Anke BB

Our next adventure was the climbing of the „Machu Picchu“, a real classic.
After thinking about the pros and cos of the different treks, we decided to go with the 4d/3n Jungle Trek since we hiked the days before and were planing more hikes after and the tour promised more action than the Salkantay Trek. And we could sleep a little longer because the tour started later. Haha.

We started with a nice downhill cycling, beginning at over 4000m and ending up at 2000m. Luckily, the more we descended, the warmer it got. It was real action, since we had to cross little rivers, we cycled a normal autoroute and it was freezing cold and foggy the first 30 minutes.

Later on the first day, we did some rafting. It was my first time and I loved it! Afterwards, we even had a little sauna time arranged. Than we went to bed early, since We had to get up early for our second day.

The second day was the most intensive day of hiking. Starting early at 6am In the pouring rain, we were lucky as the sky cleared later and we could hike a part of the traditional „Inca trail“ whilst staying dry.
We stopped at a little stall to learn about different products, that grew in the jungle area, try a little Inka tequila, pet some cute dogs and cats, and got organic face-paintings Inca-style.
The second day ended with a short cable car ride over the river (very fun) and a visit of some „baños termales“ aka hot springs. Very relaxing after a long day hiking.
This night we had a little party and thanks to an insane happy hour (4 drinks for the price of one!!), we got pretty wasted. Whooops.
Benjamin and I met the sweetest Australians ever, and we had such a fun night out.
We would regret it the next day, though. Haha .

Day 3 started with a painful hangover. And some pain medication.
We then went zip-lining, which was fun and thankfully not that exhausting (although....there was a part, where you could go upside down. Many of our group didn‘t even do it because of the fear of puking. Haha. We did it, but it was a close call. Hahah.)
After lunch, we walked three hours to Aguas Calientes. We were so tired and honestly, couldn’t really appreciate the scenic route.
In Aguas Calientes, after a tasty dinner (Spaghetti!) we all just fell into bed at 9pm.

The last day started early at 4am with half an hour walk to the first check-point, opening at 5. Then we had to walk up an hour -just stairs!!- to reach Machu Picchu. Boy, that was some hard exercise at 5 o’clock in the morning!
But it was totally worth it! Machu Picchu made us forget all the pain! It was much greener than imagined and just beautiful. At first, it was really foggy but as it cleared up.... ugh!

After spending 3 hours up there, we had to walk 4 hours back to the bus stop at Hidrolectrica. Thankfully, we were not as hung over as the last time, so the way was bearable and we had a nice chat with our lovely Australian mates.

At the bus stop, the bad luck started. We, and another sweet German couple (which we shared rooms with during our trek -greetings to Cathi and Dennis!) from our hostel weren’t picked up. We had to pay another taxi, which broke down twice! The 2nd time, the damage couldn’t be fixed and we were stranded in in the middle of the night in the absolute nowhere. Oh, and it rained. We were luckily picked up by a local bus and after arguing to get into that bus, we could sit on the floor until reaching Cusco at 12.30am.
But that happens while traveling, and in end, we reached our hostel, even not the way we planned.Read more