The Inca Trail

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The first day in Cusco was spent wandering and exploring the city, as well as sorting out arrangements for the Inca Trail. That day we met a couple of Americans, Trey and Drew. We went for dinner with them in the evening to Jacks restaurant. The food was far from authentic but was great, and much needed after the poor food we encountered in Bolivia. That night we started in the Irish bar "Paddy Flaherty´s" and finished in "Up Town" on a long awaited crazy night out with lots of drinking and antics.

The next morning we had a bit of a lie in then explored more of Cusco visiting a nice cafe and restuarant before catching a very early night to recover from our night out and to ready ourselves for our 6 am pick up for the Inca Trail in the morning.

We got picked up from the hostel and went to a small town to meet the rest of the gang over breakfast and pick up some last minute essentials such as sticks and rain ponchos. Our group consisted of 16 of us trekkers, 2 guides (Rony and Puma), a chef and an army of 20 porters carrying the camping and cooking equipment and food that we needed for the four days.

The first day was a fairly easy 6 hour hike with an amazing view of some inca ruins at one point. The lunch at mid-point and the dinner at the end of the day were equally impressive, both consisting of 3 courses.

Day two was the most challenging day, it consisted of around 5 hours of hiking but with a climb of over 1000 meters to a height of 4200m at the top of "Dead Woman´s Pass". After starting at a fast pace, the pressure was on us to lead the group. Luckily we did not dissapoint.

Day three was a less challenging day but was the longest. It consisted of about 8 hours of trekking with only a small pass to overcome as well as "the gringo killer" a set of 2000 downhill Inca steps. The reward at the end of the day was a small town with hot showers (which we chose not to use) and a bar!

Day four was a very early start, being woken at 4am to hike to the sun gates for the amazing first glimpse of Machu Picchu at sunrise. Unfortunately it was raining and misty and we couldn´t see a thing! By the time we reached Machu Picchu the clouds had cleared and we were able to tour and explore the amazing site in the sun, albeit very tired. We headed to Aguas Calientes for a soak in the hot baths before a pizza with all of the gang and a frustratingly slow train journey back to Loki hostel in Cusco where we promptly passed out.

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Photos

Machu Picchu
On day four once the mist had cleared and the lost city was found again

Cusco
View from our hostel

The Gang
The Inca Trail gang before setting off

Inca Ruins
Amazing view from the mountains on first day

Conquerers
At the top of the 4200 pass on the second day, the most challenging part of the trail now behind us

And the rest.
The rest of the gang once they had caught us up at the summit.

Dinner
Hungry and awaiting dinner in our portable dinner hall

Comments

[Jenny Morcom]

wow
What a fabulous place! See you all soon