Sept 24th, 2004

One the place I wanted to visit, like most travellers to Peru, was MachuPicchu. There are two options to visit the actual site of Machu Picchu, either stay in town of MachuPicchu, which the guide books refer to as Aguas Calientes or do 4-5 day hike upto MachuPicchu, I decided to do the later.

A maximum of 500 people each day are allowed on the trail (this means about 250 tourists + 250 guides and porters). This means that you can not always be sure to leave on the day you wish, especially in high season (July-august). It also means that you need to book a few days before, because a permit needs to be obtained from the Peruvian Park service. Also the regulation require that you must use a guide for Inca trail.

So given all of this I had booked a four day trip with SAS travel , for trip starting Sept 24th.

On sept 23rd we had pre-trip briefing, about general plan. We met at the SAS office at 6.00AM on 24th, it was raining a lot when we started the trip. There were total 17 people in the book. 5 from Ireland, real jolly group, two from Switzerland, two from Germany, 2 guys from Holland, one guy from Australia, rest all were from UK. Once again no unattached women ;( Anyway nice bunch of people.

We stopped at a vista point just above town on Ollyantatambo around 7.30AM for breakfast. It was ham & cheese sandwich, coffee/tea, fruits. We arrived in town of Ollyantatambo around 8.15. One can purchase sticks, rain pancho, snaks etc. in this town. If you are going to do the Inca trail, I would highly recommend taking a hiking pole or buying pole (one or two depends on you).
We waited for our porters to arrive a bit longer but eventually we left Ollayatatambo around 9.30AM. We finally arrived at Mile 82 at 10.50AM, we registered at the check point, they require original passport for permit verification. We crossed the crossed swaying suspension bridge Urubamba river and started our hike at 11.15AM, the day was bit cloudy, not too cold, it was not raining, perfect weather for long hike, in my book.

The trail then gains elevation gradually over several kilometers passing the large ruins of Patallacta and then drops down steeply but then again gains gradual elevation till the popular camp-site at Wyllabamba which was our camp for the night (2900 m). This was an easy day despite the length and we were at camp around 4.00PM for a good rest. On first day we hiked 14km. On first day there were couple places to buy water or other sports drinks, so no need to take lot of water with you. I had 1lt water with me.

When you are hiking the porters race past you carrying 30Kg of load on their backs, most of them wear rubber sandles. No expensive hiking shoes here, as time goes by on this trip your admiration for these folks only grows. The oldest porter on our trip was 61 year old, youngest one was 18 year old.

Most of the porters are local farmers that work the Inca trail for extra money. Most tour companies provide an option where for extra $s you can hire porter to carry your backpack. But macho me, decided to carry my ¨light¨backpack (12kg).

When we arrived at the camp site we found all the tents setup nicely, a dinning tent and tent for cooking already setup.

On this trip apart from 17 gringos, there were 3 guides and 27 porters. These porters in my book are super-humans, they carry tables, plastic stools, table clothes. Just outside the dining tent they setup things to wash your hands, so
you do not have to walk few meters to the bathroom. The cost of all this was US$295.

The food on this trip was out of this world. If you are taking this trip with SAS tours I would probably take only few energy bars and bit of trail mix, just as an emergency backup.

The roosters and some very happy donkies of the small settlement nearby woke us up early on day-2 which was just as well as this was to be the hardest day. We had to go from 2900m to 4200m (3700+ ft) in only about six kms. I had purchased Coca leaves in Cusco on prior day, I started chewing them at the start of the hike had very little problems because of altitude, now if this was because of Coca or just placebo effect, I don´t know. The trail started off steeply and went past a trail check point where our guide pointed out our first major destination, Abra De Huarmihuanusca, the Dead Woman's Pass, at 4200m, the highest point on our route and it seemed agonizingly far away. At the check point they also check amount of load carried by each porter, they are not allowed to carry more than 30Kg. This is very nice thing they do, so that companies do not exploit these poor folks.

The trail starts to climb from the checkpoint and keeps on going till the pass. The trail goes through a beautiful forest along a river, past a camping site and then to another large camping site at Llulluchapampa. This is the last point where you can purchase Gatorade, water etc. This campsite offers stunning views of the valley that we had just come up from and the snow capped peaks beyond. From this campsite on begins the last climb towards Dead Woman´s pass. Some people raced to the top, I took my time, but made it to the top around 11.00AM, we had started the hike at 6.15AM. It was not very cold at the top, we waited for about 30 min. for everyone in our group to arrive. The trail then dropped down to the other side of the pass, almost as drastically as it had risen, we hiked down about 500 meters for couple of more hours and arrived at our camp site around 2.00PM, it had been a long day. We had wonderful lunch of chicken, pasta.

Day three dawned cloudy and cool as we slogged up the steep trail to the circular shaped ruins of Runcu Raccay and then further up a short ways to the second pass. The gloomy weather continued and we plugged on and at one point the trail dropped steeply and then climbed up a series of steep steps to the elaborate ruins of Sayac Marca. Our guide told us the story of this site and the purpose behind it. The guide was extremley knowlegable. I kept on asking him questions about things, not sure if others got annoyed by my questions. It was bit sad to learn that there is discrimination against people who speak Quechua in Peru. Quechua was the language spoken by Incas, actually the Quechua culture pre-dates the Inca empire. Also our guide told us in Peru the people from cities try to convert farmers to full fledged Cathalosism by giving them medicine, food or money. I really hope these people say f$/$ you to that. Whatever happend to helping people just because you can!

Our guide told us that Quechuan culture places great emphasis on community and ayni (mutual help). The social system is based on reciprocity: you help your neighbors, they do something for you in return. There are still villages where people practice this and use money only to buy things like clothes, medicine rest of their daily needs are met by using barter trade.

Anyway to continue witht the hike report. From the Sayac Marca we could see another small Inca check point, it kept disappearing behind the passing clouds.

We walked past this ruin passing through wonderful rain forest, where you could hear lot of birds, but could see none. The forest itself was very interesting, in patch of about 2x2 meter I counted about 20 different plants with amazing shapes & styles of leaves.

The trail was steep here and although the rise was not as dramatic as on day-2, it was quite sustained and tiring. It passed through a short tunnel that has been made by the Incas, till the third pass that was at 3650m and just on the other side of this pass were the ruins of Phuyu Pata Marca. The Inca Trail is not just any old trail through the mountains. It has fantastic ruins all along the way and every paved stone is steeped in history. If the ruins are so fantastic, then I wonder how impressive the actual structures may have been in the days of the Inca zenith. The Spanish destroyed most of them and built churches on top of Inca buildings!

A long descent that would have been extremley enjoyable in good weather and on a clearer day, none the less I enjoyed the third day. The steps during the final decent are very narrow, so if you do walk this trail, take your time and do not follow the fellow hikers very closely. Also watch out for superhuman porters as they run, I am not kidding, on this trail.

We finally arrived at the camp site of Winaywayna just as it got dark. There are showers at this camp site, also you can purchase beer for 5 soles. I took quick shower here, and took a five minute walk to a breathtaking Inca agricultural terrace about 5 minutes walk from the camp site, do not miss it. There is opportunity to practice your salsa or other forms of dancing here. But things close down around 10.00PM as the next day starts at 4.00AM.

The next day, day-4 of the trek, we got up at 4AM. The air was moist and cool and after gulping down a hurried breakfast we started at a brisk pace, past another Inca Trail checkpoint, which opens at 5.00AM. The idea was to get to Intipunku, the Sun Gate, and to see the sun rise over Machu Picchu from there. It took us about an hour of fast walking before we ascended the rather steep steps that mark the final approach to Intipunku. When we got to the Intipunku
it was still cloudy so we could not see the actual sunrise. There were few thin clouds covering the actual site,which soon disappeared as it got bit warm. Finally Huyana Picchu was also revealed and we saw Machu Picchu in its true form, the stuff that post cards are made of.

Its truely an amazing site, no amount of photographs will ever describe the feeling you get when you first see this place.

After touring most of the ruins, I took of for a short hike to the top of Huyana Picchu, the peak that is seen in all the stock shots of Machu Picchu. It is a short but very steep hike to the top and it took me about an hour to go up. By now the sun was up and I got a very impressive view of the lay of Machu Picchu from the summit.

I returned to Machu Picchu around 11.30AM, spent about 30 minutes on a rock, just taking in the views. By 9.00AM the tourist from Agaus Calientes arrive and there are lot of people walking around but its still possible to find quite spot to take in the views. The bus ride from Machu Picchu to the town of Aguas Calientes was a straight drop down the hill via a switch-backing road. After arriving at Aguas Calientes I took a 15 min walk to a hot springs for a quick shower. We had lunch at 2.30PM. A two hour train ride brought us to Ollantaytambo from Aguas Calientes then a bus ride from Ollantaytambo to Cuzco completed the trip.

Beginning from Km-82 and ending at Machu Picchu, involved 49km of hiking and up to 8000 ft of elevation gain and between 6000ft to 6500 ft of elevation loss. I will never forget this trip. I will always remember the impressive
Urubamba river and the magnificent mountains rising around it. I thank the clouds and thick forest that protected the MachuPicchu from Spanish bigotry and greed. If it was not for the deep forest and clouds there would be a church standing where MachuPicchu stands today. I wish Peruvian people find some way to protect and promote not only the MachuPicchu, but the Quechuan culture of ayni (mutual help).