The Sacred Trail to Machu Picchu!

So we made it! This was one of the reasons we came down here, and it is kind of surreal that it is over now...

Four days ago we rolled out of bed at 5:23 in the morning into our carefully laid out clothes. Our bags were packed up, so we snuck out of the hostal trying not to make much noise. As I walked down the hill to where our tour company would pick us up, I remember feeling extremely excited. It was hard to believe that in a few hours we would be walking on THE Inca Trail, and in a few days we would be at THE Machu Picchu. We joined up with the rest of our group who we had met the previous evening in a briefing. Everyone was wide awake despite the early hour, and ready to go. Our group was only seven people, which was great considering most are sixteen. There was quiet Barbra from Switzerland, Andy our British riverrat, Robert the un-stereotypical American, Ben and Will the Aussie entertainers, and Us, the nice canadians! Quite a mix. It was an hour bus ride to Breakfast, and then another two hours to the trail head.

We pulled into Ollyantatambo, to pick up the majority of the porters, and were bombarded by street vendors selling water, gatorade, ponchos, coca leaves and any last minute things they thought we might want to buy. I picked up a bag of leaves and some water, just the essentials. The bus dropped us off on the side of the road near the entrance to the trail, where a number of other groups were getting ready. There were tonnes of porters carrying boxes and bags and sacks of stuff around, someone handed us a brown paper bag, and we kindly refused thinking they were selling something to us again. It turned out to be our snacks, so we quickly changed our minds. It was drizzling slightly as we approached the trail gate, with our passports and trail passes in hand. We took a quick 'before' picture and set off over the raging Urubamba river.

The trail followed the river for quite awhile, before turning off to the left near the lookout ruins of Llactapata. From there it made its way slowly up a valley towards the village of Wallyabamba. The beginning of the trail is failry populated with locals. Some of them have hauled drinks and snacks up the trail past the first campsite even. There is something not quite right about being able to buy a beer half way up a mountain...

We camped the first night up above most of the other groups, which were down in the valley in the village. Carlos our guide, introduced us to the porters and cook(12 of them all together), who would be hauling our tents, food, and stools! It was a very different way of camping than any of us have been used to. First class service the whole way! We would wake up in the morning to Juan, who would give us hot tea in our tent! After leisurely packing up and wandering into the dining tent, we would receive hot porridge, pancakes or omlets, toast, jam, more tea, and South Americas greatest invention ever; Dulce de Leche. Basically dulce de leche is evaporated milk slowly heated until its a gooey paste that looks like caramel and tastes like heaven. While eating, the porters would pack our tents, fill up our water bottles, and set off before us to setup the lunch spot.

Day 2 was Dead Woman's Pass day. They call it that because of the womanly features the ridge line resembles, but I think it's probably because you feel like dying when(if) you reach the top. We set off just after 7am led by Carlos at a conservative pace in order to save energy for the last bit. Around 9:30 we reached our first main rest spot where someone had setup a table and stools for us. Popcorn and hot water for tea was laid out and everyone sat there grinning stupidly at how absurd we must look. We were the only group on the trail to enjoy 'Elevensies' as they called it, and it was pretty damn cool. The rest of the hike up to the top was... well.. hard. But man did it feel great taking those last few steps , dropping the pack on the ground, and looking back down the foggy valley to the campsite. We hungout at 4198m for a few minutes, enjoying our chocolate bars and congradulating each other on not dying, before heading back down the other side. Everyone always talked about how hard it is going to the top, and for some reason neglect to mention the knee jarring, calf burning descent to camp. The trail down was built in the 80's and was a series of rock steps that go down about 500m. Everytime you stop to take a break or check out the scenery your legs shake uncontrollably. We made it to camp early, around 12:30, and had the option to go on another 3 hours, but were not able to because the next site was booked full. We enjoyed a delicious 3 course meal and retired to our tents for a siesta, or nap.

Day three started off with a nice uphill climb, to where it joined up with the true original Inca Trail. We stopped briefly at another ruins, Runquracay, which served as another lookout to watch for people on the trail. To get to Machu Picchu the Incas had two roads, a short one followed the Urubamba river to Aguas Calientes, and the Sacred trek left Cusco and went through the mountain passes. People would take the Sacred trail to cleanse themselves of evil, and would be spotted along the way by these lookouts. The guards would send signals to the next lookout by blowing into a Conch Shell, all the way to Machu Picchu so they could prepare food and ceremonies. The trail was cobbled from stones and wound its way along the mountain side through cloud forest, up into the parámo, and even through some caves. Some of the steps had been carved right into the rock, work that would have taken months without iron tools.

After the Dead Woman's Pass the trail becomes more wild, and most evidence of civilization dissapears, so it was sad to return so abruptly to it on our third night. The campsite is up the hill from Aguas Calientes, there are powelines from the nearby Hydro Electric plant and even a cafeteria that we ate our meals in. On the last night it is tradition to tip the porters and cooks for the work they do, so we gathered outside and I was voluntold to say a small speech in spanish. After dinner, the cafeteria turned up the speakers and blasted Shakira for a roudy group of Argentenians who turned it into a dance party. Very strange.

(Sarah...) Day four we were woken up at 3:45 am, and by 4am we were eating breakfast in the dark. Our group left the campsite early and we were even the first group to arrive at the last checkpoint. We had to wait until 5:30 however until the gates were opened, so we turned off our flashlights and told jokes until finally we were let through. The trail was dark, and it was raining as we walked, I could only hope that the weather might clear. As the sun started to rise behind the clouds we were able to turn off our lights and continue through the foggy forest. The path was slippery, but we kept a quick pace now that we had left behind our 2kg sleeping bags and sleeping pads, and we were all very excited to reach our final destination. Around every corner and at the top of each set of stairs I would strain to look through the clouds for a glimpse of Machu Picchu, but the clouds did not rise fast enough for our pace, and we arrived at the Sun Gate only able to see a few distant mountains peeking through the clouds. Normally, this is where the trekking groups get their first view of Machu Picchu as the sun is rising behind them through the Sun Gate. As we caught our breaths at the top of our last climb more hikers from other groups arrived and the spot became crowded quickly. Carlos lead us down the last bit of trail and as we decended, the clouds rose and we could see the beginning of the foggy ruins. Colin left a traditional offering of a small rock pile at one temple in hopes of appeasing the Weather Gods. Our last stretch of trail took us into the top terraces at Machu Picchu and there was a great satisfaction from the whole group knowing we had made the trek and survived.

The site was amazing. So much larger and steeper than any of the photos make it out to be. We went on a small tour with Carlos around the city, seeing temples, water fountains, terraces, and houses. Most of the site has been reconstructed and excavated for tourism, and the cloud forests that once grew all over the site have been cleared away. We were amazed at the number of tourists already at the site when we arrived, some had caught a bus at 6am to see the sunrise, and the longer we stayed, the more people arrived from the busses. Machu Picchu can see up to five thousand people in one day alone!

After our tour we decided to climb the nearby mountain of Wayna Picchu, where there are some more ruins and a spectacular view of the saccred city. Our calf muscles were screaming as we climbed the incredibly steep steps up to the top, but now without backpacks, we were able to climb the 45 minute trail in 20-25 minutes! We spent time at the top exploring the steep stairways and relaxing on the topmost rocks and admiring the views of the surrounding mountains. The decent was terrifying, I found myself climbing sideways down the stairs at times so I didn´t have to look over the edge which dropped off to the river valley below.

We were only able to explore the city a little more before our group caught a bus down the winding road to Aguas Calientes to meet Carlos for lunch. We definitely could have used another entire day there to cover the whole site and really appreciate everything. But around 1:15, when we left, the site was crowded with tour groups and tourists, and it felt alot like Canada´s Wonderland or Disney World (but definitely way better). After our last lunch together at a small hostal, we all said our goodbyes to Carlos and Robert (who was staying one extra night) and headed to the train staition for the 2 hour trip. The roof had windows so we could look up at the towering mountains (though Colin enjoyed the gi-normous river much more) and we were even entertained by the stewards with a traditional dance and an alpaca clothing fashion show (very weird, and all the other day-tourists were snapping photos and gaping at the clothing). The tour company picked us up from the train staition at Ollyantatambo and took us another two hours over very bumpy road back to Cusco. We checked back into our hostal and had showers (unfortunately we had to change back into the same clothes, well a new t-shirt) and found a place for dinner before meeting up with the Aussies and the Brit at the worlds highest Irish owned pub.

We slept in this morning after a 21 hour day yesterday, and are planning on sticking around Cusco to see a few more sites and museums and let our leg muscles recover. We took lots of photos and some videos, so there's lots to see. Enjoy!






Part of the Inca Trail






Machu Picchu!






From the top of Wayna Picchu!