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Published: November 12th 2016
Our awesome trekking group.
Rachel, Georgia, Bruce, Carol, Brendon, Alice, and Louis (missing Elizabeth). Due to the high demand for limited tickets, we had booked our Inca Trail trek about a year in advance. Well, the time finally was upon us! After returning from the jungle trip, we had a few days to prepare for the 4 day, 40ish km hike. We were pretty concerned about doing the trek leading up to it because Nancy's feet had been giving her problems, and we could not delay the trek at all. But on departure day she was feeling up to the challenge, and we were picked up super early once again for a 2 hour bus trip out of Cusco. On the bus we found out we had a relatively small group, there were just 10 of us and 2 guides. Our fellow hikers were from England, Portugal, and the States: Rachel, Georgia, Bruce, mom Carol, Luis, Elizabeth, Alice and Brendan.
After arriving at the starting point of the hike, we found out we had 13 porters for the group, carrying all the gear and supplies for our trek. Oh, and the cook! We would not be roughing it on this trip. As the hike unfolded we found the sleeping and dining tents would be
set up before we arrived at each campsites, and the food was phenomenal. We even got served morning tea in our tent a couple times! The food, as good as it was, could not match the scenery though. Majestic is the best way to describe it. And then after some fresh snow fell on the pass we had hiked the previous day, looking back on the mountains it may have surpassed majestic and become super-majestic.
Ernesto, our Peruvian guide, always told us what the upcoming trail sections would be like, but he was often a candidate for understatement of the year with terms like "a little steep", and "a few stairs". A few stairs was really a few hundred, and a little steep was pretty much vertical. Two of the more challenging stretches were called "Gringo Killer" and "Monkey Stairs". Ernesto also called some stretches of the trail "Inca flat", which meant only moderately punishing hills. At the highest pass (4215 m or 14 000 feet), called Dead Woman's Pass, everybody worked their tail off getting up, and summiting was a feeling of overwhelming satisfaction, Nancy couldn't stop smiling.
During the hike almost everybody in the group had
to overcome some tough times, including panic attacks, assorted stomach bugs, problems with the altitude, and sheer fatigue. The two of us were up to the challenge though and despite Nancy's foot issues, slowly and steadily we rocked the entire trail. Leading up to the trip Nancy had done everything she could to try to heal up her worryingly problematic achilles, including purchasing both a 'magical' rubbing cream from the street markets of Cusco, and buying a box of all natural sport recovery drink mix that had some special jungle healing plant in it. Whether it it was the cream, the drink mix, the pre-trip resting, meditative power, or just sheer persistence, she powered through it one step at a time, often having to position her feet just right on each the down-steps. Boy was she proud of herself once we got to the end! The end or the 'climax' of the trek came on day 4 when we hiked the last couple hours to Machu Picchu, the historic Incan capital. The ruins, the llamas and the surrounding mountains surpassed all our expectations.
After the hike we overnighted in a small town nearby, but returned for a 'bonus' day
at Machu Picchu where we did even more trekking, we did the two hour 600 vertical meter climb of Machu Pichhu mountain. Again the weather cleared and we had fantastic views from way up above the ruins. Then we hopped on a train, taking us back to Cusco, which was starting to feel a little like home.
For those that are interested in reading more about our hike of the Inca Trail, here is a more detailed account of our hike:
Day 1 - nice and slow. We were given numerous rest stops along the way. We thought to ourselves, this is going to be a piece of cake. Then we started on the Inca flats - a little hillier than anticipated. There are always a lot of people who want to hike this trail, so we had to get over the fact that we would be sharing the trail with 200 hikers and 300 porters. Luckily our small group was able to get away from the larger groups. The beginning of the trail went through a couple small villages which provided opportunities for purchasing drinks and snacks. Our first campsite was right in a very small village
- which was somewhat of a surprise... but it did not deter us from basking in the beauty of the area. Essentially, we all had to sleep in "camp grounds" and each hiking group had their own site in the campground. Lunch was also at designated spots. We were floored when we arrived at our first lunch spot - a tent had been erected to shelter us from the wind and we were spoiled with a spectacular array of food, followed by hot tea. It was kind of hard to hit the trail again! We saw our first set of Inca ruins - really quite remarkable... Each day, we essentially hit the trail by 630 am and wandered into our campsite just before dark. What a great day job!
Day 2 - 5 am came awfully early. But it was made much nicer with the delivery of a hot cup of coca tea to our tent. What a nice touch! Our first night's sleep was awesome. With all the fresh air and exercise, combined with our new social scene and never ending vistas to see, we hardly noticed how hard the ground underneath us was. Yes, we were provided
with a bed roll, but it shied in comparison to our own thermarests. But at least we were warm and dry. We were hiking at the beginning of the rainy season and the forecast did not look good. This day was a big day -- it was the day we had to summit Dead Woman's pass, the highest part of the trail, at 13,800 ft., combined with a 12 km hike. The cook had made sure we had a hardy breakfast and amazing lunch to fuel us through the day. Although sometimes we would hike as a group, today we were given meeting points to check in, ensuring that we hiked at our own pace. We are not really sure how to write about the astonishing number of steps the incas built - each stone was hand cut and placed. There were tunnels built with steps inside, curvy steps, straight steps, big steps, small steps, deep steps, narrow steps... an endless number of steps! Thank goodness for the trekking poles. We would probably still be on the trail had we not rented them. They were almost as good as renting a porter to carry you. Needless to say, as you
can see in the pictures - we survived the pass. And actually felt pretty dang good. Until we had to start going down... Fortunately we were constantly surrounded by beautiful mountains. The Andes are truly a great range. And so green! It was hard to believe we were there at the end of the dry season.
Each night when we arrived at our camp we were greeted by the porters who all clapped in celebration that we had made it another day. We found this rather awkward, as these guys had just carried 50+ pounds on their back, hiked the section in about half the time, set up our tents and dining tent, and prepared a hot cup of tea for our arrival.
Day 3 - It rained all night and we were really nervous that our weather luck had run out. Luckily for us, it mostly cleared before we left camp. Just when we thought the hardest day was behind us, Ernesto tells us that today is a very long day - 15 km - of which most of it is down hill. Sounds great, right? Not so much. Our knees may never be the same again.
Not to mention that the use of "Inca toilets" (we think they were maybe the smelliest toilet system we have ever encountered---and we've done our business in a lot of places) requires a very awkward squat, demanding fully functioning legs, so we were a little nervous. The last thing one would want is to get stuck! The guide's "nice and slow", taking lots of breaks approach of the first couple days became "take a look at your watch and get to our meeting point in 1 hour!" Of course this was said with a giant grin. We still had lots of opportunities to marvel at the views, and take a million pictures. This was also the day when we got to see most of the Inca ruins and terraces. So inspiring. In fact, the entire area has a wonderful positive feel to it. The energy was fantastic. Our guide, Ernesto, went out of his way to encourage us to connect with it. Each day he would sprinkle some "magic potion", a wonderful smelling essential oil (Aguas Florido) on our hands. We would clap three times, smile, take three deep breaths, inhale the scent, and then touch our heads. We did
this every day and it seemed to give us a fantastic energy, not to mention amazing luck, particularly with the weather!
Day 4 - Dang. No tea service today. We had to get up at 3:30. There were a couple of reasons for this, but none of them seemed justifiable that early in the morning. The early start was due to the fact that the porters needed to pack up camp and get themselves to Machu Picchu early because they had to catch the one and only "porter" train home. Considering the number of people that hike this trail each year, you'd think they could put on another train! But the other reason, which we decided later on was valuable, was so that we, the trekkers, could get to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu before the hordes of tourists started arriving by bus. Today's hike was short. A mere 5 km of Inca flats. At first we thought our luck had run out, as both Huayna Picchu (the mountain behind the Machu Pichhu ruins) and Machu Picchu itself were hidden in fog, but a little magic potion later, the sun appeared, burnt off the fog and we saw
the astonishing ancient Inca town. We both agree though, that this is when the incredible part of the journey came to an end. Once we arrived at Machu Picchu we were so crowded in the hordes of tourists that the magic of the place dissolved. We felt claustrophobic, hot, tired, and a little miserable. After our 2 hour tour of the ruins, we caught the first bus into the nearby town of Aguas Calientes where we would meet with our group one last time for lunch - and you guessed it - a COLD cervesa.
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Debbie
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What a feat!
What a great feeling you must have to check this adventure off your bucket list! The pictures are incredible but I'm sure they do not do the actual view any justice. How does this trek rate from all the hikes you have done? I'm sure it is somewhere near the top of your list. This trip, I'm sure will never be forgotten. Keep telling us your adventure stories. They are great to read!