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Published: December 12th 2009
Puno
Overlooking the city of Puno. On the left side of the bay you can make out the little yellow reed huts on the Uros Floating IslandsHey!
Just got back to Cuzco from Machu Picchu last night. Did a 4 day, 3 night, 42km trek through the Andean Mountains along the ancient Inca Trail and arrived in Macchu Picchu at around 8am yesterday.
The trek was amazing. The scenery breathtaking. In all there were 8 of us doing the trek, supported by a guide, a cook, an assistant cook, and 11 porters. A team of 14 people for 8 travellers. We were very well taken care of... the food was delicious and plentiful, our guide was knowledgable and patient, and our porters were all fast and efficient. Soon after leaving the camp every morning our porters would fly past us on the trail with our bags, our tents, all the food and cooking equipment, etc and would have our dining tent set up with hot food ready when we arrived. Amazing.
Day One (11kms) was a nice start. We caught our bus at 6am from Cuzco and travelled to the town of Ollantaytambo to have a big breakfast. Our bus then took us further into nowhere to KM 82 (the beginning of the Inca Trail... km 82 is the distance on the
Cuzco
The famous 12 angled stone in an Inca wall. railway marker). The porters, ranging in age from 22 to 55, loaded up the gear (20 kgs each) and took off at a jog. We got through the first checkpoint at around 1000 and headed out on a brisk walk. The views the first day were spectacular and the weather was amazing. At points a little too hot, but most of the day was lightly overcast and a comfortable temperature. We passed a few spectacular Inca ruins along the trail, had an amazing lunch at one of our stops, and ended up at our first camp by around 4pm. Our camp was set up when we arrived and bowls of hot water were provided for us to freshen up. Tea was served and later a 3 course, delicious dinner was served.
Day two (9 kms) was a gruelling climb from 3000m to 4200m at Dead Womans Pass. The weather was speactacular, until we got to the top. It got cold, and as the last of our group hit the peak, clouds rolled in and the skies opened. We all threw on our ponchos and headed down the other side (down 900m), in the cold rain. When we got
Km 82
The group at the beginning of the Inca Trail to camp at around 1400 we were cold, wet, and tired. A late lunch was served and we all hit our tents for a well deserved afternoon nap. The naps helped, but after getting up for dinner, we all headed back to our tents for the night.
Day three (16kms) was a very long day. On the trail again at 6am to conquer two passes, the first a 300m climb and the second a 100m climb, and finishing with a long 700m descent. Once again, the weather was beautiful in the morning and the rain hit us after lunch and all afternoon.
Day four (6kms and Machu Picchu). We were woken up at 4am for a 5am departure from camp. We were let through the control gate at 530am and were hitting the trail hard for our last push to the finish. It took us nearly 2 hours to get to Intipunku (The Sungate) which is the Inca gate to Machu Picchu. On a clear day you can see the ruins of Machu Picchu from this point, but cloud had moved in with sporadic rain at around 6am. We continued on another 30 mins or so
Km 82
One of our porters on the Inca Trail. to the site of Machu Picchu itself. When we first arrived everything was clouded in, however a few minutes later a few breaks in the clouds gave us our first glimpse. We met up with three people from our Gap group who opted out of the Inca Trail and at 830 am began our guided tour of the site.
Machu Picchu is an enormous archeological site said to have inhabited 700-800 people. It is built on a ridge between two mountains and sits precariously over the urubamba valley. Hundreds of terraces built into the rock help support the city, as well as provided space for the Incan people to cultivate land. Channels were built from Machu Picchu Mountain down into the city, and from there a network of channels funneled spring water to 16 different fountains where the Incas could drink and wash. Drainage from these fountains was funnelled to the terraces to irrigate their crops. Amazing engineering for the 1400s.
Though the view from the guardhouse atop the hill is nice, one of my travel companions John and I decided to try for a better, birds eye view. Machu Picchu Mountain is 3100m above sea
Km 82
The beginning of the Inca Trail level and 700m above Machu Picchu itself. We had the afternoon free to explore the site as we wished or to bus to the town of Aguas Calientes to rest. John and I decided to go for one last hike. The rest of the group thought we were nuts... we had just finished a 42km trek.
The trail to the top of Machu Picchu Mountain is steep. Often the rock steps were not as deep as my boot was wide, leaving you climbing at 45-60 degrees with the tips of your toes and your hands a few steps up. Some of these precarious climbs were also built into the face of the cliffs... with a rock wall on the right and a 500m drop to the left, with about 3 feet to climb on. It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to make the summit, which was just as precarious. The summit was an actual peak with a path about 5 feet wide being bordered on either side with cliffs hundreds of meters down. Unfortunately the very top of the mountain was in the cloud layer and there was absolutely no view of Machu Picchu through the
cloud. The views and the pictures on the way up and down, just below the clouds, were amazing.
It took John and I an hour to decend from the top. Those staircases were even scarier going down! We caught the bus to Aguas Calientes and joined the group for the train ride back to Cuzco. We arrived at the hotel at around 9pm last night. I had a very long hot shower and a very nice sleep in a very comfortable bed.
Today myself and a few others visited the Inca Museum, wandered the streets of Cuzco, and did some shopping. John and I wandered through the local market, where everything from clothing to fruit to meat was on sale. The meat section was the most interesting area by far, with snouts, heads, hearts, livers, etc all piled on the tables. Gross.
We all went for a group dinner tonight to a nice fancy restaurant. A bunch of us enjoyed a Peruvian delicacy - guinea pig. I had seen them earlier at the market. They were actually quite good - kinda a fusion of chicken and pork. They unfortunately don´t really have much meat on
Winay Wayna
The peak of Dead Womans Pass. 4210 m.
It was cold. them and are a challenge to eat. They´re expensive too.
Anyways, just got back from our meal a little while ago and I´m getting sleepy again. We leave the hotel at 930 am tomorrow to fly to Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon Jungle. We´ll be taking a motorized canoe down the river to our Jungle Lodge where we will spend two nights before flying back to Lima for a few final nights. No internet in the Jungle, so I´ll send out an update from Lima when I can.
Make sure you check out all the pictures... there are two pages of them.
Later
Adam
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mom
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Hi Glad you had a great trek! Looks pretty scary to me. Dad likes the photo of you hanging over the cliff, wishes he was there. Guinea pig! Gross! We arrived in Varadero yesterday. Turns out it is not the same hotel we stayed at before, OOPs. Oh well. The beach is nice. The weather is good. That is all that matters right? Looking forward to seeing you soon. Love mom and dad