The Lares Trek and Machu Picchu

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Lares is a small mountain town 37km from Ollantaytambo, it is also where I started my three day hike along one of the many alternate Inca trails. The trip turned out to be a fantastic experience which culminated in the quintessential South American destination, Machu Picchu.

I was collected from my hostel early morning and headed up past Sacsayhuaman, once more towards the sacred valley of the Incas. The group of seven I was in had been doing an organized trip across South America together, so were already quite gelled; this gave the group a relaxed atmosphere from the start. This was helped by our excellent, fluent English speaking guide Julio Cesar Chaparro (no relation) who also happened to own the company we were with; Inca’s Heartland.

Our first stop once we had driven up into the mountains was the infrequently visited ruins of Ancas Marca, which consisted of tens of large circular Inca food stores perched on the side of the mountain. The Inca’s considered the fertile valley floor much too useful for food production to cover with store rooms. After this brief excursion we drove onwards and upwards to the small town of Colca where we had a chance to stock up on some vital supplies. We were going to be trekking and camping at over 4000m so to try and retain some warmth during the trip I bought some long woolen shorts, gloves, a scarf and most importantly a big bag of coca leaves. Since we arrived into Colca quite early in the morning we had a chance to visit a local bakery; the massive wood fired ovens produced hundreds of small buns each day, at 2p each they were a very tasty bargain. The entire group bought a large bag each, since it was Julio’s philosophy that giving the children we would meet on the trek bread was far better than giving them sugary western sweets. Over the next couple of hours we continued up into the mountains, driving up to in excess of 4500m, some of the mountain roads we drove down had me itching to jump on a mountain bike. When we eventually arrived into Lares there was an extremely tasty lunch prepared for our arrival. This set the tone for the excellent food and service we were to receive over the next few days. Feeling thoroughly stuffed I was ready to set off; like the Inca trail we were only expected to carry a day bag but our luggage was to be carried by a small herd of Llamas not porters, which meant were given a bigger luggage allowance.

The Lares valley is filled with people who speak only Quechua and while intentionally shunning the colonial Spanish and more recently western influence, they continue to live in much the same way they did during Inca times. This was demonstrated when we passed a group of thatched stone homesteads which were over five hundred years old; in fact the only change to this small settlement was the replacement of the thatching every five years or so. The locals all wore traditional dress which consisted of vividly colored ponchos and strange fruit bowl like hats perched atop their heads. It was nice visiting a place where the traditional dress was not worn for the benefit of tourists and where the locals seemed both fascinated and genuinely pleased to see you. The strangest sight was the young men who wore the brightest and most garish outfits with the biggest hats in order to attract the ladies, to me they looked like they were dressed for Mardi Gras. Since only three small groups of tourists pass through the Lares area each month it is one of the lesser visited regions of Peru.

During the first afternoon we walked for 11km to get up to our first camp site at 4200m, the little site called Sondor was near the top of the mountain pass and had views stretching far into the valley below. Unfortunately my sleeping bag had been left behind so despite the combination of spare blankets and sleeping bag liners I had quite a chilly night. The next morning we woke to find everything outside the tents frozen solid, despite the cold the chef and his helpers had a fresh pancake breakfast waiting for us. At altitude coca tea is fantastic, it aids circulation, opens the airways and even helps prevent altitude sickness; I had several cups a day and felt much better for it, its sad that such a useful little plant has been so irrevocably demonized by cocaine. After breakfast we walked outside to see that a local woman had set up a little shop selling local wares, I bought a small woven alpaca rug which apparently takes about two months to make, it only cost about 13 pounds. That morning we had to climb up to the first mountain pass at 4560m which took a couple of hours. Over this time the landscape changed from rough scrubland to the barren desert of high altitude passes; flanking one side of the path was a huge mountain which had two glaciers flowing down its side. At the top of the pass we saw two glacial lakes in the valley below which mirrored the surrounding mountains perfectly. The hike was too much for three members of the group who had to hire horses to take them up to the first pass. We dropped down into the interconnecting valley before making the assent to the second pass at 4520m. Since leaving Sondor the five locals who were doing all the work had packed up camp, loaded up the twenty llamas needed to carry our gear, run past us and set up a tea break at the top of the second pass; those guys are insanely fit. During the break we were lucky enough to spot a pair of huge Condors flying past, vast and very impressive creatures. Throughout most of the trek I’d been spotting mountain C´ara (falcon) which were almost as vividly colored as the locals. One C´ara I saw was being harassed by two tiny K´ellichou; these highly territorial little birds can apparently bring down a fully grown Condor. They fly behind the bigger bird and aim their droppings on the Condors tail feathers, where they solidify inhibiting the condors flight, which eventually results in its death; clever little buggers.

Most of the group were knackered at this point so Julio sent me up a nearby mountain (4700m) to stop me jumping around. The summit afforded incredible 360° views of the surrounding snow capped peaks and the distant valleys, the peace, beauty and serenity that’s implicit at a summit is why I adore the mountains. From the mountaintop it was all down hill to our second camp site, Marca-cocha. The landscape continued to change during our decent, much of the approach to the camp was across lush alpine fields which were straight out of the sound of music, the only difference being they were covered with herds of pakchua (llama/alpaca crosses). Our campsite was in the grounds of an old colonial church at the edge of a small village in the base of the valley. Since it was only at only 3400m it was at a much more bearable temperature. Within minutes of our arrival, the camp was inundated by a big group of local children who seemed fascinated by us, I spent the next couple of hours breaking the ice and showing the kids my various tricks and teaching them wheelbarrow races, cartwheels, shoulder rides and various other bits and pieces that seem to keep kids entertained. The game that got the most laughs was when I swung the kids round and round in circles by their arms/legs, after a few minutes I had a fairly big audience who roared with laughter every time a kid couldn’t walk straight. It was lovely playing with the local kids, something I’ve not done since Thailand. Between the 17km hike that day and the kids I was utterly exhausted by the end of the day and slept straight through until the next morning.

The third day of the hike was a 10km decent into Ollantaytambo, but since we had lots of time we made a slight uphill detour to the old Inca fort of Puma Marka. This extensive site lacked the grandeur of the other Inca ruins I’ve visited since it was constructed from rough small-scale stonework and probably had an exclusively military function. The backdrop of Puma Wanker mountain (I know it’s rude) did make the location quite impressive plus we were the only tourists there which is always nice. During the hike down we followed an original Inca trail, which was lined by high walls and followed the path of an Inca canal all the way into Ollantaytambo. On my previous visit to the town I didn’t see that all the streets up to about 8´ high were Inca built and formed a very modern block plan, the canal we had followed all the way from the second camp site continued to flow along purpose built causeways through the narrow streets. After a quick lunch we caught the train to Aguas Calientes, the stepping stone to Machu Picchu 8km away. After three days hiking we were all very tired and smelly so greatly appreciated the two hours spent in the towns hot springs.

The next morning, after a 4:30am start we caught one of the first busses up to Machu Picchu, the bus ride took half an hour and wound up the mountain along some very precarious hairpins. We arrived in good time so we were one of the first to be allowed onto the site when it opened at six; a full two hours before those on the Inca trail were due. Before the sun rose over the mountains Julio gave us a guided tour of all the principle buildings, for the sunrise we headed up to the sundial and watched as the first rays struck the stone. From there we headed up to the caretakers house to snap the classical picture that captures the whole site along with the backdrop of Wayna Picchu mountain. The sunrise over the mountains cast shafts of light into the valley and the slow illumination of the valley was mesmerizing. Machu Picchu is only 2350m above sea level, which is why the surrounding mountains are clad is such thick tropical rainforest, combined with the setting and shear scale of the lost city, the combined sight is quite incredible. What makes Machu Picchu so archeologically unique is that despite the huge effort and time involved in building it, it was never inhabited so is almost perfectly preserved. Many historians postulate that it was a last attempt by the Incas to preserve their culture and maintain their dying empire. The Spanish never discovered it so many of the religious artifacts, such as the sundial remain in tact; I would go so far as to avoid calling it a ruin since it is so undamaged.

From the main site we walked to the Inca drawbridge which provided the final access to Machu Picchu from an alternative Inca trail. The approach to the bridge was along a path hewn into a near shear cliff face, the idea of waking along that path is terrifying. That access was how the site was original found and was how the first tourists gained access. Machu Picchu was such a sacred site to the Incas that they probably made the access difficult intentionally. At this point on the trip our group split, everyone else went back to explore the ruins while I decided to climb Machu Picchu mountain.

This climb follows steep Inca steps up from the main site to the summit of the mountain at 3100m. The trail was very hard work and at times disintegrated into a scree scramble. The path was obviously built to give spectacular views of Machu Picchu since the route up was broken by carefully positioned viewing platforms which were built into the trail. After missing out on the Inca Trail the climb up the steps of Machu Picchu mountain more than made up for it. After an hour and twenty minutes of climbing I started to approach the summit and the final approach was like walking along a knife edge, the path was only a few paces wide with nothing but huge precipices on either side. Being quite fond of heights I went right out to the knifes tip which was a flat triangular section of rock that had a 1000m vertical cliff on one side and a 600m drop on the other, quite an incredible spot. From my perch high up on the mountain I had unparalleled views of all the surrounding forest clad mountains, the distant snow capped peaks and of course the best view of Machu Picchu that I saw. What made the summit so special was that I was the only one up there; I spent over an hour sat on my perch marveling at what I could see. On the entire three hour round trip up and down the mountain I only met one other person, considering the many thousands of people that visit Machu Picchu every day I find this remarkable.

When I arrived back into Machu Picchu the whole place had filled up with the Americapanese day trippers from Cusco, which made the site much harder to appreciate. I spent the next few hours diligently exploring the buildings while being suitably impressed by the beautiful stonework and symbolism that I’ve come to expect from the Inca constructions. That afternoon after the bus ride back to Aguas Calientes we transferred back to Cusco by train and then bus; it’s only since I left Machu Picchu that I have really begun to appreciate just how incredible it really is and why its glowing international reputation is so well deserved.


Many thanks to Mike, who let me use all his photos from the Lares trek

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Photos

Colca Bakery
We saw hundreds of buns being produced in the short time we were there

Inca storage
This is one of the Inca food stores at Ancas Marca

Llama travel
These twenty odd llamas carried all our luggage for the whole trek

Inca houses
This is one of the Inca houses from the 500 year old Lares village

Meeting the locals
These three local kids were some of the first we met all dressed in their local garb

First camp
This is the location of our first camp site up at 4200m, you can see the meal tent in the foreground

Local Lad
This little lad followed us all the way up to the first pass; he is pictured in front of one of the glacial lakes

Mountain views
This is a view down into the valley from the second pass, I think

Second camp
This is the second camp site in the grounds of an infrequently used colonial church

Puma Marka
A view from inside the Inca fort of Puma Marka

Inca Terraces
During our decent into Ollyantytambo we saw several of these Inca farming terraces, which are still in use today

Ollyantytambo´s Streets
This is one of the narrow Inca “guinea pig” streets that crisscrossed Ollyantytambo

Comments

[Mazza]

Macho Willo
Fascinating blog, loved doing the mountains with you but got a bit scardy cat on the ledge! Looking forward to seeing you in a fortnight. Have fun til then x

[Kris Hjalmarson]

Good to know!
It's hard to find info on this trek that is personal, most sites are clad with advertising and self-promotion for a certain agency. I am heading to Peru tomorrow (Christmas) and will then take the Lares Trek a few days afterwards. Thank you for your wonderful reflection!