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Published: April 13th 2014
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Day 50 is day 1 of the Inca Trail. By reputation the Inca Trail is by far the most famous trek in South America. In just 39 km it manages to combine beautiful mountain scenery, lush cloud-forest, subtropical jungle and, of course, a stunning mix of Inca paving stones, ruins and tunnels. The final destination of the trail just cannot be beaten: Machu Picchu, the mysterious "Lost City of the Incas". We are excited to see how this reputation stands up but nervous as well to know if we have under-estimated the difficulty or susceptible to altitude sickness .
Having stored the bulk of our luggage in Cuzco minimal clothing and sleeping gear is transferred into a small duffle bag for the next four days and carried by a team of porters with food and equipment for the trail. 11 in our group with 17 porters & 1 cook.
We travelled by bus to the 82 km marker (being 82 km's from Cuzco) with our crew of 2 guides & met by the local porters and cook. The main guide (Hugo) is very experienced & has done an incredible 960 trips & a young eager assistant(Frank). The starting altitude
is 2,850 mtrs and the trek for the day was 12km in about 6 hours. The start is like going into another country with strict passport control to ensure only those booked can enter. A non official stamp in the passport was a nice souvenir.
The amount of gear the porters had to carry was incredible (max 25 kg) yet able to leave us for dead while wearing basic footwear. The weather was quite warm to start with & I was very surprised to find out that the current track is not the original Inca track. In the 1920's the Peru government decided to build a railway to improved access to the area & used parts of the old trail as the ideal course for the new rail line but then found they had a safety problem as walkers now had to crisscross back & forwards across the line while walking the track. The solution was to build a new trail on the other side of the valley. Unesco heritage listing in 1983 was too late to save the change.
The new trail is a fairly non-descript surface through a valley but enhanced by the rugged hills on
each side & the rushing Urubamba river down below & light cloud on the peaks. Our Peru guide described day 1 as "Peruvian easy" but was very hard particularly as we had a late start in sun & open trail rising 700 mtrs to our camp at yuncachimpa.
The guides are passionate not only about the history but also about flora & fauna. Stopping at an ordinary prickly pear Hugo points out a tiny white growth on the pear leaf & explains it's a cochineal parasite & when rubbed together turns a deep red colour & was used by the natives to make red die for natural textile dying & for Inca body paint ceremonies. Along the way we stopped for a welcome hot lunch prepared by the chef and to view the ruins of Llactapata, burnt to the ground by the last Inca emperor to discourage Spanish pursuit down the trail.
By the time we arrived at base camp the porters had already set the tents and served afternoon tea. While we were getting our sleeping bags ready, the cooks were preparing dinner for us. The meals are basic but but good with a Peruvian empasis and
most welcome. An adequate sleep overnight given the circumstances & a rather small tent. Our down sleeping bag were very snug.
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