We were collected from the tiny square in Ollantaytambo by bus & were driven to kilometre 82 on the trail. This is the official starting off point for the Inca Trail. Before we set off we were introduced to all of the porters (the true heroes of the trail) & were all pretty tickled when we introduced ourselves one by one & they gave us each a round of applause!! It would seem they are happy to clap anything.....even a simple thing like saying our names correctly. After the introductions we watched with horror as they loaded up over 20kgs each onto their backs & went trotting off ahead of us.
Our first stop was the first checkpoint to have our trail permits checked (there are only 200 hikers allowed on the trail per day plus all the porters etc) & we also had our passports stamped with the official Inca Trail stamp. Then we crossed the bridge & onto the actual trail.
Now, in hindsight, the first day was easy.....or as Julio would say "Piece of piss!!". The start was certainly a stroll. Very flat, wide paths surrounded by beautiful scenery & topped off by spectacular weather. We were thinking we were rockstars as we chatted our way along the path.....that was until around kilometre 7 when the path took a turn for the worse......it went uphill.....sharply!! Hmmmm.....this is what we were all afraid of.....a bit of hard work! It wasn't too bad though & eventually we made it into our camp for the first night. Of course our gorgeous porters clapped us all in like victorious soldiers even though they had already arrived, set up all our tents, dining tent, cooking tent & had our 3 course meal on the go! See what I mean about heroes??
That evening we sat down for our first dinner. Really, the food on the Inca Trail deserves an entire blog all of its own. If it is not enough that our amazing team of porters carry all our personal stuff they also carry all the sleeping stuff, cooking equipment & food, they also treated us like absolute royalty. Dinner, as I mentioned was 3 courses, lunch was always 2....& I mean fully cooked meals. Soup, meats, vegetables, salads, rice, desserts (chocolate pudding - OMG!!).....all cooked using whatever they could carry & served to us at a table clothed table on silver platters complete with vegetable carvings!! I am not joking!! Incredible!
It doesn't end there either. In the morning we received the dreaded wakeup call - 5am. The porters though, bless them, would come around & shake our tents & say "Buenos Dias!"....(mornin')...then about 10 minutes later they would arrive again, unzip the tents & serve us cups of tea in bed! Another 10 minutes would go by & they would come back with a small bowl of warm water, soap & paper towel for us to wash our faces. All of this while it was still dark outside. Then we would get up for breakfast......cooked breakfast! Pancakes, eggs, rice, toast, hot chocolate.....yummy! By 6am we were all brushing our teeth & the porters would already have our tents down & packed & would be packing up the kitchen & dining tents. CRAZY!!
So morning 2 & we were on the trail by 6.15am ready to tackle 13kms straight uphill. When I said day 1 was easy, let me put it to you this way. We all had our ipods with us....you know, just incase anyone needed a little "quiet time". Well, by about 6.25am most of us had them cranking....not a good sign! Most of the remaining trail is original (about 95% of it) which means that instead if enjoying gently meandering, bulldozed, smooth walkways we found ourselves scrambling up giant, uneven stone steps which were sometimes 6 inches wide sometimes 3ft wide......get the picture.
Lunch was eaten in silence......we were all shattered! Our goal for the day was to reach Dead Woman's Pass (or the nipple as it is commonly called). It looks like a woman's profile including her boobies....so to the nipple we headed. I started the ipod on Rob Thomas which went well, then I changed to John Mayer....not so successful. I got so angry with him as I traipsed up the hill that I started to shout at him. I am serious - I had to turn him off or I might never have been able to listen to him again. I finally settled on Pink. She rocked me all the way to the top....& trust me, there were times when I thought I wasn't gonna make it. The final set of stairs to the top were killers, made all the more difficult by the having the end in sight. We all made it though & it was quite an emotional moment......only tarnished by the knowledge that after a quick stop at the top we still had to go down a few kms down the other side.
We made it to our campsite though & day 2 was done....all 13kms of it! Oh, I forgot to mention that in the mornings when we left we were all given a little snack box with a chocolate bar, piece of fruit, cereal bar or other goodies & we also got afternoon tea when we arrived in camp. Fresh popcorn, bikkies & jam & hot drinks......sooooo freakin spoilt!!
That night we may have played an UNO marathon & we may have even taught Julio & Arnan (his assistant) how to play. It's amazing how competitive a group of people (who could barely walk not 2 hours earlier) can get when UNO cards come out. It was another early night though as we really were all shattered. Day 3 & it started off the same as all the others.....early wakeup call, breakfast, brush teeth & walk!
Today was all about going down......for 14kms! I may have mentioned that going up I wanted to die but now I take that back. Going down was hell....my knees will never be the same again. It was during a particularly steep section that one of the girls may have gotten caught up in her notoriously unruly walking sticks. So Jo goes down like a sack of spuds & we all scramble to help her up & make sure she's ok etc......in the meantime, instead of saying "Yeah, I'm ok"....or "Shit, I'm hurting"....Jo starts to sing "I'm a survivor ....." (Beyonce style) from flat on her back on the trail! It was so funny we made her reinact it for Julio to video!
Photo: Yes....the socks make me walk better!!
The other highlight of day 3 was the chance to have a hot shower at the campsite. Sure we had to pay for it, queue for over an hour, had no towels, the bathrooms were flooded & the water was actually cold....but it was a great relief anyway! We were also so excited to be reaching the end in the morning that we were a bit hysterical.....I may have cried cos I missed my rabbie & Beks may have cried cos a Shania Twain song came on & reminded her of her Mum line dancing!! (The next day Char may have cried because she had to throw her sandwich out too!!)......do you get the picture.....we were all a bit tired & emotional!
Day 4 was a 3am wake up call......yes, 3am!! At 4am we headed to the gate that leads out onto the trail. Unlike the rest of the trail this part is gated & the gate doesn't open until 5.30am & we needed to be first in the queue. Finally the gates opened & we were off....as fast as our decrepid, old legs would carry us! Turns out there was really no hurry cos by the time we got to the Sun Gate the mountains were cloaked in fog & cloud.....& it was raining :( So we left the Sun Gate & kept going towards Machu Picchu. There is a spot you can sit & get your first glimpse of the ruins but unfortunately they were also under cloud. To keep our spirits up while we waited, Julio got his bamboo flute out & played us some tunes.....amazing! The sound of the flute floating through the clouds as we caught glimpses of the ruins for the first time made an emotional day even more emotional.
Finally we made our way down onto the ruins & what a maginificent sight they are. Well worth the 4 days of extreme trekking....but we did all turn into self righteous, entitled, trekking snobs as we pushed our way past the shiny, happy people who had caught the train up that morning, walked for 10 measly minutes & were then complaining about how tired they were!! Are you freakin serious??? So after averting a couple of near homicides we spent a couple of hours exploring the ruins & taking about a million photos. The ruins are amazing & gorgeous & all those things but I really think that the enjoyment came from the struggle to get there. You know.....all those cliches about it being about the journey.....well, I kinda get it now!!
We were heading back to Cusco but to get there we first stopped off in Aguas Calientes for really bad, overpriced pizza & then caught the train home. What a ridiculous train trip it was too! I think we were all a bit delirious & in need of a decent, hot shower & a soft bed......but what an amazing few days!!
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