Backpackin’ Inca Style

Oooooh, my knees! Back to bustling city-life straight from Machu Picchu. All told, it was an absolutely amazing experience…something that will be difficult to pass along by pictures and words. Although, I may be able to adequately sum up how wiped we were after finishing the hike. I’ll do my best to recap the 4 ½ day experience. So sit back, enjoy a nice cup o’ jo and start scrollin’!

What can I tell you about Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail? The Inca Trail is a part of the elaborate Inca road system that can be found connecting various communities across the Andes. The trail in particular was believed to be the primary route for the Incan ruler Pachacutec coming from Cusco to Machu Picchu. Interestingly, little is actually known about the circumstances of the majestic city’s construction, who actually stayed there, what its true purpose was and when it was abandoned. It seems the preeminent theory is that Machu Picchu was a destination for pilgrimaging rulers and used as a religious and administrative center. From what we saw, the description from the guide and what I’ve read, MP was obviously an extremely important place and it’s hard to imagine it was constructed, occupied, deserted and forgotten in less than 100 years.

Day 1

The day started early...ready to roll by 6 am. We ended up driving around Cusco for a couple of hours picking up other trekkers, porters and guides, so we didn’t even depart until 9:30. We then made the beautiful, dizzying drive from Cusco to KM 82, the current jumping off point for the trail (the original trail actually starts at KM 88). We had a chance to meet our eclectic group of trekkers and have a tasty bite to eat before setting off. There were six of us in the group, including Carrie and I. We also had one guide, Resel, one cook and four porters. Two trekkers were from Holland that just happened to meet while traveling in Perù. The other two, from France, also just happened to meet while bouncing around Perù. We were all quite an odd bunch. No language was predominant, so the conversations jumped around from Spanish, English, French to Dutch. Unfortunately, Reuben from Holland got quite sick about an hour into the hike, so he and his friend had to be escorted back by the guide. Just the four of us for the rest of the trek…Marie, Pierre, Carrie and I.

The trail starts off crossing the mighty Vilcanota River, Indiana-Jones style at about 2750 m (9000 ft). We had some balmy, sunny weather to work with, so spirits were high. Those crazy love birds from France said they were “just friends” bouncing around Perù before they head back to school in Aug, but the amount of flirting going on led us to think otherwise. After some relatively easy up and down and some fantastic views of the surrounding valley, we made our first short scramble up the trail…only for about 15 minutes. At the top, there was a small gathering of huts. Carrie and I looked at each other, out of breath thinking “oh snap, this is going to be rough!” Another 30 minutes down the trail, we made our one and only big ascent of the day.

At this point, there was a long line of hikers making the scramble up, so it was quite a sight to look back and see 50 porters and trekkers staggering towards the top. Once you got to the top, you had an astonishing panoramic view of a grand mountain directly in front of you and several snow-capped mountains in the distance. A few minutes down, we took in the most significant ruins of the day, Llactapata and Wilkarakay.

Llactapata was a semi-circle shaped community used primarily for agriculture and religious purposes. In the far corner, stood a well preserved building used for astronomy. It was difficult to see from as high up as we were, but the community had elaborate hydraulic and irrigation systems constructed utilizing the nearby river. To our left and looming over Llactapata was Wilkarakay, a military base used to protect the below community. Wilkarakay was strategically built on a ridge at the intersection of two rivers.

From here, we pressed on the longest section of the trail for the day. Just before 4 pm, we came across a small village just off the river. As we neared the village, you could smell the enticing, comforting campfire smoke floating from several houses. Resel explained that indigenous peoples still live off the Inca Trail even though the area was designated a national sanctuary in 1981 and is extremely remote. Most people rely on subsistence agriculture and tourism to survive.

We reached camp by 5:30 had some tea and crashed for a bit. The camp was located in a small village (about 3 or 4 homes), named Wayllabamba and in the middle of an enormous valley with a raging river below. Dinner was a fantastic, large 3-course meal of soup, potatoes, vegetables and fruit. We were in bed and out cold by 8:30…rest for the grueling day ahead.

Day 2

Day 2 started early… pancakes the size of a basketball, steaming hot mate de coca and on the trail by 7 am. Today, it was all about the wicked-ups and the painful downs. The trail started straight away with an intense climb and for the most part followed the river below. After about a 2 ½ hour climb, the vegetation changed from tall grass and shrubs to a dense, vibrant and ancient cloud forest. You couldn’t help but stop every 5 minutes and snap several pics.

We chatted with an older couple from Vancouver and continued to wobble up the enormous steps. Just as we were coming out of the cloud forest, the drizzle began and the temperature dropped quite a bit. We took a short break and started up the last 1 ½ hour ascent to the first and tallest pass (Warmiwañusca ¨”Dead Woman’s Pass” at 4,215 M or about 13,900 ft). Carrie and I had to keep cracking jokes in order to keep our minds off the brutal climb…I was stopping every 5-10 minutes. We started chatting with a father-daughter duo from Connecticut about hiking the White Mountains and her volunteer project in Cusco (She is considering going to SIT for graduate school next fall…small world but far from flat). We finally made it to the top, only to find it was absolutely frigid, windy and the visibility was next to zero. We snapped a couple of victory pics and headed down, down, down. Carrie and I chatted about our future plans and the weather started to clear…allowing us to see small waterfalls, tall grass and enormous boulders dotting the valley.
I wish I could say I was able to physically handle the downhill, but two-plus hours straight down just ravaged my knees. We made it to camp around 4 pm and I crashed. I had a wicked-sick headache. I woke up for din-din and a round of poker and crashed. It rained for several hours that night, so we didn’t get the best sleep.

Day 3

I awoke feeling surprisingly better, although my knees were stiff as 2X4´s. Our campsite was situated half-way up a relatively steep mountain and between two towering ridges. As we set off on what would be the longest day, the clouds floated through us, making for a spectacularly majestic view.

We again started off on an intense climb up to our first of four archeological visits. Carrie was feeling a bit ill from the altitude, so we took it pretty slow that morning. (All four of us got a little sick or physically struggled at some point during the trek). The first stop was at Runkuraqay, a small, clover-shaped complex overlooking the vast valley below. Just in front of the complex and just off the trail, we stopped to give a gift of coca leaves to the Mountain God of the same name.

This was customary for both Incas and present day locals alike in order to ask for good travels ahead. After about another hour of a relatively gradual ascent, we made it to the second pass at 3,900 m (12,870 ft). As the group cooled off on a group of boulders, I scampered up a small ridge and took in some remarkable ridgeline views. We made our way down towards the second site, Sayacmarca. The rain was pretty constant at this point and visibility was almost non-existent. Sayacmarca was a community primarily for agricultural workers and some nobility. The Incan empire was essentially a federalist system, ruled by a king (the Inca), with a class of nobility (engineers, administrators) below the king and farmers, builders and general workers at the bottom. Sayacmarca demonstrated the elaborate ingenuity of Incan engineers and how they housed a great number of people in small, hard to reach locations. As we descended from here, the rain picked up and the vegetation turned to thick jungle, showcasing various types of bamboo, orchids, and palm trees. We stopped for yet another gourmet meal and made our way to the third and final pass at 3600 m (11,880 ft). We were all pretty wet and already looking forward to camp (another 3-4 hours from here!!). We took a quick breather and prepared ourselves for about 3,000 steps…all downhill. I was so very happy. About 200 steps into the descent, we visited our third site, Puyupatamarca, an impressive, heart-shaped complex housing primarily Incan nobility. One interesting quality of this location was the unique door hinges carved into the massive rocks used to protect important rooms. Steep terraces and stairs led to numerous levels of the complex.

We then continued on down the remaining 2,800 steps as the trail twisted through dense vegetation and amazing views of the surrounding mountains. I can’t adequately describe the enormity of the Andes…Everything around you is beyond grand. It’s difficult to put it all in perspective. With each 100 m down we trekked, the temperature slowly started rising and the rain began to finally slow. By about 3 pm, the rain had stopped and the sun started to peak. We finally made camp around 4 pm. This was the biggest camp on the trail and the last one before Machu Picchu. The village was quite a bit larger than others and offered a discoteca for the relieved hikers to celebrate. After a quick nap, we hobbled to the final and most spectacular ruins of the day, Wiñaywayna.

This was an enormous complex used primarily for growing a diverse range of crops from coca, sweet potatoes and corn. From top to bottom measures and staggering 1000 m (3,300 ft.). The connecting city offered a labyrinth of houses, an astronomical building, rooms for sacrifices and spiritual cleansing, and a sun temple. It was hard to imagine how the Inca’s built such a complex with the mountainside’s steep terrain and the surrounding valley’s inaccessibility. Waterfalls plastered the surrounding mountains.

After leaving Wiñaywayna as the sun slipped beyond the mountains, we headed back for our last dinner and celebration for the porters. Unfortunately, the evening ended on a sour note, as we found out the porters rely heavily on backpacker tips…come to find out, they are not paid as well as the agencies had led us to believe. Resel, our guide, suggested we tip each cook and porter (5 in total) about $15 per porter per person. This put us in a ridiculously awkward position as we all felt the porters deserved that much and more, but each one of paid around $200 to make the journey and felt cheated that this was an unspoken expectation at the very end of the trek. (come to find out, most other backpackers went through this same situation, despite the laws supposedly protecting porters from being screwed out of fair wages). We all decided to tip the porters whatever we had in cash (which wasn’t a lot) and write a stern email to the company asking them to pay the porters a fair wage. This put an unfortunate damper on the day and we all headed to bed early…as the rains started.

Day 4

3:50 am…up and adams kiddies!! The scramble to Machu Picchu started wicked early with some chocolate covered pancakes, mate de coca and a drenched trail. The four of us were still a bit miffed at the events of the last evening, but we marched on through the drenched jungle. It had rained straight through the night and did not stop until about 5:30 am. The first clearing on the trail offered a spectacular and amazingly close view of a nearby snow-capped mountain…freshly snow-capped. The trail resembled something out of an adventure story…an ancient, uneven stone trail, surrounded by vines, palms, and exotic flowers. Admittingly, I was anxious to see MP and I seemed keenly aware of all around me…the mud sticking to my boots, the thick, damp air and the trees dripping from above. Five minutes quickly turned into nearly an hour. We finally reached the insanely narrow and steep steps of Inti Punku (“Sun Gate”) and there it was, the city of Machu Picchu, nestled on the seemingly uninhabitable ridge below…surrounding by towering mountains. Inti Punku was built so that on the morning of each summer solstice, the sun would shine through a tall rock formation and strategically strike MP to create a magnificent and exact ray of light. After joining the mob of other trekkers in some insane picture taking, we headed down the awesome final approach to the city. I caught myself stopping every few just overwhelmed with the enormity and brilliance of our surroundings. By now, the sun was bright and made everything shimmer. Thin clouds would pass through the city making it somehow look like a hallucination…or was that the coca I was chewing??

We arrived at the boundary of MP, took the standard county fair first-prize pics and headed down to the checkpoint to start the tour. At this point you could see the day tourist waltz in, decked to the nine looking like they were about to go out to brunch. Maybe it was just the fact we had been on the trail for over three days and smelled rotten. Well, Carrie didn’t…she always smells marvelous and pretty!

Resel took us on a 2 ½ hour, fantastically interesting tour of the enormous complex. Machu Picchu was “officially” discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham as part of a National Geographic excursion in search of the lost cities of the Incas. The complex had an enormous urban center, with the sun-temple at its center. Directly underneath, was a tomb where supposedly Pachacutec and his family were mummified and laid to rest. The stone work around the sun temple and tomb were amazingly precise and very well preserved. We completed the tour at the “energy wall” were the Inca’s would pray and seek spiritual energy. Carrie and I said our goodbyes to the crew and walked around for another hour, checking out the various sections of the city. It was hard to leave, as there was so much to see and the weather was stellar…but now it was time to relax and recoup…

We took a bus to Aquas Calientes (the city below Machu Picchu off the commanding Urubamba). Admittingly, we pampered ourselves once we got to town…We stayed in a little place called “Gringo Bills” (owned by a guy named Bill from Michigan and his wife, a native of Perù). I chatted with Margaret (Bill’s wife) for a little while and we settled in for a day of complete pampering.

We took full advantage of the Jacuzzi…my knees were Clay Akin for a soothing bath. I watched the sun dip past the enormous mountains from our balcony as I caught up on some reading. The next day we just bopped around town. We spent a couple hours at the natural hot springs…although it looked like something you’d see in the Dells, it was mad relaxing. We met a dude from Tennessee and his son on an extended spring break excursion and chatted for awhile. We also chatted for awhile with a couple from Argentina about some great places to hit up there next month. As the afternoon whizzed by, we caught the train back to Cusco and marveled at the always spectacular Urubamba valley. We chatted with a couple of girls from England who just wrapped up university and on a round-the world voyage.

Wow…again, that was a lot. Hope you had enough coffee, juice or whatever tasty beverage to get you through it. We’ll be back with further updates to our travels. Off to Puno, Arequipa, Cañòn del Colca…Chile. All to come.

¡Chao!