Inka Jungle Trek - Day 1

On our first day of our Inka Jungle Trek it was an early start as we were picked up by our Lorenzo Expedition guides at 6:30am. As much as we want to get boozy with Sal, we took it easy over the weekend for this reason.

First stop was Lorenzo's house for a buffet breakfast. We didn't meet Lorenzo himself but instead Yohan was there to 'welcome' us to the start of the trek. Yohan... Hmmm. He's a bit of a douche really. It was pretty disappointing as I'd read so many good things about Lorenzo Expeditions, but communicating with this guy over email was less than pleasant, he is so rude. After meeting him in person I can't really put it down to cultural or language differences - in the flesh he is equally unsavoury.

Anyway, breakfast was the first time we got to properly meet some of the group and it quickly transpired that aside from two Americans, Antonia and Thomas, the whole group was made up of people from the UK and Ireland. What are the chances?!
After breakfast and the distribution of Lorenzo T shirts it was hasta luego to Yohan and time for the trek group to embark on a 90 minute minibus ride to the Abra de Malaga pass, where we would start our downhill mountain biking. On the way we had a quick stop for a flat tyre change (I've never seen it done so quickly!) and in Olluntaytambo grabbed some cash and Sublime chocolate. When in Peru you HAVE to try it's chocolatey and nutty goodness! It's the perfect trekking snack!

Driving through the Sacred Valley, we climbed higher and higher on our bus journey until we reached Abra de Malaga, where clouds rolled over and it became actually quite cold. As we all got into our super protective body armour the layers came out as the longer we stood there, the colder it got.

Still, it was all exciting, getting our padded jackets, fluorescent vests, gloves and massive helmets on. I felt the anticipation build. This was where our adventure to Machu Picchu really began!
From there we had 3 hours of downhill mountain biking. Thank god it was downhill all the way - the minute it became flat I started to struggle peddling because of the altitude.

The views were amazing. It was impossible to take photos while cycling as the road was winding and uneven at points, and the drop off the side so big - I wouldn't have trusted myself to manage the camera and not crash into someone else or over the edge. I was also busy trying to avoid being cut up by Thomas, who seemed to have a penchant for overtaking on corners, only to back up straight after. I did feel bad when he came off his bike after a similar manoeuvre on someone else.... Not. Anyway- exhilarating, adrenaline-packed fun!
The lower we got the warmer the weather became, so by the end we were all sweating and were pretty happy to reach Santa Maria, just in time for our four course lunch. Sal has been introduced to the Peruvian staple of soup and today's lunch time soup had veggies and egg in it. We also tried Chicha Morada for the first time, which is a purple corn based drink and quite tasty!

We finished our first day off with some white water rafting. I hadn't been too fussed about doing it as we did it in Rotorua but I'm glad we did! It was so much fun if a little chilly after, especially when we all had to get out of the minivan on the way back, as it couldn't make it up the hills!

For dinner it was another four course meal and afterwards we were all introduced to a Peruvian friend. Juan Carlos tried to create some awesome photo opportunities by telling us there was a drink inside, unfortunately no one was having it!