4. Machu Picchu- Day 4 of Inca Trail

Waking up wayyyy too early, we packed up and got in line to enter the Machu Picchu part of the trail. It rained non stop. Hiking up to the ruins of Inti Punku was at one point more like scaling a wall than climbing stairs, but at the top we got our first sight of Machu Picchu through some rain and clouds. It wasn´t quite what I expected… there, within sight is what we´ve been walking towards for days, and yet part of me is sad. Maybe because it means that the end of this trek is within sight of being over.

Yet we kept plodding on through wind and rain and being wet towards one of the 7 Great Wonders of the World. On the trail, there were some large stone structures but it was a false alarm, not yet Machu Picchu. We finally entered Machu Picchu and it felt like more of the same Inca Trail we had been walking the past few days. However, though I had definitely been colder and wetter before on the trail, the only time I got chills was gazing over the vast expanse of Machu Picchu, realizing exactly what I was looking at… the lost city of the Incas.

Then we started encountering people who had just stepped off the train. Wow. That was a huge emotional clash for me and other members of our group. By now, we don´t much notice the rain, and all these cleanly dressed, fresh-from-pricey-hotels tourists with their brand new embroidered Machu Picchu hats are complaining loudly about how it´s raining and wet. Don´t you see how huge and incredible this place is? The rain is part of the experience! I felt sorry for them, all arguing amongst themselves and huddling under umbrellas, grumbling about being cold.

After an overpriced breakfast at the Machu Picchu café, our spirits brighted up once we were isolated together as a group again. We found ourselves laughing at all points of the tour and later people mentioned how they could hear us at a distance and wondered who was so happy to be laughing all over Machu Picchu? At one point, we were all humming into trapezoidal alcoves to hear the echo… though kept being interrupted when we´d break into giggles… and turned around to find people looking at us like we were crazy, videotaping us, then continue on with their frowns turned into smiles. Hopefully our happiness was contagious!

This part of our trek was hurried. There are so many tours and tourists and groups shuffling around that you can only spend so long at one point, which was different for us. We had gotten used to taking our time, not looking at our watches, appreciating the view, and now we´re being herded here and there and being pushed to the next “highlight” of Machu Picchu. I saw people who didn´t even look at the ruins… just kept their eyes glued to their camcorder display. As though the photos they´d show back home were more important than actually being here. They looked depressed.

Finally the rain let up and other brightly colored clean tourists began to pep up. My brother and I had to find our cousins, so split from our group. As they were feeling a bit crowded, the other three girls basically ended up sitting in a remote section of Machu Picchu overlooking the Urubamba river, enjoying the silence and the view overlooking our mascot mountain, the Happiness mountain.

The trek was incredible, amazing, and I´d do it again in a heartbeat. The worst part was the tourists at the end. Machu Picchu itself is breathtakingly beautiful, yet what is supposed to be a spiritual experience was tainted by the crowded presence of people who infected the air with disappointment. Only when we were able to get back together and regain our collective excitement, enjoy the site for its rain and wind and green grass and mists and remnants of Inca spirit, was I able to truly be in this place and love it for the people who brought me here, the people who constructed it, and keep a sacred place in my mind reserved for the end of this Camino del Inca.

 

3.) Camino del Inka, my favorite Day!

Today was all downhill, which was murder on my IT band. At least the first part of the day was through some beautiful, beautiful rain forest where thousands of species of orchids are known to bloom. If you went slowly enough and looked around, you could occasionally see ones growing along the trail, next to hanging moss and occasional holly. The slopes beside the trail were steep and filled with clouds, making you feel like you were walking along the edge of the world.

I had some walking sticks purchased precisely for the purpose of crutches at the downhill spots, which served me well here on Day 3. At times I would have to descend one at a time, creating much more work on my right quad, which has already been taxed for having to compensate my left knee the first 2 days. Though there were times my right leg would shake with fatigue, I loved every minute of it!! It wouldn´t be fun if I weren´t pushing myself to my limits.

We briefly stopped at a ruin called Choquesuysuy before descending further to our campsite, where a hot shower and beer were waiting. After washing up, our group walked 10 minutes to Wiña Wayna, which ended up being our favourite site… and that includes Machu Picchu. I think it was our favourite because we were all able to enjoy it together, just our group, in silence. Jaime told us about his ancestors who carried the soil under our feet all the way up from the Sacred Valley on their backs to this site, where they think that the microclimates created by the levels and curves of terraces was a sort of agricultural laboratory for the Incas.

Wina Wayna Snow caps in background

Wine at Wina Wayna
The day before, at Sayacmarca, Jaime became visibly emotional when describing how vast and proud a people the Incas were before all came crashing down in a few years of sweeping death and conquest. Now, here at these peaceful ruins with the people who had inspired me to keep pushing and with people who I had shared jokes with, shared stories, and shared precious water, we all raised a toast with red wine (provided by Jaime!) to the incredible Incas who were crazy enough to build this intense Camino del Inka and construct such a beautiful site.
Then we went back to the campsite and bar and drank Cusqueña beer, danced the night away and went to sleep with anticipation of reaching Machu Picchu in the morning.

 

2.) Day 2 Inca Trail

Knowing we were about to climb to the highest peak of our trail, we ate a few extra yummy pancakes and set off. Along the way to Dead Woman´s pass, we saw some llamas grazing in the brilliant green valley before clouds swooped in and it began to rain. At the top, it eased up a bit and it wasn´t too windy. Now at 4215 meters we were ecstatic and took a bunch of photos, videos, and toasted to Pachamama (the Inca´s Mother Earth) with a few shots of rum proved by our guide, Jaime Condor (in quechua, his last name sounds like Koon-tour).

Breakfast pancakes!   Reaching the pass

Then we descended into the mist alongside a few waterfalls into a valley for lunch before climbing up to another pass, visiting the ruins of Runkuraqay along the way. At the top of the next mountain, we placed rocks so that Pachamama take our worries away… and had a bit more rum! Then we started the final descent towards our camp, stopping at the amazing Sayacmarca ruins just before camp. Later that night Jaime told us a true story about the ruins…

Many Incans died when the Spanish came, and much of their history is now lost. Though some is known about a few ruins, many were abandoned so quickly, and no written record remains to tell of what happened at these sites. Our guide´s boss once had to spend the night at Sayacmarca when the campsite below was full, before there was a limit to how many people could enter the trail. In the middle of the night, he felt fingers clawing at his back. He was lying on the ground. Looking under his sleeping bag and sleeping mat, all he saw was the floor of the tent. After falling back to sleep, he again woke to the sensation of fingers clawing at his back up from the ground. Now he had enough, packed up his things, went down the stone steps and spent the night back along the trail instead of in the ruins. In the morning, his clients wondered where he had been and when he described the ghostly sensations that woke him, they all claimed to have had the same experience. Spooky!

But we only toured the ruins, which included a sacrificial altar, we went on to sleep at a larger campsite where we could finally see the night sky and intensely clear Milky Way above. My brother and I went to a Chilean observatory in San Pedro de Atacama a few years ago and were able to point out the Clouds of Magellan to our group, plus a few other constellations that we learned about while at the observatory.

As it had rained both days, and none of our clothes had the chance to dry, my brother´s and my tent were full of hanging wet clothes. Despite our best efforts, nothing became dry once it was wet! It rained every day on the trail and we just had to learn to live with it. My base layer became more of a wet suit, where I´d put it on cold but my body heat would warm up the water and then it´d be okay. As a result, I was always ready to get started on the day, just so I´d warm up a bit! By the time we sighted Machu Picchu, we didn´t really mind that it was raining and mostly clouded, we had already accepted that this is how the climate is, and if it wasn´t it wouldn´t be as green and beautiful.

Cat, one of the Irish girls, made a really astute observation… You have to live for every moment. Though you can be enjoying a gorgeous view that moves you to your core, in the space of a minute it can become obscured by clouds. When you see something beautiful, you learn to appreciate that you are seeing it at this moment, that at this second in your life you are here, soaking it all in. The rain will come and the rain will go, but you saw beauty and you stopped to see it and you can remember it when the clouds come.

 

1.) Chile to Peru and Yay Inca Trail!!

These blogs are being posted all in succession, now that I have time being back from all my travelling! Telling you about my Inca Trek could take hours, but instead I´ll break it down into 4 parts, one for each day. After that I´ll write about the rest of my time in Cuzco after we got back, plus Arequipa, Peru and Arica, Chile. If you are planning a trip to this part of the world, feel free to ask me any questions, I´d love to share any info!! Hopefully I can convey some of the awe and amazement I experienced while on the trek, and I hope you enjoy reading

Santiago, Chile -> Cuzco, Peru: Riding the bus for three days straight was an…interesting experience. We stopped in Arica, Chile and took a taxi over the border to Tacna, Peru and bought more bus tickets there. From Tacna it was another overnight bus to Puno, on Lake Titicaca. My Chilean cousins are on a super tight budget, which resulted in us having to find cheap deals and lower our comfort level quite a bit. At times, this led to saving a ton of money while enjoying the same quality, and other times led to a lot of frustration on my brother`s and my part… and staying/eating in some really shitty places.

Cuzco, Peru- Day 1 Camino del Inka: Arriving in Cuzco, we found that Loki (recommended by multiple sources) was mostly full and what was available was too expensive for my cousins. Instead we wandered around a bit but ended up at The Point Hostel, which was pretty good. We ate dinner at a place I Highly recommend, Sabor de Casa, which has fantastic alpaca steak!! Plus free pisco sour My brother and I had to get up at 3:30 AM for the United Mice pick up van, so we packed our backpacks and went to sleep in our bunkbeds early.
In the morning I got a chance to weigh my backpack with my 2 liter platypus full and altogether weighed 12 kilos (26.4 lbs). We were picked up and driven to Ollantaytambo for breakfast where we got a chance to meet the other 3 members of our group, 2 Irish girls named Eleanor and Cat, plus another American named Suzanne, so that made us a group of 5. Our group ended up becoming really close in the ensuing 4 days, laughing constantly while supporting each other through tough climbs, wet and windy conditions, soroche (altitude sickness…there may be something to chewing coca leaves…), and climbing rocky stairs up and down mountain sides.

Day 1 of El Camino del Inka started off well, all was bright and sunny so we were able to appreciate the spectacular views until we overlooked the ruins of Llactapata. Just before lunch it began to rain and didn´t stop for a few hours. The chef and porters of United Mice did an amazing job of cooking fantastic meals and setting up tents, always having everything prepared by the time we reached camp and making it look effortless. Once we learned the quechua work for thanks- Solpikey- we said it to them all the time! As a result, they called us the Solpikeys

After lunch was 100% climbing stairs for hours. Near the end, the pain in my IT band blended in with the ache of my thighs, which actually helped me to not focus on the pain! The plan for the day was to hike 16 kilometers (10 miles) in distance, plus 1 kilometer in altitude. Before lunch was only a 200 meter climb and after lunch it was 800 meters straight up! But it was through some of the most magnificent forest I have ever seen. Bromeliads bloomed everywhere you looked, hummingbirds fluttered around for minutes on end, and at the hardest part of the trail a clear mountain stream rushed alongside the trail underneath a beautiful hanging green forest canopy.
Finally reaching camp, we were able to turn around and look at what we had climbed. From this altitude, you could see clouds below flowing with the winds through the valley, or sweeping up mountain sides leaving mists in their wake. It was truly beautiful experience as much as it was a beautiful sight. Photographs can never do justice to what I saw or experienced.