El Camino Inka
Trip Start
Sep 13, 2004
1
20
82
Trip End
May 06, 2005
Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu,
Peru
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Near the beginning of the trail (27 miles long by one account, but that's not necessarily true) we recieved the news that it had been done in 3 3/4 hours. We had 3 3/4 days.
Just before the first set of ruins, Llactapata, it started to drizzle and the raincoats came out, transforming us into a multicoloured train of flapping plastic
01 Llactapata, the first set of ruins
. Llactapata was built in the domestic style, so the architecture was not the perfectly-fitting carved srtones of temple complexes. It had terraces for growing crops, and could also have been used as a staging post on the way to Machu Picchu.In contrast to the organisation, lunch was every bit as good as the advertisements said. The porters had gone on ahead and set up a tent for us with tables and stools and we ate a three course meal fit for kings. This was to be the pattern of the trip, with 3 big meals and 2 snack meals every day.
I had been expecting that once we started the trail it would be nothing but us and the countryside, oh, and the 500 other tourists a day. But actually there are little towns along the way for all of the first day. In Wayllabamba there was a tiny little shop claiming to accept VISA and mastercard...
At the first campsite Will and I (the only two of the group travelling alone) were just celebrating having a tent each when Paul and Laura (the two denied access in the morning) arrived. After various half-hearted attempts by the agency, including arriving with obviously forged photocopies of passports with Laura and Paul's pictures on, the guard had eventually taken pity and let them through at 3pm
02 Lunch is served
. They'd hired a guide and done the same walk we'd done in a day in about two and a half hours. Their arrival was celebrated with the beers our guide had managed to conjure up.It was slightly disconcerting to be warned that we had to keep our tents closed to stop tarantulas getting in, a rare occurrence but nonetheless a possibility - why had I never heard anything about this before???
Just as we were settling down for the night, we heard from Pete in the tent next door that there was a lunar eclipse. Will whipped open the zip of the tent, throwing tarantula caution to the wind, and said "I can't see a thing". That'll be the outer tent flap in the way then...
Day two was the big ascent from about 3,000m to 4,125m. Unlike most of the rest of the group (all younger than me!) I decided that hiring a porter to carry my backpack was cheating, as if having them carrying all the tents and food wasn't. What are the youth of today coming to? So I was carrying 13kg, and I'd like to report that the climb is nowhere near as bad as everyone makes out. On a similar note, it wasn't all that cold at night either. Exaggerated stories
03 Shopping in Wayllabamba
.In the evening our guide told a story about stone soup, meant to show how when a group of people pull together more can be achieved. It involved a beautiful woman, who seemed to play no particular role in the story, but became a regular feature in future stories too. Nice chap (nicknamed Borat), but under the circumstances a shame he didn't tell us more about the ruins we visited and the Incas...
On day 3 there were more ruins, mostly used as staging posts on the way to Machu Picchu, with ceremonial fountains for rituals and areas for growing crops, inculding the sacred coca leaf, which we were all imbibing regularly in the form of mate de coca. I was mostly at the back, chatting with Omar the second guide and 'admiring the view', as most of the women in the group put it. The mist that enveloped us all day didn't affect this! He explained how the Incas had no written language but recorded things using squares of fabric and apparently something about nude people. It turns out that nudo means knot, desnudo is naked.
Day 4, the day we were to arrive at Machu Piccu, didn't start well as in the early morning I was ill for my first time on my trip
04 Lunar eclipse!!!!
. Fortunately it was so warm that we were sleeping with the tent open except for the insect (and tarantula) flap, and Will had moved the boots down to the side of the tent, out of the way. The wake up call at 5 was less than welcome, and I lagged way behind all day and fell asleep at Machu Picchu during the guide's rambling explanations in poor English. (Someone said on the feedback form that his English was poor, and he replied by asking how good her Spanish was... Missing the point a little.) Once the sun burned the mist away the views of the site were spectacular, and I started to feel better and less sorry for myself.Five of us had opted to stay overnight in Aguas Calientes rather than go straight back to Cusco, and we eased our aching muscles in the thermal springs - luxury! At the same time we were the first to find out that two of the group - Andy and Laura - had got engaged that day at Machu Picchu - that's romance!
