Sunday 12th June was the start of our "Classic Inca Trail", a 4 day hike through the Andes to the ruins of the 15th century site of Machu Picchu - more info about the site below, when (if!) I get there. Although the "Classic Inca Trail" is only ~43km long, it winds its way up, down and around mountains at very high altitudes, snaking over three passes en-route. Not being particularly good at walking uphill and struggling badly at altitude in Quito when I tried walking uphill at over 4,000m, I'd spent the previous week reading about the trials and tribulations of the Trail on various other blogs and was seriously considering cancelling the trek and taking the train to Machu Picchu instead. In the end, I psyched myself up and went for it!
The Incan road system was the most extensive of the roads and trails constructed in pre-Colombian South America, covering ~14,000 miles of the Incan empire from modern-day Quito, Ecuador in the north to Santiago, Chile in the south. The trails were used mainly by people walking since the Incans did not use wheels and horses were only introduced by the Spanish conquistadors. The trails were used as a means of relaying messages and for transporting goods. There were ~2,000 inns, or tambos providing food, shelter and military supplies. Incan rope bridges provided access across valleys. The "Classic Inca Trail" to Machu Picchu is the most famous of the Inca trails. As a result of concerns about erosion, only 500 permits are issued for the Classic Inca Trail per day, this includes the guides and porters, so in all, only about 200 tourists a day are climbing the Trail.
Mike had managed to get a young chap called Ray as our Trek Leader, who he said was by far the best Trek Leader working and a real coup for us. The previous night, we were given a briefing by Ray about the Inca Trail covering such issues as the altitude and its effects, the ups and downs during each day, camps, toilets, and packing. We were each given a duffel bag into which we could put 5kg of stuff - this would be carried by porters and we could access it at the end of each day so in that went a sleeping bag and spare clothes. Anything else we would carry in a day rucksack - obviously, the lighter this was, the better! We could also hire walking poles - I opted for two, better safe than sorry.
We left our Cusco hotel at 6am and took a 2 hour drive to the town of Ollantayambo. I had breakfast of a bacon sarnie and Mate de Coca (coca tea). I'd be drinking a lot of coca tea and eating coca sweets during the next few days to mitigate the effects of the altitude - there is less oxygen for your body at higher altitudes, resulting in problems for the brain and digestive system (eg. headaches, dizziness, nausea, tiredness, breathing difficulties). If you ascend slowly, your body can adapt; if not, it can result in death in the most severe cases! A further scenic half hour drive took us to the starting point of the Trail at km82 from Cuzco on the Urubamba River at ~2,800m (9,200 ft) altitude. We were already glimpsing some of the stunning scenery we would see along the way, comprising snow-capped mountains and fertile valleys. After passing through the entrance checkpoint where we had to show our passports and had a special Trail stamp, we crossed the bridge across the Urubamba River to start our hike.
Our group of trekkers had 3 guides and about 20 porters with us - these were Quechua locals who carried nearly all our gear (except our day packs), up to 25kg each - tents, chairs, tables, gas stoves and bottles, food, cutlery, dishes. They'd have camp set up for us when we arrived at the end of each day, stay behind to pack up camp when we left in the morning, then overtake us on the trail to set up the next camp. They'd prove to be superhuman.
Day 1 (12km)
After crossing the Urubamba River, the trail climbed gradually, eventually passing the first of the Incan ruins we'd see along the way, Patallacta, a site used for religious and ceremonial functions, crop production, and housing for soldiers. The trail undulated, but overall ascended along the Cusichca River (aka "Happy River"). The Trail passed the small village of Wayllabamba with ~400 inhabitants spread along it. Pack animals (horses, donkeys and llamas) were allowed here but not further along due to damage caused to the Trail by hooves.
Although the ascent was only gradual, throughout the day we'd ascend ~500m and with the altitude, it was pretty hard going for me. I got into a plodding pace which suited me, this also meant that I'd be walking sections of the Trail by myself as I neither tried to keep up with the (fitter) front-runners or wanted to slow myself down with the back-markers. There were also a few "shops" along the way to restock in essential supplies such as coca leaves, coca sweets, drinks, snacks and toilet paper. Amazing to think that all the stuff in the shops had be lugged up the Trail by someone.
I reached our camp near Wayllabamba at an altitude of ~3,100m at ~4pm. As would become the case during the trek, a cheer always went up from the early birds when one of the stragglers plodded into the camp. The porters had already set up the two-man tents and dining tents for us. We had afternoon tea at ~5.15pm (usually comprising popcorn, biscuits and coca tea) and dinner at 7pm, which considering the conditions the chef had to prepare the food, was an amazing 3 course feast. When the sun went down, the temperature dropped by 10-15 degC and it was pretty cold in the evenings and nights (and would get colder as we camped at higher altitudes). Camp fires weren't allowed on the Trail or campsites. Evenings usually involved a few games of cards after dinner in the dining tent before retiring for the night (the dining tent would then be converted into sleeping quarters for the porters).
Also during the evening, ourselves and our team of porters introduced ourselves to each other. As per local Quechua customs, most of the porters had more than one wife - maybe that was why they chose to spend their days lugging 25kg backpacks up mountains for a pittance in wages!
You'd probably think some of the most important issues on the Trail would be the effects of altitude, how cold it would be, how difficult each day's trek would be, etc. Oh no, it appeared the most important issue on the Trail was the toilet facilities.......and they weren't good! At our camp ground tonight, there was a hut further up the hill with a squat toilet in it and an inadequate flush. Force yourself to go in the evening before too many people "filled it up" or wait in the morning and have to use it then? Decisions, decisions. I decided to use it in the evening and then take some Imodium so I didn't have to go again for at least another day. Unfortunately, this didn't work and I had to go again in the morning, this was just something else I'd have to endure along with the physical exertion of the trek itself!
Day 2 (11km)
Day 2 is the hardest of the 4 days of the Inca Trail. It involves an ascent from 3,100m to "Dead Woman's Pass" at ~4,200m over about 5-6 hours, followed by another 2 hours downhill to the final campsite.
After an early wake-up call from our porters (they'd also bring us a cup of coca tea to the tent) and breakfast, we started with a reasonably gentle climb of about 1.5 hours (note, these are all times for me!) from our campsite at Wayllabamba (~3,100m), followed by a 2 hour steep ascent up steps through cloud forest before reaching our lunch stop at Llulluchapampa (3,850m). It was a pretty steep ascent of ~750m over the morning, a real killer on my legs. Add in the altitude and it meant I was stopping every few minutes to give my legs a rest and take in the scenery, but primarily to catch my breath due to the altitude. There were a few points along the climb that I thought I couldn't make it and I did start thinking about whether it would be easier to give up and go back to the start - once you start the Trail, the only way back is all along the way you've just come. In fact, we did see a few people heading back in the opposite direction. The weather varied between the scorching sun out in the open, colder parts walking through the cloud forest, and freezing winds as we ascended higher.
Lunch provided us with much-needed energy for the hardest part of the trek, the ascent to the highest point of the Trail, "Dead Woman's Pass" at a lung-busting 4,215m (so-named because the rock formation resembles a woman). The first 2 hours was hard, uphill but I just plodded on at my own pace stopping every few minutes. The final 20-30 minutes involved climbing steep steps to reach the summit of the Pass. This was a killer on legs that had already been trudging uphill all day and I was stopping every few steps this time. Eventually, and to encouragement and cheers from those who had already arrived, I had made it with a massive sense of achievement!
The rest of the day involved a 2 hour descent down mainly steep steps from "Dead Woman's Pass" (4,215m) to our campsite at Pacamayo (3,500m). We actually descended quite a way (~700m) over a short period of time (~2 hours), and although the descent was much easier for me than the climb, each step jarred the knees, threatened to twist the ankles, and required full use of both walking poles. Tonight's campsite was a huge sprawling mass of tents used by all the trekkers and crew (unlike our isolated campsite the previous night). This also meant that the toilets were shared and were even worse than the previous night. The usual squat toilets, but now someone obviously couldn't squat properly and had splattered the back wall of the toilet. Nice....not. Being at higher altitude meant it was a lot colder and I (and I think most people) went to sleep in all our clothes, including hats and gloves.
Day 3 (14km)
Day 3 involved a lot of walking, most of it downhill. Unfortunately, it also involved an initial steep uphill section to the second pass of the Trail.
We were waken up at 5.15am. The first two sections of ~1 hour each were uphill and tough going. The first uphill section of ~300m led to the Incan tambo of Runkuracay. This was the first part of the Trail where there were lots of hikers trekking together, becoming quite crowded in places. Then, it was another 150m ascent to the top of the second pass of the Trail. Another 2 hours, partly downhill and partly undulating, led to a campsite for a lunch stop. This section was particularly beautiful as the path passed through thick cloud forest, full of orchids, hanging mosses, tree ferns and flowers, and with a sheer drop on one side. There were some ruins at Sayacmarca and a tambo at Conchamarca along this last stretch but the former involved climbing some steps so I gave it a miss. The name Sayacmarca means 'Inaccessible Town' and describes the position of the ruins perfectly, protected on three sides by sheer cliffs.
The Trail then climbed up to the third pass (~3,700m), offering excellent views of several snow-capped peaks. A few minutes later I passed Phuyupatamarca (meaning "Town in the Clouds"), the most impressive Inca ruin so far. The Trail then descended ~1,000 metres including an irregular staircase of 1,300 to 1,500 knee-jarring steps, some of which were carved into solid granite. Vegetation became more dense, lush and jungle-like with an increase in butterflies and birds. I was walking this section virtually by myself, with no human contact or sound at all, and the views were simply stunning, so awe-inspiring they nearly moved me to tears. There were sweeping views through valleys and the Urubamba River, of which this was the first sight since the start of the Trail. Machu Picchu town could also be seen, with the odd train running along the river.
Eventually, our campsite for the end of the day at Winay Wayna could be seen. I also passed Intipata (meaning "Sunny Place"), a recently uncovered set of agricultural terraces which followed the convex shape of the terrain. This was a proper campsite with a restaurant and I promptly celebrated reaching it with a beer which cost S/15 but was worth it. They also had hot showers so I had one which came to S/10 with a towel hire. I then discovered I had been expelled to a single tent at the end of our row of tents for excessive snoring, but I wasn't even the only one who snored! After our dinner (we were still getting meat which had been carried and kept since the start of the Trail), we said our final goodbyes to the porters and gave them their tips and Dan gave a moving speech thanking the guides and porters for making this such a memorable experience for us which we would never forget.
Day 4 (6km)
The final day, and a very early wake-up call at 3.45am so the porters could pack all the stuff away and catch a special train laid on for them and their goods. This would also let us reach Machu Picchu by sunrise. For breakfast, chef had cooked a couple of delicious cakes for us!
We started the final hike in darkness but soon, the sky started getting light by 6am. The trail hugged a mountainside and dropped into cloudforest before coming to an almost vertical flight of 50 steps ("Gringo Killer") leading up to the final pass at the Sun Gate. My legs were pretty painful by now! After climbing the steps on virtually hands and knees, the whole of Machu Picchu was spread out before me in all its glory - a fantastic sight after four days of hardship and beauty. As the rays of the sun inched towards Machu Picchu, the cloud rolled in and we weren't going to see the sun hit the site so we set off on a short downhill walk - the final section of the Trail to Machu Picchu, by which time the clouds had lifted leaving the site bathed in glorious sunshine. After happily snappily away a load of photos, regulations meant we had to leave the site and re-enter, when we'd get another passport stamp. I also took the opportunity to avail myself of another beer at a pricey S/20 (~$7).
We had a 2 hour tour of the site, the site filling up with tourists who hadn't done the Trail and had taken the train/bus combination to visit the site - it was very much a case of us and them.
Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca site at an altitude of 2,430m, sitting on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley through which the Urubamba River flows. It is believed that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. The Incas started building the estate around 1400AD, but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since the site was never known to the Spanish during their conquest, it is highly significant as a relatively intact cultural site. Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the new "Seven Wonders of the World". And it is also the centenary of its "rediscovery".
Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, called ashlar, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Many junctions in the central city are so perfect that it is said not even a blade of grass fits between the stones. Peru is a highly seismic land and mortar-free construction was more earthquake-resistant than using mortar. The stones of the dry-stone walls built by the Incas can move slightly and resettle without the walls collapsing.
The three main buildings in Machu Picchu are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu. The site was selected because of its position relative to sacred landscape features such as its mountains, which are purported to be in alignment with key astronomical events important to the Incas. The location of the city was a military secret and its deep precipices and steep mountains provided excellent natural defenses. It had a water supply from springs that could not be blocked easily and enough terraced land to grow food for about four times as many people as ever lived there.
After the tour, we caught a bus to the small Machu Picchu Town (basically set up to service the tourist needs of visiting Machu Picchu), had lunch, then caught our 3pm 2 hour train back to Ollantayambo from where it was a 2 hour bus journey back to our Cusco hotel. And we were all pretty knackered, although that didn't stop some of us partying till 6am in the morning!
The Inca Trail
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Machu Picchu, Cusco, Peru
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