Friday was spent preparing for the much anticipated and reverred Inca Trail, which I would be partaking in for the next 4 days and 3 nights. The Inca Trail, claimed to be one of the best trekks around the world usually needs to be booked months in advance and some pay anywhere between 500 and 1000 dollars depending on the season and quality of the trip. Everything is included. Luckily I am not travelling in high season. I neither booked it in advance nor payed 1 billion dollars to do it. I found a decent price of around 300 dollars for the 4 days which was I price that I could not turn down. The next morning we began relatively early at about 6 AM. We drove to KM 82 where we were deployed and would prepare to begin walking. One thing I was not anticipating was having to carry all of my equipment, which I spent hours trying to stuff into my 25L backpack the night before, UNSUCCESSFULLY. I was forced to use my 80L which is extremely large for the amount that I was bringing. That being said, it likely made the trek a more comfortable ride. In the end I was carrying around 13 Kilos including water weight which, believe me, felt heavy by the 4th day!
The first day was quite light in comparison to the rest of the hike. I was tired by the end of the day but it was a good warmup. The trail followed the Urubamba River and slowly rose into the mountains. The weather was perfect, overcast with no rain, taking the blazing sun factor out of the mix. As we neared our campsite we began to see some Inca ruins from above. It is an immense feeling, knowing that the path I am walking was once traversed daily by the Incan people. the extent or their civilization and networking was astounding considering their lack of tools. Day 2, considered to the most physically exhausting day is roughly 5 hours of ascent walking more or less directly up from the camp site to reach a final height of about 4200 meters
above.sea level
At the summit it proceeded to hail! for a bout 60 seconds straight and many spanish speaking were whining about a FRIO TERRIBLE or a terrible cold, me , the canadian scoffed and shrugged away this poor excuse for a cool temperature in my shorts and t-shirt. The other side of the pass it began to rain, accompanied with winds, now I gave in and put on some warmer clotthes. The descent was slow because of taking care not to slip on the wet uneven stone steps. Halway down the rain stopped so I stripped completely down again. 3/4 of the way down, it started to rain again, rain jacket back on, damn this emotional weather! The camp was set in a valley where it could be easily seen how far we had descended. It looked like it was miles away. The clouds slowly built up at the bottom of the valley and crept up upon our campsite. An opaque wall of mist overtook the dozens of tents dotted over the valley. Within minutes we were surrounded by fog, directly in the cloud. It is amazing to watch weather work and change before your eyes, within a matter of seconds or minutes, waiting for it to overtake you, knowing it will overtake you.. The afternoon was spent playing cards and napping, hiding from the dank weather outside of the dinner tent.
Day 3 was the longest, hardest and most powerful day for me, maybe even moreso than Macchu Picchu itself. Again the day started early, as all of them did.We did not arrive in camp that night until around 630 making around 10 hours of hiking up and down, not including breaks and lunch. Today we saw more astonishing ruins and 2 more ascents and descents. The overall descent into a subtropical climate was very evident, the hanging vines, everything covered in thick moss. Valleys and rolling green mountains as far as the eye can see. Clouds at eye level, covering the tops of mountains and creating a type of permeable membrane between the earth and the heavens. I could have sat for hours simply staring... Seeing distant ruins and terraces from a far and slowly but surely getting closer and closer until you are but an ant standing inside of stone buildings or sitting on the edges of green, fertile terraces that descend down the steep mountain side like large steps for giants. Arriving to one point, sitting on the edge of this old agricultural town. Staring, the urubambas rushing waters could always be heard, distant, far, far below, mountains all around. Now do you believe in the Machamama, my guide said to us all. I did then, at that very moment, it wa the perfect example of Mother Nature, and I see it everywhere I go here in Peru, the power of mother nature, and what she has created in this blessed land. It really makes sense why the incas built where they built, with their terraces facing perfectly east to catch the best rays of light and to bask warmly in the sun, always surrounded my the great Pachamama. This day was enlightening, although coming into camp I felt really off. The rest of the night was followed with vomiting and diarrhea, from what, i am not sure. I went to bed early knowing that I would need the extra rest for day 4.
3AM came far too early on day 4. I felt alright, better than the night before. The morning was cool and cloudy, very cloudy. With a short hike ahead of us I was glad that the majority of the work was over, I had no fuel left in the tank., even the 2 small hours to get to Macchu Picchu was difficult. and slow. walking through the jungle like path on the mountain side, through the mist and drizzling rain beading down from above, it felt very mystical and unknown. When reaching the sun gate, where one can see the famous inca ruins from afar on a clear day, we could see nothing. An enormous wall of cloud was in the way. Many people were dissappointed, I thought it was quite fitting,. Leaving alot of it to be a question mark.. The Italian in the group Giorgio waited expectantly, rocking back and forth on the steps, saying its gonna clear, its gonna clear, like a child, asking his girlfriend permission to wait another 10 minutes, good laughs. Every so often glimses of the the city could be seen through the clouds for short periods of time. When I walked in I was thrown back by the amazing size of this place. Not long after arriving into the city the clouds clearly completely and it got waay to hot. In my eyes we had perfect weather throughout the entire trip,I wouldnt have changed a thing. Now I will not say much about Macchu Picchu itself, its the kind of thing that is more of a feeling than an experience. and that feeling I do not completely know how to describe yet. Overwhelming, Stunning, Awesome, these are some words that could describe it. My sickness from the night before began to come back more now and had a poor effect upon the day although I made the most of it. I and a few others spent the most of the day in city, by the afternoon we were all exhausted and curled up to nap for about an hour on the soft, luscious terraces that cover the majority of the land of the old city.. I arrived late in Cuzco that night. and slept like never before!
The inca trail was great. The group was larger than expected, being 19 people with 15 porters that carry the food, equipment, set up tents, cook,. These porters are all quite impressive. short as hell, especially next to me, these guys run this trail with at least 20 kilos on their back. the bags that they carry are larger than themselves. a funny sight. They all wear shitty sandals which their feet have almost deformed out of. Most of them speak mainly Qechua range in age between 18 and 60, all of them being quite ugly beasts, at leat missing a few teeth. All this work and torment on their bodies and they make about 100 soles a day, thats around 40 dollars.... madness.
The food is famed to be amazing on the inca trail, better than many other hikes. Including a couple different pasta soups, constant tea, popcorn, pancakes, omelettes and meat for main courses. Everyone else on the trip loved the food, myself having camped a lot before and experiencing some incredible camp cooking, thanks to my mom, I thought a lot of the food was relatively mediocre.. My moms cooking definitely wins though, cheers mom.
Macchu Picchu was astounding althouhg I couldnt help but wonder what made it the most famous, there are other larger and older ruins around the city that are accessible. If I have time on the round trip and money, I will definitely stop in Cuzco again and go to one of these other enormous lost inca cities. I would also recommend the same to other people come here, Dont just assume Macchu Picchu is the best, honestly I doubt it is. It would be much more intriguing to go to a less popular, more remote ruin that was just as big or bigger. Macchu Picchu is filled with people, this takes away a large portion of its power in my eyes. it is the untouched , silent lands that strike me.
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