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The Inka trail is a 45km stretch of path from Km 82 to Machu Picchu. It is a challenging 3 day hike with an additional 2 hours on the final morning to reach Machu Picchu itself. However, it is not the distance that is the problem with the longest day at 17km being the easiest. The main issue is the altitude as you start at 2570m above altiude and reach the highest point half way through day 2 at 4200m above sea level. This represents a problem in terms of gradient (both up and down) as well as beathing difficulties at high altitudes. With this in mind we set off on Saturday morning to Km 82 to register for the trail, give our 6kg of kit to the porters and set off.
A quick word about the porters, these guys are machines. They carry 25kg of kit each and are always going quicker than the tourists on the trek. In fact, we were told that each year the porters race to Machu Picchu and the record time is 3 hours and 45 minutes which means running basically all the way, something which I consider impossible after completing it in just over 3 days. We had so much kit in terms of tents, cooking equipment, etc... that we needed 22 porters for 16 people (there was even one guy dedicated to carrying just rubbish!).
Day 1 was called the warm up day, and in hindsight that was very true. It was a 10km walk with many stops along the way for various Inka ruins such as Patallaqta which was a former control point for the Inka trail set at the start of the valley leading to Dead Womans Pass. In Inka times anyone passing through would be checked along with their belongings and then allowed to continue their journey along the trail. As a result there were some elevated platforms that were once watchtowers but personally I reckon they would serve better as tees for an Inka themed golf course now.
We continued to lunch where we found a full dining tent set up with a three course lunch waiting (including Quinoa soup of course). The standard of the food was something that really impressed me throughout the trek as the cook even served a cake on the last day which went down a treat. This was also the first time we found out about one of the team having a phobia of cats which led to a lot of screaming when one scrambled under the table. This continued until the porters got fed up and dealt with it in the only reasonably manner... picking the cat up by the head and throwing it in a river.
The afternoon invovled a short trek to the first day campsite where we decided that, with a tough day the next day, the best course of action was to have a game of football against the porters which we again lost but only 1-0. This was followed by dinner, cards and bed.
The second day (or challenge day as the guide kept calling it loomed) and we were up at sunrise to wolf down breakfast and get going by 6:30. We passed the checkpoint for the day and got our passports stamped before starting the 10km walk to Dead Womans Pass which would gain us 1500m in altitude in around 4 hours. Unfortunately due to illness and battered knees the group split up a bit and we were told where to stop to regroup. However, after 2 and a half hours of solid uphill we realised we had missed the first stop and arrived at the second and last stop before the final ascent to the pass. At this point I was fairly spent but everyone dealt with it in different ways, so I had a break to stuff down some granola and with a few swigs from my bottle of rum I was on my way to the top.
I pretty sure that pass worked like a mirage in that you kept thinking you were nearly there but it never got any closer. Finally at around 11am we reached the top and I felt a mixture of relief and elation. We stopped for around 30 mins and then part walked part ran the final 4km downhill to the campsite (running turned out to be the most comfortable as I didn´t hire walking poles and so walking down steep hills killed my thighs).
That evening one or two people braced the incredibly cold showers but most of us accepted that we would just stink and so passed the evening with cards and an enthralling game of "throw the pebble into the cup" which lasted a good 20 minutes.
Day 3 was set to be the longest lateral distance at 17km but compared to day 2 it would be "papayita" (piece of cake in quechua) and so despite the aches everyone was in a fairly good mood. The day started with a 500m climb to reach the highest point for the day. By this point we had already lost one member of the group who decided he didn´t want to take any breaks and so headed forward on his own (we found him later at lunch where he had been lying down for a good hour before we got there).
From the high point the rest of the day was "Inka flat" terrain which is very misleading as it is not flat at all, it just isn´t uphill all the time! Along the way we saw a number of spectacular ruins including an old Inka holiday location where Brecht displayed his hatred for people with walking poles by re-enacting what they look like when they walk downhill, which has to be one of the funniest points of the Inka trail. We also visited an old Inka terrace system which is now home to a number of llamas who decided to take a fancy to two members of the group and chase them all the way up the stairs.
We got to our campsite at around 3pm where we had a view of the back of Machu Picchu mountain and so the excitement for the final day started to set in. This excitement was slightly quashed when the guide told us we needed to be up at 3am to get to Machu Picchu before the other trekkers as well as the hoardes of people that come in by train. So the agenda for the evening was to give the porters their tips and I gave a quick speech in rusty spanish to thank them for the efforts before heading to bed at 7pm.
We were woken at 3am as promised and we scoffed down some food before donning our daypacks for a final time. The last 4km of the trek didn´t open until 5:30am due to regulations so we sat and waited at the front of the queue while everyone else was eating breakfast and preparing. When the time came we left the campsite and headed to the sun gate which sits a few kms from Machu Picchu but has a clear view of the citadel on a clear day.
Unfortunately our luck was out and when we arrived at the sun gate we couldn´t see a thing. Having said that the sense of achievement was immense and we headed down to Machu Picchu to wait for the clouds to lift.
A few hours later and it was 8am and the clouds had shifted so we started the tour of Machu Picchu itself which is an amazing sight. I think it is the setting of the site that makes it so spectacular as it is perched on a hillside with huge conical mountains all around as well as an almost mystical covering of clouds sitting in the surrounding valleys (I am aware I went a little Gap Yah there but it is difficult not to!).
After our tour, during which we learnt more about the day to day lives of the Inkas, we had some free time to explore Machu Picchu so we had a wander around and took all the photos that you could want including the classic view from the upper terraces with Huayna Picchu (another Inka ruin) in the background.
The one negative I would have to point out about Machu Picchu is how commercial it has become. It felt a little bit like a theme park once all the tourists had arrived by train as well as those that had trekked. By about 11am it had turned into a haven for obese americans with oversize cameras who were puffing and panting because the private transfer they had turned up in couldnt take them up the 12 steps at the entrance. It may seem a little hypocritical as a tourist myself but it would be nice to see such a wonderful place preserved rather than used as somewhere that felt like it should have a big flashing sign saying "Inka World" at the entrance.
Having said that I really enjoyed the challenge of the Inka trail and the final masterpiece of Machu Picchu so I can´t pick holes in it too much. However, I do feel if you are in a decent enough state to do the trek then it is so much better than just getting the train to Machu Picchu for the day.
Next stop Arequipa!
Much love,
Charlie
- comments
Dan After all the s*** you gave me when I was all 'When I was in Peru' and 'This one time in Peru', I can't wait for the role to be reversed
Charlie I figured that would be fairly inevitable!