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Day 1
Around 5.20h we get picked up from the hostel and brought to the bus by employees of SAS Adventure Travels, where we little by little meet the 12 other group members. With them we will start the first Inca Trail of the year 2012.
We drive for about 1,5 hours through the mountains, a beautiful ride, have breakfast somewhere on the way and we arrive in Ollantaytambo, the first old Incatown of the Sacred Valley. A little bit further down, at Km 82, we get out, this is where the trail starts.
The last couple of days, we have tried to prepare ourselves, we bought raintrousers, gloves, snacks for on the road. I believe we are all ready for it, the bowels finally keep themselves quiet and we are all in pretty good shape.
Today we will walk 14 km, rather flat, with a climb every now and then. After ´border control´ (we get a stamp in our passports!) we start off crossing the river and get going. We pass a lot of people with donkeys and horses, who carry heavy loads. We stop to get introduced to the guides, Saul and James, both from the Cusco-region. Our group has a mix of English, Swedish, Australians, with an average age between 20 and 30.
We follow the road, even when the first raindrops start to fall and the poncho´s appear. A big climb through rain and mud, and on altitude, makes Netty realise what she has got herself in to. The red cheeks stay on her face for the rest of the day. Lynne gets stuck behind a horse, which won´t give way. While trying to overtake, the horse swings his ass to the side, and Lynne is in the ditch.... After experiencing what altitude does to your fitness and how important it is to listen to your own body, we take it easier and have frequent breath-breaks. The walking sticks appear to be very suitable for up as well as down. The rain eventually stops and that makes it more pleasant to walk. It is hard work, although I realise the walking we did the past three months has paid of in fitness. The group passes us and I see my dear parents having a hard time. We stick together.
Around midday a lunch is served by our Chasqui´s, the Inca Runners that make this trip possible for us. There are 22 Chasqui´s, who carry our tents, cooking stuff, tables and chairs and everything you can think of. They cook our 3 meals every day, great food! They walk the same path as we do, except with 20+kg on their backs, in a rapid pace. Most of them wearing flip flops by the way!
As the day goes by, I see my parents struggling, we take more breaks to catch our breath. James stays with us. At 17.40h we arrive at the camp, where the tent is set up and we get a bowl of hot water to wash ourselves a bit. Soon there is tea and popcorn and a really tasty dinner after that. Quickly after that we find our tents and fall asleep.
Day 2
Awake at 5am by a shake of the tent and a cup of coca tea, we quickly pack and are ready for what is to be our toughest day… 16km and 2 passes, one at 4200m and the other at just under 4000m! A good breakfast gets us underway and we quickly fall in to our position at the back of the group. This allows us to set our own pace and enjoy the trail with just the 4 of us, which is perfect, especially when we have a short stop and enjoy a fleeting visit from a humming bird… Amazing!
The way to the first pass (Dead Women´s Pass) is tough going and to make it easier we set a goal of a break every 20 Inca steps. This varies from a steep 20 steps after each other, to 10 minutes walking on an Inca flat (mainly uphill!) until we come across 20. We also have a small bet to see within how many stops we can make the top, but we are all too pessimistic and give up after we reach double figures.
Eventually, the top is near, is in touching distance and then finally we make it to (4200m) being greeted by loud applause from our group. Tired but happy we enjoy the photo opportunities and the feeling of success, before we quickly put on some warm layers and begin our decent in to the cauldron on the other side. Downhill requires more focus, stability and strength than going up! As the clouds clear we enjoy the views in to the valley, with surrounding waterfalls and peaks and eventually we see our place for lunch. This is a blessing and a curse, as we can also see the route back up in to the clouds that we need to take in the afternoon!
An amazing lunch, a quick lay down and we are soon on the way in the rain, heading up to our second pass of the day. The legs are still shaking from the downhill before lunch and as we climb in to the clouds the rain starts falling and our energy levels wash away. We struggle through the clouds and persistent rain to reach the second pass of the day, with no energy for celebrations and enthusiasm; we have a quick rest and then begin the final decent. Just before we reach camp Lynne and I climb 98 Inca steps to a small Inca site, which sits in the clouds giving it a mysterious feel. Tired and wet we finally arrive in our camp… applause, coffee and popcorn and a chill in the tent before we enjoy another amazing meal, drink a local rum based tea and play mafia (murder mystery game) before bed.
Day 3
We get to lay in today, wake up call at 6.30h this morning, with a cocatea again. After breakfast we get ready for a reasonably easy day, the first half hour climbing, followed by an hour of ´Inca flat,´ which is pretty much climbing again, and then 2,5 hours downhill. In total we walk 8 km today. We pass through tunnels the Inca´s made, and the path is now pretty much all with big rocks and stones. Netty is doing really well on the downhill, but Tom finds it difficult to walk with his long legs, a walking stick and his wobbly ankles.
Luckily, we arrive at our final camp by lunchtime, and have the afternoon off. The camp is big and already busy with Chasqui´s of several different organisations who pitch up camp and get a lunch ready. After a fantastic lunch, we have time for a big siësta, so most of us disappear in to our tents for a while.
At 4pm Saul takes us to an Inca Site very close to our camp: Wiñay Wayna, which means ´Eternal Youth´ in Quechua, the original Inca language. This place is in an extraordinary location, looking out over the mountains, with the river down below and several places where water thunders down the mountain; a beautiful picture. Saul knows a lot about this place, atleast a lot of speculations. He starts to tell us about the Inca´s, like he and James have done several times over the last few days at different archeological sites. The picture he is trying to draw is becoming more and more clear. The way the Inca´s lived, what their lives used to look like, and the function of the many kilometres of Inca roads and the buildings we see. They seemed to know about everything, the sun and the stars, Pachamama (Mother Earth) and how important she is. They tried to live together with nature, but not at the expense of nature. They did a lot of agriculture and knew about the hundreds of different microclimates, and what was best to grow where. Saul speeks passionately about the Inca´s and he knows a lot. He also has some of his own ideas about the speculations of the Inca´s. After his interesting story, we get to walk around, to see all the temples, ritual bath-places and storage houses.
In the evening we eat an amazing dinner, with, for desert, a real cake! The cook has made it in a tent in the middle of nowhere, without electricity and without an oven. Pretty amazing!! Then off to bed early, tomorrow is the big day!
Day 4
The organisation of the other 3 days is somewhat lost on this, the most important day! At 3:40am there is no tea or breakfast call, which means we arrive a little late and nearly everything is eaten! Raining hard means we spend over an hour waiting to leave and the sun rise is lost. When we finally get under way we come across a recent landslide that means more waiting and when we finally start to cross over, Tom´s misplaced foot lands him in the mud! Although it is cloudy, the views as we round Mount Machu Picchu is pretty spectacular, with peaks appearing through the clouds like giant islands, covered in trees with sporadic waterfalls and winding canyons. This is what I expect from South America and it is beautiful!
We arrive at the Sun Gate and have a fleeting view of Machu Picchu (meaning Old Mountain in Quechua) before it is consumed by the clouds. The short walk to the ´Lost city of the Incas´ is un-dramatic until we turn a corner and there before us stands this immense mysterious city that we have walked for 4-days to find. It is jaw droppingly awesome to see this wonder of the world. Relief, excitement, joy and tiredness sweet through us all as we take a few moments to savor our achievement and all the pains of the last 4-days (45kms, up to 4200m high, using disgusting holes in the ground for toilets, the rain, the heat, the Inca flats) are forgotten.
We have a tour of the city, learning about some of the theories behind its origin (school, place for women only... no one knows for sure?) and we see some of the impressive buildings including the Sun Temple and the Temple of the Condor, where a massive rock forms the wings of this giant, mystical creature. All the other tourists take some of the spectacle from this place away, but it also means there is a restaurant on-site, where we enjoy a well-deserved coffee and apple pie, before returning to the city to explore further on our own. Each of us find a quite corner to take time to enjoy this mystical city, to capture it internally, to contemplate the last 4-days, the origins behind the city and the beliefs of these remarkable people. It has been an amazing experience and something that I am sure will stay with us all for a very long time.
We take a bus to Aguas Calientes, where we enjoy a final lunch with our group, before heading to the train station to find out there has been a landslide and all trains are delayed. We walk around, drink coffee and eat dinner, whilst we wait for news of our train. Eventually, we board the right train and make the journey back to Ollantaytambo and then take a bus back to Quito arriving at 02:30am… Finally, we can enjoy a night in a real bed!
- comments
Netty Dag lieve twee, het was in heel veel opzichten een onvergetelijke en geweldige reis! We wensen jullie nog een prachtige tijd. xx papmam