The Inca Trail

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Returned from the Inca Trail to Machu Piccu last night. It was a fantastic trek I'm so glad I finally did it.

Day 1: The bus from our tour company picks us up from the hostel just after 0430. It takes about an hour to reach the town of Ollyantambo, where we stop for breakfast and to buy walking sticks or rain ponchos. From there it's on to the begining of the trail at a point called KM82. Permits are checked and passports stamped, and all porters packs are weighed to make sure they aren't carrying excessive loads and then we set off across the Urambamba river and start walking. The plan is to aim for the furthest day 1 camp, which will make for a hard day 1 but considerably easier day 2. We climb through beautiful country and pass several small ruins on the way to our lunch camp, where we find the porters already set up with lunch ready to go. With lunch done with we pass another checkpoint and then get into the harder part of the climb, which will take us most of the way to the highest point of the trail, Dead Woman Pass. Things are quite steep with a few stairs, and to make things more interesting it starts to rain. Finally just after 5pm the first few from our group reach the camp, and I'm about 10 mins behind being the first of the trekkers to not hire a porter. the rest of the group trickles in over the next 20 or 30 minutes and we pick out tents, have a nice warm dinner and hit the hay.

Day 2: After breakfast we were introduced to all the porters and then set off for the pass. A short but quite hard climb later I crested the pass, and while waiting there for the rest of the group we actually got a little snow (pass is just over 4200m high) After the rest of the group made the pass we stopped for a few photos and then wound our way down to our lunch stop. From the lunch stop things start heading up again through a circular fort called Runkuraqay and then a 2nd pass with 2 lagoons nearby. Heading down from the 2nd pass we come to a stair leading up to the left that leads to an amazing ruin on the edge of the ridge. Sayaqmarka looks over the valley in every direction, but unfortunately for us the clouds have rolled in so no view today. Wandering through the ruin in the mist is an earie expierience. We head back down the staircase and descend to the 2nd nights camp.

Day 3: Wake up to find the previous days clouds have cleared and Sayaqmarka watching over us from the ridge. Views in every direction are some of the best yet, even the snowcapped mountains in the distance are clearly visable. We begin our days walk through some of the most amazing terrain: cloud forest, tunnels, bridges and inca walls. We decend from our last pass through the inca town of Phuyupatamarka and down the stairs known as the 'gringo killers' to the terraces of Yunkapata. Finally make camp beside the large inca city of Winaywayna fairly early in the day, and spend the afternoon exploring.

Day 4: A very early start to get in line at the last checkpoint, which opens at 0530 like the start of a race. Half our group decided to run it because there was some doubt as to if we'd be able to climb the peak behind Machu Piccu if we weren't among the first there. I opted to stick with the rest of the group and take the climb if we got it. Still, even our 'slow' group was at almost a jog, and it took us only about 45 mins to reach the Sun Gate and our first view of the giant city. Coming down from the gate it's just one amazing site or view after another. The city itself is massive and our 1 hour tour only takes in a fraction before we are left to explore. After a bit of wandering most of us decide to attempt the tricky climb up Wayna Piccu. A slippery climb up tiny stairs, often with a wire rope attached to the rock is rewarded by stunning 360º views of the city and the suurounding mountains. Finally at about 1pm we have seen all we can and head back to Cusco, but even that is an adventure, with a screaming Inca child racing the bus down the mountain and then the Train stewards putting on a dance and fashion show before moving through the cabin selling their wares.

Overall an amazing, bizzare, challenging expierience that I'll never forget.

Pictures are up Here

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