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Published: November 10th 2006
The way up to Dead woman's pass (Day 2)
Dead woman's pass is the highest point of the trail at 4200m.Day 1
Our group of 14 was up fairly early for the official weigh-in. We where allowed to handover up to 6.5 kgs of stuff to the porters and this was strictly enforced in the weigh-in, I took a minimum amount of things so easily made the cut. From there we got on the bus and departed for the starting point.
Along the way we passed a lot of small hamlets. At one the owner was washing himself under a hose in the middle of his yard. Further along, the narrow road was blocked by a truck, we had a long stand off, which we ended up losing and had to reverse a little to allow the truck to pass.
We soon arrived at KM 82, our starting point for the hike. We checked in, having our passports checked. The number of people entering the trail is strictly controlled at this point. We crossed the Urubamba river on a suspension bridge, the river flowing straight ahead into the distance. Not far from the bridge we stoped at a small clearing and Ceaser our guide made an offering to Pachamama (the Earth mother goddess) of coca leaves.
We
proceeded ahead along fairly flat ground firstly near the Urubamba river and then a side stream. Eventually we made it to a spot where the porters had set up a tent for us to have lunch in! After lunch we all rested for a while before gathering ourselves for the walk again.
The rest of the day proved quite hard. The trail started to climb and would continue to do so for the rest of the day. We passed a weighing station where each porter is checked to make sure he is not carrying more than the limit of 25kgs. Further up the trail passed through cloud forest which was fantastic. As the day wore on I had to rest frequently, I really struggled on this first day of the trail. I ended up being one of the last people to make it to the camp, which was located at around 3800m.
We had a group dinner and then where all off to sleep. Just as I got inside our tent it started raining and hailing for a little while.
Day 2
In the morning a herd of Llamas and Alpacas grazed near the tents. We
where introduced to the porters, there where about 20 of them! Ceaser collected bags of coca leaves from us, which he gave to the porters. After breakfast we started the walk up to Dead woman’s pass, which is the highest point of the trail at around 4200m. This was fairly easy as it was only about another 400m higher than our campground, in fact the rest of the trail was fairly easy compared to the first day as it was mostly down hill.
Once at the top of the pass, we took photos, had a rest and had a shot of alcohol from Ceaser. It was everyone for themselves on the way down from the pass. I passed hummingbirds hovering above the shrubs along the trail, I ended up reaching the lunch area ahead of everyone and received a clap and cheer from the porters which was pretty cool considering how incredible they are (see below). They even had a bowl of water for everyone to wash themselves in.
After lunch we continued as a group. We passed the round Inca ruin of Runkuraqay, and in the afternoon we reached the ruin of Sayaqmarka. Here Ceaser gave us
Ancient steps (Day 3)
Part of Phuyupatamarca ruins. quite a detailed run down on Inca history, before we had free time to explore the ruin. This was fantastic as only a few of us decided to hang around, so we had the ruin to ourselves. Just after leaving the ruin I spotted a hummingbird who was quite happy sitting on a branch, so I got some close up photos of him. The path between the ruin and the campsite had some incredible cloud forest vegetation, unfortunately it was too dark to take photos as the sun had set, and I had to rush to the campsite as I was the last to leave the ruin.
In the evening Ceaser told us about some Inca ghost stories. Apparently the porters prefer to sleep as far away from the Inca trail as possible because they fear the spirits of those who died building the trail. He told us about one incident when they camped in a cave, right on the trail, and where woken by strange shadows. The porters said this would mean that someone from the group would die. And on the last day of this expedition one of the porters slipped and fell down a cliff face.
Day 3
Once again it was an early start, the trail crossed more rainforest, and it was quite foggy in the morning. Ceaser our guide stopped to show us many types of orchids along the path, including one which was only discovered about 3 years ago. Eventually we reached a peak from which we could see a falcon (I think that’s what it was) on a rocky outcrop, then it took off and flew away.
We continued until we reached the spectacular mist covered ruins of Phuyupatamarca, these looked somewhat like a medieval fortress. We had a break here, and afterwards took an old track which follows the ridge. The start of this track was used as a public toilet and one of the guys managed to step into some human poo, he didn’t just step into it as he managed to get it all over his trousers as well, so he had to walk behind everyone for the rest of the day!
There are some spectacular views of distant Inca terraces, steep hills and the Urubamba river snaking its way between the hills. Eventually we reached a spectacular lookout from which we got our first
glimpse of Machu Picchu, and Waynapicchu behind it.
From there it was all the way down to the campsite. As we made our way down we walked through some fairly thick cloud forest and came out at the massive Intipata terraces. There where people working on the terraces. From there it was a fairly well trodden path to the campsite.
Our last campsite was quite packed with all the other people doing the trail as it is the last campsite before Machu Picchu. There was even a shop here and I had a beer for the first time in a few days.
In the evening we walked to the Huinayhuayna ruins. These consist of terraces, a temple area at the top of the terraces with running water channels, and a housing or storage complex about half way down the terraces. Its quite a spectacular setting among the hills, and there is a waterfall behind the ruins, although it was quite dry.
Later in the evening we all put in money for the porters, it was decided to put in 100 soles each (about 30 USD). We then had a thank you ceremony to the porters. Despite
all the hard work from the porters some of the people in our group later complained about how 100 soles was too much, I thought that was really poor.
Day 4
The last day was the earliest start yet, and it was still dark when we got up. There is a gate just after this campsite and we had to wait a fair while before it was opened, there was a huge group of people all lined up and ready to make the final dash for Machu Picchu.
Once the gate was opened it was like being in an endurance race, everyone for themselves. The path was generally too narrow to pass anyone, but if anyone dared to stop for a quick break they would be passed by all those behind. An hour or so later we reached the Sun-gate.
A tribute to the porters
The porters are just amazing, just being next to these guys and watching them work was a major highlight of the trail for me. Most of the porters are farmers and do the trail up to 3 times per month to earn some extra money in the tourist season. For
Shoping Center (Day 1)
They even accept Visa and Mastercard! our group of 14 there where around 20 porters (may have been 18, I can’t remember the exact number now).
They put in a huge effort to make sure everyone is well looked after. Each morning a couple of them would set off early to be the first to reserve the lunch and campsite for that night. At each campsite there would always be one waiting at the entry point to accompany you to the actual camping spot.
On the first day my sleeping mat got misplaced somewhere and it was funny watching almost all 20 porters yelling at each other trying to find it as soon as possible. Another funny incident occurred when one porter was bending over to pull a tent apart, another porter behind him tried to pull that porters wallet out of his back pocket for a joke. They seem to enjoy their work despite having to carry loads of 25 kgs each.
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Karen
non-member comment
WOW!
Hi I have just read your blog as I am going in November and you have really helped me get a daily account of what to expect. Thank you! Also loved your photos. Thank you Karen