Final day – Inca Trial

Final Day.

Hearts race. A goal mouth scramble. Engines roar. Clothes, packed tightly at the foot of our tent. Ready, for the ultimate race to reach the sun gate. The time is now…

Ok, now im going to write normally. Cheeky but of suspense there. 

So — we sat on a bench at 3:30am today.

And then we were released from the holding pen at around 5:15am. Then the real race started. We ran!!!! Walking poles hand in hand, speeding up as people stopped, falling over to the wayside. They stopped for breath, begged for fresh water, but we kept going. A brutal race over taking 25 or so OAP’s and begrudging teens without phone service. As we twisted and turned up the mountain side into the fog, an hour later of intense up hill effort, we made it. The sun gate. (Insert holy music here). Greeting us, a perfect view of Machuu Pichuu. What a relief, we had just about made it. A cloud came back over the WW (World Wonder) before we could get proof. So began the descent of about an hour to get to get within touching distance of holy rock. 

We arrived on a landing that overlooked Machuu Pichuu. Up close, it is defo a mountain. You can see the carving, the engraved rooms, a chiseled staircase, a house, a few totems. The mega large rock you see on all the postcards is called WaynaPichuu (Massive Mountain. I was simply in awe of the spectacle. I can understand now why the site was hidden for so long. I can understand less why the Peruvian gov. keep fighting over the bus companies that control the access via the roads here. Anyway…

So an hour later, we were looking around the site. Knackered, pretending to be Incans. It was a laugh. We had finished the hike, after all. 

We take the bus down and I’m dozing off – I’m deliriously tired at this point. We get dinner, any some miracle the bloke who took our picture comes and finds us!!! Then we went home. Great! 

So we get a lift back, fumbled into an unmarked cab, looking forward to a massive bed and a big sleep, only… I get out of the cab to find no phone. Ah. Issue. No phone!!! Lost! In the back of an unmarked cab!!! A DONATION. A PEACE OFFERING. A spiritual offering to a sacred site. After a large sigh and leaving Izzy alone to the massive bed, I went to the police station. They asked me loads of stuff in Spanish to which I returned a puzzled look, before 3 hours later getting a police report. A shit day to end a great day!