The Inca Trail
We had acclimatised as we travelled through northern Chile and into Peru, so by the time we got to Cusco, the starting point for the Inca Trail, we only really found ourselves out of breath when we were tackling any of the monster stairs to be found in town.
Things didn’t get off to a great start, having had three days of solid rain in Cusco, it was with some trepidation that we arrived at the hotel to meet the rest of our fellow trekkers. The group consisted of four Brits, four Canadians and six Americans, with us being somewhere in the middle in terms of age and near the front (Rich)/middling (me) in terms of fitness levels.
Following the prerequisite early start, our first day was spent at a nearby weaving project set up by the tour operator, G Adventures, aimed at providing local women with independent livelihoods. It was really interesting and involved llamas and alpacas, so all good. We visited a nearby Inca ruin, Ollantaytambo, which gave us a good idea of what we were letting ourselves in for regarding height and steps.
The next morning was the start of the Inca Trail proper. We met our guides, Roger and Saol and got underway. They took it easy to start, but the first day's terrain was easy-going and, most importantly, the sun had come out.
Day two was always going to be tough, considering it included the infamous 4,200m 'Dead Woman's Pass'. Of course, I had to keep stopping to take photos; nothing to do with not wanting to live up to the name...What goes up must come down and, in this case, that involved a heck of a lot of Incan steps, known locally as Gringo Killers.
The third day was a beautiful mixture of high altitude followed by cloud forest, giving us an opportunity to see a different side to the trail. En route were more Incan ruins, tunnels and, of course, more steps! We then camped tantalisingly closely to Machu Picchu, our ultimate destination, more of which in the next blog.
It can’t be overstated how amazing the porters and guides are and how invaluable on a trip like this. Roger and Saol would take the time to explain flora and fauna we came across on the trail and used this as an opportunity to keep the group (roughly) together, with one always at the front and one at the back. The porters’ day would consist of helping prepare our breakfasts (two of the porters were also chefs and carried their chef’s whites with them, including a toque!), whilst we were eating they took down our tents, packed up and headed off to the next site. The ones looking after the food tents (cooking and serving) would head to the lunch stop. Lunch was invariably delicious but always different and even an awkward vegetarian such as myself was well catered for. Three square meals a day and they even managed to bake a cake at the top of a mountain for our last night.
When we arrived at our overnight stops, our tents were already set up for us, we got hot water and soap for washing and a cup of coca tea, repeated when they woke us up in the mornings. We carried a day pack and the porters can carry up to 30kg. And they were always ahead of us! A group of amazing men and they did it all with a smile.