Peru - Inca trail to Machu Picchu

Inca trail day minus 2 (Cusco)
The Inca Trek can only be done through a tour and the actual Classico Inca Trek to Machu Picchu is 4 days. Mands booked us on a 7 day tour including nights in Cusco and the Sacred Valley.

We arrived at the meeting hotel smelling as fresh as Tarzan following our Amazon days. The next 4 hours was spent repeating a cycle of plugging the shower to make a washing pitt, hand soap lathering, feet stomping and multiple basin rinsing cycles. Washing was followed by draping clothed over the "do not cover" room heater to ensure we had something clean and dry ready for the Inca trail. Success.

We met the other trekkers at the G adventure briefing and were given duffel bags where the maximum weight we were allowed was 6 kgs including sleeping bag. These would be carried by the porters and then we could each take a day back pack for cameras, heavy rain gear, 2 litres of water and snacks.

Following a Peruvian recommendation we went in search of pollo a la Brasa (grilled roast chicken and chips) for our final pre-tour meal. We found a place that fitted the bill having a large open log fire grill taking up most of the entrance and ordered 1/4 and 1/2 chickens. Chickens were fantastic and enormous! Not sure what the chickens are fed here, but never seen anything like that in Nandos. We seemed to get better service than anyone else (I guessed Gringos tip better). Also tried lemonade - if you want regular lemonade, order Sprite, lemonade here is a home made mix including frothed egg white! Really good.

Inca trail day minus 1 (Sacred Valley)
Early start and we piled into a mini bus and began the tour. We stopped at the hillside overlooking Cusco at the White Christ. This is a copy of Christ the Redeemer in Rio, a gift from China. All towns we've come across either have a large cross or Christ illuminated and overlooking the residents. The area also contains ruins and has an interesting name, Saqsaywamàn. It's difficult to remember until you're told to say "Sexy Woman" and then it sticks.

Off to the Inca's sacred valley (sacred due to the river providing water to all Inca's agriculture in the area). We stopped at a community where a project is being run to continue with their traditions and keep the community going rather than be drawn into the city. We learnt about how alpaca wool is turned into yarn and how colours are added using various natural dyes from flowers to blood from bugs on cactuses. We bought the obligatory Peru Alpacha hats and Mands walked off with gloves, bed socks, and scarf that must have kept a fair few alpachas cold for the next month! I've been assured that buying the scarf here we've actually saved money.

Ollantaytambo is where we'd spend the night. After checking in we headed off to climb the Temple and Inca village ruins after which the town was named. Again impressive, with two features standing out: the temple rocks were carved in different sizes and assembled without so much as a hairline gap between them; secondly the size and weight of the temple stones defies logic on how they'd get the rocks in place high-up on the mountain.

Final supplies for the hike (power aid powder, museli bars, chocolate bars and water) and back to the hotel. Rachael and Michelle had bought the orange power aid powder and ran their sorting and distributing operation from room 101 like well established dealers.

Inca trail day 1 (Piskacuchu 2650m to Wayllambamba 3000m; 5km + 11km)
A bus arrived to "safely" take us to the start of the trail. The road followed on the banks of the river that was furiously flowing along with rapids smashing against rocks - way to hard to be navigable for rafting. The road with the ever looming river was at best a comfortable single vehicle track, not in Peru, as we crossed paths with other busses and trucks by edging part of the wheels over edges and pulling in the side mirrors!

At Piskacuchu, the start of the trail, various groups were preparing and this is the first look at what the porters would be doing. Tents, gas cooker, chairs, our duffle bags and virtually the kitchen sink were loaded into "purpose built" back packs stacked higher than the porters themselves. At the security check and start of the trail, the porters not only passed us, but ran passed us with their loads!

Passports out and the Macha Piccu stamp and date was bestowed. I landed up with a stamp on my arm as well as a tattoo. The trail's begun.

It was a taster day and first real look at how altitude affects you. We had 2 guides, Marcelino a lead veteran of the mountains as our main guide and Jaiko the younger man of the mountain. They kept the group together and had frequent regular stops for us to take on water and acclimatise. Each stop added more info on the Incas, the trail or customs.

A couple of hours later and I was the lunch stop. No regular mountain lunch however... Bowls of water and soap to wash our hands, tent erected with table and chairs, 3 course asparagus sopa (soup), chicken/rice/vegetables and dessert finished off with hot tea with coca leaves. We prepared to head off for the afternoon hike and like a well drilled regiment, the porters had packed up and again were setting off. We devised a call as warning that the porters are coming through and we should stand to one side, "Porter Alert" could be heard for from then all the way to Machu Piccu.

This was a short day, so reached the camping area by 3pm. Marcelino and Jaiko then bolted off like Incas possessed. A few of us followed them to see what was up. There, chiseled between the mountain side and large rock outcrop was a make shift football pitch on the only flat piece of land around. Girls had the pitch and it worked on 30 minute slots with the next 6 man team lining up. We cheered as Marcelino took to the pitch and the no holds barred football game ensued.

As night fell the stars lit the sky - always a sight where there are no city lights. Orions belt was clearly displayed, but no Southern Cross, although it is visible at some times of the year from behind the mountains. We took advantage of the dark night and using my camera on long exposure and head torches, created light image photos of a llama, Inka writing and failed attempts of Caroline and Cameron's public displays of affection!

Into the 2 man tent and ready for the 2nd day and biggest of the climbs!

Inca trail day 2 (Wayllabamba 3000m to Paqaymayo 3600m; 8km + 4km)
4:30 wake up with a porter knocking on the tent door with a cup of coca tea. Coca apparently helps with the altitude and you can either have it in tea or chew it. I'd just learnt you don't actually eat it, luckily no problems after I ate the coca leaves at the airport after arriving!

Just as we were ready to leave the tent I noticed eight legs, the size of my hand above us. This was one big ass spider and by big ass, it's body was the size of my thumb. Not only was it above us, but active! The only good thing about this is that it was between our inner tent and the outside sheet. we had open air vents that it could climb into at any time, but we weren't waiting around to find out. Out guides got wind of this and came over. It was a big tarantula and they're not friendly.

Each day we were given a snack pack consisting of fruit, chocolate or energy bar, biscuits and soda hard boiled sweets - soda sweets are great!

Our hike for the day would be a long one to push through to lunch at 2 , quite late, but we'd camp there for the night. The hike was broken into 4 sections, 3 hour and a half up sections to the highest point of the trail (Warmiwañusca / Dead Woman Pass 4215m) and then 2 hours down.

The trail is for the majority of the way "paved" with large rocks. It get's torrential rain, so rocks are the only thing that makes it navigable. Original Inca laid stones are great as they were short and the stone stair cases winding up the mountains were made for their height. Non original stone layers seem to have had competitions on who could build the largest steps!

The 6 hour ascent split the group, it was a challenging section for everyone, but you can never tell how altitude with physical excursion will affect you. Running fit doesn't count count here. On this day, Laura coined one of the trail one liners: "They may overtake us, but they will not stop us!" Mands and I made good progress, but the final stretch was very much crawl up for 4 minutes, rest and drink. We got to the top and in scenes like the closing stages of a marathon, each tour group brought their team home.

The 2 hours down to camp consisted of big step after big step, zig-zagging down the mountain through the cloud forrest - good test for the knees. Porters however took the downhill on like like the road runner, dead straight bodies slightly leaning forward and legs spinning below.

We all made it into camp and after a round of llama bombs (my version on high 5 with a llama twist) we sat down for another good lunch. This is the only day that everyone had a siesta and were woken for 5pm tea with copious amounts of fresh popcorn!

Cards came out for a few rounds of shithead, then dinner. Good day Team.

Inca trail day 3 (Paqaymayo 3600m to Wiñaywayna 2650m; 1km + 4km + 1km + 3km + 7km)
No different to other days, we were up early for sunrise start. This was the only day we'd walk in the rain. It was light in comparison to the downpours we heard during the nights, but enough for everything on us to be wet. Rain jackets and bubble gum coloured ponchos were dotted along the trail. Mist and cloud consumed all of the view for the morning section. We'd could see close now jungle like vegetation and the odd Alpacha and llama, but for most parts it was a lot of stairs. So many stairs down the mountain that this section of the trail is known as Gringo's Killer!

By day 3 the girls seemed to be settling in well with bush pees - there were toilets every half day, but usually the bush looked and smelt safer. Also, the long walks got our creative juices flowing and it wasn't long before the Inca jokes appeared: my contribution to the trail has to be recorded - sorry - What did the Inca say on the final ascent up the steep mountain... I Inc I can, I Inc I can!

This was our longest day and we'd only get in just before sunset. The afternoon flattened out and visibility improved with us winding around the mountain side. One of the highlights of the trip came along the optional longer route into camp that we took to see a ruin.

The Intipunku ruin was a small farmstead and a huge 3 meter terrace section for agriculture. The site was spectacular and mixed with days of physical exertion and short nights, our whole group joined in for crazy photos and antics (see jumping photos). 3 llamas were grazing on the site and the lead llama cleared a 2 meter gap in the terrace to come graze where we were. Not put out by us at all it wondered in showing us who owned the site. We were warned not to get too close as they spit when threatened, so we all edged closer for photos. The photo of the day came when at the perfect time I was able to get our guides and group either side of the llama for a panoramic shot - this was dubbed panorama llama for the rest of the tour and I expect a few years to come. Our guides were heard laughing at us saying loco (crazy) chicos.

After dinner our chefs came in with an enormous cake! Someone must have run this up from the town 2 hours away! We called out the porters, chefs and staff for a thanks and tips (for a group our size of 15 there are 2 guides, 1 cook and 20 porters - porters are now limited to only carry 20 kg each, pre this being regulated they would apparently carry up to 60kgs!). We heard from Marcello that the porters are all from the highlands and are farmers. They supplement low season times with porter work - no training on this, their mountain skills are in their blood. Their families are remote and gather together for the return of the porters for stories such as the people with white hair. One family was in for a great time when Chris gave his moon booties to one of the porters!

We gathered for another card game of mass shithead and introduced the new rule of the Inca Power Card, the joker. Hopefully Jaiko and Marcello take this forward. Cam ended as final shithead, but it was Chris that would get the overall shithead award.

Settling down in our tent, horror movie scene screams rang out through the mountains... another tarantula. Rachael the screamer and Michelle the squasher.

Inca trail day 4 (Wiñaywayna 2650m to Machupicchu 2400m; 6km)
The final day we started in the dark to see the sunrise at another small ruin, Wiñaywayna, with it's carbed out channel irrigation system (Incas would divert water flows large distances in quite impressive means) before making the 2 hour mountain traverse to the Sun Gate.

Along the trail was a cross made of freshly broken branches. On leaving the hotel on the first day a lady told us about a girl who had fallen to her death the previous day. It's a stark reminder of what we were walking along as it had sections of sheer drops on a path one meter wide with no railings.

The sun shone well for us at Sun Gate illuminating Macha Picchu below. It's great to finally see your goal that you've been walking towards for 4 days. We stayed at the stone gate until we were the last group there. That was the pinnacle of our hike.

30 minutes further we were in Machu Picchu. We learnt how it was discovered and how it evaded the Spanish conquestidors due to it's location. It is fantastically preserved and shows different types of buildings and architecture used. It's difficult to describe Machu Picchu, but we'll keep it as a as special place after a fantastic few days.

We had lunch and celebratory cervezas in the town thereafter. At that point the heavens opened and as Jaiko says, it rained llamas and alpachas! I can't remember when, if ever, I've seen rain like that. As Caroline said we've used up the 4 seasonal dry days for the next 3 months. Everyone had views why we were so lucky with the weather, whatever the reason, it couldn't have been any better.

We boarded Peru Rail to get back to Ollantaytambo town to pick up our Alpacha purchases from before the hike. The town was buzzing. It was the end of Epiphany festival. We crawled through the town but didn't mind as we were entertained by Chris who after a few beers claimed reverse altitude had got to him. Bands and dancers marched passed our mini bus. One of the dancers had a small figurine with them and motioned to Rachael to kiss it, we all thought it was a sign of good luck until at the time of making impact, the figurine's pants dropped, displaying his manhood!

Back in Cusco at 8pm and our whole group was up for dinner, drinks and an awards evening - a pseudonym for a fines meeting like with snow boarding trips. I'd got help from the back section of the bus with getting fines together. Angel from G Adventures took us out to his recommended spot. We arrived to find a Tango demonstration kicking off (in Peru?) - it did however explain the scantly clad chica who looked like she was soliciting in the corner. This was followed by some live music - we moved into the dining area for the awards and it was clear that all he staff had celebrated the same festival, as everyone was tanked. We fought through this with the awards keeping the momentum going - more about the awards in another post. Raw food and bill discrepancies later we popped into the highest Irish owned Irish pub in the world for traveller stories before seeing the new day in and crashing at the hotel.

On few occasions, the event, people and surroundings just work. This was one such memorable week.

Cameron, Caroline, Jan, Susanna, Chris, Gordon, Klaus, Julia, Jen, Laura, Michelle, Rachael, Maria, Marcelino and Cinco Cinco Jaiko, hope to cross paths soon.