Advertisement
Published: October 20th 2007
Hello All,
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then we have the equivalent of about 400,000 words to describe our last 4 days. Yes we are happy to say we have hiked the Inca trail into Machu Picchu! The trek was not very grueling, and the altitude did not really affect us as much as we had orginally thought it would. I guess we were properly acclimatized.
We were an incredibly large group. We had 23 hikers, 3 guides and 24 porters. The trail was constructed approximately 500 years ago, and there were still many ruins, stairs, and "cobble-ish" stone paths leading the way to Machu Picchu. There were paths carved out of the side of mountains, cave-like tunnels, and incredible retaining walls along the way. There were religious ruins, and rest-stop ruins that were used by those using the trail back in the day, like a 500 year old hotel. You could almost feel that you were stepping back in time, except that the trail is very commercialized, and it is hard to feel alone with 500 people being allowed on the trail each day. It is good however that the government has steped in and
there are strict controls as to how many people can hike it at a time. To be assured a spot on the trail, it is recommended that you book 6 months in advance.
The porters were nothing short of amazing. There are government rules which limits the amount of weight a porter can carry (20kg), but most are hiking in sandles made from recycled tires, and no backpacks, just blankets tied in a clever way.
We were treated well on the Trail. The porters carried our belongings, the tents, food, chairs, tables (with tablecloths), and everthing else you can imagine. We did the trail with out little slingbags, with only water, rainjacket, and a firstaid kit. The food was incredible, and we ate in wall-tents for lunch and dinner (carried along the way by our porters). There was one scary incident on the trail. As we were walking up the steapest part of the trail, there was a landslide perpendicular to the path due to the rain. Large bolders from above missed one of our guides by 10 feet. It surely would have killed him had it hit. That night we slept at a camp at the base
of 3 mountains. One of the biggest tragedies of the trail happened there in 1993 when a landslide took out the camp in the night and claimed the lives of 15 hikers while they slept in their tents. Other dangers of the trail include the steep drops off the sides of the trail, I would say hundreds of feet of straight drop at some points. The only saving grace if you fall are the large trees and branches that would likely break your fall.
The final day we woke up at 3:30am to hike in the dark to reach the sungate as early as possible. It was unfortunately raining, and we could not see the classic view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate. It continued to rain all morning, but that didn't dampen our spirits, and the mist and fog only added to the mystic of the ruins. The sun came out in the afternoon, and we were able to enjoy and snap lots of great pictures.
Apparently Machu Picchu has been declared one of the 7 wonders of the world in the last 3 months. There is now talk that the lost city will be closed
to tourists within the next 5 years due to the rapid decay of the site caused by the 4000+ daily visitors it can experience at its peak. There is another lost city 75km from machu picchu that is currently being studied by many scientists from around the world. It is about 6 times larger than machu picchu, and archeologists, botanists, doctors and other professionals are currently working at the site to restore it and learn from it. There is talk that Peru will build another tourist attraction at this site to replace machu picchu...So in approximately 6 years, this ruin might open to the public.
But where are these pictures you ask....Well, we used up all the memory cards on the trail and downloaded them to a dvd. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find dvd drives in the computers at the internet cafes, so we are unable to uplaod any pics. But we will keep looking, and will upload pics if and when we get the chance.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 11; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0528s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
Saying Good bye to Peru
Sounds like you enjoyed the Inca Trail!!!! Unfortunate that it rained, but it didn't seem to prevent you from having a good time. The porters sound like they work very hard to make the hike a positive experience for all. Looking forward to seeing some photos, and hearing about your next adventure..Must be with sadness that you are saying good bye to Peru and the people you've met......wish I was travelling in your back pocket..Keep Safe and Enjoy!!!!!! Love Mom