Two months of travelling has been leading up to today; the day we start the Inca Trail! This four-day hike across jaw-dropping mountain passes, Inca ruins bathed in fog, cloud forests and lush rainforest culminates in the unforgettable revellation of Machu Picchu and absolutely deserves its place as the most famous trek in South America. Only 200 tourists are allowed to trek it each day and tickets sell out months in advance. We have to thank Tom´s early planning for our places and the jealousy amongst those without such tickets in our hostel was palpable. Although the total distance is only 44km, almost all of the trail is either a steep climb up precarious mountain passes or a knee-jarring descent, all the while at breath-sucking altitude.
There were eight of us on our tour with a company called Llama Path; the four of us, two Americans (Koto and Saba) and two Argentineans (Romi and Isabel). Accompanying us was our guide Flavio, our cook Wilbur and thirteen, yes THIRTEEN, porters whose job it was to carry our tents, cooking equipment, food and anything else we were too weak to hold. It was utterly surreal (and somewhat, dare I say it, colonial) to have so many people caring for us and care for us they certainly did! The porters each carried about 25 kilograms on their back and literally ran the trail ahead of us so that we would arrive at each campsight to find our tents set up and the food already prepared. Each time we reached a campsite the porters would greet us with a round of applause (utterly endearing after hours of exhausting trekking), refreshing drinks and bowls of freshly boiled water for washing. Each morning the porters would knock on our tent door and wake us up with a mug of tea. The meals were gourmet quality (as you will see below) and the little touches were outstanding, such as the selection of origami napkin place settings or the delicately carved vegetable animals gracing the middle of the plates. This was first class trekking indeed!
We then crossed the Vilcanota river and got our passports stamped. Yes, for the remaining 8 years of my passport´s life immigration officials will puzzle themselves over my visit to the country of the ´Camino Inka´. The trail climbed gently alongside the river to the first archaelogical site of Llactapata and then wended its way for 7km to the town of Wayllabamba. From here we had some pretty asazing views of the snowy Nevado Veronica.
Flavio emboldened our spirits with some corn beer and gave a sacrifice to Pachu Mamma (Mother Earth) to help our trek
Then followed a very long, very steep 3km climb to our campsite. Having now spent over a month at altitude, the four of us were easily the best accustomed to the low oxygen and found ourselves in the lead. The Argentines, bless them, had only just arrived from sea level and were feeling a little the worse for wear. We then spent our first night camping in the mountains.
I particularly enjoyed the al fresco ´shower´ using my bowl of boiled water
Day 60
Today was the tough day. A 5.30am wake up and we began the ascent of ´Dead Woman´s Pass´, a lung-breaking ascent to 4215 meters up difficult terrain. We felt such a surge of adrenaline and euphoria on reaching the top. As you can see below the views were pretty impressive. It felt like we were on the roof of the world!
This was just the beginning of the day though and the trail continued down a long, knee-jarringly steep descent to the river. Climbing downhill is much much harder than climbing uphill and our knees were certainly feeling the strain once we reached the lunch spot. A quick nap later though and I was raring to go. Once more we began uphill and climbed to the top of the second pass (a mere 3950 meters). En route we passed several impressive Inca ruins, but alas Paddington Bear remained elusive;
I found the summit of the second pass the most spiritual part of the trek as we reached entered the crater and sat in the recess staring up at the sky. We then trekked along the roof of the ridge and eventually reached the ruin of Phuyupatamarka - the City in the Clouds. The rocks seemed suspended in a marshmallowy world of their own and the ceremonial water baths were still running after 500 years. Just downhill was our second night´s campsite. We were really sleeping among the clouds!
That night we were especially thankful for the weird heat-giving contraption the porters set up in our lunch tent. I dont really understand how it worked, but boy did it heat us up.
Day 61
The next morning we finally managed to take a photo of our whole group.
Unfortunately a minute of two later it began to rain and my goodness did it rain. We were actually inside the cloud and you could feel the droplets forming all around you. The very air was liquid and the water infested everything. My market purchases though did me proud. I may have looked like a chav astronaut in my white puff jacket, but I remained dry unlike some of my more stylish friends.
I then spent most of the remainder of the day sleeping in the tent.
That night to celebrate the fact the trek was nearly over our porters baked us a cake. This was especially impressive as they did it in a frying pan on a camp stove! I was also celebrating the end of Passover and I feasted on a pile of bread I had been saving up since lunch.
Now, we had been warned that the toilets on the Inca trail were equivalent to rock festival portaloos twinned with a Bangkok nightclub at 5am, but up to this point these had been slanderous exagerrations. The squat toilets so far on the trail had been perfectly usable, even if some previous travellers had been a little liberal with their droppings. However, this day I finally found hell in the form of our first porcelain toilet bowl in three days (so so desirable) rendered absolutely vile by being covered in bright yellow splurge. It was like being offered the world and then having it cruelly taken away from you. So upsetting.
By this point our bodies were crying out for calories and to our great joy the campsite contained the first shop we had seen for days. The twixes may have been two pounds a pop, but we threw financial caution to the wind and spent our first month´s salaries on chocolately goodness.
Day 62
A 3.30am wake up and we emerged from our tents to perfect weather! Thus began the final stretch of the Inca Trail; a mere 6km through the jungle to the Sun Gate for sunrise. I had a desire to be the first person there so along with Lizzie jogged my way along the trail by torchlight. It was only later that we realised just how dangerous these paths were. After so many days of hiking with one end in mind, our first sight of Machu Picchu with the sun rising behind us was a mystical and unforgettable experience. Once more the euphoria hit and everyone was all smiles.
(Machu Picchu is behind Josie´s shoulder)
We weren´t quite there yet though. There remained the final triumphant descent to Machu Picchu and this should have taken 30 minutes. However, Lizzie and I were absolutely bursting for the loo and the throngs of trekkers around meant that our previous solution of going au naturel was no longer a possibility. Consequently we legged it there at sprint pace. So fast did we leg it indeed that I almost knocked a girl right off the mountain on my way down.
Now, one of the main benefits of the Inca Trail is that you get to the site from above - thus skipping the security controls - and beat the day tourists. However, as I entered the site I didn´t even stop for a glance, but rather ran straight past the ruins, out of the exit gate and down the hill towards the glowing toilet block. The toilets were magical and worthy of a four day hike in and of themselves. Later we did return up the hill and explored the utterly amazing lost city of the Incas bathed in victorious sunshine.
Nobody knows precisely what purpose the city served nor even its name, but the state of preservation was phenomenal (largely because the Spanish never discovered it) and the surrounding scenery breathtaking. We passed a long time exploring the various buildings and basking in our achievement. Over the last four days we had pushed our bodies further than they had ever been pushed in our lives, eaten more food than ever before and, if this doesnt sound overly cheesy, come to have a spiritual existence with the mountains. The perfect ending to our time travelling together.
Incidentally, during the trek I had been using a new suncream bought in Cusco. In the four days my tan had almost doubled in intensity and some cruel observers have suggested I may accidently have been slathering myself in fake tan. While I am not 100% sure what the bottle contained, the orange tan line visible in the photo below is somewhat worrying.
We then descended the mountain and spent the afternoon at the town of Aguas Calientes, enjoying a family sized pizza each and a stroll around a craft market. A train, bus and taxi later and I was back sleeping in the hostel in Cusco.
As promised above, here is a selection of the gourmet food we were served during our trek. Note the carved vegetable animals at the bottom!
Day 63
While the others slept in I dragged myself out of bed for my final Spanish lesson then at lunchtime I caught a bus to Lima with the two girls. This marked the point of separation from Tom as he left for two weeks volunteering in the Peruvian jungle. As our fellowship broke up there were some emotional scenes and I look forward to our reunion back in London in a few months.
The bus was utterly five star with massive seats, waitress service and complimentary gifts. Much appreciated when the journey is a whopping 21 hours long.
No comments:
Post a Comment