The Inca Trail to Machu Pichu

We left Cusco at 5 30am on the bus to go up to the starting point of the Inca Trail which is up the Sacred Valley.
We were group of 11 people from various Commonwealth countries ranging from 27 to our ages. After a 2 hour ride up the Sacred Valley they fed us breakfast and we and our 18 porters and 2 guides loaded our packs and set off. The first day was spent in undulating terrain trekking through the beautiful countryside gradually climbing to our lunch spot. Our porters were loaded with huge loads and hurry on ahead, we step aside as they run the trail—up or down. By the time we got to the lunch spot they have set up a dining tent and have prepared lunch. It was a huge selection of sandwiches, salads and bread. Coca tea—for altitude-- was served always. Our altitude was at around 2800 metres and until Machu Pichu which is 2600metres was never lower.
Two of our fellow trekkers were ill—one having had a lung infection before leaving which was bothering him as we climbed—the other one had diarrhea—this is not a great time to be sick as there is nothing other than hiking on or going back as options. As we hiked we visited small Inca ruins where our guide described the history and we were able to get a better idea of the life the Incas had led. This area was where they had begun and they were here for 300 years before expanding their empire North to Columbia and South to Argentina 100 years before the Spanish arrived.
We continued to hike up to the campsite where the porters had once again gone on ahead and set up our tents. The guy with the lung infection had by now developed a fever and had decided to go back down the next day. The one with diarrhea was feeling a little better.
The porters were amazing and had bowls of warm water for us to wash with. Afternoon tea was then served—coca tea, cookies and popcorn—at 5.30. At 7pm supper was served and this was indeed a gourmet feast. Chicken stuffed with vegetables, eggplant casserole and many other choices. Oh to have these guys with us when we go to the mountains in Canada or NZ!! We had tables and stools, all of which they had carried on their backs. They carried up to 60kgs each and although small people had huge leg muscles.
We had a great sleep and were awakened to more coca tea and warm water to wash with at 6.30am to have our pancake breakfast and set off again.
This day was the hardest of the trip and involved climbing to Dead Woman’s Pass which is 4500 metres above sea level. Fortunately our previous trekking had acclimatized us and we were the first two to get to the top in about half the time which they had said it would be. It was a slog as it was straight up—there are many steps to climb. We then dropped down for 1 ½ hours only to climb again to 4000metres and drop down a little to the campsite.
We had light rain for a lot of this day and wore our colourful $3 ponchos. It meant it was cool hiking and the views were still magnificent so we enjoyed the day which proved for us to be not as difficult as we had been led to believe.
One more of our group had succumbed shortly after starting this day to altitude sickness and had had to go back down—many Incas were sacrificed in the past to ensure good weather, crops etc—so we felt we deserved sunshine on our last day when we would come through the sun gate to see Machu Pichu having sacrificed two of our members.
This campsite was much colder than the previous one as it was higher. We had rented sleeping bags and ground pads from the trekking company which were excellent so we were cozy and warm. Another great supper and we collapsed into bed early again.
The next morning was another beautiful hike which was more undulating and gradually dropped in altitude so the orchids and begonias which grow in the area flower abundantly. It was only a 4 hour hike so was a luxury to just hang out when we got there. There was a huge Inca site nearby and we walked down to it. This was the most magnificent setting we had seen as it was surrounded by towering mountain peaks. It was built with a temple at the top with windows placed to watch the sun setting over the mountains. It was breathtaking to watch the sun setting. Below were the agricultural terraces and below them the houses—each would have had stunning views. They were masters at building water systems and at each level was a pool which had running water flowing down.
The third day continued to drop in altitude and the vegetation thickened. We had now become good friends and were all enjoying the trip. At the end of the day we arrived at the largest camp where a lot of the trekkers spend their last night so it was a bit of a culture shock to suddenly have a lot of trekkers there. Definitely felt a bit invaded but we were able to have a hot shower and the last dinner was eaten in the large hall with each group still eating as a group—this night our porters had managed pizza—still astonished us how they could do it all with what they had carried up. Everything had been dismantled each morning and moved to the next night.
There was an American team of students from a fancy university doing an MBA programme who were doing the trek along side us and we had been vying for top spots all along—we had labeled them Team America and ourselves Team Commonwealth ( we forgave the young man from Southern Ireland on our team)
The morning we awoke at 4am and after breakfast we packed and lined up at the checkpoint ( there are several on the course of the trail) which opened at 5 30am. Team US was already there and as soon as we cleared the checkpoint the race began—we found ourselves running the trail which fortunately was mostly down. We covered the 2 hour portion in 45 minutes and when an older man in team US had to step aside with exhaustion we plowed on and reached the sun gate as a team, having split their team.
Our sacrifices had paid off and the morning was gloriously sunny. We had our first view of Machu Pichu which made it all worthwhile. We sat along the path and waited for the sun to hit the site. Our members who had had to pull out had caught the train and bus up to Machu Pichu and now joined us for our achievement.The site is set surrounded by awesome mountains. After the sun rise we walked down to the huge site to explore it.
Our guide gave us a very good tour and we learned that there had been 300 permanent residents and the emperor would come up from Cusco on a pilgrimage—he would be carried and 900 would be there at that time. It was considered to be a very sacred site and was discovered by Hiram Bingham in the early 1900’s when he was looking for Vilcabumba (the emperor Inca had fled there from the Spanish but the site was not discovered till 1997.)
We spent several hours exploring and left around noon as the trains continued to bring droves of people up from Cusco—5000 people a day visit the site so we were very thankful to have been among the few early in the day. It truly is a magical experience.
We caught the train down which is set up with huge windows above offering views of the towering mountains but the train was set up as a true tourist train with a fashion show and somehow did not fit with our mindset at the time.
We then went to Agua Calientes where we all made our farewells—some were leaving right away—we, along with a few others were spending the night to soak in the hot springs.
We returned to Cusco the next day to prepare for our return to Lima and then our boat to fly back to Canada.
This is my final blog entry for this part of our journey other than the pics to go with this which I will put on in a few days.
This trek was a fitting end to our trip to Peru and will stay forever in our minds.
We hope to see many of you when we return to Calgary on the 23rd Sept so are looking forward to that.