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Published: April 21st 2009
Hola!!! If you´re reading this then you know we survived! A very challenging, if not as hard as we feared, 4 days. We had a really fun time, met lots of lovely people and saw many amazing sights. So now we shall begin to regail with our story of the Inca Trail and we shall start at the place most appropriate; the beginning.
So the night before our departure we were told that our bus would come by the hostel between 6 and 6 30 and naturally connie actually believed this (bear in mind she's been her for more than 2 and half months) and decided we should wake up at 4 45 in preparation. All this meant is that we were ready to leave by 5 30 and waited in the hostel reception till 7 when the bus finally picked us up.
We then preceded to drive round cusco picking up fellow trekers and then drove through the sacred vally to ollantaytambo, where we had a delicious breakfast. We then moved onwards up the vally along a dirt track, far too small for the volume of traffic it must receive, along the banks of the Rio Urubamba to
our start-point. Here we gathered our things, was somehow hounded by old women from the local villages trying to sell walking sticks and sunhats and was designated, seemingly by random, into our groups. Our group of 12 was largely Argentinian with only 1 dutch girl and a japanese women as non-latino companions. However our fears of involuntary segregation were quickly averted as the group quickly gelled and any language barriers broken down.
The first day of walking was a relatively easy one, a couple of steep climbs, but nothing too major. Infact we actually became a bit frustrated by the amount of stops and group checks, though we did realise later this was so the guides could gauge the fitness of the group. We saw a couple of exceptional ruins, especially an small Inca town almost entirely preserved that folds round the foot of a mountain on raised terracing. We also got to know some of the group a bit better and chatted most of the way to our first campsite. Here the porters, peruvian sherpas basically, had ran ahead with bags double the size of the most dedicated trekkers and set up all our tents, a large kitchen
and food tent, and had began cooking food and preparing water and snacks for our arrival at tea time. The rest of the evening was spent marvelling at the andean night sky and indulging in incredibly latino conversation (hand gestures and more exaggerated "oh I dont know" frowns than stray dogs in cusco) with the around 25 people that made up the overall tour group. Everyone retired to bed at around 9 with the knowledge of the hardest day of the trek beginning the next day at 5 30 am.
On day 2 we would be climbing over a 1000m before lunch time, up to the ominously named Dead Woman's Pass at 4250m. It was a very hard morning, we started at a good pace and tackled some of the early climbs well, but as the day progressed the weight of our bags and the constant strain on our legs began to tell. When we emerged out of the tree line to begin our final ascent I could have flown home there and then. But over a gruelling morning we finally reached the top at around 2, only to be greeted by biting winds blowing over the top of
the pass and 2 hour descent down inca steps to our campsite. Not the first time we would curse those blasted staircases.
The shared horrors of the day did bring an even greater sense of comradery amongst the group though, which had now largely merged into one uber-group, and everyone raised each others spirits with more animated conversation and stories from their home countries.
Day 3 started with similar dread when we emergerd from our tents to see the looming trail leading up the mountain by our campsite. Although it was difficult and was longer than it looked we were fresh enough to tackle the walk to the Second Pass without too much trouble. Then came the second set of inca steps down the other side of the pass which was almost more a chore than going up. There´s nothing quite like trudging down awkward wet stone steps for hours to raise the spirirts. Luckily we were accompanied down by a friendly dutch couple and our banter softened the otherwise harsh descent. From the second pass onwards we were slowly entering into the highland jungle and on our way to lunch passed through a section of remarkable cloudforest, very
similar to rainforest only the moisture of the clouds supplies the area with life, not constant rain. We then gradually climbed the third and final pass of the trek with astonishing speed, clearly the porters had put somethign in the water, as we marched the 1 and half walk in 45 minutes along the ridge which supplied us with stunning views.
After relaxing on the top for a short while we then began the last and by worst descent of the trek, some 3000+ steps down an inca stairway to our campsite. By now we were in the highland jungle proper and the descent was highlighted by seeing 3 hummingbirds on the way down. Very exciting, though the blighters avoided our cameras.
Although it was exciting to walk through the mountain jungle landscape it did become very tiresome as the day progressed, the apth just seemed to go on forever, especially when we knew that hot showers and even possibly a cold cervesa awaited us.
In the evening, after dinner, the traditional thanking and tipping of the porters took place. They are the real heroes of the inca trail, seeing them carry gas cannisters, tent poles, pots, pans and other
peoples bags, some times simply tied onto their back with what looks like a wind-breaker is humbling sight as you struggle up the hills, often in only sandles. We were introduced to each one and found out their age and marital status for some reason.
Day 4 - We awoke at the horrendous hour 3 45 to prepare for a pre-dawn departure for the shortish walk to Machu Picchu. Though actually it's just to ensure a good place in the hideous cue that forms outside the warden's office before the gates are officially opened at 5 30. After which all the eager beavers race to be first to the Sun Gate, the inca construction overlooking Machu Picchu, for the best dawn photos. The walk was annoyingly long and hard in the end, though we did see some spectacular views as the sun came up from behind the mountain and still arrived before 8am.
From there we approached our final destination the lost inca city of Machu Picchu. It is a beautiful place, if slightly smaller than imagined, though still a sizeable citadel. We were given something of a whirlwind tour of the site by one of the better
english speaking guides (one feature of all the tours so far is the undeniable friendliness of guides, if only they were slightly more informative). We then sat and took it in for a while with our dutch friends and then decided, mostly down to exhaution and slight weariness of ruins, to take the bus down to Agus Calientes to grab some brunch and wait for the ride home.
On the train back to ollantaytambo connie had the delightful pleasure of being interrogated by a train official after someone had accused her of taking drugs in the toilet. After much astounded conversation, and help from the others in our group we persuaded the guard otherwise. It then became clear that what infact had happened that another guy had tried to blame connie when he was queried by another guard. So a plan was devised that the guards would pretend to have caught connie and hand her over to the police at the station, when in reality they would pounce on the smug druggy bum. However we have no idea if the plan worked as we left the station as per usual in Peru communication was so poor there seemed to
be no real co-ordination between the officials. We got away unscathed however, and more importantly, not in jail.
So all in all a successful, fun and very very tiring four days.
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Tracey Kisane
non-member comment
sounds brilliant an experience u'll never forget (chuckle)