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Published: August 29th 2010
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Group photo at the starting point
Brittany, Shelby, Jeremiah, Philip, Leslie, Mauricio, Amy,Peter, Siobhan, Ellen, Peter, Colette, Brandon, Sean The Inca Trail was an absolutely amazing 4 day experience which we will try to describe in this blog!
On Thursday morning, 5am, our bus arrives and our group of 12 others along with our guides, Angel & Jesus, head off to the starting point of the Inca Trail (Ollantaytambo)! Angel has warned us that our first day is just training for whats to come!!
The trail was really nice the first day but a little tougher than everyone thought it would be!
We had a group of porters who carry all our camping equipment, food, backpacks etc. They are little Peruvian men and they carry at least 25kg each on their back. It is totally insane. They run ahead of the group to prepare all the meals, set up tents etc. So, half way through Day 1, we stop off for lunch to be greeted by a porter carrying a tray of drinks and another porter with a basin of warm water, soap and a hand towel for each person to wash their hands. Totally crazy. Not quite what we were expecting and we actually felt guilty about the fact that they carry all this. Then it was time for
lunch. The porters bring absolutely everything from stools, to table cloths to napkins! So, we all sat down for a 3 course lunch. The food was so good and this was only a taste of what was to follow for the next 4 or 5 days. Anyway, thats enough about the porters for now but lets just say that the service they provide is first class!
We encountered a few Inca remains and then finished trekking on the first day at about 5:30pm where we set up camp nestled in the amazing surroundings of the Andes. Oh yea, the porters had popcorn and tea ready for our arrival. Sure, what else would you expect!! We enjoyed dinner later that evening and got our briefing for the following day which was to be the toughest. Time to wrap up in as many layers as we could and enjoy the sleep.
The following morning we set off at about 6am. The following 2 - 3 hours were probably the toughest of the whole trek. We got to Dead Womans Pass (4300m) after a hell of a climb but the scenery there made it all worth while. We had a further
2 hour descent before lunch. The downhill would have been much more enjoyable had we not known that there was some serious uphill to follow! Then, after lunch, we trekked up and down for about 4 more hours while stopping at a few more Inca remains along the way. Colette picked up a bit fo a knee injury on this part but a massage from Jesus, a bit of bandaging and a few drugs sorted her out for the rest of the trek!
We finished trekking at about 5:30 again that evening and enjoyed another amazing dinner followed by a bit of rum just to help us sleep! A few ghost stories told by the guides got us ready for another nights sleep in the Andes.
Day 3 was the easiest day of the trek. It was about 5 hours, most of which was downhill and there was some amazing scenery along the way. We arrived at our campsite quite early that afternoon and got to enjoy a hot shower for 5 soles! We visited another really cool Inca site beside our campsite that afternoon and then tucked into our last amazing dinner served up by the porters. I
dont know how we will adjust to not being served like this!!
The next morning was a bit crazy! We woke at 3am, packed everything up, had breakfast and headed off to join the queue for Macchu Picchu. We got through the check-point and about an hour later, we got our first glimpse of Macchu Picchu at Sungate where we watched sunrise....amazing! We then trekked down for about another hour where we entered the grounds of Macchu Picchu. Angel gave us a passionate and insightful tour of this amazing Inca site for about 2 or 3 hours. We had a few hours free time then to roam around Macchu Picchu before we went down to Aguas Calientes for lunch.
After lunch, we decided to try out the hot springs. Very disappointed...dirty, smelly and not very hot so we left pretty soon after and just relaxed with our group over a few beers!
We returned to Cusco the following day after what was an amazing adventure which we would highly recommend to anyone who has a chance to do it!
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Diana
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Tour Group
Hi, Who was your tour group & would you recommend them again?