What a day! I was up at 4.30am to get an early bus back to MP for dawn – except there was nothing to see because the cloud base was so low and it was drizzling. I then had 4 hours in what became pouring rain before my slot to climb Huyana Picchu. They only allow 400 people up a day in 2 lots of 200. I could start climbing between 10.00 and 11.00, and I was at the gate for 10.00. I was one of the first through the gate and only about 20 people passed me, yet when I signed out (so they know you haven’t fallen off the mountain!) 150+ had signed out before me, so they either didn’t go to the top or only went to the smaller mountain in front. Well – all I can say is that HP is the most difficult mountain I’ve ever climbed. Although there were steps for a large part of the route, they were very steep, high and narrow. I can only imagine that the Incas had long legs and small feet! It has a reputation for being a dangerous climb and although I found it tough, I didn’t come across anything especially dangerous …. until about the last 150 ft, when frankly it became ridiculously dangerous with steps with no handrail at points where there was a 1000ft sheer drop. Although it had stopped raining by the time I climbed HP, the stones were pretty slippery. I’ve never suffered from vertigo, but the drop got to even me and I just had to concentrate on the next step up without looking down. Yes – I made it to the top, but it was probably one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever done, and although I got a buzz out of making it, I won’t do anything like that again. Needless to say when I got back down again, which was just as hairy as going up, I was shattered, but as the bus queue was so long, at least 45 mins wait and I needed to keep my legs moving otherwise they’d have ceased up, I decided to walk back to Aguas Calientas. There is a stone stairway all the way down, but as it was steep steps like HP, and I knew my knees wouldn’t take it, I walked down the bus track which because of the steepness of the mountain, zig zags back and forth and is around 7-8 miles. So I reckon I definitely got my exercise today! I then got the train back to Cusco, which was 3.5 hours in their Vistadrome train. It has clear panels in the roof, but unfortunately most of the journey was in the dark so I didn’t see an awful lot. The journey included an airline type meal, and just as everyone was dosing off to get a kip, the “in flight” entertainment started which was a jester type person trying to get people up to dance (I remained seated!) followed by a fashion show by the waiter and waitress! A bizarre day in many ways. My legs have also been suffering from the insect bites. (piccy in the album – but don’t look if you are about to eat a meal). Considering I virtually never get bitten at all, goodness knows what tucked into me yesterday. Thankfully shops are still open in Cusco at 10.00pm so I managed to get some hydro-cortisone cream which hopefully will calm them down a bit. And so ..... tomorrow I say farewell to a wonderful, stunning, colourful, vibrant, amazing, friendly Peru. Adios
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 06:12:49 +0000
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