Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

---

Hey all!!

Just arrived back yesterday from the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu!! It was an absolutely amazing adventure.

Friday we took a trip to the Sacred Valley, stopping at lots of old Inca ruins on the way, abley guided by one Julio Cesar!! He was our guide for the Inca Trail too. We started off at Sacsaywaman above Cuzco, which was cool. Cuzco was built shaped like a Puma (one of the old Incan animals for strength, representing the land) and the ruins are at the head of the puma. They were an old Incan fortress and it was here that the Spanish were nearly (but not quite) routed from Peru. It was built over three levels and the stonework at the bottom was absolutely massive, and very cleverly carved lined up so that there was barely a crack between the stones, no need to cement. We went on to see more Incan ruins at Pisac in the Sacred Valley, which reminded me of Weathertop from Lord of the Rings. On the way to Ollantaytambo we stopped at a ´living museum´, where we saw all the different typed of llamas, alpacas and vicuñas, and got to feed them too!!

At Ollantaytambo, we visited the ruins of a temple fortress only partially finished. Then us Inca Trail-ers (Pedro, Tamara, Lisa, Laura and myself) said an emotional farewell to the Lares Trek people. They would start their trail the next day from somewhere completely different, hiking up the Lares Valley and finishing in Ollantaytambo. They would have a less touristy trek but we would be hiking to Machu Picchu and they had to get the train and bus there!! We stayed overnight in the town to be picked up the next day. Had dinner at a local restaurant where we all tried Quinoa soup, delicious!! Also realised today that I would be home in a month, crazy!!!

On saturday we were picked up by Julio and brought to Km82 to start the Inca Trail. We met our 7 porters and 1 cook and gave them our duffle bags (5kg) to carry up for us, along with tents, chairs, food, cooking equipment etc!! I felt bad as if I was cheating somehow, but thank God for them in the end!! I did carry my own 35L rucksack too. We got our passports stamped at the first checkpoint and we were off!! We walked 10-11k I think the first day, which was fine apart from one hill covered in inca steps, which was a killer!! Every now and again we would pull over to let the never-ending stream of porters past. Honestly these guys are amazing, they each carry 20kg strapped to their backs, and young and old alike they run past us and vanish out of sight. We also stopped a couple of times to look at more Inca and pre-Incan ruins. We kept up a good fast pace, nimbly led by Julio who was doing the Inca Trail for the 512th time!!

We made camp by lunchtime and the porters set us our tents and bowls of warm water to wash in!! We had lunch there which was incredible- veg and pasta soup, fried rice, meat skewers, fried beansprouts with chips, and salad, all washed down with tea/coffee/hot chocolate!! The chef even carved a flower shape out of a tomato to sit on top of the rice!! We napped after that, and woke up in time for afternoon tea- popcorn and drinks. A few brave souls ventured out to the squat toilet and returned withg horrific reports ("I had to push someone else's poo down the toilet with my toilet roll"). We chatted and wrote up our journals 'til dinner- more soup, chicken, burgers, rice, chips and salad. It was honestly way too much food, and again felt guilty about how much the porters had to carry. We ate in our own dining tent with tablecloths, lantern etc!! We sat up for a long time drinking coca tea and chicha morada - a non-alcoholic drink made from purple corn boiled with fruit and spices.

Sunday was the hardest day, we were awake at 4am thanks to a rooster even though we didn't have to get up til 5am!! After a delicious breakfast of pancakes, fruit salad, bread and hot drinks, we started hiking at 6am from the valley floor (3000m). We were facing the dreaded "Dead Woman's Pass" today, supposedly the most difficult part. We hiked 7km of mostly constant uphill slog, with no end to the Inca steps that were everywhere with varying degrees of steepness!! It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, mentally as well as physically. I hiked up 1200m to 4200m at the first pass in 4hours, and nearly passed out when I made the top!! I was up first surprisingly, as Pedro had steamed ahead of me at the start!! Mist covered the top for awhile and I couldn't see anything for awhile, but it cleared before long and I could see how far I'd come, it felt great!! Everyone else made it to the top of Dead Women's Pass within the next 40-50mins, and Laura had just made it up when we spotted Pedro on the last stretch!! Turns out he took a wrong turn somehow and nearly got lost- had to turn back!

From the top we had to walk down the Inca steps to the camp another hour which reduced our legs to jelly!! The campsite had the most disgusting toilets I have ever seen on my trip so far (saying a lot!!). We had a sleep after lunch and before dinner, both delicious as ever. We had a good laugh with Julio after dinner. He was telling us stories of other people who had got lost, including a Japanese girl who walked so far the second day she ended up joining the Tucan tour ahead of her, and a Frenchman who got so lost that he ended up staying the night with a local family before being put back on the right path in the morning! He also told us that there were about 18,000 porters in the area, most of whom choose to do a trek whenever it suits them.

Monday was our longest day but was mostly downhill after we reached the second and third passes!! We hiked 13k in 5 or 6 hours, hard to remember!! Our calves were cramping up at the end, it was at least 2hours of constant downhill Inca steps!! It was raining gently all day and we were scared that we wouldn´t be able to see Machu Picchu when we made it the next day!! Julio started making ominous comments about sacrificing the youngest girl to stop the rain- luckily it didn't come to that!! 😊 We reached our campsite at Winay Wayna just before lunchtime again. It's a very advanced campsite, with a shop, restaurant, bar, nice toilets and hot showers!! There are loads of other groups here too, all getting ready for Machu Picchu tomorrow. After dinner we had a ceremony for our porters when we gave them their tips, and the porters sang a song about Machu Picchu in Quecha.

Tuesday started off misty and slightly rainy, though the rain stopped as we hiked. We hiked 2km to the Sun Gate and reached it at 7am. Success, we were at the top of Machu Picchu mountain!! Unfortunatly we couldn't see anything it was so misty!! As we hiked down towards Machu Picchu, the mists cleared and the sun slowly came out from behind the clouds. By the time we got down to the site the sun was beaming, it was really warm and beautiful!! It was a great sense of achievement, despite the pain and the dead legs. Julio played the flute as we took in the view before descending into the ruins themselves for guided tour.

The city was originally completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient enough to feed the population, and watered by natural springs. Located at 2400m above the Urubamba River, the ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 houses for 450 people. It was evident how the Incas understood their environment. There is a fault line running down the middle of the site from old earthquakes, so the Incas left a gap to allow for more movement, and built the agricultural side seperate from the urban side. Duality was very important for them and the shape of the city was built to imitate the shapes of the mountains around them.

We were knackered and incredibly stiff and sore after the tour and so were happy to get the bus to the town of Aguas Calientes, where we met the others!! We had lunch before getting the train to Ollaytantambo and a minibus to Cuzco. I had the best shower I have ever had and stank the room out taking off my boots and socks. The poor person who has to open my laundry bag to clean everything... 😊

It was a very early night after dinner!!

Looking forward to some rest and relaxation!

Orla

---

Photos

Arrived!!
jumping for joy at Machu Picchu

Comments

[Donal]

Excellent Photo!
Excellent Photo, Orla, and what a thrill it must have been to finally reach Machu Picchu. I've only been following your exploits via this blog for a few days but it sounds like you are having the time of your life (so far I'm sure!). We were planning on touring Peru and S America a couple of years ago but work intervened. Some day I want to take a picture at that exact spot! By the way I also love the picture of you on Nato! Lookong forward to more exciting installments! Have a Blast! Donal