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Surviving the Inca Trail!
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Well we survived!!
We started the Inca Trail on sunday after not very much sleep cos of noisy people in the hostel on saturday night! an early start on the bus, a quick breakfast in a little hostel in the middle of nowhere and then 3 hours later we were deposited at km82, the start of the inca trail walk! We then had an easy (read flat) 2 hour walk to the first break point, at which time i was thinking I was going to be alright and i was going to make it! Then we set out again, but it was up hill......uh oh much harder going! but then we stopped quite a few times, to look at inca sites and to see the scenery, and we finally made it to lunch the first day! after a 3 course meal and a digestive tea, we only had 2 hours of walking left (up hill of course) to get to oiur campsite at 3200m above sea level. We got to the campsite about 4, nice and early and with lots of time to chill out before they gave us a massive helping of popcorn for afternoon tea, and another 3 course meal for dinner! Surprisingly I was one of the first into the campsite (not the last of my childhood walks!) with the rest of the group straggling in behind us!
The second day was by far the hardest, we were up at 5am, on the trail at 6, with about 4 hours of hard up hill slog to go to get up to ´dead woman´s pass´ which is at 4200m above sea level! The first couple of hours were through beautiful forest, with plenty of streams and birdlife, with the occasional llama thrown in for good measure! then we were above the forest and in the clouds for a while, before finally making it to dead woman´s pass about 10am. All that work and it was only 10!!!! So after a quick break at the top with a snickers bar and plenty of water we carried on (it was freezing up there!!) down some very rough steps to get to our lunch spot about 3600masl. This is where a lot of groups spend the 2nd night, but it was only our lunch stop! We got in well ahead of most of the group and so had a good couple of hours rest before having to set out again. The afternoon was much easier going than the morning, up hill, but with inca sites to stop and look at and rocks to pile up for good luck. Unfortunately just as we got within sight (half an hours walk) of the campsite it started raining with a vengeance, so we gave the last inca site a miss and headed straight to camp. After a hard days walking we had a great meal, rounded off with apple tea served with rum! a good way to relax before snuggling up in the sleeping bag for a well deserved rest.
The third day was only really half a day, we left at 7 for an easy walk on the ´real´ inca trail (up until now what we were walking was created by the national park and was not the path the real incas actually took.)The guide was pointing out trees and birds and flowers and we got to the last of the passes we would have to cross about 9am. Unfortunately the cloud was closing in so the view wasn´t as good as it should have been, but thats what happens in the rainy season! We then headed down some really steep stairs created by the incas, into the cloud forest. Hamish was hoping to see spectacled bears, but they are so rare now that it wasn´t really going to happen! It rained on and off most of the morning, and it was quite heavy by the time we got to camp (lunchtime) but luckily we had a restaurant to sit in so it didn´t matter! I went off for a nap, and by the time I woke up the weather had cleared and we had an awesome view of the surrounding hills and mountains.
The fourth day was a very early start, we left the campsite at 5.30, when they first open the gate, and we were one of the first people to make it to the sun gate. Unfortuanately there was no sunrise, but we were just happy it wasn´t raining, and we had a perfectly clear view of Machu Pichu coming down from the sun gate. We were there about 6.30am, before most of the crowds got in so got some awesome photos of the area mostly people free! We then had a tour round, its an awesome site, those incas had some skills! unfortunately the site is being damaged by the huge numbers of tourists that visit the site every day and so they are talking about limiting numbers or of course putting the price up!
Hamish and Bryce of course hadn´t done enough walking, so set off up Wachu Pichu, a near vertical mountain, next to Machu Pichu. I just sat in the sun and watched the world go by, happy just to be there....
We came back down to the village and headed to the hot springs, they were a bit mangy but they were warm and it was good to soak away the walking. The number of steps on the trail make it hard on the body going both up hill and down.
We were so lucky with the weather, the day before and today Machu Pichu would have been miserable in the rain, but we got it clear and even sunny in places.
Check out sastravelperu.com for the map of where we walked and for info about the company we did it with. They were awesome, the food was good, the porters were awesome especially in difficult circumstances with the weather etc, our guide was fantastic with heaps of knowledge and always happy and helpful. All in all SAS were really good and we would recommend them to anyone else thinking of doing it.
anyway, i hope you are all well....tomorrow we head into the jungle!
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