The Inca Trail

The altitude map of the Inca Trail.

Day One: Alex our tour leader picked us up from the hostel before sunrise at 5am. This wake up time was to become a regular occurrence on the trek. We were allowed a 7kg duffel bag (to be given to the porters) and a daypack. And so, the naive little bunnies set off. The morning bus trip with our seven co-walkers took 2 hours to reach the first checkpoint - the 82nd km of the Inca Trail. Our group consisted of five Aussies and five Canadians (two of whom were getting married at Macchu Picchu). All the Canadians had been sick with the flu and two were still actively hacking. Goody.

At km 82 of the Inca Trail - the beginning of the trek.

We handed our duffel bags to our 16 porters (the Red Army) who had bags 10 times the size of our daypacks, and headed off. The trekking was actually fairly decent. A bit like walking through the bush in Australia. It was quite dry, dusty and the insects were hell at first - but the vistas were a nice compensation. Alex stopped several times to discuss the bush and various Incan ruins. He seemed to judge our pace very well. Lunchtime was a huge surprise. Our porters had jogged past us on the path and set up a lunch tent with water bowls for each person to wash their hands. They clapped us in on our arrival - a morale boost also to become a regular occurence. We had a 3 course lunch with strawberry juice. This is camping?

We realised quickly that it was all to lull us into a happy state. The last half of the day was beginning to get difficult, with nearly all climbing. We arrived at a camp already set up by our porters and dinner (3 course again) already underway.

Total distance walked today: 14 km (580 m up).

Day Two: On the way up to Dead Woman's Pass (4200 m), we started wondering why on earth we decided to come this way when there was another 2 day trek that doesn't go over any high passes. Oh yes. Because the Inca Trail is supposedly the Incan ceremonial route. The higher we climbed, the harder it got, as our bodies struggled to process diminishing oxygen. Even though we had half the distance to go, it was twice as hard. Every step seemed to take forever, 10 breaths, one step, 10 breaths, one step, wash-rinse-repeat. Near the end the only strategy that worked was thirty seconds of walking followed by thirty seconds of rest. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to make it over another pass - I had used all my resources to get up the first one. However, once you are over that first pass, there is essentially no turning back. You are committed.

Dad flew down the other side, bounding from Inca stone to Inca stone, and made it to the lunch camp 50 minutes before the next group member. At the bottom of the hill (why were we going down when we had spent so much energy going up? Waste, what a waste!) the porters plied us with orange cordial, and another three course lunch. All too soon we had to do it all again - well not quite, the 2nd pass was only 4000 metres. It was a snap, actually our willpower was what snapped. The remainder of the afternoon was rather a blur, mainly involving looking at one's own feet. I would say I was focusing on placing one in front of the other... but it was more a shuffle. At least there was popcorn waiting for us at camp.

Total distance walked today: 16 km (900 m up
- 620 m down - 420 m up - 400 m down).

Day Three: It was so worth it! The beginning of the Amazon jungle gave me goosebumps. The Incan ruins along the way were just incredible. We saw a Sun temple - still with running drinking fountains, a few Incan tunnels and a spiral staircase. Also, the fact we were now travelling down and hence getting more oxygen was positive. 2 day trek? Pft, for weaklings!

The final campsite was beautiful with a hidden Incan city at the end of it. This was a spectacular semicircular terraced ruin which may have been an ancient research centre for testing plants at different altitudes and temperatures. There were hot showers in the camp. And a masseuse of which Mum took advantage. This site was positively balmy - almost no need for a sleeping bag since we were at about 2700m and in the jungle.

Total distance walked today: 10 km (920 m down).

Day Four: The final day started very early with a high speed march towards the Sun gate of Machu Picchu. It was still dark, so we were required to use our torches on the trail. There were bottle necks because the trail was very narrow with a cliff fall on one side. Unfortunately, Mum had a small disagreement with a tree by running at full speed into an overhanging limb. The tree won, but luckily no broken nose. I had my trusty medical kit handy to prevent infection. We made it to the Sun Gate about an hour after starting for our first glimpse of Machu Picchu.

Alex took us around Machu Picchu for 2 hours explaining various parts. The site was spectacular - but contained a few too many tourists to be enjoyed as much as the research centre. The water fountains were also still working. Some highlights were the quarry, the Sun Temple built according to the winter/summer solstice and the stone (also related to solstice) at the top of the pyramid.

We made it to Machu Picchu!

Total distance walked today: 5 km (280 m down).

Our Inca Trail trek ended with a lazy train ride and bus trip back to Cusco and civilisation.

l
R

x

and Judy

+ the Δ