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The Inca Trail!
I was nervous and excited about setting out on this 4 day trek to retrace the Inca pilgrimage from just outside of Cusco to Machu Picchu. The whole trail is at altitude, ranging from 2750m to 4200m. Fortunately we had spent a lot of time at altitude in Bolivia and had spent a while in Cusco, which is at 3200m so we were hoping we wouldn't get altitude sickness.
The first day of the trek was the hardest. The first half of the day was all "Peruvian flat" i.e. you go up and down a lot and end up at the same altitude. Then the hard stuff kicked in and we had to climb through 700m to our campsite at 3700m. Since the Inca trail is mainly stone steps this consisted of walking upstairs for 2 hours and 45 mins! The steps were ridiculously steep in parts and we really noticed the lack of oxygen as we were climbing. We were really pleased to make it to camp though and after dinner, get into our cold, uncomfortable tents. We got to see the first of the Inca ruins on the trail today though, Llactapata- a storage place for foods that the Inca's used to supply the cities of Cusco and Machu Picchu.
The second day of my trip was my birthday!!! Today is supposed to be the hardest day of the trek but that is because most people sleep at 3100m so we had climbed 600m higher than most other groups on day one and so had to then climb another 500m first thing in the morning instead of the 1100m other groups would have had to climb. We made it up the 500m to 4217m the highest point on the trail known as Dead Woman's Pass. We celebrated with a shot of whiskey each, woo! We then had to head down 600m to our lunch stop. After lunch we then had to climb up to 4000m again and then back down to 3600m. So by the end of the day we were only 100m lower than at the beginning, you'd think the Inca's could have built some tunnels or something! We got to see two more Inca ruins today, Runkuraqay, which was a small town, and Sayamarca, which acted like a hotel for the Inca's on their trek through to Machu Picchu. We also learnt lots about the Inca way of life and religion. They worshiped the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, condors, snakes and pumas. They also used natural springs in the mountains for water and chose carefully where they settled so they could channel it down to the cities. The channels are still working today, which was pretty impressive. When the Spanish invaded (in 1533-oh yeah check me out) the Inca's that weren't captured fled. Interestingly, in all of the ruins that have been found there have been no gold or silver found and the Spanish are known not to have found it either and so it is believed there is still the lost city of the Inca's out there somewhere with all their treasures. It wasn't hard to believe due to the dense vegetation. The only way any of the current ruins have been found is by local people who lived in the forest telling Hayden Bingham (the discoverer of Machu Picchu and loads of the other sites) and other people and many of the tribes refuse to tell any more. Ok so history over. In the evening the chef had made me a birthday cake, which was incredible since he didn't have an oven and so boiled it in a tin for hours and also we'd only told them it was going to be my birthday after we'd set off and so they were already carrying all of their supplies for the trek. It was delicious!! Everyone sang happy birthday and then we had mulled wine and played games. It was actually a really fun day considering I was up a mountain!
On the third day we just had to go up 100m but then down 1000m. At the high point we passed between the two valleys and saw some stunning views. We spent quite a bit of the trip above the cloud forrest looking out over the Andes. The surroundings were incredible! Most of the mountains were covered in dense, lush, green forest. It was spectacular! I'll post some photos, but they don't really do it justice. Today was only a half day of walking to our campsite at lunchtime. It had been raining and so the steps were really slippery and so we took it slowly and you had to jump down some of the steps as they were so steep. When we finally made it to camp, we got to go to the Inca ruin of WinayWayna, which was my second favourite after Machu Picchu. We were the only people there and it was so peaceful. There were loads and loads of terraces that the Inca's used to grow crops on. They were extensive and were used to supply not only the inhabitants of WinayWayna, but also Machu Picchu. There was also a sun and moon temple and living quarters. It is amazing how well intact the whole site is. All of the walls are thicker at the bottom and so they have been able to withstand earthquakes.
Day four!! So we got up at 3.30am today to rush down to the checkpoint 3 minutes from our campsite. After the checkpoint there is supposed to be about 1 hour further until you get the first sight of Machu Picchu from the sungate on the hillside above it. The checkpoint doesn't open until 5.30am though and so we had to queue with the 500 other people who were allowed onto the Inca trial each day. We were so lucky and were the first group down at the checkpoint. At 5.30am we made it through the checkpoint and the adrenaline kicked in and we all started out at a pretty fast pace to the sungate, so much so that I ran head first into a tree! I soldiered on, no time to stop. I knew there was about 40mins of "peruvian flats" and then a 20min steep uphill including the "gringo killer" steps. I turned a corner and knew I was at them as 52 really steep, jagged and narrow steps faced me. After making it up these I had another couple of minutes until I rounded a corner and saw our guide Steve waiting at the top of these steps and so I knew the sungate was at the top. I powered up and was so pleased to be the 6th person to make it to the sungate! It was well worth it. The view out over Machu Picchu was incredible! Soon the rest of our group joined us and we headed down to the site itself. Macchu Pichu itself was incredible. The entire city is so elaborate. I think I'll put up pictures to describe it as I really can't do it justice.
Overall, the trip was probably the most challenging physical activity I've ever done, but it was totally worth it. I was so happy to make it all the way to Machu Picchu and really enjoyed learning all about the history of the Inca's.
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