The Inca Trail

We spent the last 4 days making our way from km82 to Machu Picchu. Our group was made up of 18 gringo´s, 3 guides, and 24 porters (which included our chef). A maximum of 500 people can start the trail each day, and this number includes porters. Sol, our 26 year old local guide was fantastic from the start. I really feel it makes a huge difference when you have someone who is so passionate about a subject not because she finds it interesting but because she is part of it. At various points along the way she would talk about her families history, and her feelings toward the past and present. She was of mixed blood, both Inca (or Quechua) and Spanish, and her beliefs (both religious and political), were always interesting. She told us that even though she is a Christian, she has held onto her ancestors ideals and still worships mother earth, the sun and the stars. She found it impossible to hide the fact that she hated (and hates?) the Spanish for what they did to her people.

The walk was beautiful, with more mountains than I had expected. The weather was good to us, with no rain whatsoever, but at night the polar bears made an appearance and Jackie was pretty chilly in her sleeping bag. The highest pass was at around 4200m and although at times fairly steep, the walk was very easy.

Another highlight was the food, and as with our previously organised trek up Kilimanjaro, I was shocked with the quality and variety of what we got. Our chef (Hymie) was only 24 and he really knew what he was doing. At one lunch stop there were 10 dishes served.

We passed many Inca sites along the way, but the main attraction and finishing point of the walk was Machu Picchu. We were woken at 3:30 on our 4th and final morning, and we set off around an hour later, only to wait at a control point for an hour. At 5:30, the race to the sun gate began and my blood began to boil. We were first in line and set off as a group, but 10 minutes into the walk, a pair of french idiots came rushing past. I was struggling to understand the logic of these and many others who felt they had to race and then I took a closer look and realised that they all had SWS (small willy syndrome). I was quite proud of Jackie who managed to whack the one with her trekking pole. I was hoping for some form of retaliation (so that I could throw him in the Urubamba river 1500m below) but there was none. Anyway, when we arrived at the sun gate (after walking for only 50 minutes or so) we found that Machu Picchu was still there. Awesome to see, and more amazing I feel, because of its position between 2 beautiful peaks, surrounded by a bowl of mountains. We left the other groups, who were waiting for the sun, and walked down to the site. The sky was perfectly clear, and the sun´s rays descended over us as if a giant set of curtains had opened.

The Inca´s created 40,000 kms of trails during their time, but the path we walked along was the main pilgrimage from Cusco to Machu Picchu. Of all the Inca sites discovered to date, Machu Picchu is the most religious, with many temples and relics of their religious beliefs. Some of the stones in the ruins are pefectly carved replicas of the surrounding mountains.

In our opinion the trail is more of a tourist attraction than a trek, and it´s a huge pity that hoards of tourists are bussed in to the sacred site each day.