The Inca Trail

31st May - 4th June

The plan is as follows, we completed a community visit on day one, before the 4 day Inca trail. The village we visited was where the Quecha or porters lived. They are locals that carry upto 25kgs around the trail with us. We were to have 8 Quecha, one who was a chef and another an assistant chef. I (Andrew) will write about our visit and day 3 of the trek, while Sarah will explain the events of days 1, 2 and her birthday on day 4 of the trek.

Pre-trek community visit - Andrew

The start of our Inca trail began with a rushed morning in Cusco trying to organise the last items before the inca trail starts. The trip begins with Jose walking us from the hostel many many blocks to a local bus station. You would never know it was a bus station, just a gap in a wall. We head via local bus out of Cusco, sitting 4 across the back and Jose a row infront of us, looking at his Facebook. The aisle begins half full but the bus stops at anyone with a hand out and fills up and up and up. To pass the time and with both Sarah and Laura asleep, Joe and I start joking about ways to wake Sarah and Laura up - two flycatchers!! Outside the bus the land is changing from city suburbs, to barren land, to Australian style vegetation of bushes, brownish-green grasses and eucalyptus trees (but very mountainous background so it wouldn't fit in Australia) and finally very different in most ways. Jose starts calling to the front, I'm not sure how we are going to get off this bus, or where. Many calls later and we get off at; well nowhere, just a grassy patch with a turnoff 50m up the road.

We get off the bus and wait for the next form of transport. This consisted of two of us on the back of a bike and the other three and our bags into some homemade form of tuktuk. Joe and Jose climb onto a motorbike and the rest of us jump in this tuktuk type contraption. We think it is most of a motorbike hidden by a metal box. Revving the bike very hard we start to move but this sensation is short lived and its not long till all of us have to get out to push the contraption up a slight incline. The kick start on the stalled bike was interesting with repeated attempts while we roll backwards. Repeat this process many many times. The final time it happens we roll backwards very close to a large drainage ditch and sarah yells out to stop him. This is where we have had enough, the contraption revs harder than any bike should and doesn't have the power, gears or driver required to carry passengers. Then another bike comes along and waves at us, Laura jumps at the opportunity and takes the ride with them. It turns out to be the head porter from the village and the person who's house we are visiting and he takes her straight to the house to watch cartoons with his daughter. Sarah and I continue with a little more success, just a little as we struggle up hills and coast rather than drive down hills since the contraption doesn't have the right working gear for downhill either... Or any working gears really. We struggle a kilometre more and when we stall as we go through a small drainage ditch again, it appears we are out of gasoline. Hmmmm what's next. The two bikes return to see what is happening and their presence is followed by a lot of talking in quechua (the local language). Minutes later we are on motorbikes with duffle bags on our backs leaving the tuktuk.

We arrived at a two storey farmhouse made of adobe with an enclosed yard to keep animals overnight. When we enter the small yard which is reasonably full with chickens, chicks, ducks, geese with chicks, kittens, dogs.... At least it seemed full. We entered the kitchen for a cup of tea and a snack. Inside the kitchen are at least two guinea pigs. It turns out they live in there for safety as this is where they feel most protected. The only problem for them is Peruvians eat guinea pig on special occasions!! Not so safe after all.
After this we walk with Jose as he explains life on the farms and in the village. This village is where all our Quechua's will come from. We sample broadbeans and talk about the drying process of everything which is the Peruvian way. Jose had never tried a fresh broadbean and he took some convincing to try one from the vine. Next we talked about the trees. When the Spanish arrived, they planted gumtrees as it grows fast and can be used in building. It gave the place an Aussie feel to it. A few lookouts later and explanations of his projects and rural Peruvian life and we sit down to a massive pile of un-husked corn. We offered to do the job and in turn we saw the differences in all the varieties. Yellow and small to large pointy purple ones and everything in between.

On the way to dinner, we stopped by one of Jose's many initiatives, a Spanish educational cinema for the local kids. They love it, and the room was packed. We sat on the ground and watched the tv with all the Quechua's children. The kids and parents loved the documentary and as Jose says this is one of the few times they will stop working to have time for themselves. We talk a little to them in English and Spanish and shared some snacks of steamed broadbeans and corn, and some steamed whole potatoes. They are loved by everyone, I'm not sure western kids would accept this as a snack.

After half an hour we head in for dinner. Another delicious soup, tea and we then we are off to bed, the first night in our tents.

Day 1: The Inca trail begins - Sarah

We were woken at 6am with a hot cup of coca tea. Once we were packed up and had taken in the amazing valley view we headed down the hill to the house for a traditional rural Peruvian breakfast. This consisted of broad bean porridge, potatoes and a cooked sweetcorn and broadbean mix called mote.

Before long our bus arrived and we were on our way to the starting point. We drove to a town called Ollantaytambo, the last proper stop before the trek and the last place to pick up supplies. Then we drove on unsealed roads to Piscaycucho, the starting point of the Inca Trail. Here the porters had to get their bags weighed by the national park (to check they're not carrying more than 25kg each) and we had to get our passports checked and signed in. There was also a special passport stamp for the start of the Inca trail. We all got through and it was time for the real fun to begin!

The path followed the river along the valley and the walk was relatively easy. Our guide, Jose, called it "Inca flat", where there are small ups and downs - don't think they have any completely flat areas here. Along the way Jose would stop us and tell us about the way of life of the current quechua people who still live inside the national park and about the different vegetation and animals we were seeing, for example the insects that live on the fruit cactus are used as red dye for fabrics. Another time he stopped us in front of some old Inca buildings and gave us a rundown of the Incan history. He told us that these buildings were used for "runners", who used to deliver messages between the different Incan cities, to rest along their journey - like a modern day motel.

We climbed an incline and then we could make out the green and yellow of our lunch tent! We were treated to the most amazing 4 course lunch, sat at a proper table with cutlery laid! We had avocado salad for starters and a prawn soup, followed by chicken, rice and vegetables for main and a cooked fruit and syrup desert, all topped off with a cup of tea! We felt like royalty!

After a quick lesson from Jose on how to roll our newly purchased coca leaves (to help with the altitude) for chewing we set off and ascended our only biggish hill of the day. At the top lay a magnificent view of some Inca ruins in the valley below called Patallaqta. This was an ancient Inca city, built right beside the river, with semi circle terraces leading up the river bank to the main buildings.

After a further 2 hours of walking back down and along the valley we arrived at the village we were camping in for the night. Our tents were already set up and we were greeted with hot water and soap by our porters! Jose then announced it was time for happy hour. This consisted of popcorn, crackers, jam, tea and hot chocolate in the food tent. We played cards afterwards and it wasn't long until we were treated to another spectacular 3 course dinner! Vegetable soup, fried trout and potato wedges, and a fruit compote dessert with pavlova filling! Seriously, the food on our tour was better than some we'd had in Cusco. We went to bed excited to be on the way, a little tired from our first days walking but with content and full tummies!

Day 2: Up, up and more up - Sarah

We were woken by the head porter and given a bowl of warm water to wash with. After breakfast we set off on what many people say is the hardest of the four days, as its nearly all uphill and we get to our highest altitude, 4200m. The day before, we had discussed with Jose that we would rather mission it through the uphill section and have a late lunch once we reach our next camp instead of having lunch on the way.

The first section was relatively gradual, with no steps, and it wasn't long before we reached our first official rest stop.

Then came the middle section. This was longer and involved lots of Inca steps that varied in size and height. Even though it was hard we all kept a constant pace, with just a few 1-2 minute stops. We ascended through cloud forests and waterfalls and made it to the second rest stop. Here we had arranged to have a morning tea to keep us going as we still had a while till lunch. When we arrived we honestly felt very spoilt! We saw all the other tour groups lounging around on the ground, flopped on top of their backpacks eating cereal bars and drinking water from their bottles. And then we spotted the tell-tale green and yellow uniforms of our porters. They had set up the table and chairs, and laid it with fresh warm popcorn, jam and bread, tea, coffee and hot chocolate and greeted us each with a bowl of hot water, soap and towels to wash our hands. Needless to say we got a few stares from all the other trekkers!

After our rest it was time to continue on our last section of uphill for the day. This path was more gradual with less steps but tricky all the same. The coca leaves definitely came in handy as we were heading above 4000m altitude. The boys were ahead of Laura and I but as we neared the last few steps to the summit they waited for us and we all crossed onto the top together.

We had done it - we had reached our highest point of the trek, dead woman's pass at 4200m. We spent time soaking up the views, taking photos and celebrating our achievement. Jose explained that it's called dead woman's pass because the outline of the peaks looks like the profile of a woman lying down.

We only had 1-2hrs of downhill remaining for the day. This consisted of steep steps down and I was thankful for my walking poles to help my knees and ankles.

We arrived at our camp, day two, the hardest day completed at 2pm. An afternoon of eating and rest followed. Lunch was ready quickly and we sat down to another delicious Roly meal of a yuca/potato pancake, vegetable soup with garlic bread, rolled chicken stuffed with vegetables with a side of quinoa, and strawberry mousse with decorative caramel star. Afterwards we rested, played cards with the porters and soon we were sitting down to another meal of soup, lomo saltado - like a beef stirfry with onion and peppers on top of chips and poached pears with cinnamon for dessert.

It felt great to have completed the "hardest" day and our excitement grew for the "easier" days to come.

Day 3: The longest day - Andrew

The start of today had a very exciting and different feel to it for Joe and I. The day before we talked to Jose about swapping bags with the Quechua, our 2-3kg packs for their 25kg packs. It was decided that the 2 hour uphill at the start of today was the best time to try this challenge. We just wanted to know what it was like, to experience some of what they do. So after breakfast we sorted a deck of cards so there was one of each value and fanned them out ready to be chosen. I took the bag from the highest card and Joe got the second highest. As we handed them out, out of nowhere came one very happy face and he cried out in excitement, he had drawn an ace (high). He raced over to his bag, set it up on the edge of a ledge and called out in Spanish, 'it's this one, its this one.' Great, I got one with tent poles sticking a foot or two out the top. It took a little bit of time as the next highest was a jack, but the same celebration took place. We placed our small packs next to the big ones, and saw the scale of the challenge. We sat down, arranged some coca leaves into a ball, gave the Quechua our small packs, did a small video for Jose to run on his website and then picked up our bags.

The first steps were..... enlightening to say the least. At 3300m, altitude makes life harder. We walked at a good pace half way up, stair after stair to the egg shaped ruins of Runkurakay where we stopped for a small history lesson. Next was the hard part, over an hour long and steep with the added fun of the tent poles hitting trees and rocks, pushing me off balance, ruining my rhythm and trying to push me back down the mountain. We stopped a few times on the Quechua seats, sections where there are rocks with a ledge a little higher to take the weight of the bag. We stopped for a quick sip of water and sometimes more coca leaves. The altitude as we approached 3980m played a huge role. Jose (who use to be a Quechua too) gave us tips, the main one was to control your breathing to a rhythm, otherwise the altitude gets you and you can't get enough oxygen. If you lost your rhythm, you had to stop, get it back and set off again. We stopped a few times with porters from other companies and tourists, all as interested as each other to see us with bags and our uniformed Quechua with small day sacks.
We made it to the top, and celebrated once we had taken the bags off. We had some photos and a wrap up video for Jose. It was so great to see what they go through, what it's really like. The Quechua are now protected by law and they are only allowed to carry 25kgs, it was unrestricted and people carried 35kgs+ in the past. Jose goes further and supplies them uniforms which includes clothes for the heat and the cold. The best (and worst) part was they were given bags to carry everything in. Other companies Quechua had tied sacks to their backs or used cloth to bundle everything up and tied it onto themselves.

The next part was the beginning of the downhill sections. We enjoyed the views and stopped to look at the plants on the way down. The next ruins were near our lunch spot, actually we could see the tent and were all so famished. The food was so amazing that the sight of the tent could almost bring tears to your eyes!! The ruins were the remains of a religious city, aptly named Sayaqmarka "The city in the hills" (in Quechua). This was an amazing set of ruins on a cliff edge. Within the ruins was a temple to the mountains, as the people then believed the mountains were Gods.. We know this as at the top of the temple, above the alter was a massive carved rock in the shape of the famous Salkantay mountain. This is the highest mountain in the area. An amazing area that would have been stunning to visit 600 years ago.

After our tour and another history lesson we headed down the hill to lunch. This amazing lunch was:
Starter - mushroom cerviche
Entree - quinoa soup
Main - Peruvian take on fried rice and a stir fry with chips and squeaky cheese and mixed vegetables
Dessert - fruit crepe
So delicious!!

From here we walked uphill, into the cloud forest with an increase in vegetation and not so surprisingly, some clouds. From a lookout we could see Aguas Calientes, the city at the base of Machu Picchu mountain but also the back of the mountain that Machu Picchu is located on - we were getting closer!. There was an amazing view of rain falling in the distance and bending around onto where Machu Picchu was.

The next area was rainforest and naturally there were some more ruins, Phuyupatamarka with a temple to the water God. Im not sure what we did to piss off this God but it started to rain, and rain hard. We cut our lesson short and headed off to try and get below the rainforest and hopefully the rain. It had turned into slow going as from lunch Laura had bandaged a problem knee and at this point she could not bend it. It had been getting worse and worse for two days. Sarah gave her one of her walking poles and then tricked her 20 minutes later to take the second.
So the rain was coming down hard and we tried to stop anywhere we could that was undercover. The steps were slippery and had to be judged well. There were parts that the slippery stairs were so steep and large 30-50cm that you could require assistance. The rain started to ease and we went through two incredible features, an inca spiral staircase and an inca tunnel, both in the photos.

We made it to the top of a dirt track which at the bottom was our camp. Joe and I decided to head off, and not long into it we were jogging down. It was great to stretch the legs out. We arrived at the camp and explained the others would be coming in a little bit. The head Quechua suggested we go and see some ruins, Intipata, a 5 minute run down a track he pointed out. We ran down the track and it opened out to a huge set of ruined terraces, with a watering system that still works, a temple at the top and houses at the bottom. A few sneaky photos and a video to show the others (which i'll load up) and we jogged back to the camp.

Dinner was almost ready and it was exciting.
Dinner was:
Soup - local take on chicken noodle soup
main - a large stuffed pepper, a chicken kebab and potato bake (the most amazing potato bake)
Dessert - a birthday cake for Sarah with egg white icing! (I organised to do it tonight so we could share it with the Quechua)

We followed the dessert with tips for the Quechua and words to each other - just thanks and appreciation for what they do. They all made us feel like Inca's, honestly, we were royalty. We headed to bed for an early night before the big day, up to head to Machu Picchu at 3am.

Day 4 - Birthday at Machu Picchu

Andrew and I woke up early, at 3am and Andrew gave me my first birthday present! We packed up quickly, said goodbye to the porters and walked towards the checkpoint. There was already a long line of people there as the gate didn't open until 5:30am. Once it was open we walked a rapid, constant pace towards the sungate. The path was narrow at times and had a steep drop on the right hand side so the guide told us to stick to the left. We also had some crazy people trying to overtake us in a race to get to the sun gate first - its not going anywhere guys! The inca path was mainly flat but there were a couple of steep flights of steps which warmed us up. Then we were there - the stone sun gate - and we got our first (birthday) view of Machu Picchu. It was a sight to be seen - forested hills, a city nestled on the top of one with low clouds rising off the mountains. Amazing. We sat to enjoy the view and took photos before starting the final descent to the city.

As we neared it we found a great viewpoint and Andrew whipped out a Tupperware box. Inside was a stack of three pancakes with dulce de leche writing on spelling "Happy Birthday Sarah" in Spanish - a mini birthday cake! We lit a candle and took photos in front of the stunning backdrop of the ancient city - seriously a birthday to remember! Turning twenty-eight wasn't so bad after all!

Even though we were inside the city, we had to leave via the main gate and re-enter officially on our tickets. We took the opportunity to visit the cafe and treated ourselves to celebratory beers/pisco sours.

When we re-entered the city Jose gave us a two hour tour. It was so interesting and he really brought the place to life. The site was truly amazing, built on a mountain top with stairs and terraces leading to different areas. A few llamas were wandering around the ruins and we tried to imagine what this city would have been like in it's hey day. Jose showed us the various temples (to the sun, water, the condor) important peoples houses and terraces and his enthusiasm for his country's history was contagious. There was so much to see its hard to write about it all. The temples were extremely interesting. The temple of the condor contained a carving of the head of a condor and the natural rocks behind it looked like the bird's outstretched wings. The temple of the sun is Machu Picchu's only round building and the temple of the water had little canals and waterways and a place where priests would have given lessons to students. Another interesting site was the Intihuatana, a carved rock pillar which looked a bit like a sundial, but that the Inca astronomers actually used to predict the solstices.

After Jose's tour we had a few hours free time to explore on our own and arranged to meet him back in the town of Aguas Calientes. Andrew, Joe and I decided we wanted to make the short detour to a sight called the Inca bridge. This was another ancient path into the city that runs along a sheer cliff face and has a famous wooden bridge crossing a small canyon. To reach it we had to climb back up to the highest area of Machu Picchu (hard on my legs after the trek) and slightly out of the city. We followed the old Inca path, a vertical drop on one side. You can't cross the bridge now as someone fell from it once, just look at it from a short distance, but it doesn't look overly stable. Just logs/planks of wood balanced across a canyon.

After returning to Machu Picchu and taking even more photos, our bodies were tired and hungry. We reluctantly decided it was time to leave and catch the bus to Agua Calientes. The bus ride in itself was a bit of an adventure as it zig-zagged down the mountainside into the valley. Once there we met Jose in the restaurant we'd arranged and shared beers and ordered lunch.

Jose, and Cusi Travel as a whole had been absolutely amazing and we were all a bit sad for it to be over!

After a late lunch we waited till it was time to board our train back towards Cusco. A train ride back through some of the valley we had trekked, and two bus journeys later we arrived back in our hostel in Cusco. A hot shower and a bed had never felt so good. We all slept very soundly that night.

We almost couldn't believe it was all over. It had been everything we hoped and more. All in all, one of the highlights of my trip so far and definitely the best birthday ever!