Philip Saatchi
Inca challenge
Fundraising for John Grooms
Story
Dear friends and family
I want to write to all of you who have pledged to sponsor me to get my total up for John Grooms that this trip was like nothing I have ever done before or likely to do again.
It was a full on trek through the Andean mountains, clouds and freezing rain and became at times - an endurance test.
We flew to Lima, then the Inca town of Cuzco and starting above ground level, climbed to 10,000ft high most days, a third the size of Everest, where oxygen is rare. Some of the group suffered altitude sickness and had to be carried on mules part of the way (old Inca trails) till they recovered.
But the more we climbed the more we all acclimatised.
There was a whole entourage - the group, guides, mules, a doctor and four cooks finally finishing with the passionate charismatic leader and Andes expert.
He described himself as the most virile man in Peru.('no woman can resist me' he said in a bar at the end of ther trek).
We came across mountain villages where the unspoilt children looked like the most beautiful on earth(apart from Eden) some of them sang their lovely mountain songs to us and we returned by singing Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle little star etc while they looked on flabbergasted
Some of the views when the clouds broke were spectacular and breathtaking.
We had frequent breaks, had lunch at the top of the Andes everyday, before climbing more and finally descending to make camp for the night, a hot meal then sleep and packing up our tents and sleeping bags to start again at 6 am
We reached Machu Picchu six days later which was in itself amazing and all the more moving considering how we had got there.
This is an experience I will never forget and know the 27 decent and disparate people who took part in the trek feel exactly the same.
Thank you
I want to write to all of you who have pledged to sponsor me to get my total up for John Grooms that this trip was like nothing I have ever done before or likely to do again.
It was a full on trek through the Andean mountains, clouds and freezing rain and became at times - an endurance test.
We flew to Lima, then the Inca town of Cuzco and starting above ground level, climbed to 10,000ft high most days, a third the size of Everest, where oxygen is rare. Some of the group suffered altitude sickness and had to be carried on mules part of the way (old Inca trails) till they recovered.
But the more we climbed the more we all acclimatised.
There was a whole entourage - the group, guides, mules, a doctor and four cooks finally finishing with the passionate charismatic leader and Andes expert.
He described himself as the most virile man in Peru.('no woman can resist me' he said in a bar at the end of ther trek).
We came across mountain villages where the unspoilt children looked like the most beautiful on earth(apart from Eden) some of them sang their lovely mountain songs to us and we returned by singing Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle little star etc while they looked on flabbergasted
Some of the views when the clouds broke were spectacular and breathtaking.
We had frequent breaks, had lunch at the top of the Andes everyday, before climbing more and finally descending to make camp for the night, a hot meal then sleep and packing up our tents and sleeping bags to start again at 6 am
We reached Machu Picchu six days later which was in itself amazing and all the more moving considering how we had got there.
This is an experience I will never forget and know the 27 decent and disparate people who took part in the trek feel exactly the same.
Thank you