Day 1 – Cusco to Wayllabamba (12km)
The doorbell at our hostel rang for us at 5.10 instead of 5.20 so we frantically through everything out of our rooms and got on our bus taking us to Kilometer 82. 2 hours later we hopped off the bus in Ollantaytambo for a quick breakfast. I got fleeced buying some shoelaces but hey we needed to tie our sleeping bags and mats on somehow.
At Kilometer 82 we were handed out our snacks for the day by the porters and had nervous feelings that we needed a porter to carry some of our gear. Most people had personel porters, bar 2 extreme hikers who had their full rucksacks, so we were the only ones carrying too much weight. Onwards through the entrance gates at Kilometer 82 we had our passports stamped with the Inca Trail stamp and started the journey.
We took in 2 ruins on day 1; Inca hill-fort of Huillca Raccay and the Inca ruins of Llactapata. Stopped for lunch which included some awesome avocado salad and super nutritious quinoa soup.
That night we camped in the small village of Wayllabamba. Our guides introduced to all of our 22 porters who we now know to be the strongest men on the planet. One of these guys was 63!
Day 2 – Wayllabamba to Pacamayo (12km)
Woken by our guide Gilbert wrapping on our tent with 2 porters serving cups of tea to help us wake up. We had heard too many times from other travellers that day 2 is the hardest part of the whole trek. Yep. However myself and Lisa eventually found our pace, if a rather ridiculously slow one, talking baby steps here. The only way to enjoy ourselves was to keep a steady pace without your heart exploding out of your chest. The urge to cry seeing endless giant sized steps was always knocked on the head when you keep being passed out by 63 year old porters carrying 20kg of gas tanks and kitchen stoves and they are running!
Without stopping for lunch, or oxygen masks we reached the top of Abra de Huarmihuañusca or Dead Woman’s Pass (4,200m
) in good time. The decent from the pass was steep so we plodded down carefully for about 2 hours to the campsite in Pacamayo (3,600m). For a race so small in size I really don´t understand the size of their steps, thankfully we bought wooden sticks on day 1 knowing my tendency to trip on level tarmac.
With no cloud cover in the campsite that night myself and Ciaran froze with our pathetic compact (what we thought were the bee´s knee´s) sleeping bags.
Day 3 – Pacamayo to Wiñay Wayna (15km
Thawed out in the sun walking up to the ruins of Runkuracay. The rest of the day was spent stopping off at more fantastic ruins; Sayacmarca and Phuyupatamarca, without any great effort to reach them. The 2 hour descent down to the campsite at Winay Wayna however tested our jelly legs a little more than we needed. Our other guide Victor preferred the mountain goat technique of jumping down 5 steps at time, loolaa.
Day 4 – Wiñay Wayna to Machu Picchu (5km)
Up at 3.45am for a quick breakfast to get to Machu Picchu before sunrise. The thin path up towards the Sun Gate turned in the most horrific set of steps I´d seen on the trip yet. 50 of the thigh burning feckers ledup to the final pass at Intipunku or Sun Gate. “Suddenly the whole of Machu Picchu is spread out before you in all its glory – a fantastic sight for all.” Foggy as hell, couldn´t see a thing. It didn´t matter though, at the end of 3 and bit days of full on hiking we were delirious to finally be there. I just wish we spent a night in the local town of Aguas Calientes so we could go back up and enjoy it a bit more for 1 more day. I think I´ll be back though.
Unorganised photos here!
In our group:
Rachel, Sean, Ciaran, Andy, Nina, Ashley, me, Robert, Lisa, Mike, Tony, Kiomi, Mai, Gabriella, Mo and Johanna. Thanks to our fab guides Victor and Gilbert.
1 Comment
January 28, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Good story of your journey through Inca Trail.