The Inca Trail
The trail lasted 4 days and the section up to dead womans pass in particular was quite tough but it was worth it….. I was telling myself the whole trip that Macchu Picchu would be a disappointment, that it would be over-run with tourists who had got the train up – people like the so many we had met who had done Macchu Picchu like they had done Thailand, Galapagos, India and whever else is on the ticksheet of travellers…. but was i ever wrong…. It started with a race allbeit an unofficial one to the Sun Gate – Followed by a trek down to Macchu Picchu itself where we waited for the cloud to lift… which took longer than expected – as one wit observed ‘no wonder the spanish couldn’t find it’
But when it did…. I can think of few things I have seen that have been as spectacular – really quite unbelievable… Chilean Poet, Pablo Neruda said of it:
Machu Picchu is a trip to the serenity of the soul, to the eternal fusion with the cosmos, there we feel our own fragility. It is one of the greatest marvels of South America. A resting place of butterflies at the epicenter of the great circle of life. One more miracle.
Which certainly reads a lot better than the Samuel Johnson quote about the Giants Causeway
“Was worth seeing, yes; but not worth going to see.”
After a guided tour around we went on to climb the spectacular Rock/ Mountain behind; Huayna Picchu which was perhaps one of the best climbs i have done with a truly scary summit and descent