The Inca Trail ⇒

What a fantastic experience. I will write later about the Sacred Valley tour but I really want to tell you all about the INca Trail

Day I.

After our amazing local guide (bernie) Julio got us all sorted and the local ladies sold walking sticks and sun hats to as many people as they could, we began the famous Inca Trail Trek to Machu Picchu. The first part of the hike was flat. The trail follows the Urubumba River so you have the constant sound of the water to keep you company. The vegetation is a lot more interesting than the coast--there are lots of trees. Plus the Andean mountains are all around so the scenery is spectacular. It's quite different from hiking in BC because you can see the view most of the time instead of hiking through a thick forest to the top before you really see the views. We had our first "test" a steep uphill part that lasted for about 10 minutes.

Because our group is very strong, we decided to change our campsite and hike a couple of extra hours which would make the infamous second day much easier. The last 2 hours was uphill. The hike wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't at such a high altitude. It was a relief to get around the last corner to find our campsite all set up and a hot afternoon tea waiting for us.

I must mention our crew. Our lead guide is Julio...he is very knowledgable about the Inca culture. He is a bit long winded but very enthusiastic and his English is great.

We have a team of 30 porters who each carry 20 kg of our stuff. One lot carries our duffle bags, sleeping bags and tents. Others carry cooking equipment (including one poor chappy carrying the propane tank!) the rest carry food. Boy do those guys work hard!

One of our travel mates who we are calling Ben the Fair because we have 3 Bens on our trip and he is a pale blond English guy sufferec altitude sickness and got to ride a horse for part of the hike. We were being very well taken care of.

Our camp conists of all our tents of course plus a dining tent and kitchen tent. Two of our campsites on the trail had proper toilets but otherwise it was a "seek cover" situation.

Our tent at the first campsite was on a slope so every time I moved I slid toward the bottom of my therma rest. This didn't make for a particularly great sleep--perfect for the day to follow.

Day II

We had all been warned about how tough this day is but really until you try it you have no idea how difficult it will be for you as an individual. In the first two hours of the day starting at 7: 00 in the morning we climbed from 3350 meters above sea level to 4200 m.a.s.l. Imagine climbing 1800 stairs over 5 km in 2 hours. I've never had such a difficult time putting one foot in front of the other! Julio was playing his flute from the top and the sound carried over the mountains--it was literally like magic. As I approached the top one slow step after the other I got so emotional about how difficult it was that I had an asthma attack...perfect timing. I kept plodding along with my travel companions who had already reached the top cheering me on. At the top I burst into tears. (getting misty just writing about it!) The view across the valley was beyond description. This pass is called Warminusca or Dead Woman's pass because the mountainside forms the sillhouette of a dead woman. At the time I thought it was named after me!

We all waited at the top for our team to come in one by one cheering each one on as soon as they were within ear shot. We had a semi group photo because we were all getting very chilly then we set off on the 2 km down hill segment. At the bottom we had lunch at 3600 m.a.s.l. before setting off toward the second pass at 3950 m.a.s.l. This part wasn't as difficult but of course by then we were getting very tired and mentally exhausted. One final decent to our campsite at 3600 m stopping at some Inca ruins along the way. Erin was absoultely silent by the time we got to the camp. I didn't think I would ever see him reach his physical limit but he was beaten by Day II. Everyone in our group was so brave that day....what a team!

Day III

Despite extremely tired legs we started off again in the morning. As a group we had made the decision to carry on to Machu Picchu one day early (instead of hiking two hours, we hiked five). THe trail is similar to Day I in terms of difficulty for most of it. A select group of keeners took a little detour with Julio and climbed another mountain. We could see them scrambling to the top on all fours then at the top we could hear them doing some sort of Inca war chant. Very funny. Personally I enjoyed the easy going walk on a rolling path in the company of my very nice travel companions. The third pass was only at 3650 m and it was pretty straight forward after which was a decent of 1800 stairs followed by a dirt path down to Winay Wayna where we met our first Bernie who keeps his fridge in excellent order with cold cervezas (beers) for all! The Inca ruins there were very beautiful--second only to Machu Picchu itself.

Finally another hour and a half along a rolling path and a final short climb to Inti Punco (the sun gates) where we got our first glimpse of The Lost City of the Incas--Machu Picchu. How amazing!

On our decent down to the city itself we stopped to leave our offering to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) which were small stones we had been carrying since the beginning of the trail in hopes of good weather and a safe journey for our group. It worked--we had sunny skies the whole time.

We were there late in the afternoon so many of the tourists had already gone to catch the train back to Cusco. We found a spot on one of the terraces nearer the city and stayed there for about an hour just soaking it in.

After a while we took a bus down to Aguas Calientes which literally means hot water. A few of us visited the hot pools (described in one guide book as smelly communal pools because of the minerals in the water) Doesn't sound very pleasant but I thought it was better than I had expected. I washed my hair (ahhhhhhh!) in a little trickle of water beside a little naked peruvian child (gotta love it when reality is suspended like that!!)

At the campsite we were having dinner when suddenly our porters collapsed all our tents. We later found out that we were in a site that had only two days before been declared closed. The mayor of Aguas Calientes was about to arrive by train so while the guards took the chance and let us stay, we had to make it look like we weren't there. When we saw lights appraching on the tracks we shut out the lights and ducked down. It turned out to only be a little service car which of course cracked us all up! About 15 minutes later we all went and hid behind some trees giggling the whole time while the mayor's train passed.

What a night too--two trains passed. The first one stopped by our site and shot off flares in the middle of the night. I though someone was shooting at us!! Erin was sick that night because he had drunk a few rum and cokes. The rum had cost only 10 soles ($5 Can.) Again I got no sleep and we had to get up at 4:00.