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Published: December 31st 2007
Me and the Girls
Before we set off!So we arrived back in Cusco on the 15th November to prepare ourselves for the Inca trail.... Cusco is located at about 3300 meters above sea level. This is higher than the majority of the inca Trail and so if we could cope with the altitude here then we could probably cope with the trail itself (or so you´d think).
I spent the week in Cusco trying to shape up for the four day treck. My training pretty much consisted of trying to climb up the 100 or so steps to my hostel with out stopping or dying!
I have to admit though, I was pretty impressed with myself! People were dropping like flies around me, vomiting, fainting, not able to get out of bed suffering from altitude sickness and I was lucky enough to only really suffer from a shortness of breath (when climbing hills!) I can give one bit of advice to anyone thinking of heading upwards....don´t drink tequila at high altitude. Actually I´ll try and avoid huge amounts of alcohol altogether. For one thing one drink is enough to get suitably tipsy and secondly the hangovers are absolutely rubbish!! I was foolish enough to think that
my lack of altitude sickness meant I could drink until the cows came home when in truth I was unable to move from my bed the following day due to the fact I couldn't see anymore! I have found on my travels that the altitude is blamed for rather alot out here.....
" You were so drunk last night" ...oh its the altitude!
" You took along time to get up that hill"...its the altitude!
" You´re ugly"...Altitude!
Cusco is very much a party city and there is no shortage of nightclubs, bars and restaurants, as well as vast numbers of people ready to pounce on the nearest gringo and usher them into their bar. One night we went out for dinner and were literally being pulled by our clothes by 5 restaurant ushers all wanting us to head to their establishment for a complimentary free drink etc. You can easily go on a night out with out paying a penny if your willing to spend the night moving from bar to bar for complimentary drinks.
The day time is not much better and if your not fighting off kids trying to sell you postcards is women selling
Our Brilliant Porters
Basically carrying everythine for us lazy tourists. massages! If you can get your head around the constant pestering for money and business then Cusco is a lovely city, with beautiful aged architecture. I didn´t think it was as pretty or sunny as Arequipa but its got a personality of its own and is certainly a lively, fun city!.
Our Inca trail came around quickly. We were due to leave on the morning of the 24th and had a meeting the night before with Lama Path, the company who were organising our trek. We met the other 15 people who were doing the trek with Paul and myself and we met our guides, collected our duffle bags and headed to bed as we were being picked up at 4:30am.
I was up in good time on the Saturday..well, my body was moving but I don't really remember much before breakfast at 8am. We had another hour drive after breakfast to get to km88, the starting point of our trek. Here we collected our walking sticks and introduced our selves to our 24 porters, who inturn told us their names and ages. Before I go on about the trail I really have to mention our porters. Known
Much needed foot soak!
I HATED that first day, I could have cried when we soaked our feet! to other Inca Trail trekkers as "The Red Army" due to their red t shirts and military like march, they were mostly men in their 40s who basically had to beat us to camp each lunch time and evening carrying ALL our things. This included all tents, cooking equipment, personal bags. Each man must have carried about 20kg in a massive duffle bag along the whole trail. When they pass you with their massive loads and your struggling with the bottle of water in your day pack it really puts you to shame. They really are amazing! Plus its probably worth mentioning that each year there is a race along the Inca trail and the record so far is believed to be a porter who ran the 4 day trek in 3 hours 45mins (although I'm not so sure) Our guide claimed to have ran it in 5 hours!
Once we had met all our porters we headed to the first gate to show our passports and just as we started on the official path it started to rain and continued to do so until lunch time. Lunch was a welcome break, although the first half of the day
was not so bad (started to feel optimistic about the rest of the trek!!!) Lunch and all the meals that were to follow were amazing. All of which were at least four courses. Soups , salads, mains , puddings and tea / coffee...I think I might officially be the first person to put weight on on the Inca trail!
The second half of the the first day was, in truth, one of the hardest things I´ve ever done. So many people in Cusco had said "Don´t worry about the trek you´ll be fine" , "Its not that hard" etc etc. I can only assume they still had their heads in the clouds due to the euphoria of completing the stupid thing and after this day I promised that if anyone asked me what the trail was like I would tell the absolute truth.....It´s bloody horrible. Getting to camp each evening is lovely and you have great fun camping with your friends and the views / ruins are amazing ...but the actual walking is horrible, do-able but horrible.
The highest point on the trek is "Dead Woman's Pass" at 4215m above sea level and most groups tackle the trek
to this point on the second day. However, our brilliant (although I hated him at this moment) guide Cassiano, wanted to get half way to the top on the first evening. This decision proved to be a God send for the rest of the trail but on that first evening I´m sure I saw angels, the end was neigh. When we reached the first camp at 7pm it was like heaven. The porters had all tents set up and dinner ready, plus small bowls of hot water outside each tent for us to freshen up. Needless to say after a huge meal, a few games of cards (which I won by the way) and some hot chocolate we all slept like babies.
Waking up on the second day I realised how great it was that we had done so much walking the day before.
1) Its always better to do the most unpleasant things with out time to think or worry about them,
2) We woke up to the most spectacular views half way up the mountain and
3) We had half the amount of walking that other groups had to do on that day.
After a fantastic
Dead Womans Pass
The highest point of the whole hike breakfast we headed to the highest point and it only took an hour and a half to get there. After a few moments of celebrating, drinking and photographing we needed to head down the other side of the mountain to get to camp for lunch. Now coming up the mountain was incredibly unpleasant but going down the other side isn´t the party you´d think.
When we all arrive at the bottom of what I can only assume was about a billion steps, I thought my knees were about to disintegrate, your legs quiver with tiredness! While everyone in the group had a hot drink and a rest before the afternoons hike, I did what I do best and took a nap on the floor. My new friends (three really funny girls from Dublin) came round to my way of thinking and the four of us slept like logs for 30 mins. Everyone was having a real laugh about it and taking photos but it was easily the nicest nap I've ever had and I was ready for the rest of the walking.
On the third day we only had a mornings walk down hill and we arrived at camp
at 12pm. This was planned by our guide Cassiano who had become a real fun member of our group (apart from when he insisted on playing the most annoying flute in the world to provide inspiration while we walked!). He had planned it so that we were the first group to arrive at the camp which (for the first time in 3 days) provided showers. The showers were very basic but the water was hot and after three days hiking I couldn't have cared less who saw me in the buff, in fact I would have run screaming, naked through the crowds if I´d had to, as long as there was clean hot water flowing then I was happy.
When everyone was clean, we were able to visit the small bar that was at the camp site and prepare for the nights celebration. It was the last time that we were going to see our porters as they would be heading back to base camp while we visited Machu Picchu and after dinner they had prepared a small show for us. Not quite sure why, but the task of coming up with our party piece fell to me and
the 3 girls (probably because we had been singing for the whole trek, I actually managed to get all the porters, who don't speak any english, humming UB40 "every hour of every day" - I was pleased with myself). We managed to switch around some words to "We are the champions" and "ole ole ole" (very Creative!!!! ) and create a song for the whole group to sing. The evening was great and we had plenty of songs and dancing with the porters and Cassiano played his flute (which was not yet rammed down his throat)...a great final night.
However, we had to be ready to go at 4am the next morning and just as Cassiano had planned we were the first group at the gate to Machu Picchu. We walked through the sun gate at sunrise but sadly the clouds were too thick to see the city itself. By the time we did arrive at Machu Picchu the sun was blazing and the city was beautiful, surrounded by the most awesome mountains. It really was a brilliant experience and Cassiano gave us a detailed tour of the city before we had free time to wonder around. The
tour busses started to arrive at about 10am and so we left around this time. It gets so full of tourists, to get there via the trail early in the morning really is the best way to see the city. Although, as pretty as the ruins are, it was the trek that made the experience for me. Even though it was incredibly uncomfortable at some points and definitely hard work, getting to Machu Picchu before everyone else and knowing that you´ve walked all the way through the mountains to get there is a fantastic feeling.
Very pleased with myself and I will never forgetthe experience.
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Louise Maisey
non-member comment
Happy New Year
Hi Sinead Happy New Year - sounds like you're having a "fantastic" time. Have really missed you so you'll have to come and see us when you return Louise x