Day 1 Inca trail!
An early rise: 5ish. Breaky and a quick idiot check to make sure we have packed all our necessities. The typical Peruvian breakfast, flat hard cased Bread, filled with air and jam. That’s right, oh for a little bit of Vegemite... it has been 2 months since we left our land girt by sea and the Aussie cravings are beginning to set in.
We board a bus outside our hotel and were welcomed by a smell that would encompass us for the next four days. It was the sickening stench of the local porters, who don’t seem to have seen a shower... full stop! We learnt later that this was due to there need to work. They don't go home between groups and freshen up or recover. As soon as one group finishes, another begins, hygiene is not a priority; earning a living is.
The Bus ride is long, Shelle catches up on her sleep, but my head is pressed against the window the whole trip. The scenery was incredible, overlooking deep valleys and towered over by ice capped peaks, and so much green: GREEN! A lovely colour! A great contrast to the dry colours of the desert areas we had covered previously in Peru.
Eventually we arrive at a central point to pick up the remaining porters. Here we exit the bus briefly, as we do we are forced to swim through a swarm of vendors, all trying to sell us exactly the same products. We hold our breath and head straight for an enclosed cafe looking area. Here we are free to buy the remaining essentials without hassle. We buy ourselves a walking stick. Little did we know these sticks would become our best friends for the next few days. I was told mine was eucalyptus, yet I wasn’t convinced by the smell.
Shelle wanted a Bamboo stick... because that’s what she likes... the other stick was more solid and definitely stronger... but that’s what she likes... so she had a bamboo stick for 5 minutes.... before being told Native plants are not allowed to be used and will be confiscated at the gate. Now coming to her senses, she swapped it over for a hard wood stick... armed and dangerous we jump back on to the bus whilst our guide Gasper purchases a colourful Balaclava... just to have some different on his 25th Inca trail hike.
From here we head to the 82km mark... our starting point. We hop off the bus and prepare our selves, load our 6kg packs up grab our scooby snacks, buy a couple of Ponchos and we’re on our way, the Porters are doing the same except they are loading themselves up with a good 25kg, including 5 each of ours. There were 14 Porters each carrying 25kg, 7 in our group 8 including Gasper our tour guide, plus Zac our new Inca trail guide... So for 9 people their were 14 porters each with individual jobs... 2 Cooks, 1 waiter... and many more,
The trek begins, for 5 minutes anyway, until Shelle and Sarah need to go to the Loo... but I won’t mention every time that happened, because that would be a story in itself!
We walk to the starting point, get the group photo, work our way through a customs like facility, get a stamp in our passport and cross a wobbly bridge over treacherous moving water! ...A river if you will.
We are all allowed to take our sticks through, although as suspected they are not eucalypt, but a tea or coffee plant. However our guide was denied the use of his stick as apparently it was a native plant. Because he is Peruvian they expected he should know, it was dealt with poorly and Gaspar got rightfully wound up...
So it begins...
At 2700m, the air was still plentiful, the slopes were gradual and the scenery was special. We stopped at a few Archaeological sites. Our new guide Zac detested the label of ruins, he explained a number of times that they were abandoned, not ruined.
After a few breathers, snacks and light rain we stopped for lunch. We expected a sandwich maybe? Bread and Jam perhaps? We were welcomed by the Porters who had raced a head of us. Upon arriving the Porters stood clapping as we had made the first stage, they also did this at the end of each day.
They had set up a dining and a cooking tent, tables and chairs, a table cloth and cutlery...
We walked in, placed our backpacks on a blue tarp they had set out for us. We sat in the dining tent and were completely blown away by the 3 course meal we received.
Avocado Vinaigrette
Vege Soup + garlic bread.
and Al paca, with mushroom sauce and veges
Topped off with a cup of fresh coca tea, Zac advised us to mix it with Camomile.
mmm not bad...
It was brilliant! This was the theme for every meal there after... EVERY meal.
Back on track after letting the food settle, we said good bye (unbeknownst to us) to the last toilet, with a seat and a flush for the next two days.
The camp site was already set up, our tents had our bags and some wafer thin mattresses, the dining There was a snack cheese wantons and popcorn ready... although the drinking water they boiled for us for the rest of the trek had a distinct popcorn taste which took some getting used to.
Dinner was at 7:30, again a 3 course meal, with the main being a banquet of different foods... this was the same every day... I must say my favourites were the garlic pork with rice... beef and mustard sauce with rice... chicken kebabs... with rice.... and an amazing Peruvian dish which looked like a sandwich. Yet instead of bread it was made of mashed potato, the filling was avocado, salsa, and other things topped with grated egg. 10 out of 10 oh and a bit more rice.
Day 2...
The first Challenge. It was inevitable in the morning that we were to experience the toilets first hand. I had walked past them and smelt them previously, now it was time to make use. Armed with toilet paper, a peg for your nostrils or a gas mask you make your journey to the colourful squatters. I say colourful if you like a range of colours between yellow, brown and kaki, sloppy green.... unfortunately the gas mask, and peg were unavailable, and holding your breath wasn’t a good idea at 3000m altitude.
The grated foot holds were a good guide to get your aim straight, however it seems that people were not able position their feet correctly, couldn’t squat properly or were qualified spray painters.
So... we continue our trek. A quick walk to the last camp, we are passed by women and their alpacas, racing ahead to sell you Gatorade, cervasa, water, snickers, and anything else you could want at the next stop.
From there we began our climb to the highest point. Dead woman’s pass at 4200meters. Hard yakka, a good mind set was necessary. We stayed in groups which was good for morale... closer to the top I raced ahead wanting to get some good footage as everyone arrived. Definitely harder with less oxygen. Shelle said she felt like a dead woman walking, but was determined not to let anyone except Porters pass herself and Sarah as they conquered the mountain.
At the top we tried to take in as much oxygen as was available, we fed our face with chocolates, and water, then rested.
We were to arrive at camp well ahead of schedule, so the guide showed us a couple more archaeological sites, slowing us down to give the porters time to set things up...
At the camp site: applause, set up sleeping area, tea, cards, a dice game and dinner at 7:30 topped off with a night cap of warm vino: a warm wine with chopped apple; before a well earned rest.
Day 3
This day was our favourite, by far... favourite because we had a chance to escape the Gringo trail, we were able to sleep in till 7am, and before we knew it we had stopped as Zac contemplated a short track to a different Inca site; one still largely overgrown, and not seen by the hundreds that pass by it every day. The beginning was tricky due to human landmines delicately placed on stepping stones amongst puddles. Once past those we were hunched over and working our way through an overgrown path. An Inca site that has not been cleaned was really great to see.
From here we descended down to a large Inca site, where the decision came again to follow or not to follow the gringo trail... lucky for us our guides decided not to follow the beaten track. To be the only ones we had to do it on the quiet. We crept across the crest of the mountain, through some rough terrain, staying low in clearings, and moving swiftly where necessary. After a long journey stopping to look at orchids: or ORKIDS! as Gasper would say. We came out on a mountain side over looking the beaten track and also our first glimpse of the final destination: Machu Picchu.
We continue down in stealth mode, wanting to keep moving due to a range of biting bugs. Suddenly we had to stop. There were noises ahead. Three Authority park officers were working on the track, it seemed that he was in trouble for taking us off the beaten track, but we found out later that he told them we were really into 'ORKIDS!', and the only place to find them was up on this side of the mountain.
The final camping area was a little different. We were nestled into the mountain edge, and literally had less than a meter between our tent door and the cliffs edge... wise to only go in and out of your tent door when fully alert.
We sat and discussed with our leader the theories behind another Inca site, big, steep, and nestled next to a river and waterfall. We found that a lot of hypothesis was involved with Inca history, and that nobody really knows what went on, as there are no written records about these areas.
Day 4
Rise early at 3:45am pack everything ready for the Porters to take breakfast was still exquisite... toast of course, banana pancakes, sausage...amongst many other things, all was enjoyed even at 4:00am.
When ready we walked the two minutes to the gate where we had to wait until 5:30 to get through. We were the second group in line, and the challenge was set...
Waiting in the dark was long but there was an air of excitement.
5:30am - Gates opened and away we raced, after the first group.... we caught them quickly but could not pass... until our guide called out PORTER! (this means they are to step to the mountain side whilst the Porters move past.) Before they realised we were not porters, we were well past them and on our way to the glory of the sun gate. Here we receive a closer view of Machu Picchu, and a time to sit and reflect before we are surrounded by other groups.
We were buzzing, we had completed the trek, the walk down to Machu Picchu was relaxing, the sun was shining, the clouds minimal and we were able to walk with a spring in step. As we arrived, we realised that even though it was only 6:00am, we weren’t the first ones there, people staying in the local town had caught the bus up in droves, and it was obvious that unlike us they had showered in the last 24 hours, let alone last 3 days.
From here we settle into our 3 hour tour of the site, the place is massive truly the Mecca of all Inca sites. The theories were plenty, facts minimal.
Our journey was complete, it was real; we had conquered the Inca trail...
The Inca trail was like nothing else and the perfect lead up to the phenomenal site. A site that is surrounded by so much mystery, a site that sends shivers up your spine as you sit and contemplate what might have been, a site we will never be able to truly understand: Machu Picchu.
