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Published: November 24th 2009
Day 1 - up at 4am and then bus to a town called Ollantaytambo for breakfast. Back on the bus to KM82 (2750m) - the famous starting point of the classic Inca trail. Then you walk along the river for a bit before you start to climb gently up and down rolling hills...the Peruvian flat. At one point we stopped and saw some ruins from a distance called Llactapata which were pretty big. This site was a storage place as it is in between two valleys which makes it windy. This means that the Incas actually called the Andeanor Quechua people as Incas were their leaders, stored dried products, such as dried potatoes - the Incas helped to develop over 600 types of potato and dried quinoa (apparently you can now by this in Sainsburys...they and we eat a lot of it in Peru, it is a grain between rice and couscous which is much better for you than all of the others and quite tasty) on the second floor of the buildings (lived on the first) and the buildings all had open windows in order to allow the wind through to keep the food for years. The position of the
site in between the two valleys also allows for easy transportation to Cusco (which is the centre of all things Inca and was like their capital) and Machu Picchu, a major religious centre for the Andean Empire and the river is also there.
Most sites were first discovered by Hiran Bingham but he only found the sites that the local people would tell him about.
From here it was another lot of peruvian flat until lunch, 12km from the start. After lunch was the worst part of the walk, a 700m uphill bit, first with a steep hill and then with many steps, some taller than my knees! until campsite which was at 3700m. It is only 3km but it took ages, it was awful I was completely spent and don´t know where my energy was coming from but I made it and that felt like such an achievement!
Day 2 - early start but got woken up with a coffee! and it was a 500m uphill climb to Dead Woman´s Pass - the highest point on the Inca trail at 4215m (2hr walk). This takes you from one valley into another. The weather at the top
is rubbish but it is their rainy season. It is then a 1 1/2 hour walk downhill - down 800m - which sounds easy but this is the Inca trail and they seemed to love uneven and huge steps which due to the altitude and being in the clouds are wet and slippery. At the bottom it was lunchtime. Relief especially as I had wibbly legs from all the down hill.
After lunch it is an uphill climb again for 400m to 4000m in order to cross the second path. However, after an hour (half way) there are some ruins called Runkuraqay at 3800m. This is a circular ruin which makes some people think that it may be a sun temple but our guide did not believe this way so due to the altitude. As you can see below no one knows the truth (Inca history). After reaching the top it is another 400m down (1 1/2 hours) and just before camp there were more ruins called Sayacmarca.
Day 3 - It was almost all downhill on this day. We stopped and looked at lots of orchids on the way...there are hundreds of varieties here from the almost
invisible to the pretty large. We also saw the plant that Paddington Bears eat (of course Paddington Bear is from Peru) and saw hummingbirds and a tucan. After a while we got to some ruins called Puyupatamarca (3640m) where we had a super long history lesson (see below). And then carried on until lunchtime. Next to our campsite was an amazing ruin called Winaywayna which we had all to ourseleves in the sunshine as we walk further than the others on the first day and so get to camp on day 3 at lunc and eveyrone else in the evening. At this site there is an urban area where people lived, an agricultural area (terraces - facing east) and a religious area with a sun temple. We got showers here!
Day 4 - We were up at 3.30am as our group was keen to be the first to the pass control. There is a gate blocking the last bit of the trail which opens at 5.30am and we were first in the queue. It was then a 40min sprint to the Sun Gate - at the end there are 53 steps called the "gringo killers" which are about my
knee height and aren´t wide enough to fit a foot on. The Sun Gate is where you get the first views of Machu Picchu and when a little bit further on you can see the sun coming through the gate onto the site. Pretty amazing. And then it is the rest of the 6km downhill to the site.
Machu Picchu - (old mountain) is actually the name of the mountain you walk down to get to the archelogical site. The site however was given the same name as no one knows what it would really have been called. The mountain that you see in all the pictures in Winapichhu (young mountain). There is an archeological site on here too but we didn´t climb up to it.
MP has many terraces, most are agricultural and so face east but some are the other way but these are mainly structural holding up the rest. There were not enough terraces to feed the population of MP (about 500-600) and so this is also another purpose of Winaywayna, where the population was only about 15 families. There is a temple section with a sun and moon temple and also a condor temple.
There are also many places for astronomical observations and very clever placing of windows and rocks for light to come through and to tell north etc. There are also very clever aqua ducts which bring the water down from the mountains. The people would only drink from he bottom fountain of the 16 fountains.
Porters - Absolute genius. They carry 28 kilos each in huge bags and pretty much run in sandles. No idea how thy do it. Our guide explained that they were very traditional and pretty much following on from the Incas. They eat huge quantities of coca leaves to give them energy (apparently once you get over the taste they really do work. It is not illegal to grow coca leaves in Peru as long as it is in small quantities otherwise they think you are for cocaine production. They also follow the old traditions such as worshiping the mountains.
Food - Was amazing. They made things with everyone´s dietary requirements and even baked Tracey a birthday cake without using an oven. One night we even had flambeed bananas with rum and we had mulled wine and popcorn and so many other things. A popular
dish is Lomo Saltado it is really good. A traditional drink is chicha which is sort of a made from maize and the porters drink this for energy too, we didn think much of it though.
Inca History - No one really knows the truth as when the Spanish turned up the Incas pretty much fled and took everything with them. It is thought that most of the sites are unfinished as they had taken over 100 years to build and the workmanship at the top of the some buildings is with little unpolished stones suggesting a quick finish, although others think it is deliberate as this bit would have been hidden by thatched roofs.
The Spanish were able to overcome the Incas due to a number of reasons (although at first they were friends). Firstly the Incas were afraid of white people with hair and moustaches and bodily hair as Peruvian people have no hair on their faces or arms. second the Spanish had guns, third the Inca tribes were not united. So the Spanish took over by saying they wanted a meeting with the Inca leader, who agreed. Things turned sour when the Inca refused to
accept the bible, the Spanish guy then said we are now enemies and then took him Prisioner and killed him eventually. All of this was in Cusco, the centre of the Inca Empire. The Spanish were able to communicate as they were not in Cusco first but in Ecuador and they captured a little boy and took him to Central America where he was taught Spanish. He was then used as a translator between the Spanish and the Quechua language. (evil huh!). The Spanish pretty much destroyed all of the Inca buildings or used the walls in places like Cusco to build up. It is only the Inca bits that remained after the earthquakes, the last in the 1950, the Incas knew not to build straight up but at a slight angle in or out for strength. The ruins that remain were deserted by the Incas in order to protect them and they are well hidden in the mountains by the vegetation and the fact that they are pretty inaccessible!
Inca Religion - The Incas believed in worshiping the elements. There were three levels of worship. If looking at the Incas you may find a cross like thing with
three steps up and three down...the up is the important bit. The top is the god who has a crazy long name beginning with W or the condor and then the next step was the puma and the last one was the snake. The bottom of the cross is a reflection as everything must be reflected in their culture and it also represents the southern cross constalation.
Th sun was of great importance hence sun temples which are curved. The summer and winter solstice are hugely important and in MP there are windows which let in light on these days. The moon and stars also very important.
Also important are the mountains. Perhaps the most famous is Salkantay (known as the unconquerable or uncontrolable) and is the highest in the region at 6271m. The only other name i can remember is Veronica. The porters and traditional people all worship these snow covered mountains and before eating coca leaves offer the leaves to them.
Discovery of MP - the main man here was Hiran Bingham who discovered most sites. He came to many wrong conclusions. He was looking for the lost city of the Incas (possibly still in
the rainforest). The sites were all covered over with vegetation and so he would not have found anything without the locals telling him things. The ruins are now all 60% original and 40% restored.
Weather - Apparently we were in rainy season which means that the weather is highly changeable. The downpours are huge but not cold when it rains. We were so lucky that every time it rained we were in a tent and when we got to Machu Picchu there was glorious sunshine so we had a perfect view and even saw the sun coming through the sun gate. Temperature wise, at night it is cold but then you don´t expect much more when at altitude. During the day the weather varied, we all wore long trousers and most of the time just a top. However, when doing the passes we had to wear jumpers and I even put on gloves! We were in the middle of and above clouds at times and so the weather is what you expect.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about our Inca Trail, more photos will be added in time! I had the most amazing, painful, mixed experience doing this trip. The group was great, the guide was amazing and the experience was incredible!
Love Jen xxx
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nina
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Lo such a real insight into south America makes me want to travel and see the world so pleased you are having such a good time Thank you love Nina and Ray