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Published: August 7th 2011
Cusco is a beautiful city in the tourist area, and a shit hole outside of it.
Upon arriving we were a little dismayed when looking out the bus' windows. Having heard about what an amazing, historic city it was, we were curious what the people that had said that were smoking.
Luckily we got a cab up to where we were staying and discovered what the fuss was about. Narrow, cobblestoned streets lined with the foundation stones of Incan buildings twist their way up a steep hill behind an enormous plaza complete with two huge churches.
We were here for what I consider the highlight of our trip - to hike a section of the 500 year old Inca trail all the way to Machu Pichu, the Lost City of the Incas. This trip is ridiculously popular so we had booked before leaving home in order to secure a spot in the trail. They only let 200 tourists a day hike the trail so spots are extremely competitive and sell out up to 6 months beforehand!
The night before our hike we met up with some friends at the pub for a quick catch up/goodbye drink as we would be separating paths for a while. They had just returned from a 4 day hike and assured us we would be fine to drink the night before as the first day is easy. They didn't tell us til we were about to leave (and I was a bit drunk) that they had done a different hike and that we were totally boned in the morning.
Sure enough, I was hungover when we got up at 4:30am to wait for our bus. It was freezing and they were late (everyone in Peru is late). I promptly went back to sleep on the bus.
Our trek started at a little tiny town at KM82 outside of Cusco. At this point there is also the beginning of a train that runs from km82 to a town at the base of Machu Pichu mountain called Aguas Calientes (which means hot waters in Spanish, named for the natural hot springs located here).
After going through the passport checks and the weigh station the porters have to go through to make sure they aren't carrying more than 20kg's we were off.
The first day seemed difficult but in retrospect it really was a stroll in the park, we were just unfit. A nice path meandered through a variety of microclimates and flora, for the main part following alongside a large river. Our guide and self proclaimed comedian, Pedro, set a slow pace as we were up at around 2,600m. We stopped a bunch of times to chat about different aspects of the trail and I was fortunate enough to see a Speckled Hummingbird at one of our stops. I was too slow to get a photo though. 😞
At one of our stops Pedro gave us a lesson in chewing Coca Leaves. Coca leaves are a huge part of life in the Andean Mountains. The leaves are full of calcium, anti-oxidants and vitamins and help increase energy levels, alertness and alleviate the negative effects of altitude sickness. I can tell you from first hand experience that altitude sickness is an absolute bitch and coca leaves are a godsend when you have it. Now i am obviously no expert in the matter, but we had been chewing coca leaves for a while as Bolivia is very high up and the advice Pedro gave us was, frankly, shit. He said to grab a bunch, stick some banana resin inside and stick it in your mouth and chew it up into little bits. We stuck to our method which was to take the leaves one at a time and bite out the stems and put them into your cheek. After about half an hour take the sticky wad out and add some banana resin (this is basically the ash of banana plants that has been solidified into a paste and helps release the juices of the plant). With the resin in the leaves the juices start to flow. Your mouth goes numb and you realize after a few minutes you are no longer panting at the lack of oxygen, and you have started overtaking everyone in your group. Good stuff!
We reached our first camp site that evening around 5pm and had a soccer match against the locals and the porters. Surprisingly, it was a draw. We had ascended around 400m so were at a decent height by now. A couple of beers and an amazing meal and we hit our beds although I stayed up a little while to take some shots of the night sky.
Rising the next morning at 5am it was sooooo cold and still dark. Porridge got us going and we packed up and started walking. The second day on the Inca Trail is renowned as being the hardest by far. There is a 1.2km ascent and then an 800m descent down the other side of the mountain and in total you walk 12km - all of it steps. We passed through a climate known as the cloud forest. Not as wet as a rainforest and situated at higher elevations, it still has some remarkable flora and fauna.
By the time we stopped for brunch at 10am, just before the steepest bit of the climb, it was still really cold. One of the porters poured some water on the ground and by the time we left it had frozen solid. The sun had not yet poked itself above the edge of mountains so we were all rugged up in our hoodies and llama gloves.
I walked by myself for most of day 2 as it turns out Vez and I have very different hiking styles. We are like the tortoise and the hare. Vez keeps a slow but steady pace, consistently finishing at the front of the group whereas I tended to power up the hill and overtake everyone, then notice something I just had to take a photo of and stop for five minutes while everyone slowly overtook me again. I got some cracking photos though 😊
The highest point on the entire trek comes halfway through day 2. It is called Dead Woman's Pass, named for the shape the mountain supposedly makes. I gotta be honest - I couldn't see anything that remotely resembled a woman, I said I did though so the guidde would shut up about it. He was tediously obsessed!
We reached the pass around eleven and took a well deserved rest (and in my case a ton of photos). We were waiting here for everyone from our group as we had all spread out over the course of the morning. One nice fellah from our group, Sam, had carried his entire pack with him (for some insane reason) so was a little slower than the rest but he made it shortly later and after a couple of group shots we started the descent.
The descent was an absolute bitch. I don't want to talk about it anymore apart from saying our knees will never be the same.
By two we were in camp and having a siesta. Life was good.
Day three on the hike is the most picturesque by a long way. The morning is spent climbing up a mountain (more steps) with a quick stop at an Incan ruin on the way. The building was used as a way station for messengers that would run along the trail. When they reached a station they would pass their message to another runner who would continue on so that they were always traveling at a speed of around 15km per hour. This is on treacherous and incredibly steep steps mind you, so it is highly, highly impressive.
Pedro told us it was traditional to take a rock from somewhere near the ruin and carry it to the summit as an offering for PachaMama (mother earth). I was bored so carried my rock up balanced on the top of my head. Not as easy as it sounds.
The offering ritual involved taking three of our best coca leaves each and holding them in both hands and offering them in the four directions, North, South, East and West. These were then placed on a large rock that serves as a makeshift shrine along with the rock we carried up and any candy we had handy.
The path from this point onwards was the original Inca Trail. The rocks and steps were smaller and well made. It really is a testament to the Incan construction skills that 500 years later the path is in perfect condition and much nicer to walk on than the recently constructed government sections.
After several more ruins and some spectacular views we eventually made it to our camp around sunset. After some ridiculously expensive beers and the coldest shower I have ever had the misfortune to scrub through we hit the hay as we had a 4am start the next morning.
The final day was actually a very nice walk. It was decently flat and not too obnoxious. We approached machu pichu by the sun gate which affords a very nice view of the mountain shortly after dawn. Our unfunny guide Pedro turned out to be an expert on incan history and gave us an awesome tour around the ruins. They really are very impressive. There has been a fair bit of restoration done as they were in fairly poor condition when they were discovered by Harem Bingham and you can clearly see the areas that have been tidied up. There are a number of temples, all dedicated to different aspects of worship. There are tons of houses and an observatory for star gazing. The sides of the hill are terraced in a most impressive manner, different combinations of soil, sand and clay provide different ground temperatures on each level for growing different types of crops.
Once we reached the top temple I dragged vez off to the point that overlooks the rest of the ruins. Going done on one knee i asked her if she would marry me. She stared at me for a moment and began to laugh nervously. "umm, what?" she asked. I asked again if she would marry me. Looking slightly bewildered she finally agreed and there we were after ten years, engaged to be married.
Not as smooth as I may have hoped, but a great result.
After leaving the ruins we went for a long relaxing soak at the hot springs in town before heading back to cusco. A very satisfying day indeed.
Now before i receive abusive emails from you loyal subscribers let me say that i realize that this is long and tedious and I intend to revert to a slightly more entertaining style next post. Also, I pledge to post more often however this means you won't have photos as they take ages to go through.
JJ out.
I am listening to: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I am reading: Wheel of Time - Heart of Winter by Robert Jordan
KM travelled so far: 19924
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Jamie
non-member comment
nice one Jimmy
Good one Jimmy. Top marks for romantic location. We loved the Inca Trail when we did it. What was your email address. I remember you said it is a more reliable way to contact you? Jamie