Day 211 to Day 214 Peru, The Inca trail to Machu Picchu

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Hello Friends, Family and blogger readers,



17^th-20^st June



Over theses 4 days we embarked on the world famous Inca-Trail, to the capital of the Inca Empire. A total of 44km/27 miles, crossing 3 mountain passes, the highest of which is at an elevation of 4,200m (13,775 ft.).



Day 1:



Our group of 16 consisted of a family of 7 from Minnesota; a family of 3 from Chicago; a brother and sister from Sydney; and two male police officers from Australia.



We were driven from our hotel in Ollantaytambo to Wayllabamba camp, which is at the 82km marker, which indicates the start of the walk. After having our passports stamped and tickets checked we then embarked on our first day of hiking.



This first day was an easy 11km walk. We stopped off at a few small villages to use the facilities and we saw a few Inca sites, which were placed along the trail as sentries. If you are going, take a few 1 Soles coins with you to pay for the toilet for this first morning.



Porters ran on a head with the tents, food, tables, chairs, portable toilet, gas, and 6kg of our personal items for every person in the group. Porters, by Peruvian laws are not allowed to exceed 25kg per person, so everything was also weighted at the start. There were 32 porters just for our group!



At the lunch stop, the chefs cooked us an amazing lunch of trout frittata and soup before we all continued on until about 4pm. At the end of the day we had a steeper hike up to camp before finally arriving at our first destination Ayapata campsite.



We dropped everything into our tents had an hour to relax before we had to introduce ourselves to the porters and chefs and them to us. It was a nice way to meet everybody, however it was freezing and everyone wanted to just get in the warm and to get a belly full of food!!



We had a good chat over dinner getting to know everyone, then made our way to our tents, everyone was shattered and we had a 0545 wake up in the morning as well!! The tents were good, however if you book this make sure you hire the blow up mattress as the foam ones are no good. It was a hard, cold ground and on an angle so you kept slipping to the bottom of the tent!!



Day 2:



An early wake up today, but to be honest I was so cold I wasn’t sleeping much and just wanted to get on with hiking so I could warm up! One of the guides brought everyone a hot coca leaf drink with the wake up call-very much appreciated.



We repacked our duffle bags (6kg), which we gave to the porters, so we only had our day bags with water, snacks etc. We had a nice breakfast of quinoa porridge, which was delicious. We then started what we knew was going to be the hardest day of the 4. And it really was hard!! It was all up hill for approximately 8km with an elevation of 1,200 meters (most of this in the last 2 km), with the last 4km down hill. The up hill section reached the highest altitude of 4,200m (13,775 ft.), which is called ‘Dead woman’s pass’.



Neil was up at the front with a few of the other lads, I however, progressively slipped to the very back, as I struggled so much with my breathing. Even when I stopped for rest, which was every 5-10 meters for the last part, I still couldn’t catch my breath, as there wasn’t much oxygen in the air. I felt so dizzy with every step that if I didn’t stop and sit as regularly as I did I felt I would have been sick. I was also freezing, as I wasn’t moving fast enough to keep the heat. It really was the hardest thing I have done physically and would not choose to do it again!



I made it up to the top of Dead woman’s pass a long time after the first people got there but thankfully once the downhill section began the altitude also decreased.



We finally made it to camp Pacaymaya in the early afternoon, which allowed us to get a much needed lunch, rest and warmth in our tents. At the camp there was a shower, but it was ice cold so Neil and I decided against washing. The porters brought round warm bowls of water to our tents so we could wash our face, hands and have a personal wash if we wanted.



We met in the eating tent about 6pm with everyone where there was a starter of popcorn and crackers and where we played a strange card game that one of the guides hosted. It was good fun and the dinner was tasty. About 8.30pm everyone headed to their own tents, I also had my empty plastic water bottle filled with boiling water so I could have it as a hot water bottle. Neil and I read our kindles for a bit but were soon asleep after the long day.



Day 3:



I was snug and warm with my hot water bottle until about 1am, I am wearing all my layers I brought with me too but it’s still so cold on the ground. The wake up was at 6am this morning, to have had breakfast and have packed and on our way by 7.30am.



Today we had to cover 16km, with another two more mountain passes and Inca ruins along the way. The first pass is Runquraqay at 3,950m (13,113 ft) where, on a clear day, hikers can catch a glimpse of the snow-capped Cordillera Vilcabamba, we however could only see the peak as it was so foggy. We hiked through the cloud forest on the gentle climb to the second pass of the day, walking through original Incan constructions. The highest point of the second pass is 3,700m (12,136 ft). This is where we had spectacular views of the Urubamba Valley.

At 3,650m (11,972 ft) we reached the ruins of Phuyupatamarca, the "Town Above the Clouds", some people camp here but we hiked a further 1.5 hrs to the Wiñay Wayna ruins (Forever Young) located at 2,650m (8,694 ft). This hike down was called the ‘Gringo killer’ as it was so steep, we all found it pretty easy but we were on a mission today it seemed.



Wiñay Wayna was a huge terrace area. As only Neil, the two Aussie lads and I reached there first we joined a German group to help spell out Inca in human form, it was fun. The views were amazing from the terraces, we were so lucky as when we were walking towards them it was all foggy and nothing to see but once we got there it cleared!! J



Eventually the Aussie siblings, the 3 Americans (father and two daughters) and one of the guides turned up so we decided to pose for photos as well, we did the Inca with a special full stop (see the pictures) and a pyramid!! Everyone else was well behind so we walked down to camp.



We arrived with claps from all the porters; it’s so nice as they are the ones doing all the hard work! We all had a chill out in our tents waiting for everyone else to turn up!! (Neil and the Aussie lads brought a bottle of rum on the way so they warmed up with that in their hot chocolates).



Once everyone was back at camp we had dinner, it was again very good. We had a special ceremony for the porters where we thanked them and all gave some money for a tip for them all (the going rate is $40US per hiker). They seemed very happy and the chef was very chuffed as one of the American girls did the speech in fluent Spanish!!



After everything, Javier, one of the guides told us a ghost story before bed, we all new it was fake but the two Aussie lads seemed spooked so Neil decided to hide in their tent. As the boys opened it he grabbed there wrist and they freaked out!! LOL Everyone was laughing!!



The bad news was we had to get up at 0330 to get to the checkpoint to walk up to the sun gate, as there were lots of groups it was essential to be first up under shelter incase it rained!! Bad news was the walk was only 5mins walk.





Day 4:



The final day was only 5km, the highest elevation being 2450m. The hike starts pre-dawn to reach the Sun Gate before sunrise. Once we arrived at the checkpoint at 3.35, we then sat around for 2 hours before the checkpoint was open, however we were the first ones there so we had seats!! The real reason for getting up so early is for the porters to be able to pack all the tents away so they can be on the first train back at 5.30am-fair enough but the wait for 2 hours was rubbish.



Being the first at the sun gate means you catch the first views of the breathtaking ruins of Machu Picchu on a clear day, we were unlucky and after climbing the monkey steps to get to the sun gate we were greeted with the view of clouds and mist L.



We hiked down to Machu Picchu for a guided tour of the site by our guides, they are very good guides, however everything they know about Machu Picchu seems to be a theory and no real hard evidence.



This incredible ancient city is tucked away up the mountains so was never revealed to the conquering Spaniards. This was known because it was not mentioned in any of the Spaniard chronicles and also, unlike the sites that were ruined by the Spaniards such as Ollantaytambo, the building structures here are in tact.



Machu Picchu was only brought to the attention of the world in the early 20^th Century by Hiram Bingham, until then it was only used by local Quechua people for farming. Bingham mapped the area between 1911-1915, also taking thousands of artifacts back to the USA, most of which have yet to be returned to Peru.



The uses of Machu Picchu are based on educated guess work from archaeologists; perhaps it was used for a royal retreat, or a political, religious and administrative center; or maybe a trade center between the jungle and the highlands, as there are 8 access routes to the site.



After the tour we had around 1.5 hours free time to explore. We had the options of hiking back up the hillside to visit the Inca Bridge, take more ‘postcard’ pictures or go into town via the bus. We decided that we had seen everything and headed on the bus to Aguas Calientes to chill out, get some lunch and Wi-Fi with the Aussie lads.



We went to this cheap restaurant for lunch, it was 15 soles for a burger and chips and drink. Afterwards the two lads went for massages while Vick and I walked the markets and town.



We met our group in a restaurant later to pick up our duffle bags and to meet up before our train back to Cusco at 15.30pm, via a bus at the train station in Ollantaytambo.



After a total of 4 hours of travel we finally made it back to the hotel in Cusco. Once back we chilled out in our room, had dinner with the American family of three and then hit the hay, both shattered and knowing we had to be up at 6am for our bus to La Paz the next day!!





Love N&V X

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