The Inca Trail

The Inca Trail. I think that I am still making up my mind about it. I think under different circumstances I would have really enjoyed it.

I started feeling a little sick to my stomach on Monday night, and even considered not going, since I was still having problems breathing as well. The alternative though, would have been 4 more days in Cusco. A city. I am the Country Mouse. So I went. It involved departing at 5:00 a.m. Only five of us were taking the Classic Inca trail, the rest of the group took the Lares Trail. . . and I hear they had nice weather. So Arturo (our guide), Claire (my British friend), Coleen (61 year old), Kim (45 year old physician) and I met up with another group: 4 friends from San Francisco, a couple from San Francisco, a guy from London and our guides Roger and Casiano. We took a bus for a few hours to the starting point Kilometer 82, I think. And we set out. It started really well- flat ground- but as we started going uphill, I started falling behind. We stopped for a lunch.
And let me stop right here and describe the meals on this camping trip. . . Amazing. Whenever we arrived we had a tent set up for us with plastic chairs around a table. Silverware, metal plates, bowls, cups, tea cups. I remember the first meal distinctly because I had not expected the extravegance. Garlic bread, an appetizer (maybe it was avocado and tomatoes), a soup (which were always delicious), and plates and plates of pasta and two different kinds of sauce. Every lunch was like this- a bread, appetizer, soup, and multiple food dishes, sometimes chicken, beef, fish, in wonderful sauces, with rice or quinoa, or potaotes. They even decorated the food like on a cruise with little birds and flowers made of vegetables. Amazing! And the breakfasts were the same, porriage in a cup, bread and jelly, pancakes one day, eggs another. The last day we had a cake for breakfast! Baked right on the trail. And between lunch and dinner we had happy hour with popcorn and crackers and Milo.
Porters. We had 18 porters carrying all our bags, tents, food, chairs, etc. They run up the mountain in front of the group and get set up either for lunch or a campsite before the hikers get there. They carry 27 kilograms each (I´m not sure how much that is), and they all had sweet personalities. There wasn´t much conversation because they spoke Quechua, but they woke us up in the morning with cocoa tea, brought us warm water for washing when we arrived for the day and when we woke up in the morning, and they watched over us at night.
So back to the hike. I think the weather that first day wasn´t bad- brief rain, so I was able to get some photos which was nice. I think we probably hiked 7 hours that first day and all I kept hearing was how the 2nd day was much harder. My stomach bothered me that day but was really unpleasant that night and I think I zoned out a bit because I don´t remember much of that day or evening. We played slaps and a version of spoons for dinntertime entertainment. The bathroom at this campsite was hopefully the worst bathroom I will ever see in my life. It consisted of a hole in the ground covered in logs and surrounded by a log frame with plastic over it for privacy. And that´s all I really want to say about that place.
There was actually no peeing in the woods. Every few hours they had bathrooms. They were disgusting but most were buildings with a plastic hole in the ground that you stood on either side of and there was a flush at the top. I survived.
I had a tent to myself which was unexpected and made me feel a bit bad because someone had to carry that extra tent up but what´s done is done. I was a bit cold at night in my alpaca hat, 2 long underwear tops and a fleece, and long underwear bottoms and the sleeping bag but I didn´t sleep too poorly.
We woke up to rain on Wendesday morning. And rain and rain and rain. And if you thought that it might stop raining and take off your rain coat and put it away, in five minutes you would have to get it out again. And it was uphill. Forever. To Dead Woman´s Pass. My stomach was awful and my breathing was awful and I was way last. By lunch time everyone knew I was a bit sick but thankfully it turned around that afternoon. For the most part. So the morning´s rain was just a misty type rain. As we switched to the downhill portion of our journey it became a downpour. I was freezing and soaked but I really enjoyed the downhill much more than the up. We went down steps that were covered in mud and water and I was so glad someone had talked me into buying the walking sticks at the beginning of the trail because I would have been toast without them. I fell down once- looked around- saw that no one saw me and kept on going. I didn´t get many pictures this day because of the rain and because of the constant fog surrounding everything. I´m sure it would have been beautiful, had we been able to see it. We hiked a lot that day. I think we set off at 6:30 a.m. or something and arrived around the same time at night. It was rough. The most challenging day I´ve ever had, probably. But you have to keep going of course.
Our campsites were all lovely, perched on the side of a mountain and while it poured all Wednesday night we awoke to a bit of a clearing on Thursday. At least we could see some pretty cool Inca ruins on a mountainside a ways away and we had a dry start to the day. And it was a pretty good day because it was mostly downhill. Thankfully, I fell in with the girls from San Francisco and they had a way of getting through the uphill parts- setting goals. Okay, we´re going to make it to that bush there, or we´re going 20 steps up. They made it bearable. We finished around 2:00 this day so it was a shorter day. It rained off and on. Toward the end of the hike on this day we started seeing electric lines and hear the train and it seemed quite out of place after all the quiet of no technology.
There were supposed to be hot showers at this site so everyone got very excited. However, they were closed for maintenance when we arrived. So a few of the girls ventured to use the cold porter shower. Now if the above was the grossest toilet I´ve ever used, I hope this is the grossest shower I ever use. First of all, if you know me, you know I´m a bit modest. And the door on this shower shut very poorly- no lock or latch and there were porters outside the entire time. The water wasn´t just cold. It was like ice falling out of the wall. And the water on the floor. Uggg. Gross, gross gross. But I was a small bit cleaner.
We went to see an Inca ruin a few minutes away and it was pretty awesome. I can´t wait to show the pictures.
So let me tell you what I learned about the Incas. Well, I learned a lot of things but coming to mind right now:

• They built 354 of these sacred sites I think. The ones that the Spainards did not find are the most intact ones.
• They had fountains, and terraces for farming and they did experiements to see which forms of agriculture would work at what altitudes.
• They built their buildings from the natural rock that was at that location- white granite, which when the sites were created would have been polished and the ruins would have been white. Their buildings were created with interlocking stones that no one has been able to replicate. They withstand earthquakes and go in at an angle a bit.
• They didn´t have money, they all worked together. There was some sort of service period where they worked on the various Inca sites for the state and then they got to go back home.
• The Incas were still building- never finished and more and more is found every day.
• The reason the Spainards were able to overrun them so quickly was because they had just had a civil war between two brothers or rulers, or something. Also, it took them a while to realize that they were enemies.
• Some Incas fled to Machu Pichu when the Spainards conquered and lived there for forty years undiscovered. The Spainards never found Machu Picchu.

Forgive me if some of my facts are wrong, and there is much more fascinating info, but this is getting rather long.

So the next day we got up for a 2 hour hike to the Sun Gate. The entrance to Machu Picchu. Did I mention that we got up at 3:30 a.m.? So we had to hike with our headlamps 5 minutes downhill in the rain (again torrential downpours during the night) to this checkpoint. The checkpoint didn´t open until 5:30 a.m. but for some reason our guide wanted to be first in line. There were a lot of other groups at this point. And honestly, when it opened, I thought I was part of the Amazing Race. For 20 minutes we raced through the cloud forest- still in the dark mind you- until I got so hot, I tried to take off my fleece so then I was carrying my backpack, walking poles, fleece and raincover all in my arms trying to run and keep up and finally I just stopped and took my time. I´m not sure what the race was about anyway. Running through the puddles, pushing by people (not me but people pushing by me!), and then there was some uphill so that finished it for me. It was kind of fun though, hiking in the pre dawn light. Hearing all the little frogs chirping. We arrived at the Sun Gate after some steep steep stairs to. . . what was supposed to be Machu Picchu in the sunrise but it was just fog. Everywhere fog. So we hiked down the final half an hour and then the day turned lovely. And we were at Machu Picchu.

In hindsight there were some really great things. The views, the Inca Trail itself was made by the Incas and was pretty cool, and I didn´t get blisters or have any awful muscle or joint pains which was great. But if you decide to do the Inca Trail, I would suggest going when you´re sure the rainy season is over. I wish I could remember what website I looked at that said April was the dry season- ha!