The Methodist Ladies Luncheon Club met at the Mount Murray Golf Club on Wednesday, January 17, and were entertained by Angela Southern about a Machu Picchu adventure.

We were very interested to hear of the energy and enterprise of a group of Manx walkers whose adventures during the last ten years have included walking trips in Vietnam, in Nepal and to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, as well as regular Manx Parish walks. They support a breast care charity.

In 2016 they journeyed to Machu Picchu, a fortified Inca town in the Andes in South Peru, named after the mountain above.

They flew from Madrid to Lima and began the walk at Cuzco, once the capital of the Inca Empire which was unnoticed by the Spanish conquerors in 1533. Machu Picchu was only first known to the world in 1911.

Picked up at 4.30am by the guides the Manx group of ten started the seven days’ trek with their packs of gear and drinks on their backs and the heavier burdens on pack horses.

Organisers went ahead with kitchens, loos and tents to set up. Oxygen was carried and the altitude caused puffing and slowing down in daytime heat though night time temperatures fell below zero.

One walker took a donkey ride until he felt fitter.

Slides showed fantastic scenery of white topped mountains. An altitude of 3,300 metres rose to 3,800 in a day as rivers were crossed the Blue Lake appeared and all was wilderness, with no other humans or animals seen except distant eagles.

A hard day of crawling up stony heights ended at 5pm; by 7pm all was pitch black and bed time.

At 6am they were up and on the road by 7.30 to see people and farming practices unchanged in a thousand years. Pigs of mixed breed were there and very woolly sheep. In the descent from the High Andes they entered the rain forest and met women taking loads to market. All grew much greener and at 20,000 metres there were Inca remains. It was hard to imagine where the stone came from for Inca buildings - a palace, a temple and the extensively cultivated terraces, and how they manoeuvred the stone.

Passports were needed to start the Inca trail. For food catering, meat was brought and all else collected along the way. Day five saw the Manx party above the clouds at Dead Woman’s Pass where they really felt on top of the world, spotted a llama and had a great view of the Amazon River.

On day seven they arrived at Machu Picchu and in the blackness of the morning set out early on a two-hour trek to see the sun coming up.

As they viewed the well-built stone walls and cultivated terraces, the palace and temple which had lasted 800 years, a keen local guide told of plans for repairs so all would be preserved for further long years. He also pointed to a crack in the stone where a shadow reaches down to indicate midday.

The final memorable experience was to see the carnival which was in progress as they completed the trek. The jolly dancers all had models of stuffed lamps strapped to their backs. The train back to Cusco took three days and was a lovely journey before the flight home.

An appreciative vote of thanks to Angela was given by Norma Cowell.