Rewinding back to September (is it really now November!??), our time in Cusco felt like we were actually on holiday, with blue skies and lazy days. Breakfasts were late and al fresco in the courtyard of our hostel, afternoons were spent plodding the beautiful cobbled streets gawking at the mash up of Inca and colonial architecture , dusks spent over shameless Starbucks coffees and skype calls, and evenings passed putting my newly regenerated liver to the test with happy hour pisco sours. Folks cycling through Peru (yep,it turns out we arent the only ones!) congregate at Hostal Estrellita when passing through town and it was rather lovely to spend a few days surrounded by bike parts, route chat, and people with similarly excessive appetites to ours. Speaking of appetites, we may have indulged just a little……
We abandoned the fried chicken shops and guiltily left the other more thrifty cyclists at the hostel cooking up their pasta dinners to treat ourselves to some good grub. Highlights for us were incredible Ceviche at Olas Bravas, a date night at Morena, which felt like being out in London (custoer service! cocktials!), and Bistek Montado at San Pedro market. A pile of beef, chips, avocado, egg, sausage, salad, rice, and a dangerous introduction to fried chese as an acceptable source of protein. Looks horrendous, tastes incredible.
Two days of indulgence turned into 3, then 4, but finally it was time to get our bodies moving again, this time on two feet rather than two wheels. Bikes stashed, rucksacks rented and 
stuffed with supplies, we first had the hidden Inca city of Choquequirao in our sights, only accessible by a bus, collectivo then a two day hike in and one back from the town of Cachora. Never ones to risk being left hungry, our bags resembled a mobile food market, with 35 bread rolls swinging from them, a kilo of pasta, boiled eggs, avocados, cheese, and an impressive array of buscuits, chocolate, coffee and bananas that would keep us powered for 4 days. Nevermind the fact that I’d only packed one pair of socks to make space for all these goodies. Priorities!
From Cachora we left roads behind, and slogged up one gorgeous, but bloody steep valley and down the next, between basic campsites. The views were down lush hazy valleys covered in green with raging rivers running through them, and off to mountains on the horizon. After so much stealth camping on the bikes where we pitch up late in hidden spots (often shared with cows/lamas/undescribable amounts of animal poo) it was a novelty to be able to pitch our tent in the afternoon sun and make a brew in peace. Well, relative peace – we usually had a few thousand flesh-hungry sandflies and a barking dog or six to contend with (this is Peru after all!).
We were feeling strong with our new legs of steel, and got a little carried away with all the walking. Our 3 day hike somehow turned into 9, and 125 kilometres and eight consequtive dinners of tuna, pasta and tomato sauce later we found ourselves looking at sunrise over Machu Picchu!
How did we end up here!??
We’d read that there was a trail linking the two hikes, but struggled to find reliable info about whether we would be able to do it without a guide, or be able to pick up food along the way. The tourist information (iPeru) office in Cusco was helpful, but their rep had taken a sharp intake of breath when we’d suggested setting out on our own, whilst tour agencies rubbed their hands together and quoted over a grand for to take us. So instead we set off on our mini adventure to Choquequirao . Which in itself, was amazing enough!
We reached the Choque ruins on day two, sprawling across a hillside of a huge valley, and thanks to being so cut off from road access, with very few visitors (we counted about 10 people when we were there!) . The site’s only employee welcomed us with a hand drawn map of the complex, and we were allowed to camp there for free, clamber over the whole site the next day, and pretend we were Indiana Jones. Exhausted after a whole day spent exploring the and scaling the near vertical Llama terraces that miraculously cling to the steep hillsides (those Incas must have had thighs of steel!) we happily spent a second night at the campsite watching the sun set over the hills. Apparently there are plans afoot to make the ruins accessible by cable car in the next few years and make this the “next Maccu Piccu”, but looking out at the dense, unpopulated valley all around us, we have no idea how!
So how did we end up at Machu Piccchu? In the small village of Marampata before the ruins, whilst scoffing an unexpected hot lunch cooked up for us by the owner of the campsite, we’d spotted a poster on a wall and some info describing the onward trail to Maccu Piccu. We mustered our best Spanish to ask some of the locals about whether the trail was easy to follow, and got positive responses. Add this to the fact that the shrewd señora who had served us up our had also set up a well stocked shop selling everything a hiker could need for a few days, and our minds were made up. On to Machu Picchu!
Re-stocking in Marampata – everything you could possibly need to carry on walking (including a healthy supply of booze)
On we walked for 5 more days, eventually joining up with the Salkantay Trek which is a popular trek for groups of backpackers to the ruins, . It was an AMAZING hike, the perfect combination of isolation (we saw only 5 other tourists), a challenging but logistically easy walk, with one clear path to follow, and simple campsites with small shops at just the right distances. The scenery constantly changed as well, and the second stretch was even better than the first. One day we were we were building snowmen on the top of Yanama pass and the next we were walking through coffee plantations and picking oranges off treeson the valley floor. We loved it.
There were sweaty jungles, river crossings and huge butterflies….
Then snowy passes, valleys like the Scottish Highlands and our first peak at the snow capped Peruvian mountains…..
Always with a gorgeous place to camp, a cup of coffee, and a Sublime bar waiting for us at the end of the day…..
The final day was a walk along train tracks to Aguas Calientes, jumping off point for Maccu Picchu and a sudden throng of thousands of tourists, pizza restaurants and hotels. We camped by the river just before town, and rewarded ourselves with a dip/shower in the Urabamba before heading in to town to indulge in a proper coffee and more than several celebratory “4 for 1” pisco sours. .
After one too many snoozes on the 4am alarm thanks to my pounding pisco head and the equally pounding rain on our tent, eventually we did get up and at 5:30am raced up the 1500 that take you up to the ruins from the valley floor. Yes, there were crowds, there was a persistent drizzle, and there were far too many rules and over zealous security gaurds constantly repremanding us. But it was still Machu Picchu, and there is no doubting that it is pretty damn incredible……
6:30am, and my best picture that pretends we were the only people there!
A rare photo that proves we are actually travelling together
So we treked for 9 days and saw two of the most impressive Inca sites in Peru for under £100. We’ve even written up some notes to help others do the same- see How to hike independently to choquequira machu picch for under £100.
Grrrls On Tour 