 Just read the inca trail article.
Loved the tips, such as make sure your guide is carrying an oxygen cylinder.
Wear layers as a sleeping bag won't keep you warm at freezing temperatures etc. etc.
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...."a track suit over my pyjamas".
Jim Jams on a trek?
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 I can only assume the British anoraks he is refering to are Wax jackets, or similar?
Anyway - this is something I've been wanting to do for years - the Inca Trail up to Machu Pichu, plus visit the plethora of other Incan sites. Also, trekking through the Amazon, Equador, Bolivia, Columbia, Mexico...
I'm getting cabin feaver on this island - need to get out of here for as long as possible!!
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 Tell me about it Hodge...I know EXACTLY what you mean.
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 :-)
Nepal.... :-)
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GIT!
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Dallas...on business...:-(
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Alex, are those the official views of the RAF or are they just you personal outpourings? Just wondering since you seem to have gone 'corporate' on us.
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Nepal is another place I'd love to visit.
I've been to the Isle of Wight.
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 But have you ever been to you?
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 Has Hodge slept with kings?
In the plural?
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I lost interest in that sort of thing at the point in "The Godfather" when they announced that Luco Brazzi was sleeping with the fishes.
Disgusting I call it.
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Jon...me corporate?
Surely you know me better than THAT!
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 I've decided to take another gap year, after Uni, cos I realised how little of the world I've actually seen. I have been talking to people who've been to every corner of the globe, and I've never left Europe!
High on my list are Nepal, Tibet, Indonesia, Singapore, Tasmania, New Zealand, Fiji, Alaska, Canada, Various parts of the USA (esp Portland for the Trailblazer's!), then some of the places in South America, like Machu Pichu, and bits of the Inca Trail, and whilst I'm there I fancy maybe doing Acongcagua. I'm gonna see how much Alpine experience I can get whilst I'm at Uni, but I want to come home, then go out to the Alps for maybe 2 months, and on the way back stop of at Fontainbleau, and see what bouldering I can do.
Sounds like a good trip to me. Hmmmmm... I wonder how I'll afford it? I'll see how money I can 'borrow' from various sources, and go on a budget!
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 I think Will Hutton must have been walking a bit slow if he walked from sunrise to sunset!
It is a strenuous walk but quite manageable by all abilities (one of our group was on an oxygen bottle in Cusco but completed the trail!), and not that long. The second day is a bit of a slog as you have to get over the highest pass. If you are fit it will make things easier and your days will be shorter, as long as you take time to aclimatise to the altitude.
Some groups we saw carried their own packs - don't be a martyr, the porters will carry them and they are a hell of a lot fitter than you will ever be! It's quite humbling to be wheezing up the trail and see a young porter jog past with a huge gas bottle strapped to his back. We were told that in an annual race they run the whole 40km trail in 3 hours 40 minutes!
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To my eternal shame, I walked the Inca Trail in two days without undue exertion, we walked into Machu Picchu on the morning of day three, so it's not that hard a walk. To put that in perspective, we'd been mountaineering in Bolivia and were very fit and acclimatised and it's all relative.
If I went back I'd walk a lot more slowly though.
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Eh? Been to me? Slept with kings? You're all insane, I tell you. Madness.
tee hee :)
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What does that mean, anyway - "slept with kings"?
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I got it wrong -
(singing)
"I've been undressed by kings and I've seen some things that a Hodge ain't supposed to see.......
I've been to Wasdale but I've never been to Clee................thorpes"
...or something.
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Hey, just my opinion but don't go to machu picchu along the Inca trail, far too many tourists and gringos. The trail itself has been ruined as im sure many of you are aware.
However the ruined city itself is amazing, almost spiritual if you arrive there early before the tourist busses.I highly reccomend the Salkantay trek to Santa Teresa as the best way of getting there. This takes you through some 6000m+ mountains and stunning landscapes, down into the cloudforest on a 5-6 day trek.
I did it this summer and it relly is fantastic. Photos can be found at:
http://groups.msn.com/MattsPeru2003Expedition/day2127salcantaytrek.msnw
Cheers Matt
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