Inca Trail to Machu Pichhu - 4 day hike

Friday 10^th August – Cusco – Inca Trail Day 1 Hiking in the heat

Very excited we woke up and got ready for our 5.30am pick up from the Hostel. A bit after this time we were greeted by 2 guys who walked us up to a very nice bus. We were ordered to sit in the front row by who we found out to be our guide and fell asleep for the next hour and a half during our trip to Ollantaytambo. We were again harassed when getting off the bus by people selling walking sticks, socks, water etc... but made our way to the restaurant for our desayuno. We ordered banana shakes (as per the norm) and pancakes which were delicious. We had a chance to get to meet everyone in our group, all from different countries – US, UK, Ireland, Aus, N.Z, a good bunch of people. We were then again ordered by our guide to jump back on the bus which was to take us to KM 82, the start of our trek. After a few hair raising corners along a very narrow road right by a rapid river, we arrived at our starting point.

After making a few last purchases of lama socks (for sleeping in) and drink bottle holders, we wandered down to get our tickets checked and our passports stamped – crazy getting a Machu Picchu stamp in our passports! Then crossed a swing bridge to the start of our trail. It was now 10am, exactly when our guide said we would start (we were thinking he obviously has a military background based on his precision and bossiness). Our guide gave us a good overview of what the day will include and about the Inca Trail. The temperature was starting to get very hot which made the first few hours of flat trekking quite difficult. Along the way we saw a number of ruins, until we came to our first stopping point. Overlooking the ruins of Llactapata our very knowledgeable guide explained how the Incas set up aqueducts to be able to collect water from streams that ran below the village up above. Also how they prepared for earthquakes by building tears of land in front which we originally thought were for agriculture. He also talked to us about the 2 things the Inca's looked for before they started building a village – Sun and Water. We then hiked past another ruin and down hill to a little village where the porters had already raced ahead, passing us in order to setup our dinning tent and cook a whole heap of food.

I was approached by the assistant guide to confirm that I could not eat cheese, which I thought was fantastic, but for some reason they thought I was vegetarian, so I quickly put them right. Our meal was delicious – we started with a stuffed avocado, followed by soup, followed by trout, veges and rice, followed by coffee. Once we had all eaten lunch and introduced ourselves to the group, we set off... watching the porters quickly dissemble the tent and clean up. The final part of the hike was up hill which wasn't great given we had eaten so much for lunch. Throughout this journey we made a few stops to get water at rates double to Cusco, amazingly lugged all the way out there by the ladies selling them. We made another stop only half an hour away from our campsite where the guide explained about the corn beer which he downed in one, it smelt awful and the lovely flora and fauna we were to visit throughout our journey including the cute little hummingbirds. After a final push we got to our campsite 3.30pm, well before the time our guide had anticipated.

As we got to the campsite, all the porters who had bet us there clapped us in and offered us juice. They had already set up our dinning area and individual tents. We were then asked if we would like afternoon tea, which everyone voted for and we were allowed to choose our tents. The campsite was really beautiful, in a very tidy farm surrounded by lamas and sheep and even had a toilet, which stunk! I got use to taking menthol flavoured tissues into the toilets to cover my nose which made them much more bearable. The afternoon tea was the best – popcorn, biscuits, hot choc, tea etc. I think I ate most of the popcorn – it was the best I have ever tasted. In fact our guide told us there were more than 400 varieties of corn within the Sacred Valley and 200 varieties of potatoes within the area also. The corn over here kind of looks strange though because the kernels are very big and white. After playing cards for a couple of hours we were then served dinner which was again another feast... always including appetizer, soup, main and desert, I couldn't believe what they could cook with such little facilities. We were told that there were 3 people that didn't make our trip as they missed their flight so we were a group of 13, with 20 porters (including 1 cook). Our guide then explained what the next day would entail. Wake up was at 5.30am, not too bad as we thought it would be much earlier, but we all feared the 2^nd day based on the information given – it is a lot of uphill, very steep climbing to reach the highest point in the trek. All pretty shattered we were ordered to go to bed, so about 7pm we got into our tents and it was lights out! Very enjoyable first day!

Saturday 11^th August – Inca Trail Day 2 Dead Womens Pass

As per the request of Sergeant Bobby (our main guide, who actually was a Sergeant) we were the first group to rise, so that meant a 5am wake up call. To our delight that included a hot cup of tea in our tent! Unfortunately the night had bought rain, so the path was expected to be a little wet. We had breakfast at 5.30am which included toast, porridge fresh pancakes, fresh fruit and more hot tea! We departed just after 6am. Right from the outset day 2 was hard, from the campsite we made a short but steep climb to the check point. After a head count and weighing of the rubbish (each group has to dispose of a minimum amount of rubbish each day) we carried on our way. The trek did not get any easier and Sargent bobby gave us our instructions and let us go off at our own pace.

At this point it felt like the Inka Trail was really getting started. We started to climb through a wide track, surrounded by lush green rain forest, tranquil rivers and more local bird life. The group quickly broke up with Alister and Andrew moving at a unreal pace, the 2 of us were second with the rest of the pack about 20 minutes behind, the amazing thing about the 2 at the front was they both were carrying there packs, while we all had porters. Ode to be young again. On our first accent we had the usual passing of the porters... scurrying past us with 20kgs of weight on their backs, standing at a proud 4ft - 5ft tall. The hill was only getting steeper at each corner and they continued at such a great rate, we tried a few times to keep up but had no chance! We reached our first checkpoint after 40 mins, 5 mins behind the 2 boys, the rest of the group followed soon after. After a 10min break we carried on our way, after receiving our next lot of instructions. The track remained wide but did not get any easier, we carried on at a reasonable pace but Leigh was feeling it... as for Jo maybe she was but did not let on, to keep Leigh's spirits up. The scenery was amazing! As we climbed higher we escaped the tree canopy's to reveal the amazing valley below and we got our first glimpse at just how high how high we were climbing and how steep it was! We carried on up this section of the walk a little slower than the first, the views got better and better as the clouds lifted.

We reached the second look out at around 10am, with more amazing views of the valley and the beautiful rain forest. We had been climbing now for around 4 hours but it felt more like 8, well according to Leigh. This point was not only our last stop before the summit but the last stop to buy bottled water for the next day. Well if we though it had been a hard walk so far we had another thing coming. We carried on climbing (now at around 3700 meters) with the target of 4200m), so if the steepness was not hard enough the altitude was making it twice as hard. The clouds had now fully gone and we were surrounded by beautiful blue skies and were dwarfed by the enormous mountains around us touching the sky. We had set a good pace and set ourselves milestones to make the trip up! We were now half way up towards the famous Dead Women's Pass. Most of our conversation was about the following day - Sargent Bobby had told us the previous night at dinner that day 3 was the hardest, not day 2 which is in all the guide books! So here we are dragging ourselves up this mountain thinking how the hell could this get any harder! And Leigh was thinking how he could carry on to get to the top! We continued on, having breaks when needed, but never stopping for too long, the summit was insight but it seemed like ages to get there.

We arrived at the steps at the base of the summit, took one big breath and gave it our final push, always walking on angles to find the shortest steps. We finally got to the top of the pass at around 11.45am and were clapped on arrival by our Porters and Andrew and Alistair. Completely exhausted but actually feeling pretty good we sat at the 4200 meter cliff looking back down the valley at the constant stream of trekkers battling the path. We enjoyed the sight having a few high calorie snacks (ok we took 18 chocolate bars with us, but thats how you buy them for cheap!) and applauding our group members as they arrived. At around 12.15pm we were all there, had a few group photos while exchanging stories of the trek. For as hard as it was we all absolutely loved the challenge. As for all things that go up, we had to go down and now needed to descend 500 meters to the campsite. The descend was a steep drop taking in over 1000 stairs. We were again given the freedom to move at our own pace and we soon met up with the most amazing lady you could imagine. Her name was Mary from Tazmania, she was 70 years old. After being widowed twice she decided to action everything she had always wanted to do. She was going at a rate much faster that most people half her age and had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro 2 years earlier! Talking to her made the trek down a little easier and meant we could not really complain too much being 40 years younger than her. We did however feel better when she said that the accent up the pass was one of the toughest walks she had done! We finally arrived at the campsite around 1.30pm. It was really nice as all the porters clapped us into the the camp and gave us a nice juice. We had another delicious lunch and to the instructions of Sargent Bobby we were all sent to have a nap at around 2pm.

The day had been very hard, but by far the most rewarding of all our days traveling. Of course we still reminisce about cycling the world's most dangerous road, but the physical demands of this hike, set amongst the most amazing scenery was just amazing. We were woken from our nap at 4pm for afternoon tea and enjoyed a few hands of cards before dinner. At dinner we received instructions for the following day - Sargent Bobby wanted us to be the first group again, so we were told that wake up would again be 5am. We enjoyed a lovely 3 course dinner and headed back to bed at around 8pm. Good hard days hiking!

Sunday 12^th August – Inca Trail Day 3, the most enjoyable!

Unfortunately during the night, the clouds parted and freezing temperatures were recorded at our campsite. The camping became quite unpleasant which resulted in very little sleep by everyone in our group. Well thank you Bobby for ensuring we had an afternoon nap – that was the only time we got sleep yesterday! The day began with a hot tea wake up call at 5am. Breakfast was served at 5.30am, still in the dark and then we set off at 6am. The day was set up nicely as we were an hour and a half ahead of all other groups so the trail was empty. We made our first stop at Runkurakay. A fort overlooking our campsite. It was again another steep climb to reach this ruin and continued up to the first pass.

During Bobby's speal about the ruin, John from Dublin, decided to continue walking as he didn't want to hold the group up. When we continued he was well out of sight until we caught a glimpse of the highest peak and realised that he was a whisker in front of Alistair and Andrew. So Jo yelled out “Go John” in order for him to make it to the top first. He did and we were all so proud of him! At the top of the first pass we all made a wish by placing a stone on top of other stones. In keeping with the strict timetable we were allowed a breather for 10mins before descending to the second ruin of the day – Sayaqmarka. This was an Inca temple used for worshiping the sun. We were given a half hour tour of this place while again eating high calorie snacks and talking about when the days hike could possibly be harder than the previous day.

During Bobbies explanation of the site including a fact that the divorce rates in Peru are only 0.05%, we all started nodding off in the morning sun. Bobby made a great decision to have lunch at a different place from the rest of the groups, this was at the top of the 2^nd pass so meant we only had a descent for the rest of the day while the others had to climb after lunch. We really enjoyed the walk to our lunch spot. We went through rainforest, Inca tunnels, along narrow windy tracks made of stone... it gave you a sense that you were walking with the Incas. It was the most enjoyable hike of the trip, very serene. We both went at a pretty good pace and got to our lunch campsite ahead of schedule. Again we enjoyed a fantastic 3 course meal which started with Pizza as an appetizer, overlooking the two valleys and having our first glimpse of Wakachina which is the hill overlooking Machu Picchu. We all started to get excited about what the following day would bring. After rewarding ourselves with a very big lunch, we descended to our next ruin and again were provided an explanation by Bobby.

The descend was very steep – another 1000 Inca steps all of varying size some very small that you can't fit your foot on and some gigantic which required very large paces. We broke up into a boys group and a girls gossip group, which was lots of fun. The only sad thing of the day was Leigh lost his tin drink bottle and holder down a very steep dangerous bank while tying up his shoe. He stood there overlooking the cliff until we all came down and told him that it wouldn't be found. Heading on with his head down we continued. We arrived at a fork in the road and had the choice of another ruin or going straight to the campsite. We all decided to visit the ruin. It was a massive agricultural field, seperated into at least 20 terraces. It was an awesome sight, very steep and a great example of how advanced the Inca's were. Again we had to descend down more steep steps, but we all did it without trouble and arrived into camp at around 3.30pm. It had been an awesome but long day, much much easier than expected. The camp site was full of all things we had been missing e.g. hot showers, a bar and a shop. So we stocked up on a a few treats and headed to camp. The campsite itself was not as nice as the previous two, but was very functional. We learnt that no matter how advanced the campsite was the toilets still stunk!! We both decided to give the hot showers a miss, organised our tent and headed off to afternoon tea and dinner. Dinner that night was the best of them all, with servings of rice, beef, chicken, soup, vegetables and even a cake to celebrate Jeremy's birthday! We were truly spoilt! Again Sargent Bobby outlined our plans for the following day and his desire for us to be the front group which would mean a wake up call at....3.45am, with no tea to be served! Oh poor Jo!

Bobby then made a confession that he lied to us by saying the 3^rd day was harder than the 2^nd. He said he tried to use reverse psychology on us, but no one was happy with this tactic! After dinner we had a presentation ceremony which consisted of tipping all the porters and cook. Marianna spoke to them in Spanish and expressed out gratitude to all 20 of them, we were all humbled at there work. Leigh then went around all of them on behalf of the group, shaking their hands and dishing out their tip. Everyone was impressed with his technique of a handshake and pat on the back and said he should hand out gold medals at the Olympics. We ended the night on that note and headed to bed at around 8.30pm.

Monday 13^th August – Inca Trail, Machu Picchu – Aguas Caliente

After what seemed like a 5 minute sleep, we were all woken at 3.45am. Already packed from the night before, we threw on our clothes, put away our sleeping bags and mats and headed for breakfast. Before we had hardly left the tent the porters had already taken it down! There was a real buzz around the breakfast table! Bobby had got us up early to beat the crowds and as we departed we were the number 2 group. The only downside for the day was having to wait an hour at the checkpoint gate, scheduled to open at 5.30am. We passed time watching the night sky, filled with shooting stars, it was the clearest sky we had seen all trip. Jo also tucked into the hillside for a wee kip. It became apparent why we had to leave so early as every minute that passed the line got longer at the gate. It was really exciting that we knew we were going to be the first few people to see Machu Picchu that day!

At 5.30am we went through and were told it would be an hour hike to the Sun Gate. We can't explain what it was, maybe the magic of Machu Picchu, but the group went at an amazing pace! We started in the dark with our head torches on and trekked with not much said. As a sign of the pace, John and Fiona were right at the front of the group, just behind Leigh and Puma (Assistant Guide). It was not long that we had caught up the the German group in front we made the very step climb on our hands up the steps to the Sun Gate. We were the first group of the day to reach this point and were rewarded with a spectacular view over Machu Picchu...WOW! All the hard work and early starts was quickly forgotten, we were finally there. We all arrived at just after 6.15am, 15mins ahead of schedule and we all absolutely ecstatic! We soaked up the view for 10mins, before the clouds came over and blanked out the view.

Bobby then gave us a speech on the importance of the site and we headed down into Machu Picchu. We were all trigger happy on our cameras, taking thousands of photo's. We arrived at the Gatehouse, were we all took the “postcard” photo of the site, all still buzzing. When you arrive into Machu Picchu you have to officially check in, so we went through the formalities and headed off for our guided tour. The advantage of getting there so early was beating the day trippers who caught the train from Aguas Caliente and Cusco, so we had a great tour with little interruption! We learnt so much about the site, how it was “re-discovered” by Hiram Bingham and how his group took a lot of stuff from the site which is now stored in Yale University... still not released to the Peruvians. Believe it or not, the first people we see at Machu Picchu is Ants and Helen! We yelled out to them, big hugs all round and decided to meet for lunch around midday. They were lucky enough to get tickets to hike Wackachina – the great big hill overlooking Machu Picchu for which there are only 400 tickets released a day.

We carried on our tour and were told lots of interesting stories by our guide and gained a very good appreciation for the site. We received our firm instructions to meet at Aguas Caliente in a restaurant at 1pm, although we knew we would be slightly late, Bobby was not too accepting of this information. We met up with Helen, Ants and Damian to let them know we had to catch a 12.30pm bus, but they managed to get two extra tickets to climb the hill. Very excitedly we queued for at least half an hour before being let through the gate to make yet another steep ascent... All this excitement and it was still only 11am! After a lot of huffing and puffing and using the rope to pull ourselves to the top of the hill, we managed to complete the hike in 25mins, although Bobby's estimation was 45mins. Helen and Ants are very good hikers so we attempted to keep up with them. At the top Damian pulled out a whole lot of lunch that he organised for us all and we had some beautiful tuna and ham rolls.

After soaking up the stunning scenery we descended the hill and made our way over to catch the flash bus back to Aguas Caliente. The hill down was very windy, but after 20mins we made it and headed straight to the meeting point restaurant only 15mins late. At the restaurant we were given postcards with photos of us from the first day, kind of like a certificate to acknowledge the accomplishment. As we already had lunch we just had a light snack and enjoyed a few drinks with our group. We made arrangements to meet up in Cusco the next night to have a goodbye drink and then set off to find our hotel. We checked in and were pleasantly surprised to get the room overlooking the river and it even had hotish showers!! Very tired we had dinner with Ants, Helen and there crazy American friends before heading off to sleep in pretty short time... i.e. 3 mins after our heads hit the pillow!

Tuesday 14^th August – Aguas Caliente – Cusco

We were gutted to learn that checkout time was 9am.... do they not realise we have just hiked 49kms! Well obviously we could not miss out on the buffet breakfast, so we dragged ourselves out of bed at 8am and were rewarded for doing so. Breakfast was awesome, obviously done so for the American market... pancakes, sausages, scrambled eggs, fruit, toasts, juices and so on. We ate as much as we could for about an hour then rolled back to our room. After packing our rice sacks up we left them at reception then headed up to meet Ants, Helen and Damian. The idea for the day was to relax and visit the hot springs.

So we made our way up the hill and paid the 10 Soles (1 Soles for the locals!) and jumped into the not so clean looking warmish pools. Nevertheless we all enjoyed a bit of muscle relaxation and sat in the sun for a while. We then all started to work up an appetite so headed down to the river to have our home made lunch of tuna and ham rolls, bananas and our favourite Sublime blanco mmm. We then visited the markets and chilled out for a while, before jumping on our 4.15pm train heading to Ollantaytambo. Ants, Helen and Damian were due to go on the later train but managed to get on our train thankfully as it would have been a late arrival. We admired the view for a couple of hours and chatted about things to do in the US. On arrival we were greeted by a man with our names on a sign, but he unfortunately could not find the bus we were suppose to travel to Cusco on. Eventually after much confusion another man with also a sign with everyones name on it loaded us on to a bus.

The bus ride seemed to take forever, but we eventually arrived in Cusco, popped to our nice hostel and took our bags to a cheaper hostel where Ants, Helen and Damian were staying. After a quick change we headed to the square to meet up with everyone for a drink. It was a great evening, lots of drinks and all the tales of the Inca Trail were relived. Our Assistant Guide Puma also turned up and said to Leigh that he can offer whatever help he needs in more detailed research on the Incas. Sadly that night we said our goodbyes to the group and all parted off in different directions around South America.