Inca Trail

The next morning, bright and early (as usual) we were picked up to start the Inca Trail. The tour company drives you to the 82km point where you get out and start walking. Our guide was Oscar and the assistant guide Ollie (good Peruvian names). They both spoke very good English which was a bonus. Our group was pretty good too. There was an older Scottish couple (in their 60´s) who are on a 5 month trip - amazing! They were having a ball. They´re used to walking in the Scottish hills so they were pretty fit. Then there were a few Poms, a few Swedish girls (calm down boys) and a few Belgians. Everyone got along well and we had a good laugh.

 

Here´s us at the start

The first day was fairly easy. Gentle ups and downs for around 5 hours which was a nice introduction. All the time you are walking you are constantly being passed by the porters (from ours and other groups) virtually running past you carrying amazing weights. I know that it is a walk in the park to them but jeez it looked hard. They get to the lunch spot and campsite each day way ahead of you so that everything is set up when you get there. Speaking of food, the cook deserves 5 stars. He made really yummy food every lunch and dinner with the most basic of utensils and food. He also made a lot of it. If anyone had hopes of losing weight on the Inca Trail they were seriously mistaken. Even with all the exercise I couldn´t eat everything he made us. He would also carve out of some vegetable all sorts of animals and sit them on top of the rice or whatever else. His most brilliant creation was a bird out of a cucumber. 

Although the mouse out of a carrot was very cute. On the second morning we were awoken at 5.30 by a knock on the tent door and a gentle "buenos dias" and hot coca tea. After breakfast, Oscar introduced all the porters and the cook. He made an effort to point out who was single and asked us to introduce ourselves and do the same (we found out why later). 

Dylan was determined to introduce himself in Spanish, which he did, but instead of saying "I am 34 years old" he said "you have 24 arses". The second day is well known as the "challenge". And that it was. It's about 5 hours up hill, pretty steep uphill too. Still the porters ran past us... I had intended to carry my (big) backpack for the whole trek but after the first day found my shoulders were too wimpy. 

My legs and lungs seemed to cope ok but the shoulders were having none of it. With 5 hours vertical to come, I decided to pay a porter to carry it - yes I know, I´m a wimp. Dylan said to me that if I do that I´ll never know if I could have done it. I told him that that sort of thing doesn't bother me - must be a girl thing. So Dylan still carried his bag and I just had a small day pack. Up we went. Hard work, especially for Dylan. 

The climb is to reach "Dead Woman's Pass" (the top, from a distance, looks like a woman lying down). Dylan and I made good time but not as good as the Belgians who were never far behind the porters. We sat at the top cheering our group on as each one arrived. David and Maureen (the Scottish couple) were very close but looked like they might keel over so lots of extra shouts of encouragement were required. As a result we had David run up the last few steps to overtake a porter.

So after that effort, we had to do a couple of hours of steep downhill to get to the campsite. Oh the knees, again... We got to the camp site around 2pm and had the rest of the afternoon to collapse, which we all did. After a scrumptious dinner the oldest porter known as "Ochos Platos" or "Eight Plates" due to the amount he eats got out his flute and started playing some truly traditional songs and the rest of the porters sang along. The single porters grabbed the single girls to dance which was hilarious as the single girls were the 3 swedish girls and one English girl, all of whom were at least a foot taller than the porters. The third day began in a similar fashion to day 2 with the 5.30 wake up call and coca tea. This day wasn't quite as hard but still not a stroll. More up hill to the second pass with the end of the day being 3 hours steep downhill. In all it was an 8 hour day - phew. It was through different landscape though - through high rain forest and it was beautiful. Lots of pretty orchids and birds to look at. Dylan saw 2 different types of humming birds.

The final morning meant a 3.45 wake up call to get to the gate to enter the final trail to Machu Picchu, which opened at 5.30. For some reason Oscar had put it into our heads that it was important to get to the Sun Gate (about an hour on from the entrance) to look down over Machu Picchu before anyone else. At 4am this made sense although in retrospect was complete nonsense. When we were let through we took off as if we were chasing someone who had just nicked our bag. I was carrying my full backpack this day (the porter carried it the 2nd and 3rd day for me) which was fine initially as the track was pretty flat or only gentle up and down. Then it became quite steep and we were still going at a stupidly fast pace. I have never heard myself breathe that hard - I thought I was going to kark it. I had a fleece on and was boiling hot but for some reason thought I couldn´t stop to take it off. It was daylight and I still had my headtorch on my head, but for some reason thought I couldn´t stop to take it off. There came this vertical wall we had to climb up - that pretty much did me. Fortunately the Sun Gate was just after it. Dylan has a delightful photo of me once I reached the top (in a record 40 minutes) which I am hoping he´ll be kind enough not to put on this blog. Looking back, it is really funny that we all thought we had to run like the wind. It made no difference at all what time we got there. It was a very bizzare experience. So we first saw Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate and it is a truly amazing sight. We then headed down (much slower) to the Watchmans House which is where you can get the "postcard" picture from. We then went down to the site itself and Oscar took us around giving us the history etc. It was a great experience and really interesting. Oscar was great and tried really hard to answer any questions as best he could (given that a lot about Machu Picchu is theory rather than known fact). Dylan says: Anyone who has been to Machu Picchu will know this, but the images in no way reflect the beauty of this sacred place. Not only the amazing fact that this whole city had been built, lost and found, but the location. Standing on the edge of the mountain and looking out at the wallpaper scenery around you, it becomes apparent what the Incas were doing. I can´t find words to try to describe how awe inspiring this place is. Of course it could be the sheer relief that we wouldn´t have to walk up any more steps. That said, strangely enough, not one of the group felt the need to climb Huayna Picchu, the monster that you see in all the pictures. On a rather solomn note however, once the city had been cleared of the trees that hid it in 1915, it started to "slide" from the top of the moutain. Some scientists believe that in 10-15 years it may not be there anymore.

From the trail above Machu Picchu

From the Watchmans house

We made it

After that we went down to the town Aguas Calientes nearby where we decided to stay the night to relax. Aguas Calientes is known for its natural hot springs. We gave those a go the following morning - they were very murky and one had the feeling that one was sitting in 10 day old bath water. Still, it seemed to do the trick and most of my aches and pains settled down. Dylan however has a cold now and that place is the most likely suspect. We are staying at the same hostal as one of the Swedish girls and she now has a stomach bug...hmmm. Then it was the train back to Cusco last night and now we´re awaiting our clean clothes (I can´t wait!). All in all, it was a fabulous trip. Today we´ll be thinking about what to do next but for today, it won´t be much. Kat