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Published: August 6th 2006
12 sided rock
Shelagh had been excited about this rock for months. I have to admit it´s pretty cool Whew...
There´s a lot to tell you about but I´ll quickly talk about Cuzco before Heather gets into the meat of this blog. Cuzco is pretty cool. The heart of the inca civilization built at what the incas considered the navel of the world. It had the 12 sided brick...which I had been eagerly awaiting after finishing¨"The conquest of the Incas" by John Hemming. A pretty amazing book for anyone interested in the Incas. The incas made their religious buildings with interlocking bricks that don´t need mortar and this entire city has Inca buildings or foundations everywhere. The better the stonework the more religious the building. We visited the temple of the sun which was the most religious building in the inca empire. When the Incas defeated a race of pople they stole their most religious symbol and brought it here. That way the other races of people had to worship at the Inca sites. Pretty clever.The Spanish of course as part of their obligatory raping and piliging of the country built a church on top of it. It does mean that their is Inca and Colonial buildings on the same site. We got ourselves a great tour guide
Spanish part of the site
They stole some of the Inca foundations who was a local archaeology student who told us all we needed to know. Did you know that the Incas didn´t use money...they had the barter system instead.
Interestingly there are rainbow flags all over Cuzco...we initially thought that these were pride flags and how cool was that. However it turns out that the rainbow was important to the Incas. They believed that if they looked at it directly their teeth would fall out. Well now adays it is the flag for Cuzco and they are talking about changing it to stop any confusion. I did have a momment of annoyance when our guide said that Incas were real men. Yep South American Machismo will be a theme here...
We had an amazing hotel room here with a view of the whole city...perfect other than the smell from the bathroom.
Heather here now with the meat of this blog. You know how we all have these lists of things we want to do in life and hopefully we gradually check things off ? Well...Inca trail and Machu Pichu...CHECK!!! It looked dubious at several points but we made it. Why don't you wrap yourself in a nice warm
Pretty clever eh Dad?
You cut out these notches on two rocks that will go side by side, pour a little silver in there, let it set, and Presto! Joined rocks! alpaca sweater, grab a cup of coca tea and I'll tell you about it. Just a note to say that there will be editing to this with the names of the Inca ruins...but the piece of paper is back at the hotel...
So the story really begins with a trip from Cusco to Ollyantaytambo (there's one to store away for future Geography Match games Dad). We had an excellent guide who was very knowledgable about the people, geography etc. We started with a visit to a cooperative that is the only place where you can see all 4 species of south american camelid...the llama, alpaca, vicunua, and wanaco (spelling). The last two were never domesticated, but the llama is used as a beast of burden (and was basically to the Incas what the buffalo was to the natives) and the alpaca is of course used for it's wool. We got to feed the animals. They are a little pushy when it comes to getting some good eats! The women in the cooperative have also revived the traditional weaving techniques and make the finest quality woven items anywhere (according to our guide). It was beautiful stuff and Shelagh briefly considered
Inca Doorway
This is a typical Inca doorway. Despite architechtural brilliance, they never developed the keystone, so they just made the doorways get narrower at the top. buying an Alpaca dress coat but figured she's rather pay 7 times as much for it in Canada instead.
We then went to a town that our tour company GAP supports. They were also selling woven and knitted products but the big hit was one of our group members who brought crayons and toy cars for the kids. They were very excited. It's cute kids are kids everywhere. We then headed to the town of Pisac for our first Inca ruins of the day. Oh, I should mention that this area is called the Sacred Valley(and it's home to the biggest corn kernals on earth). Inca ruins are...um... big...with big rocks....lots of terraces...and I'm realizing a little hard to describe. We eventually ended up in the town of Ollyantaytambo which has another HUGE Inca ruin. We climbed up the 182 steps, tried to move the 300 ton rocks at the top, saw the ramp that they must have pushed the rocks up, saw the quarry on the other side of the valley where they got the rocks from (just a note...if I were the inca in charge of picking sites for massive construction projects I'd skip all this astronomical,spiritual
Pride Flag?
Wow, what a welcoming place this Cuzco is. crap and put them right in the quarry) The Incas actually domesticated certain varieties of corn and potatoes and figured out which varieties grew best at which altitudes etc.
After a bit of a muck up invovling our group not actually having a hotel reservation (a small part of a much longer saga that I will illuminate in person but not publish on the internet) we went for dinner. Then we hit the square to buy some ponchos, walking sticks, and of course coca leaves. We got a lesson from the coca lady on how exactly to wrap the charcaol like 'booster'in the leaves, where to place the wad in the mouth, how long to chew, to swallow the juice but NOT the actual leaves. It's a little surreal. We are talking about the leaves that would get you arrested in canada but are sold for $0.30 per bag here (and it takes some ridiculous amount of the leaves to get any cocaine out of). We did our last little bit of organization and went to bed with sweet -if somewhat apprehensive- dreams of the journey we were to begin the next day.
Well, I woke up in
the middle of the night not feeling well at all, hoped it would go away and went back to sleep. Woke up in the morning...sick. I was nauseus and having trouble with the other end as well. Anyway, these things pass so we got ready, got picked up by our bus full of porters and headed to km 82 -the start of the Inca trail(the 82 doesn´t mean much, it has something to do with the railway line. The trail is actually about 45 km long).
For those of you who don't know here's what happened in this part of south america... The people were happy, all was well, they grew potatoes, chewed coca, fought wars between themselves, you know, the usual. The Inca people began to dominate this side of the continent. Built lots of BIG religious sites, had tons of gold and silver, had a decimal system and lots of other good stuff. Then, the spanish showed up with horses, germs and guns and a lust for gold, killed the Incas and took over. this was all around 1500. Okay, now that we´ve gotten that history lesson out of the way, back to the present
The
Kids are Kids
The Children with the crayons tour company gives you a bag in which you´re allowed to put 6 kg of stuff. Anything beyond that you have to carry for yourself. It´s a South American attempt at Health and Safety standards. That´s because the porters were trying to carry more stuff for more money, now they´re each restricted to a maximum of 25 kg of stuff. And, let me tell you, they ain´t carrying it in high tech packs with good hiking boots. They take approximately 3 tourist bags and then some other random camping/cooking equip to make up the 25 kg, wrap it in a big blanket and sling it across their backs. Then then head off in sandals (apparently made with tire treads - thank god cuz the trail´s slippery in places) at a run or fast walk, depending if the hills go up or down. It´s remarkable. Of course, we had to rent a sleeping bag and thermarest for the trip and they neglect to tell you that the two combined take up 5 of your allowed 6 kg of luggage. Luckily one guy in our group was carrying almost nothing so we could throw an extra kilo or two of unneccesary things
Kisses Kisses
Shelagh was a bit startled by this young man´s advances like our toothbrushes into his bag for the day.
The Inca trail is highly regulated with only 200 tourist and 300 porters allowed on per day. It is booked months in advance and sells out every day of the year. This regulation is because the trail was becoming overused and damaged. Apparently us fat westerners used to be able to hire a donkey to carry us up, and the donkeys wreaked havoc on the trail. However, there are still local people with their donkeys and alpacas on the trail, and let me tell you, there were times when I was dying for a donkey ride. Anyway, you pass through a check point, cross a bridge and you´re off.
Well, I was not well, but managed to travel the morning trail which is what they call ïnca Flat¨ meaning updownupdownupdown. The porters going blowing past at some point on their way to set up a lunch site and cook you lunch. I love porters. However, when I arrived for lunch there was no way I was eating. I crawled into the shade by the tent and lay there. The rest of tthe group enjoyed an amazing 3 course meal
Terracing
Here´s the terracing I´ve been ranting about complete with asparagus soup, meat, rice , dessert etc. When I felt well enough to sit up they would only make me some celery tea. Apparently it´s good for your stomach.
We set off for the afternoon for what would prove to be the biggest challenge of the trek, and all afternoon uphill trek. We gained 800m of elevation (and keep in mind you´re starting at elevation). The predicted time for the afternoon was 2.5 - 4 hours The group spread out dramatically with Shelagh being one of the front runners. She was a speedster and make it to camp in about 1 hr 50 minutes. The porters who had packed up lunch, had a nap, and probably played some football in the mean time actually applauded the first people in our group because they were so fast. Meanwhile, back at the end of the path I was not doing so well. I kept comtemplating which rock I could lie on as I hurled over the edge of the mountain. Turns out I never threw up, but I had no strength and had to stop every 50 ft or so. It had been a beautiful sunny day, but high
Stonework
Here´s and example of their amazing stonework in the mountains it turns cold and I was alone, in shorts with nothing but my bottle of gatorade. I really feared that I might not make it. at 2 hr 45 minutes I saw a camp and it wasn´t ours. I figured I had around 2 more hours of hiking and knew that I couldn´t do it. 5 minutes later there was a porter from our company and he directed me off the trail...and there was our camp. My group cheered. I cried and collapsed in our tent. Shelagh had made my bed and got out my warm clothes.
When I composed myself again we headed outside to wait with the others for the last member of our group (another girl was sick) and it was bloody freezing! Then it was tea time! At 5 every day the porters serve tea in the dinner tent. It was hot drinks, popcorn and animal crackers. I enjoyed my little handful of popcorn and a llama and sea lion cracker which was my first food in 10 hours as the others tucked heartily into hot chocolate with rum and marshmallows and rum (there was enough rum that it deserves to
Us at the start
These clothes might start to look familiar... be mentioned twice) and snacks. I then headed back to the tent, lay down and only came out once to ¨Use the facilities¨aka squat behind a bush. At 7 they served another 3 course meal that was much enjoyed by the group particularly the chocolate pudding at the end. We went to bed with ALL of our clothes on and still spent a slightly chilly night. This is the coldest of all the campsites on the trail cuz it´s half way up a freaking mountain face.
The next morning we woke up to a beautiful view of the mountains below and around us. The porters come by with hot tea and coffee in your tent. Then they bring pans of hot water(agua caliente) to wash in. Breakfast is served and the group dug into caramel pancakes, hot drinks, buns. I went to find the gatorade lady for gatorade #2. The plan for the day sounded scary as we had to finish Dead Womans Pass. When I first heard of it, I thought it sounded quaint. that´s because I didn´t know the woman in question would be me. It was supposed to be 2 hours straight up hill. You could
Heather
I was either hiking or doing this see the path from our campsite and it was in fact straight up a hill. After 1 hr and 15 minutes I became very glad that our guides either have no concept of time or are just outright liers because I was at the summit. Billy goat Shelagh had got there in 52 minutes (not that anyone obsessive is keeping track or anything). IT WAS FREEZING. We took our group photo and then took off...Down, down, down. It was drizzling a bit and the path was slippery. I only actually fell twice, luckily one was literally meters from the lunch tent so that our group, another group and about 50 porters could witness it. Hey, even if you´re feeling awful you can help others enjoy themselves. By the way, about this time Shelagh developed a cold so she was coughing and sneezing and huffing her way along the trail too. Being a slightly determined creature she didn´t let it slow her down even though she was feeling awful quite a bit of the time and sounded terrible at night.
Again our porters served a fantastic lunch and I managed to eat part of a piece of chicken and half
a bowl of soup. Then I went and lie down under a tarp with the backpacks. The afternoon was just Inca flat and we visited several ruins. We handed the porters little chocolate bars as they ran past. They accept snack and handfuls of coca leaves. We realized at one pass as we all put on our ponchos that we had all the colors of the rainbow, so took a picture. You need things to amuse you on a 4 day hike. By the way, the terrain had changed over two days from dessert to cloud forest to rain forest (please don´t ask me to explain the difference between the two). We all enjoyed a little guacamole and nachos for tea and then played cards in the dinner tent until dinner. The meat was beef however it had bits of carrot and bean somehow processed into it. Not the most popular meal so far. Most meals were accompanied by some sort of sketchy jelly dessert - sometimes hot, sometimes not, sometimes good, sometimes not.
Day 3 began Rainy. Much warmer than the morning before, but genuine rain. After breakfast of fruit salad. Poor porter that had to carry fresh
The worst is over
Our group at the top of Dead Womans Pass. fruit for 3 days. By the way, one porter had the stack of 14 plastic chairs on his back. Another had a few flats of eggs. This part of the journey was down and I mean down. We were on the genuine original Inca trail now (the first day and a bit is not the original because it was too badly damaged) and those Incas LOVE to build steps. So we went down step. 2630 of them. Luckily it was raining as I mentioned so the steps get a bit slippery, otherwise it might have gotten boring. The porters go whipping down the steps, I don´t know how they do it. We amused ourselves by singing a little sound of music (2 of the girls in our group can actually sing - like one might become an opera singer) so I´d just getém started on a tune and then shut up.
We had barely seen anything all day due to the mist but our group stopped and the sky cleared and we found ourselves on a huge inca ruin. Massive terracing. After enjoying the view we hiked another 20 minutes to our final campsite. This one has a lodge
Inca Architecture
Don´t know what it is, but it looks cool doesn´t it? with restaurant etc. We ate lunch and then (after my obligatory oh my god I just ate something now I´m going to die nap) about 7 of us climbed into one of the tents for that internationally know and loved card game of Donkey. One of our guides lost and had to do a donkey dance for us. We then went to explore another Ruin nearby. We spent the rest of that afternoon playing Texas Holdém and cheat with our guides in the lodge. Our porters actually brought our 5 oclock tea to the lodge for us (I ate the popcorn happily - sick tummys like popcorn). Shelagh launched into a well deserved beer, then another and was half hammered before dinner so headed back for a nap. Then some dinner and off to bed cuz the next day was the reason for this whole trek.
Our wake up call was at 4 am. No tea today, just some agua caliente for face washing, quick packing of sleeping bag etc, breakfast at 4:20, bathroom stop and off at 4:45 for the final checkpoint. Well you race to get there and then you wait, cuz it doesn´t open until 5:30
Steps
Some of those 2630 steps but you want to be one of the first ones there, and we were. Keep in mind, it´s dark, it´s raining and you´re on a mountain. When 5:30 hits, you start off...fast. It´s all about getting to Machu Picchu before sunrise. Well, it would be on a day that wasn´t completely cloudy. Even though we couldn´t see a thing we were still going as fast as we could. I was feeling much better and I had a bit of adreniline going and although I couldn´t keep up to Shelagh I was one of the first 4 in the group. It was very surreal hiking along this mountain path with just flashlights. One girl in our group looks like a druid. Actually, I thought she looked like a Wizard from lord of the rings in the mist. There was a drop off the side of the path , but in the dark you couldn´t tell what it might drop off to. After scrambling up a set of Huge Inca step - we had to use our hands to pull ourselves up- we reached the Sun Gate! This is the entry to Machu Pichu and it´s a gate that´s alligned so that
Shelagh gets artsy
Trying out Sepia tone mode on some ruins if you´re standing in the temple of the sun you see the sunrise on the winter equinox . After pausing for a moment we kept on going to reach the heart of machu pichu. All of sudden I realized there were ruins around me and then llamas. The royal llamas of Machu Pichu. We were there. But it was cloudy, we couldn´t see a thing. As we recovered and rejoiced (and possibly shed a quick tear) we realized that it was starting to clear. Bit by bit the ruins and the mountains surrounding them were starting to appear. And then there it was. One of the most famous sights in the world, spread out before us.
The only frustrating thing about this day was that you can of course just take a bus to machu pichu. We thought the site would be ours for a few hours before the busloads began to pour in, because keep in mind it´s only about 6:30 AM!!! But, no, as we walked from the sun gate to the main site, people passed us going the other way. And there was something distinctly different about them and us...they were clean. Clean bodies, clean clothes,
Heading into our first Inca tunnel
I don´t know why they didn´t just tunnel through the mountains and avoid all the bloody hills! some even smelled good. I may not have mentioned it, but we hadn´t showered in 4 days. I changed my shirt as a special celebration for Machu Pichu, but other than that, had been wearing the same clothes in sun, rain, sweating hiking, sometimes to bed for 4 days. Anyway, it´s a bit disillusioning that you do this big trek and then find out that other people beat you there with no effort. We definately felt a sense of ownership of the site. In fact I think we were refering to the others as ¨tourists¨as if somehow the hike had made us Peruvian or maybe even Incan.
Our guides gave us a tour of Machu Pichu and then we had some time to wander. Shelagh got ¨her photo¨which was one of the most important things for her on this trip. The site is enormous and the craziest thing about it is that no one really knows what a lot of these ruins were about. Despite the cleverness of the Incas they did not develop a system of writing and then were conquered by the spanish who took all their gold work which presumably told a lot of stories in
Porters
Check out the way he´s carrying the load pictures and melted it all down. The outstanding feature is absolutely the stonework itself. Dad- you thought your biscuit joints and such were clever, wait till you learn about these Inca guys. The also managed to harness water effectively. Aquaducts and fountains etc remain with water flowing to and through them to this day.
We took the bus down to the town of Agua Caliente (which main reason for existence seems to be tourist restaurants and shops - and the train back to Ollyantaytambo, and it actually does have hot springs...hence the name). We ate and the caught the train. A bus then picked us up in Ollyantaytambo (I think I just really like that I can spell that so keep tying it) and we came back to cuzco. Everyone was dying for a hot shower. People even enjoyed such luxuries as shaving. We then raced to the laundry mat with everything we had touched int he last 4 days. The laundry lady must have been up all night, but did manage to get us all clean clothes for the next day. We had some dinner in the hotel and then went to bed at about 9.
Overall,
Porters
Check out the shoes it was an amazing experience. Like I said, it´s one of those things on the checklist for both Shelagh and I. Hiking in made it so much more special. It is one of the hardest things I have done in my life and I´m not kidding about the crying. Both of us are still just recovering 3 days later. We both feel much better but have remnant of our various illnesses.
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Richard
non-member comment
Jealous
Sounds like you are having a great time, the pictures are beautiful.