The Inca Trail

We used to think Mt. St. Helens was a hard thing to do until now. The Inca trail is the hardest thing either of us has ever done and the most fulfilling as well. The trek is broken up into 4 sections over 4 days. Our group included Filipo and Sara from Italy, and Barley, Gerry and Emily from Australia. Filipo and Sara were on their honeymoon while Gerry (Geraldine) came with Barley to travel with Barley's daughter Emily who is studying in Santiago Chile on exchange. Our guide was Edwin. Here you go....

Day 1 Inca Trail Km Marker 82 to Llullucha Pampa. 9.9 miles 4523 feet of elevation gain....

Just to mess with us, the rain begins as we put our packs on (about 40 lbs each even with the porters carrying the 2 1 litre boxes of Concha y Toro wine) so we put our ponchos on and began trekking. We weren't gone 10 minutes when the rain stopped and we had to take the ponchos off. We trekked by an Inca ruin called llactapata and by then we were in the heat. Emily had to stop once and wait for Pam for some sunscreen as she was being cooked. We trekked about 12k to Wayllabamba for lunch which consists of a great homemade soup, Trout in an onion and tomato sauce, rice and veggies all of which are fabulous - cooked outside!
After lunch we only have 4k to go. The thing is that it is straight up hill - the last half is granite stairs of varying heights. Needless to say this is 3 hours of hard walking (really second guessing the heavy packs about now).
We arrive at camp at about 5:15 - 12, 014 feet above sea level- Tea is served at 6:00 and dinner at 6:30. During dinner the rain begins and then some thunder and then some hail before settling back into rain. During the night the thunder and lightning continued.  It also snows as we awaken to a bit along the tents. The porters had a little fun and made a snow dog.

Tea is served at 6:30 at our tents and breakfast at 7:00 which is hot cereal made with a fresh vanilla bean, pancakes, bread and jam. And day 2 begins....

Day 2 Inca Trail Llullucha Pampa to Sayacmarca 6.71 miles  3077 feet of elevation gain...

We hit the trail at 7:50 on a cool but clear day and start uphill to Dead Woman's Pass - 13,829 feet - for those of you wondering Mt. Rainier is 14,410 feet.

The trail from camp to the pass is stairs the whole way, and it when you're done going up for 2 hours you are rewarded by going down stairs on a very technical descent for 2 more hours to the camp for lunch. Lunch  is wonderful again with a table full of local cuisine.  Up for another 40 minutes of stairs to an Inca ruin called runkuraqay where our guide provided us with tons of history on Inca messengers who used this ruin as a rest stop.  Another 30 minutes to the second summit of the day where we performed a traditional ceremony thanking the mountains.  We then continued down for 2 hours to the next ruin called sayacmarca where we could see our next camp as our guide provided us with more info.  Fog filled in quickly by the time we got to camp and we had no idea of our surroundings.

   Day 3 Inca Trail Sayacmarca to WinayWayna 4.64 miles 777 feet of elevation gain...

Day started off clear and a bit cool, climbing a small pass to give us a good warm up then descending to another inca ruin called Puyupatamarca. 

Many more stairs and finally a steep dusty trail get us to our final camp at WinayWayna before our early morning walk to Machu Picchu. It is hot all day on day 3 and we are whipped and over heated when we arrive at camp. Shower...whooohooo!!! Then as soon as the porters get the tents up Pam piles in and crawls into a sleeping bag which is strange since it is wicked hot out. It turns out that she is the lucky one of us to contract Montezuma's Revenge. Luckily Rhonda provided us with meds for just such an occasion - normally Paully is the victim, but instead I just have a dehydration problem that lasts a day and a half starting about 4 PM day 3. Are we a mess or what? Paul checks WinayWayna ruin with the group.  Neither of us have dinner that night and only Pam pops her head out long enough to tip the porters for their hard work. We stay horizontal until wake up at 3:30. We struggle to arrange our packs and the porters carry Pam's for the final push to Machu Picchu........

Day 4 Inca Trail WinayWayna to Machu Picchu 2.83 miles 779 feet elevation gain

4:30 at the gate for the final leg of the trek.  Gate opens at 5:30 and we are off.  Fairly easy but for the illnesses we have.  Finally make it to the Sun Gate for our first glimpse of our goal - Machu Picchu.  Incredible.

Spent rest of morning exploring the site with our guide...and getting to know the locals. 

The sacred or special buildings are identified by their exacting joints. 

For a singularly difficult thing to do, what a great opportunity to have. 

Inca Trail Epilogue...

We had decided to give ourselves an extra chance to see Machu Picchu in case the weather was bad when we got there. Even though the weather was perfect the extra day paid off as we were able to go to our hotel, get checkeg in, shower, and meet our group for lunch while our laundry was being done. We hit the sheets at 2 PM and didn't see the light until 6 AM feeling much improved for our return trip to Cuzco via train to Ollayantatambo and taxi to Cuzco.

Last piece of unfinished business before heading out was to deliver coloring books, crayons, penciles, etc to the childrens hospital that had been loading down Pam's backpack (luckily the hotel could keep them while on the trek).  With assistnace from the hotel, the hospice was located and as it was late, Pam was able to present their front desk with the goodies while one of the patients wandered out.  Makes for a warm heart.

Next stop Puno and Lake Titicaca.....