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12 - 15 May Without going into a step-by-step (ho ho! excuse the pun!) account of our Inca Trail experience here are some highlights (the getting-up times for this week were real *lowlights* - between 04h00 and 05h45!).
There was a 2 hr bus ride to the town where the trek starts, from where we bought wooden walking poles ($1), coca leaves ($0.60), and plastic ponchos ($0.60) that smelled of diesel. Our group was made up of 14 trekkers, 2 tour guides and 19 porters (!), who carried the tents, food and general stuff needed for the next 4 days.
The walking for the first 3 days was a mixture of flat, gentle and REALLY STEEP ascents and descents! A typical day started with a knock on our tent at 05:30 and a cup of coca tea. This was followed by breakfast (toast, jam and sometimes pancakes) in the communal food tent, and ablutions (I won´t go into detail - ladies present - suffice to say that the general standard of hygiene at some places left a little to be desired).
Having left the porters to pack up the tents around 7am, we generally walked a few of
hours each day before having a break for a drink & snack in the food tent set up by the porters (who had overtaken us on the way with their 20kg loads). We then set off again for another couple of hours until lunch (porters beat us again!) and the same till dinner. (NB - porters are treated well following recent state limits on amount that they carry etc).
We were amazed by the food, it was really tasty (chicken, beef, fish, rice, veg etc, even pizza!) and great portions. Interesting food fact: there are apparently 4000 (yes, thousand!) types of potato in Peru. [Our guide showed us how to benefit from the coca leaves: take about 10 fresh leaves, then fold them up and in the middle add a bit of the black gunk that we had bought at the same time as the leaves (I have a feeling that this was made up of ash and the seller´s saliva, but didn´t get round to checking that fact). You then chew the bundle for 5 mins till your mouth goes numb, and spit out the remainder. I only tried this once, but some of our group got quite into
Paula reaches Dead Womans Pass!
4,198m, the highest point of the trek, in the middle of Day 2. it].
The 2nd day was the toughest climb, to Dead Woman´s Pass, at 4,198m high. It was great to reach it, and our guide took us through a small ceremony to thank Pachamama (Mother Earth) for getting there: we each put down a pebble to make a little tower, and left some coca leaves, then the guide shared round some local Pisco! The weather had been just as the guidebook predicted: "scorching sun on the way up, then freezing Andean winds at the top".
The scenery was as impressive as we had hoped: towering mountains on all sides, green and brown in places, orchids, big butterflies and cloud forest. A lot of the way we walked was along stones laid in Inca times, 500 years ago. We passed several Inca ruins on the way, which were well preserved and showed that they had been proficient builders. At night, the stars were everywhere and we saw multiple constellations.
The day we reached Machu Picchu was Tues 15th May - up at 04h00, quick breakfast then a 50-min walk (half in the dark) to the Sun Gate, from where the ruins were finally visible below us. It was a further 20 mins
down to the entrance, before which we saw sunrise and the light hitting the site. There were a couple of very tame llamas on that path, and it was necessary to literally push past them while they grazed (with a sheer drop immediately below!) to get by. We saw the key parts of the ruins, and then decided on one final ascent, up Huayna Picchu - which is the larger of the two mountains visible in the back of the classic postcard view of Machu Picchu. This took another sweaty hour up (and after 4 days without a shower, it can´t have been nice for the day-trippers. I thought how odd it was to be able to discern the smell of soap on people as they passed by, and vaguely remembered the stuff).
By mid afternoon, we sat for a couple of hours just looking at the classic postcard view of the ruins, so pleased to have made it after so much trekking (26 miles, my first marathon).
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That night, we soaked in the hot baths in the town at
the foot of the ruins, and remembered what hot water and a comfy bed felt like.
(The full itinerary and some pictures are at: http://www.perutreks.com/inca_trail_04d_itinerary.html.
Peru Treks is a good company and we would recommend them for this trip).
16 May A relaxing day in the town, visited a Machu Picchu museum and headed back to Cusco on a very slow train.
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dad
non-member comment
hallo
great to see photoes looks fantistact. you both look really fit. love from dad and katie