I will sum up my trip my entire trek to Machu Picchu, in one, tour de force gournal entry. It all began on the thirteenth of January, 2005. I packed as little as possible into a backpack, picked up my walking stick, and boarded the bus that would take us to the trail head at km 88 where we would begin to walk the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Among the team members were our two guides, Wilfredo and Percy, the head cook, Eddy, and a staff of 8 porters, who would be carrying the food, tents, and technical riffraff which would be required for a trek of this nature. My travelling companions included a newly married couple from Australia, a couple from Uruguay, a Brazileña, a juggler from Argentina, and two hilarious Canadians from the Toronto area.

The mountain was angry that day as we began our hike. Well...not that angry. Actually he was pretty agreeable.

It was beautiful and sunny for the first day of our trip, the path crept at a gentle incline up towards our first stop for lunch, which had been prepared and was waiting on the table for us when we got there. Hiking with porters in this manner is something that I knew little about before coming to Peru. It is certainly difficult work, as they are responsible for carrying all of the group equipment and food (and sometimes the packs of the hikers who can´t manage). It used to be that these men would carry up to 50 or 60 kilos of stuff at a run up the trail. It has recently been regulated that they can carry no more than 25kg, but I think this may be more in an effort to preserve the trail. I´ve heard various stories as to weather this is actually relatively good paying work, or not at all. I think a lot of tourists do feel obliged to tip pretty well, though. They not only carried all of our stuff, but broke down campsites after we left, raced ahead, and prepared the next meal before we got there. The food was quite good as well, up to par with some of the better restaurants I ate at in Cusco.

An afternoons hike brought us to our first campsite, a secluded spot just off the trail, bordering a small mountain stream. The porters of course had everything ready upon our arrival. Tea and snack was followed by a short respite before dinner, and bed.

Day 2
At breakfast, there was some heated turmoil over exactly how we would be proceeding that day. There were two contesting parties. One was vying for an extended days hike, so that we would arrive at Machu Picchu a day before we were supposed to, and have an extra day to wander around and check it out. The other party argued that we should stick to the original plan, and do the trail in for more slow-paced days. The speed option won out.

We hiked for about 9 hours that day, including over the highest pass on the trail, at about 13,000 feet. The second day was rumored to be the hardest, but I would say thats pretty relative to the rest of the trail. I myself had I hard time keeping up with the fastest guy in our group, who also happened to be the oldest, a 62 year old from Colorado. I made a decision to try to keep up to him as much as possible as a personal challange. We arrived at the top of the high pass about an hour before the next person behind us. Each chose to celebrate in their own way.

That afternoon it rained quite a bit, and did not help that we were entering the cloud forest, so moist whiteness would blow in and obscure view within 25 feet, and blow out again. But the hiking in this scenario was kind of peaceful and relaxing. After viewing several small ruins along the way we made camp for the second night, or rather, found where our crew had set up the tents. This was a bigger camping area, and maybe 4 or 5 other groups were right nearby, but there was a great view of the mountains and jungle valley below, so it didn´t matter too much.

Day 3
We began the final descent into Machu Picchu. As the altitude became lower, it was a lot more hot and humid, but sun was better than rain any day. It impressed me to see the shear quality of the Inca roads all along the length of the trail. Stone paths were intricately laid along much of it, as well as carefully laid steps and ledges, even a few underpasses right through the living rock. we stopped to eat lunch, and from there it was an hour and a half to Machu Picchu. The trail was more or less flat and gently sloping, so it was easy going, although one of our number narrowly missed a close encounter with a tarantula in the path. Those things are pretty intimidating in the wild.

It was a welcome sight to come up upon the ´Sun Gate´ a small ruin with the first overlooking view of the entire of Machu Picchu. We had succesfully made it there. A break was had, and group pictures were taken all around. We would find out later that it is quite lucky to have a day so clear and sunny that you get a proper view of the whole ruin. We descended in, looked around for only a short while, and then went down to Aguas Calientes, the local tourist town, and stepping off point for those who take the train from Cusco.

That night, we would be sleeping on the upstairs floor of a restaurant that belonged to a friend of the guide. This was not a planned portion of the trip. We were able to grab a change of clothes and head up to the thermal hot springs, for which the town is named. Apart from the relaxing and spiritual experiance that I maybe thought it would be, it was more like family swim at the public pool. Several small pools had been constructed for bathing, and a whole families of people were there enjoying the baths. I thought there was a distinct smell of YMCA kiddie pool in the water, but that could very well have been the minerals. At any rate, all the sreaming splashing children were somewhat unerving, and I decided end my short affair with the hot springs. I was nice to feel somewhat clean at least.

We returned to the restaurant to find that the porters were continuing with their normal routine, setting up their kitchen and preparing the meal as usual. I thought it kind of an odd scene. The last dinner was pretty delicious though, a whole buffet of plates piled high with all sorts of foodstuffs. We bid farewell to our porters and did the awkward tipping and thanking, then went to sleep on the hard restaurant floor.

Day 4
We got up bright and early to catch the sunrise over machu picchu, and took the six oclock bus up. Turned out to be cloudy. Cloudy on Machu Picchu though, means that your actually in the clouds. You can see the wind blowing them through, as they cover and uncover different parts of the ruins. Its actually a very cool effect, very mysterious. I´m glad that I got the chance to see it both in the sunlight and in its more natural, foggy setting.

We got the full tour of the place. Again I was sort of distracted by the way that for some reason, guides could make quite definite and qualified points about certain aspects and then be able to admit the next minute that they had no clue about so much of it. But nonetheless, it was interesting hearing all about the different buildings and theories and what not. After the tour, I wondered up to a nice looking boulder to sit and have a meditation, which seemed like an appropriate thing to do in the setting. That quickly devolved into a nap. I later found one of the Candians, Ash, and had some good old conversation about life and it´s various ins and outs.

It being afternoon, now, I headed down with the folks that would be taking the train home that evening. We shared a pizza-pie and bid farewell. I would be staying in Aguas Calientes in a hostal, and heading home the following afternoon. I used that time to relax and wonder the town some, I spoke with some other travellers from different places, and got some postcards written.

And so for my life to-do list:
Machu Picchu...check.