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Published: August 21st 2009
This was one the highlights of our whole trip (there have been many though), I have always wanted to do the Inca Trek and have now fulfilled this dream. We did the trek with SAS and would highly recommend them. Due to the popularity of the trip we booked it way back in March for a trip at the beginning of August. Our group (16 of us, plus two guides and 20 porters - oh and not forgetting most important person: the chef!) were all amazing.
Day One (easy, according to SAS!)
After our briefing the night before we had to rise and shine at the lovely hour of 0500. Sure enough most of us slept on the bus until we had our breakfast stop. Here we had the chance to stock up on snacks, the essential chocolate bars and the most important item that helped me through the trek: walking poles. Even if you are a super fit mountaineer poles really help due to the altitude and the thousands steps you encounter. Around 10ish we set out on the trek. Before entering the National Park we had a group shot (the before picture!). Little did we know
what we were in for at that stage. After getting our passports stamped (optional) we headed off over the swing bridge, which is the point of no return!
This was the easy day of trekking through the valley and up pass many small villages. I had bought some sweets with me to give to the local children along the trail. At one point there were about five children all absolutely delighted that I’d given them sweets. It was wonderful to see such a simple thing bought so much joy to these children. One little boy dropped his sweet; well I never knew such a loud noise could come from a small person, tears started flowing. I quickly gave him a few more sweets and all of a sudden he shut up.. clever things these sweets.
We made it to our lunch spot where the porters had set up a dining tent. They had bowls of water waiting for us to wash our hands, then they handed us a lovely cold juice. Backpackers slumming it, yeah right! What a service, these guys carry so much on their backs (20 -25kg) rushing ahead of us to set everything up. Puts
Local Kids
These girls soon forgot about the little one in the tub when the sweets came out. They left him/her and came running over to me!us to total shame. Our lunch was amazing: soup, salad, rice an amazing chicken peanut curry plus much more. If only we had all these delights on our Torres trek!
After lunch we had 3 more hours of walking to our camp spot, the scenery was beautiful . Yet again everything was set up for us at camp and we had tea and popcorn waiting yum yum. We had a stunning sight of the mountains from our tent. After dinner which was yet another feast we all went to bed as it was an early start in the morning.
Day two (Challenge, according to SAS!)
After an amazing breakfast we set out on the toughest day, where we crossed the highest pass on the trek Warmiwañusqa ‘Dead Woman Pass’ at 4200m. This was a challenge hiking up to the pass, especially near the top where the path becomes steep. Not sure what Ads was on but he seemed to zoom up here like a mountain goat and was there a good half an hour before the rest of us, he even beat the porters! Remember the saying ‘what goes up must come down’ well this is so
true. We had to venture downwards for 2hrs which was real tough going on my knees; so glad I invested in the walking pole. Pleased to say I made it to the lunch spot in good time and was ready for a big feed (not disappointed).
We still had a long trek ahead of us to the campsite. This involved many steep steps up and down! Along the way we saw some amazing ruins. One in particular was Sayaqmarka, and it was in such good condition that you could see examples of Inca ritual baths and aqueducts. The Incas were very precise in the positioning of their buildings; the sun often played a huge part in where they would decide to build their rest-houses/temples. Sayaqmarka is situated high on the cliff side which was ideal to spot any unwanted intruders. Due to it’s location, the views from this site are stunning and brilliant for sunrise and set. Just half an hour from here was our campsite to which we arrived feeling rather tried and in need of a good nights sleep.
Day three ( unforgettable, according to SAS!)
After a freezing night and not much sleep we
had to don on our walking boots and set off again. Day three only involved walking in the morning, woohoo! This section of the trail is where we trekked through the rain forest and took in all the flora and fauna. The views of the surrounding mountains are meant to be amazing, however, unfortunately the clouds were down and we were unable to see a thing. This weather did give the rain forest a real atmosphere with all the low clouds.
We arrived at the campsite around lunchtime and it was the biggest along the trail. Most groups stop here on the last night so it can get extremely busy. One big plus to this site is the warm showers… much needed after 3 days of trekking. After lunch we had a well deserved siesta in our tents. Before sunset we checked out Wiñay Wayna (which means forever young in Quechua due to the orchids blooming there all year round ), these ruins were only discovered in 1941 by Paul Fejos. This particular site is made up by rows and rows of impressive steep terraces.
Our final dinner together as a group was yet again a feast fit
for a king, you will not be disappointed with the food on a SAS trek. After dinner there was a short presentation for the porters and Loraine (an Irish girl from our group) performed an Irish jig from them, which they loved. Our Chef then danced a Peruvian dance with her. Unfortunately due to a super early start it was lights out after this short fiesta.
Day four (WOW wow,wow, according to me!)
We had to drag ourselves out of the tents at 4am.. what an hour! Anyway, it was worth it knowing that Machu Picchu was only a few hours away. So head torches on and off we set for our last day on the Inca trek. It was a fairly easily walk until up reached the part just before the Sun Gate. Here we hiked up some extremely steep and deep steps (what were the Incas thinking!!). That final hard slog is worth it when you see the spectacular site of Machu Picchu for the first time. We stayed here for 5mins to take in this amazing view, then walked on for another 10mins to a brilliant spot away from the crowds to watch the sun
rise on Machu Picchu. We then descended for 30mins to the main entrance for a quick snack and rest before Javier and Ramiro took us on a tour around MP. You can’t take in the actual size of the place until you are standing in it, it’s enormous. MP had been know locally for centuries. It wasn’t until 1911 when Hiram Bingham rediscovered it that the outside world became aware of this wonder. The Quechan people started constructing MP around 1430 and it was completed 1462. It is believed it was abandoned less than 100 years later due to smallpox wiping out most of the inhabitants before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area. Luckily the Spanish never discovered MP as is was too well hidden. Since 1983 MP has been registered a UNESCO site.
During our tour we discovered that MP is slowing being damaged over the years. This is due to the high volume of people visiting. There can be anywhere between 2000 to 10000 people a day visiting MP! Walls are starting to crack and the ruins are slowly being worn away. Currently the Peruvian government is trying to come up with a solution to keep
the visitors coming but to restrict the damage to the site. As yet nothing has been agreed.
After the tour, 5 of us (Alicia, Jen, Greg, Ads and I) walked down to Aguas Calientes (1 ½hrs of steep steps!!) as we were staying on an extra night. We had a final lunch with the group in AG and said our goodbyes to everyone. The 5 of us then went back up to MP to watch the sunset, which was magical. We ended the day relaxing in the hot springs resting our sore limbs and sipping on cocktails; a brilliant way to end the trek.
This is a once in a lifetime experience. I would truly recommend to anyone who is visiting Peru to do the Inca Trek, you won’t be disappointed.
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