Advertisement
Published: September 16th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Cuzco, the home of the Incas, is an absolutely gorgeous city. Surrounded by mountains with rolling cobblestone streets and fairytale colonial buildings coupled with the incredible history of the incas. Or maybe it just felt surreal due to a dizzied head from the 3,300m altitude we had to contend with?
We arrived in Cuzco five days ahead of the day we were due to start the Inca Trail so that we could aclimatize. We booked ourselves into a hostel a little out of town and up a steep hill so that each time we came home we had to walk up the hill and get our lungs used to working without so much oxygen. Also practiced our drinking a few nights, the hostel was definitely one of the party ones and cuzco itself had some fantastic bars and lots of gringos to dance with.
A couple of days before our trek we took a tour of the Sacred Valley to see our first inca ruins and learned a little about the Incan history. Spent the next day organising sleeping bags and trying to ensure we had enough warm clothes and equipment to survive this trek we thought such a
Sacred Valley
One of the ancient incans. good idea three months ago. We´d heard there had been snow up there in those mountains which made us wonder even more so what we´d gotten ourselves into, i´m sure we both had visions of either freezing to death or passing out from exhaustion and having to be carried back out. Alas, the troopers we are we packed our bags and climbed into the little van at 3am which was to take us to the beginning of the trail. We met our guide Bruno and the 7 porters who carry all the tables, tents, cookers, gas bottles, food, our packs and were to look after us ever so perfectly over the coming days. We also met our our trek partners Mary and Justin, a couple from America, who became great companions.
The first day was a relatively easy mosey through some soft hills and getting to know our group. We were all very anxious about the days ahead and drilled Bruno with questions about what to expect and whether he thought we could make it. The day came to an end with a few short but breathtaking ascents to give us a taste of what lay ahead of us.
Ollantaytambo
Part of the Sacred Valley We arrived at our first camp to find the porters had our tents erected and afternoon tea ready for our arrival and dinner not far behind. The campsite was stunning, high in the mountains looking back down over the valley we climbed up during the day. It was close to zero degrees not long after sunset and since no fires are allowed it was into our tents and our warm sleeping bags to get a good nights sleep to ready ourselves for the big next day.
Day two was the challenge, we were to climb up and over Dead Woman´s Pass at 4,200m. Awakon at 4:30am for a coca tea (coca tea became a regular feature in our days in Cuzco, they claim it assists with many ailments however most importantly it prevents altitude sickness) in bed and then up and out into the cold with all our layers of clothes for the biggest most impressive camping style breakfast you could imagine. The chef never ceased to impress us with the standard of food he created. This breakfast was extra impressive as they knew what we were to contend with in the day ahead. Within 30 minutes we were
walking amongst cloud forest in complete serenity. There´s actually hundreds of people on the Inca Trail each day and i think we were lucky to be in a smaller group, Bruno got us up that bit earlier to get going and have some time on the trail on our own. We spread ourselves out and walked alone along these stunning trails contemplating life or just completely forgetting about it. After a short break with Dog Marley we began the ascent to Dead Woman´s Pass. This part of the trail was breathtaking in the literal sense. Each breath was taken as deep as possible trying to get more oxygen to enable the next step. It was almost two hours of loud heavy breathing and slow tiresome steps before we reached the top of the Pass. I think you can tell by the look on our faces the sense of triumph and relief. It was absolutely magical.
Two more passes and a lot of down hill later we arrived at our second campsite, even more stunning than the first where Bruno and the porter's treated us like royalty again. Each day they made us breakfast, packed up the tents and equipment,
Bad Photo
Bad photo, but this is us on a night out in Cuzco with some friends from the hostel. The little girl sells knitted finger puppets, she´s very persuasive. loaded it onto their backs, carried it past us on the trail to the lunch stop, set it all up again, made us lunch, packed up the tents and equipment, loaded it onto their backs, carried it past us on the trail to the next campsite, set it all up again, made us dinner then in the morning did it all again. Most of the porters on the trail are Quechuan, one of the ancient tribes of the Andes. Their language and their culture is slowly fading although the Peruvians are taking steps to save it.
The next morning took us along a narrow path with a sheer drop off the side that seemed to go forever. This proved very inconvenient because you really had to watch where you were walking when what you really wanted to do was keep your head up and take in the incredible mountains and valleys around you. The ruins along the way were very impressive, you marvel at how these people managed to get these huge boulders up into the mountains and shape them so. There's a lot of speculation about why the trail was made and what Machu Picchu and the other
Loki Hostel
This is the view from the hostel back down over Cuzco. ruins were for.
One more early morning start before sunrise in the hope that we get to see the first rays over Machu Picchu. Unfortunately it turned out to be a cloudy day. It was a little of an anti-climax arriving at the site, our first glimpse we both agreed looks so much more spectacular in photos. Once we climbed down into the site it was beautiful and it was certainly more special having trekked for three days to arrive. Our four days of trekking with Bruno, Mary and Justin were fantastic; the history, the beauty, the challenging climbs and pleasant company made a very special time for us. The Inca Trail was magical.
You should do it.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.158s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 14; qc: 65; dbt: 0.0858s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Mary
non-member comment
It was great to do the Inka Trail with you guys. It was a pleasure to meet you both and know more about the world because of you. We sent you pictures from the trail let me know if you got them. Keep in touch.