The Inca Trail

So in the two days leading up to the Inca trail not a whole lot went on. We were told to take it easy and drink loads of coca tea so we did. We were in a nice hostel with rather temperamental internet. We booked a trip to lake Titicaca and all the accommodation we needed to sort out. I could only get an hour or two sleep for the first two nights. Not sure if it is the altitude or the fact that we were just chilling out and didn't do anything tiring. We also met with our guide for the Inca trail and he went through everything that was going to happen on the trip and gave us a map.

So on the third day in Cusco we got up at 5 in the morning and got a bus to the start of the Inca trail. We stopped off for breakfast in Ollantaytambo and headed on by bus to the 82km marker. I think its a marker for the train as the Inca trail is only about 40km long. There we passed through the checkpoint into the trail and all got stamps on our passport. We headed out on the trip with an Argentine couple called Florencia and Ruan. They spoke a good bit of English as the little bit of Spanish we had never really got us anywhere :) The first day hiking was fine. The weather was lovely and the walk was nice. We stopped for lunch where our porters were waiting for us. They brought all the food and pots and sleeping bags. They are legally only allowed carry 70kg which is a crazy amount. Every meal starts with a soup course and there was always loads to eat. The weather was warm and sunny. We kept going after lunch and reached a few houses together. When we arrived the porters were just finishing setting up our tents. We took a quick nap and had some tea and popcorn and then got dinner. The dinner was lovely. Afterwards I wasn't feeling great so I took an altitude sickness tablet before bed. Unfortunately that night Brian thinks I might have had an allergic reaction as I woke up and my throat was really tight and I had to sit up to breathe and was really hot. So I didn't take any more of those tablets. I also didn't really get a whole nights sleep.

We got up at 5.30 the next day and headed off on the hardest day of the trip. It was up hill for about the first 5 hours. So we headed off and I was completely exhausted after the first section. After just under 2 hours we stopped at a checkpoint. Here we were sitting with a few other groups and a guide came up and said that we should take the whole walk at our own pace and not be rushed by keeping up with anyone else. So for the rest of day I went at my own pace and ignored our guide trying to rush me. It turns out I don't like steps. They have loads on the Inca trail. About half of them were made for people with really long legs. I found it really hard to step up the high ones so it took me a bit of time. It wasn't like I just stopped and sat around, I kept walking and just stopped when I had to catch my breath for a few seconds. Its quite hard to catch your breath at such high altitude though. It was a bright warm day but started to rain a little half way through. I put on my rain jacket but was way too warm so I took it off and went around without a jacket and just got wet. It was actually really refreshing and because it was so warm, when it stopped we dried off quickly (Brian also kept off his jacket). Florencia had brought a back pack on the first day but had given it to one of the porters for the second day hiking as it was slowing her down too much. So Florencia and Ruan were walking ahead of us most of the time. They didn't have as much trouble as me. Brian was very sweet and stayed walking with me the whole time so I would have company and to make sure I was ok. By the end of the 5 hours uphill Ruan had slowed down to my pace because he was still carrying a big backpack. Myself and Brian both had small backpacks. Brian was carrying a 2 litre bottle and little bottle of water and a few other things. I only had a little bottle and bits and pieces like sun cream and insect repellant. After the hours uphill we reached Dead Woman's Pass which is at 4200 metres. It was so misty and foggy we couldn't see a thing. We still got a good sense of achievement. After which we had a two hour walk downhill. For this myself and Brian raced ahead. Quite enjoy walking downhill. There were mostly steps for the whole downhill and I don't have any problems with my knees. Ruan's knees hurt and Brian's did a little too but not enough to slow him down at all. We got to camp ages ahead of everyone which was a big change from the morning. We then got lunch and a nap. After which was dinner. It was a lot of food for 3 o'clock in the afternoon considering we hadn't eaten since 6 in the morning. That night we sat around talking for a while after dinner and then went to bed. That night Brian didn't get a very good nights sleep as there were loads of rocks under the tent.

It rained heavily the whole night and when we got up the next day it was fairly miserable. We got on all our rain gear that days as it wasn't at all warm enough out to dry us if we did get wet. Because it was so wet our guide was afraid of landslides on the last phase of the walk. So in the end we decided to walk all the way to Machu Pichu town and stay in a hostel there rather than be stuck on the Inca trail. So we had about 10 hours of walking to do that day. We got up at 5 and had breakfast and started walking about quarter past 6. We walked until 2 or 3 and got to Winay Wayna. We were soaking wet by the time we got there. There was a pub and shop there and it was packed when we arrived. Our porters made us a lovely lunch and then we had a porter ceremony. There we were all introduced to the porters and they were introduced to us. Then we said thanks and gave them a tip. It was quite an awkward ceremony as we had no idea what we were suppose to be doing. There were 7 porters needed to carry all of our stuff. That included the chief. They seemed nice even though we were only talking to them for a few minutes. Brian had a sore chest for lunch but decided just to ignore it. He decided it was just from being tired, it went away the next day so he was probably right. Then we started off again walking. This time it was downhill for about 2 hours and then flat to the town. We walked along the train tracks for a lot of the flat bit. We had to get off the tracks when the trains came. It seems a lot of people walk along the tracks as the trains beep the whole way along that stretch to warn people well in advance. For the last stretch of the walk we were soaking wet and so was everything we owned. We were so happy when we got to the hostel, we had gotten so excited about having a hot shower. When we got there it turned out the entire town was without water. We got out of our wet clothes and just had to dry ourselves with towels because there was nothing else we could do. I wore my only other pair of shoes to dinner which was a pair of water shoes and Brian wore flip flops and shorts out in the lashing rain to dinner. Dinner was in a restaurant but it turns out that our porters had cooked it for us and we just got it served in a restaurant. It was a very nice rice and beef stir fry. Up to that point we had been having a lot of tradition Peruvian food which was really good too. Then we all went to bed as we were getting up at half 3 to see Machu Pichu. Unfortunately I could still only sleep for 3 or 4 hours it was enough to stop me being exhausted which was a relief. The reason we were getting up so early is that at 10 there was a walk up Wina Pichu to overlook the whole city.

At 4 in the morning we queued for the bus to Machu Pichu. We queued til half 5 and got on the third bus going up there as a lot of people were queuing at that time of morning. It was so wet and miserable in the end none of us decided to climb Wina Pichu. Instead we took a tour around Machu Pichu and saw the city. It was very beautiful. They have tonnes of terraces all the way down the city and a sun dial and compass. There were a lot of structures that showed the two different types of construction in the city. The Inca construction was really impressive. Then we were left to our own devices for the day and all we had to do was be back at the train station for 7. We went to see the Condor temple where there was suppose to be a condor visible in the temple. Brian spent a good few minutes convincing the Argentine couple we were with that it was on a big stone at the back of the temple. Shortly afterwards a tour came by and the tour guide pointed to a worn stone carving on the ground and explained how it used to be a condor. It was very funny. After walking around the city a while we walking about 45 minutes up to the sungate. It was really foggy and misty out so we actually couldn't see anything but grey so we walked back to the city. By the time we got back it had actually cleared up. Even though we never got to see the great view from the sun gate we did get a great view of the city from slightly above it. It was fantastic. There were loads of llama too. We also went to see the Inca bridge. So after seeing everything there was to see we went to get lunch/dinner as it was quite late. We got some beautiful food in town and had a few drinks to relax after the really hard trek. After which we headed to the hot springs in the town. It was still raining when we got into our togs and settle into what seemed like our door pools. There were about 7 pools with different temperatures in each pool. We started in a nice medium heat one. Then tried a colder one and ten the warmest one. We spent a few hours in that and let our muscles relax after the hard walk. It was lovely. They had a bar at the place so we had a last drink before getting on the train back to Cusco. Unfortunately, while we avoid landslides on the Inca trail, we did not avoid them on the train. The train journey took 5 extra hours while we were stuck in front of a land slide. We ended up getting into Cusco at 4 in the morning. So we checked into our hostel and I showered and we were in bed by 5 and Brian was up by half 9. I woke then but stayed in bed. Even if I couldn't sleep, I was really enjoying having a comfortable bed to lie in. And that was the end of our trip to Machu Pichu.