 Inca Trail |
Hi All
The last 4 days have been fantastic!! The Inca Trail was everything I expected but better- it was tough, my legs still hurt, I sweated buckets but I loved every minute (ok except for when I really couldn't sleep at night as the tent was too short to stretch out, but even that seems to pale into insignificance!) We had great weather- hardly any rain except at night, the food prepared by our chef in a tent would have graced any fancy kitchen and our group of 15 got on brilliantly.
The trail took us up to 4200m before lunch on the 2nd day, then down to 3600m and back up to 4000m as we crossed passes which Inca runers used to run to deliver fresh fish from the coast to the Inca King in Cusco in 24 hours. We walked through amazing landscapes- mountains, grasslands, cloud forest. Our guide, Victor was a mine of information, aligning himself firmly with his Quechua ancestors against the Spanish conquerors. He stunned us with the information that an annual 'marathon´ along the whole 40+ km of the Inca Trail run by the porters is run, the record being 3hrs 50mins!!!!! Well we took 3 days to walk from Km82 to Machu Picchu but seeing our porters run ahead of us each carrying around 25kg of kit I can well believe that unloaded they are capable of the marathon time!!!!
Here are the pictures, and by the way I have added piccies to all my blogs since Puerto Colombia in Venezuela so go back and have a look if you have time.
Love
Andie
Our guide Victor explaining (and demonstrating) where Cochineal comes from
The insects from which this food colouring and dye is made live on the cactuses in this area. Local people clean the cactuses annually to retrieve the insects which they then us to colour their cloth... [more]
At the campsite on the first night
Our group of 15 was comprised of 7 Aussies, 4 Americans, 2 English and 1 Irish, 1 German. 1 of the Aussies and 1 American (a couple) left us on the 2nd morning as she suffered from the altititude.
Our team of porters and our chef
These guys do an incredible job- we all held them in the utmost respect after seing them at work!
Day 2- up to Dead Woman's Pass
The notorious hardest day of the trek when the trail leads up to a mountain pass at 4200m; you can see it in the photo- the larger hollow to the left of the nipple shaped rock, and the path winding up... [more]
We went down...and then up...
You can see Dead Woman's Pass on the left at the top, our lunch stop campsite at the bottom. Afterwards we climbed again to 4000m. The views were incredible.
Offerings to the Mountain Gods
Although the Spaniards converted the indigenous people to Catholicism their original beliefs did not die and today are being resurrected in many places. Porters crossing the pass add stones to the pil... [more]
All the colous of the rainbow!
Day 3- we awoke to light drizzle.It didn't last long but the ponchos did the job while it did!
An Inca staircase
The 3rd day was mostly downhill- a relief after the climbing on day 2 but the 2000+ irregular Inca steps were tough on the legs, if not the lungs!
Through the moss forest
We descended paths hugging the mountainside and surrounded by luxurious cloud forest.
Peru's Flag
Map of Peru
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