Day 1 Inca Trail

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We left Ollantaytambo at 8am, and made the 45 minute drive to the first checkpoint of the Inca Trail.

At the checkpoint you have your passport stamped and they check your visa to allow you to undertake the trail. Heading the the trail for us was Julio, and four other guides. We are also accompanied by Porters ( who are mostly local farmers who do the trail 5 times a month!!! ), who carry our luggage ( 5kgs ), and all the other equipment we need for camping ( food, tents, cooking eqiupment etc etc ). These porters carry around 20kgs each. They are completely unreal! The first day of the trail is ok, the weather is humid and there aren´t too many climbs to go up. However because of the altitude, it is harder to catch your breath, unlike playing football back home or something. This is what makes the trail a challenge.

Already as expected, the views are unique, mountains surround us, with lots of greenery. At our first stop, we accidently witness a farmer slaughtering a goat. Time to move on! More walking and we stop for lunch. The porters have got ahead of the walking group one by one, and have put up a huge tent, and cook a feast to feed everyone. its incredible how they achieve this, and the food is delicious. More walking in the afternoon, and then we reach our campsite destination around 3pm. The porters take care of putting up all the tents, and then they prepare cooking for dinner. Along the trail there were rumours of a football match between the porters and some of the lads in our group. The campsite we were staying had a mud pitch made up, with Iron goalposts, and is used by local people who live in this very rural area. With players picked, we had a game of 6 a side. There was a big crowd of porters, locals and us Inca trailists. We went 3-1 down pretty quickly, we were weary from walking, and again it was really hard to breath and play football!!! We pulled it back, 3-3, and then right near the end with extra time looming, yours truly provided a bit of magic to win the game for us, England! 4-3. It was unreal playing football at around 3,500 meters, and with mountains as a glorius backdrop.

We had another fine meal, then got to bed in our tents around 9pm. It was torrential rain all night, kept me awake, and we had another early start for the following morning, 6pm. People say that Day 1 of Inca Trail is ok, agreed, but apparently Day 2 is the Worst. Doh!

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Photos

Day 1 Inca Trail
Our group at the start point of the trail

Day 1 Inca Trail
The amazing Porters carrying our camping equipment

Day 1 Inca Trail
England v Peru, Inca style!!!
Me in action against the Porters. The most amazing football pitch I´ve played on.