showed us the spiritual, religious and worship elements to the ruins, and allowed to us see the beautiful Macchu Picchu in all its glory.
Macchu Picchu was actually busier with tourists than I expected and on arrival, the clouds were low so were coving most of the surrounding landscape. But with a tour guide who knew the ropes, he took us on a slightly "backwards tour" which would keep us away from the larger crowds and would (fingers rossed) allow us to be in the best locations once the clouds and crowds had cleared.
He was correct! After about an hour, the clouds began to lift and the main bulk of people were leaving the site. The beautiful Peruvian mountains with the Amazon Rainforest all around was the one of the most stunning view I have ever seen (alongside a few beautiful memories from Mt Kilimanjaro).
Without a need to rush down to the town, I found a beautiful and quiet place to sit and take in the beauty of the man made and natural views I had right in front of me. For an hour or two, sitting in silence, I felt more peaceful than I think I can ever remember feeling.
In conclusion: The real beauty of Macchu Picchu and the Peruvian Andes was not just the stunning views and awe inspiring landscape but the immense feeling I felt inside, loving, spiritually and emotionally, from visiting and experiencing all these things in person.
