We survived the trek. I'm continually amazed at how far the human body can be pushed. For example day 2 we scaled up to 4200m and day 3 we descended 1000m. It was the hardest I've ever pushed my body and the whole experience was amazing.
14 hours sleep later and I feel like I'm starting to recover from the trek. It's not just the walking or the rain or the food, language and altitude. I think it's the constant amazement we are continually finding ourselves in. Climbing up to 4200m surrounded my mountains and clouds. The views were incredible. I'm sure we must have at least 300 photos of just views. To add to that you'd turn a corner and an Incan ruin would slam you in the face.
William and I were 2 of 8. Our group again was a huge highlight. Made up of 2 Scottish, 2 American, 1 English and 1 German. Our guide Yenrri (Henry) was out of this world. His nickname (given to him when he was 14 in the jungle army) Rambo fitted him perfectly. Such a nice guy but I'm 99% sure he could kill me with his bare hands. On the first day he was playing with a rope making Knots. He asked the group if we could do a knot he'd just completed to which I responded you mean a noose. He then proceeded to teach the whole group how to make said noose. A lot of laughter the whole trip.
Our group stuck together unlike other groups who broke off into pairs and we managed to arrive first at every camp and check point.
Our last group dinner was out of tour time and we shared a guinea pig... which tastes like KFC chicken.... and many a Pisco sour. The whole trip was incredible.
Our horse trek was beautiful too. The horses were very much loved. They were in excellent condition. My horse was head shy and obviously used to leading. Their bridles were halters with reins and saddles were some sort of western try hard. We, yes William too, galloped through the Peruvian country side and stopped at ruins along the way. William has bilateral bruises on the inside of his knees.... he tells me he had never concentrated so hard in his life but loved it all the same.
I'm reading a book at the moment that stated only 7% of the world's communication is language the rest is non verbal. I could not agree more. I'm getting pretty good at miming.
Love and peace - WNP
