Blogs from Inca Trail, Cusco, Peru, South America

So the day started for us in Ollyantaytambo bright eyed and bushy tailed onto the coach to get to kilometer 82. A brief meeting with the crew and we were off. The first day was up and down with every kind of weather thrown at us possible. As a group we made good time but got to the camp site in the howling rain, so no way of getting dry in a tent for the night. We freshened up as able and then had a more formal introduction to our crew of porters, chef, sues chef and waiter!!! Our guides were James and Edison. After a fab meal ( seriously good considering we were camping) it was an early night in prep for the day we had all been dreading tomorrow. A nice 5am wake up ... read more

Our first job was checking into our hotel for the last night of Cusco before going to our meeting with G Adventures about the Inca trail. We found out everything we needed to that night before our first day out into the Sacred Valley. We met some great community groups Planterra and G Adventures support, including women who knit clothes to sell in Cacacoyo. We also saw some old Inca Ruins in Pisac and Ollantaytambu, where you could see how they managed to make a living from living on a mountainside and construct their houses by moving the tops of the mountains to make flat land and terraced land for growing. We stopped off at a village also supported by G for lunch then it was off to the last stop to check out the Inca ... read more

Woke up to rain and heavy fog. To be fair it wasn't really rain more of a wet mist from the fog with occasionally heavier sprinkling. It was enough to make the backpacks and contents wet thought so we all tested out the cheap ponchos. I found today harder then day 2 which is the day everyone dreads. Maybe I just struggled as exhausted from the previous day. Maybe it was the weather and lack of views to distract me. I don't know. But I'll put it out there. I really enjoyed the trek to dead womans pass which everyone hates. Today's views were supposed to be pretty incredible but we couldn't see much. The walk took us through 4 different Inca sites and the cloud Forrest. It was our longest day at 16 km. The ... read more

Total the day we officially start the Inca trial. Basically terrified not so much of the trail but of the weight of both my bags. I seem borderline for the porter bag and my packs about 6 kg. I ended up sending back my camera case, phone charger, camera charger and adaptors to Cusco with Andreas to try and lighten my load. Breakfast at hotel was 7 and we were picked up by Joel at 8. Joel always uses Inca time to meet us meaning he wants you there no later than 5 minutes before the time he wants to leave. We met our assistant guide Cesar. Both the boys seem really fun and joke around a lot together. It was about a 45 minute drive to the start of the Inca trail. At weigh in ... read more

Day 2 We were woken by the cry of cockerels early, even before the target time to rise of 5:30. The porters brought us cocoa tea - a couple of fresh leaves in hot water, followed by a bowl of warm water for washing. Breakfast was a sort of porridge, quinoa with apple, followed by omelette with potato. We left the site at 6:50. It was distinctly chilly as we climbed gently through forest. This second day was by far the hardest. Although we only walked 11km, it was mostly uphill and some if it was very steep. So from around 3,000 metres we climbed to 4,200 metres. The photos don't do it justice because not only do they not show the true steepness of the path but they give no indication of the impact of ... read more