I don’t mind admitting that one of the biggest reasons for travelling to South America was to complete the Inca Trail. I am however, fairly embarrassed to admit that I really knew very little about the Inca Trail before arriving in Peru.
So here is the deal – the Inca Trail is a 45Km footpath, up and down two major mountains in the Peruvian Andes which leads to the Ancient Inca site of Machu Picchu. The trail follows mainly forested and rugged terrain, except for sections above around 3400m, where the land changes to grass or rock due to the lack of oxygen and lower temperature. It takes 4 days and 3 nights camping to complete for most people, although several former guides-turned-athletes have completed it in less than 4 hours…!
We started our trip to the Inca trail several days before we set foot on the trail itself; in the town of Cusco. From here, we hired our sleeping bags and met our guide, Vladimir – who despite his name wasn’t Russian! We headed out via 3 small local buses to the town of Ollantaytambo, where we spent a night in a lovely wooden hut preparing. Ollantaytambo itself is a great little town. It’s nestled in a valley between two hills with large Inca Ruins on each side of the hill. There is plenty to do in the town too, with several bars and a lovely charity restaurant set up by an English lady who came to work with street kids and loved Peru.
After one night in Ollantaytambo we headed off to the start point of the Inca Trail known as KM82. From here the road ends and the only access forward is via the train to Machu Picchu. We walked past the famous sign and on to a check point where our passports were stamped (bit of a lame tourist thing but quite cool nevertheless), then over the bridge and onto the Inca Trail proper.
Inca Trail photos
The first day is relatively straightforward. It reminded me of the first day climbing Kilimanjaro, with wide paths and gentle steps up. As with Kili, we had porters carrying our tents and backpacks up the trail. We stopped for an excellent mountain meal in a big mess tent of chicken, garlic bread, vegetables and pasta. An American couple joined us who were a little strange to say the least. The lady was 3 months pregnant and the fella only ate bread and chips. No really – just bread and chips. He wouldn’t eat the garlic bread as it had garlic on it and wouldn’t eat anything else. As we settled to camp the first night, they were really struggling, as not only was she pregnant and he starving, they only arrived at altitude one day before so had no time to acclimatise unlike us. They left our tour the following morning.
The second day was the hardest for height climbed – made all the more so by the pouring rain. We awoke at 6am and trekked up a huge mountain called Warmiwranuska – the highest point of the trail at around 4100m. I stormed ahead of everyone else – not to show off or to be the first but because I was cold and fed up of the rain, which permeated everything – including my thick, heavy plastic mac. On the way down Warmiwanuska, the steps of the trail were almost impassable. A river had burst its banks and was covering the steps of the trail causing one guide carrying a 20KG backpack to fall quite badly in-front of me. I helped him up then gave him my last chocolate bar. I really felt for him carrying all that crap – wearing flip-flops too!!
I arrived at camp at 12.15 for lunch, but the other guys in our group were way behind. Most arrived back 3 hours later so we stayed put for the evening. Another tour group carried on up the hill to the next campsite which I was glad we didn’t do as the rain was unrelenting.
Day 3 arrived and another 6am start. We headed up some very slippery steps to a large set of Inca ruins called Runkarakay, then on to the final highest point. Two guys from the group Ed and Nick stayed with me this time which I was glad of as I had a touch of stomach issues. The day was the hardest for me as it was the longest – perhaps 8 hours of walking. After lunch we started heading down which was a bitch on the knees. I stormed ahead of everyone again as the weather had cleared up and I was in the mood for getting down to the final camp at Winaywyna for a hot shower. Winaywyna really was something special. Beers, showers and some of the best ruins we’d seen. A whole town just abandoned.
Day 4 was Machu Picchu day. We again were up early – this time at 5am, and set off at the dark. We joined a huge queue at the check-in point to head to the sun gate where we arrived just after sunrise. From here we should have seen Machu Picchu in all its glory but there was thick cloud. We arrived at Machu Picchu before the crowds at perhaps 7.30 but visibility was zero. Then, after 30mins of waiting, the cloud started to lift and there it was in front of us. Chewy. Cachewy Pichewy. Mithcy Patchy. Macchu Picchu in all its glory.
After we’d had a good tour around Machu Picchu we took the bus down the long winding road to the town of Aguas Calientes, where we had lunch and caught the train back to Ollantaytambo and on to Cusco. The journey back was long but the memories incredible. We climbed the Inca trail with Intrepid which I booked through flight centre in the UK. It’s worth booking the Inca Trail before leaving the UK as there are only around 200 permits per day, so you may find you have to wait a while in Cusco or pay over the odds.
See also Machu Picchu photo gallery here