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Published: January 18th 2009
La Familia Inca Trail
A group photo of our ¨family¨at the beginning of the trail. In no particular order...
* The People!
Our group was 16 people from the US, Canada, England, Australia, Holland (Kim from Amsterdam hiked in her Birkenstocks, smoking all the way!), and New Zealand, plus 2 guides. Everyone got along really well. We became fast friends and everyone helped each other out. It was nice to walk and talk with different people along the trail. It was so hard for us to separate that many of us had dinner together the following night.
* The Porters!
These guys are legends! We felt good about how the company we went with (Peru Treks and Adventures) treated them. Our guys had matching pants and jackets, good shoes, headlamps, proper backpacks, etc. There were 20 porters for the 18 of us and they carried all the tents, food and supplies. They would run ahead every day with all that weight on their backs and by the time we strolled in they had set everything up, started cooking, would give us a round of applause and hand us a beverage. The last morning our camera fell out of John's pocket. A porter found it right away, remembered John's name and gave it back. They
Ready, set, go!
The porters getting ready to move out on the 1st day. were always smiling, offering to lend their head lamp, etc. Our guide did a great job of introducing us to our guys--the head porter, strongest, fastest, youngest, oldest, etc. These guys were amazing!
* Freddy the Guide!
We felt really fortunate to have a mestizo guide. Freddy's mother is Quechua so he grew up with the language, religion, culture, etc. and was able to really passionately convey it all to us. He had a lot of integrity around his work and his relationships with us and the porters. He really made the trip by bringing our group together, teaching us about Pachamama and helping us to appreciate all we were seeing.
* The Food!
We still don't know how Apu the Cook was making such magic in the middle of the Andes but we had better food on the trail than we had in the rest of Peru. John went into the kitchen tent to bring beers to the guys and saw that there were wearing white chef oufits including hats! We had pizza, pudding, veggie kabobs and stir fries with wheat gluten, amazing soups, wontons, tons of veggies, etc. We never expected to eat that well (or
that often as sometimes we'd have snack or tea time in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner.)
* The Landscape and Views!
We were so lucky to hike the trail in the rainy season and have as much sun as we did. It rained a lot the second half of the second (hardest) day and took a while for our stuff to dry, but other than that we had great views including a completely clear last day at Machu Picchu. Our campsites were amazing. The first night we camped in the middle of a valley and had a gringos vs. porters soccer game. The porters definitely had an advantage being used to the altitude! The second night we camped next to a waterfall and the third night we camped with a view of Machu Picchu mountain and the Urubamba River.
* The Physicality of the Trek!
Our guide Freddy said we were not the lazy group and so took the long way whenever possible. We were glad we had spent so much time in Cusco because we didn't feel at all sick from the alitude, just sore from 8-10 hour days of hiking up and down mountains. 3
years after knee surgery and Josie's knee performed like a champ! She was also one of only 2 girls to not hire a porter and carry all of her own bedding and personal belongings. It was nice to push ourselves--this hike is not easy!
* The Flora & Fauna!
We saw 24 kinds of orchids (according to the Aussie biologist), butterflies, birds (including huge hawks or eagles that seemed to manifest whenever we evoked Pachamama), hummingbirds, parrots, a huge snail and centipede, lizards, llamas, alpacas and chinchillas!
* uuhhhh... Machu Picchu!
The last day we woke up at 4am, were the second group in line, left at 5:30am and walked 6km in 45 minutes to arrive at the sun gate for the grand view of the ruins. We booked it and actually arrived before the sun had fully risen over the site. It was magnificent (and nice to get some photos before the rest of the hikers arrived). Freddy gave us a tour of the ruins, which was great. However, we felt pretty beat from the previous 26 miles we'd hiked in 4 days and waking up early every morning. Plus, we experienced a sort of culture shock
from being out in the woods and then suddenly surrounded by tourists again.
* Adventure!
We were supposd to take a train from Aguas Calientes to Ollaytantambo to catch a bus back to Cusco (to arrive about 10pm). However, the campesinos were striking because of a proposal to privatize the water and had blocked the train tracks and some of the roads with large boulders. Viva el Paro! But, this meant that we had to walk for 3 hours along the train tracks, part of which was in the dark, across river bridges, through the woods and down to a road where we waited for the mini buses. (Josie´s flashlight had broken and at one point she was leading like 20 people through the woods with her dad´s pen light--thanks dad!) We got some beers, made friends with the local dogs and eventually crammed into vans for a very long and bumpy ride back to Cusco. We arrived at 5am the next morning and later found out that at 8pm the trains started running and other groups got back at about 2am. But they didn't have the adventure we did!
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AShby Utting
non-member comment
wow
my feelings of envy just tripled! wow, sounds like you two are having an awesome time. -ash