The Inka Trail

We woke up on Thursday at 4:30am, packed our backpacks, and walked in the dark to the plaza where we were meeting our group and bus for the Inka Trail!

The porters at the beginning of the trek

The Inka Trail is the sacred, ancient road leading from the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, which was a place of learning. The hike itself is 26 miles long, and we are going to hike it over 4 days. It crosses two passes over 13,00 feet, and leads directly into Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate.

Our journey started on the bus -  a 2 hours drive to where we had breakfast, then another hour until we finally reached the start of the Inka Trail. Our group had 16 people, 2 guides, and 22 porters! The people we hiked with came from the United States, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, England, Brazil, and Australia. Our 2 guides were local Peruvians, very knowledgeable about the Inka. And our porters all came from different areas of Peru.

The whole group at the first campsite

The Inka Trail starts across a suspension bridge with snow capped mountains in the distance. We hiked about 6 1/2 miles the first day, over a rugged landscape with mountains all around. Lunch was amazing, as was camp that night. When you hike the Inka Trail, you have to go through a guide service, who provides all the food and tents and porters. The 22 porters who came with us are some of the most amazing people I´ve ever been around. These guys, all shorter than me, carry at least 40 kilos on their backs, and beat us to lunch and camp every day. When we arrived to lunch, there is warm water in a bowl to wash with, and they clap when we come into camp, and they have a nice tent with tables and food all set up and ready for us to eat. And the food! It isn´t just camp food, noodles and such, it´s real, good food. The first lunch we had trout, and avocado, and salad, and rice, and so much more. Literally, there isn´t enough room on the tables for the amount of food they prepare for us!

The first night we camped in a little bit of a valley with snow capped mountains in the distance. We sleeped well, we were so tired!!!

The second day was the hard one – we were going over two huge mountain passes, at over 13,000 feet each. It was an incredibly hard, long day, but it felt so great once we got to camp. We hiked for about 8 hours total that day, and the entire day it was either up or down -  there wasn´t much flat in between, which made for some sore muscles!

The third day was an easy one. We hiked on a flat trail for about 2 hours, and then down a bunch of stairs for 2 more hours. We got to camp in time for lunch, and stayed there for the afternoon. There was a lodge nearby where we were able to shower and then relax with everyone, which was really nice. That evening we got together and walked about 5 minutes to an Inka site called Wayna Wina, and explored them just as our group, and then watched the moonrise over the mountains. It was an incredible experience, to be with the people we´ve encouraged and struggled up the mountain with for three days, sitting in an ancient site watching the moon come up.

The view from the last campsite

The next morning was an early one -  we woke up at 3:30am, packed, and ate breakfast. To celebrate, the porters baked us a cake! We were off by 4:30, and we had about an hour hike to the Sun Gate of Machu Picchu. This is the last little pass into Machu Picchu, from where you can see the whole valley and mountain and the site itself stretched out. It was an incredible site to see, made even more special by the challenge of hiking there on the same path the ancient Inkans used.

The rest of the day was surreal – we were so tired, and we had spent so long getting there, that Machu Picchu went by in a blur.We spent the morning learning about the area, and exploring the buildings. We had one last lunch at the base of Macchu Picchu as a group, in the town of Aguas Calientes. It was a fun lunch, filled with laughter and stories and some goodbyes. Our guides left, and a few members of our group did, too. The rest of us spent the afternoon exploring the little town, and then caught the train back to Ollantaytambo at 7pm. That train ride was fun! There were lots of windows, including parts of the ceiling, so we could see the full moon and the stars and the clouds playing with each other in the sky. There was even a fashion show on the train – it was completely random, but really fun. We got to the town of Ollantaytambo, where we caught the bus back to Cusco. By that time, we were all so tired, we pretty much just slept. Ms. Mauch, Ms. Brown, and I got back to our hotel at about 11pm – we had been up for nearly 20 hours by that time!

The first glimpse of Machu Picchu

This was definitly the best part of the trip so far, for me. I´m looking forward to the next week, we plan to spend a few more days in Cusco, then off to Lake Titcaca for 5 days, then La Paz for one day, and we fly home on Monday, June 15.