We sat down with our guide Washington (aka Benjamin) the day before the Inca Trail for a briefing on what to expect for the next 4 days. There may have been a brief hint that day 2 was going to be tough, but nothing really prepared us for what lay ahead.
We packed our duffel bags and backpacks and awoke early the next morning to get the bus to Wayabamba (sp?) and pick up some last minute supplies. The Geckos group was split for the trail and so Mel, James and Den met up with our two other hikers Matt and Regan who completed our Inca Trail family for the next few days. We picked up some last minute supplies... gatorade, skittles and ponchos which we really hoped wouldn't be needed given our wise/stupid decision to ignore hiking boots and opt for runners. One last meal before we started off, and my simple order of ¨tostada...no mas¨ which was meant to be toast with no butter, but was taken as ¨nothing for you¨. Not a good start considering i had an upset stomach.
We took a few photos and began on our way. The first day was up and down, not too difficult and we got to see a few ruins along the way to break up the walking. The biggest highlight/surprise was the food. Wow!! For a group of 7 of us including the guide, we had 7 porters carrying our bagg, tents and food. The food was gourmet throughout the four days, with each meal being three courses of soup, chioce of mains with vegetables and dessert. Even more amazing was the fact that the guys carried eggs while running the trail in sandals for 3 days before serving them.
I am coming back to writing this after almost 6 weeks and have have learnt that less is definately more...
So Inca Trail... after dinner on day 1 we were presented with an alternate plan.. instead of having to wake up at 3am on day 3, we could combine days 3 & 4 and walk all the way to Machu Picchu, stay in Machu Picchu town. Sounded reasonable at the time but we had yet to walk the hardest day so we would discuss again the following night.
Day 2 was unbelievably tough. 6 hours of uphill to dead womens pass followed by 2 hours of downhill to the campsite. The feeling at the top of the pass after 6 hours of climbing was incredible. At lunch rain clouds were ominous and we were worried as we decided not to get hiking boots and brave the trail in our runners. But it held out and we ended the day catching a glimpse of a deer in the wild. At dinner, we all breathed a sigh of relief thinking the worst was behind us and agreed to walk all the way to Machu Picchu the next day.
Day 3 was long. 13 hours of trekking, only a few quick stops including a rushed lunch which we had to digest while back on the trail. About 11 hours in, just before we reached the Sun Gate, our leader Washington informed us he had a present for us. Unfortunately his present turned out to be the ¨gringo killer¨, a set of steep, almost vertical steps that we needed to climb with hands and knees. Lame. We all made it eventually and it was definately worth it when we arrived at the sun gate to see Machu Picchu for the first time. The view was unforgettable. We didnt have long to rest as the last bus down to our accommodation left in 40 minutes and the walk down to the bottom was... 40 minutes. We ran down to the buses only to see the last bus leave before our eyes. The group sat in silence, with a despondent look on everyones faces at the prospect of having to walk even more to the town before we could rest. Luckily Washington spoke to the operators and another bus was sent.
In Machu Picchu town, we were offered space to pitch our tents and sleep inside a restaurant which would have been stange enough if not for the fact that when we got there it was a BLACKOUT!!3 days, 50+ kms, everyone super tired and there's no power, hot water or anything open/to do when we get there. Super lame. We celebrated completing the trek with some warm beers, tipped the porters for their great efforts and enjoyed the mariachi band playing in front of the restaurant before getting a reasonably early night.
The next day we awoke at 330am, had cake for breakfast which was half sweet, half savoury, and then started the trek up to Macchu Pichu at 430am in order to get tickets to climb Wayna Pichu. Mel and Den decided the bus was the better option because they didnt want to do the extra climb. In retrospect, they chose the better option. Still tired from the last three days, the climb at 430am, still dark, was probably the hardest 90mins of the entire trek. We were almost jogging parts in order to get there early, but by the time we reached the top we were so buggered the concensus was that no one was up for doing any more walking. Ever. So we got our tickets and they ended up going waste but at least we tried.
At the top we took our postcard photos from ¨the rock¨and then washington took us on a tour of the city. Such an amazing experience walking through the town, once the supposed capital of a quadrant of the Incan empire. Lots of great photo ops and some acrobatic llamas to keep us amused. In the end we probably didnt spend as much time there as we thought we might, due to everyone being exhausted and preoccupied with McDonalds back in Cusco! We bussed back down to Machu Picchu town, had a nice lunch at a hotel with a generator because the power was sitll out but it conveniently came on just as we were leaving back to Cusco. The train ride back was pretty quiet, we caught up with Jeff, Tom and Susan and looked forward to a hot shower and festivities back in Cusco the next few days.
I am coming back to writing this after almost 6 weeks and have have learnt that less is definately more...
So Inca Trail... after dinner on day 1 we were presented with an alternate plan.. instead of having to wake up at 3am on day 3, we could combine days 3 & 4 and walk all the way to Machu Picchu, stay in Machu Picchu town. Sounded reasonable at the time but we had yet to walk the hardest day so we would discuss again the following night.
Day 2 was unbelievably tough. 6 hours of uphill to dead womens pass followed by 2 hours of downhill to the campsite. The feeling at the top of the pass after 6 hours of climbing was incredible. At lunch rain clouds were ominous and we were worried as we decided not to get hiking boots and brave the trail in our runners. But it held out and we ended the day catching a glimpse of a deer in the wild. At dinner, we all breathed a sigh of relief thinking the worst was behind us and agreed to walk all the way to Machu Picchu the next day.
Day 3 was long. 13 hours of trekking, only a few quick stops including a rushed lunch which we had to digest while back on the trail. About 11 hours in, just before we reached the Sun Gate, our leader Washington informed us he had a present for us. Unfortunately his present turned out to be the ¨gringo killer¨, a set of steep, almost vertical steps that we needed to climb with hands and knees. Lame. We all made it eventually and it was definately worth it when we arrived at the sun gate to see Machu Picchu for the first time. The view was unforgettable. We didnt have long to rest as the last bus down to our accommodation left in 40 minutes and the walk down to the bottom was... 40 minutes. We ran down to the buses only to see the last bus leave before our eyes. The group sat in silence, with a despondent look on everyones faces at the prospect of having to walk even more to the town before we could rest. Luckily Washington spoke to the operators and another bus was sent.
In Machu Picchu town, we were offered space to pitch our tents and sleep inside a restaurant which would have been stange enough if not for the fact that when we got there it was a BLACKOUT!!3 days, 50+ kms, everyone super tired and there's no power, hot water or anything open/to do when we get there. Super lame. We celebrated completing the trek with some warm beers, tipped the porters for their great efforts and enjoyed the mariachi band playing in front of the restaurant before getting a reasonably early night.
The next day we awoke at 330am, had cake for breakfast which was half sweet, half savoury, and then started the trek up to Macchu Pichu at 430am in order to get tickets to climb Wayna Pichu. Mel and Den decided the bus was the better option because they didnt want to do the extra climb. In retrospect, they chose the better option. Still tired from the last three days, the climb at 430am, still dark, was probably the hardest 90mins of the entire trek. We were almost jogging parts in order to get there early, but by the time we reached the top we were so buggered the concensus was that no one was up for doing any more walking. Ever. So we got our tickets and they ended up going waste but at least we tried.
At the top we took our postcard photos from ¨the rock¨and then washington took us on a tour of the city. Such an amazing experience walking through the town, once the supposed capital of a quadrant of the Incan empire. Lots of great photo ops and some acrobatic llamas to keep us amused. In the end we probably didnt spend as much time there as we thought we might, due to everyone being exhausted and preoccupied with McDonalds back in Cusco! We bussed back down to Machu Picchu town, had a nice lunch at a hotel with a generator because the power was sitll out but it conveniently came on just as we were leaving back to Cusco. The train ride back was pretty quiet, we caught up with Jeff, Tom and Susan and looked forward to a hot shower and festivities back in Cusco the next few days.
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