Inka Trail Trek
The next part of our journey started the next morning at 4:45 AM (this will be a trend early starts…) where we met our group in the lobby and after team team/bread and jam it was off in a van to the Lima airport…
On the flight to Cusco we had these gorgeous views snow and cloud capped mountains..we are now getting excited..
We arrived at the Cusco airport and loaded up into another van (do you see a trend here) and headed to…
the Prisma Hotel in Cusco.
We enter the hotel and everything is ready for us. We climb some stairs from the lobby to a landing area with a long table.
Here we have tea (also will be a trend on this trip) and we get a light briefing on what to come for the day.
After this briefing we go to our rooms. This is the first time we notice that we are now at altitude, as we breath hard going up the steep stairs with our packs to our room.
After a short time to unpack a few things we meet our guide “Jesus” (I told you it would make sense later) in the lobby and we load the van for a short tour of the city and lunch. First we go to Mercado Central de San Pedro – which is the central market where you can get just about anything. Take a look…
Sara tasting Frog Soup. We let Jesus finish the rest!
Next is Cusco’s main square The Plaza de Armas. The square is brimming with activity since this is a beautiful day. We get our picture taken in front of the fountain with the Inka King atop it.
By now we were all getting hungry (having only tasted fish/frog soup all morning) so we walked off the square to the ima sumaq restaurant which serves Peruvian food. We order food and then it is time to make our very own Pisco Sours. The waiter lined up the ingredients in shot glasses in front of us and a metal shaker.
There are four ingredients in a Pisco Sour – 1) Pisco, 2) Egg Whites, 3) Lime Juice, 4) Sugar Water. These ingredients are added to the shaker with ice and it is shaken until I guess you can’t hold onto it anymore (burrrrr cold).
One dab of bitters (dark dot) is added to the final product (on right) and you have a fresh, tart, strong drink which is amazing. We also ordered a Checha Morada which is a purple non-alcoholic fruity drink made corn which gives it it’s color.
After lunch we headed back to the hotel because it was time to start “repacking” our backpacks into the stuff we want to carry in our day packs and duffle bags our porters would be carrying on our trek.
The next morning we hauled our packs and duffle bags downstairs and after a light continental breakfast we boarded a GAdventures bus to start our day bus tour on the way to Ollantaytambo.
Our first stop was a lookout high above Cusco where we could see the whole city…
Here our guide told us about how this city was founded by the Inka King to rule his empire and then later was conquered by the Spanish and Christos Blanco (The White Christ) was added to this high place above the city…
After marveling at this great view of the city is was off in the bus to our next stop a village where weaving has been done the traditional way for centuries…we exited the bus and were greeted by a female member of the village with a hug…
Jesus and and this woman told us this history of their village and something about the traditional clothing that they wear. Its all in the hat. If the brim is up, the woman is single; brim down the woman is married. The statue woman is single. Its a much beter system than how we do it 🙂
Next we moved over and were first taught about the different types of things that these woman weave and the subject they weave into their clothing…The pattern that Jesus is holding up for instance is the basic pattern that all women learn first and these patterns prepare them for all other patterns. This pattern is the hardest to learn because it is the first one that they learn.
Inside the building Sara got a chance to try out waving on one of their looms. It takes about a day to setup all of those different colors of string and the strings of the loom to get started.
Then you slide the color you are working on across the stings of color and press it tight. Just passing it through all of the strings from side to side in the correct pattern is quite a feat…
We learned about the patterns and the weaving but where did all of the colorful string come from… well walking up this corridor lead to where this happens and a different kind of weaving…
In this upper area is where this village keeps their source of string the llama and alpaca…
A villager showed us how the wool of these animals is cleaned and dyed to be used for weaving clothes, etc. They create amazing colors with natural dyes. The brown alpaca that you see is the softest you can touch…
And here are the cute creatures that it comes from mother and a baby…
The women often have to take their weaving on the road to be nearer to the farm fields where the men are working or when traveling up into the mountains, so this form of weaving works better. One end is attached to the post and the other to the tan belt around their back and then it is essentially the same as the loom.
Leaving the village we traveled through the sacred valley…
To a large Inka site called Pisaq…
Pisaq is a huge site which had both agricultural and religious/burial significance. Here you can see the terraces which as you move up the mountain different levels have different micro climates that could sustain different crops…
The building with stone that they did on the side of these mountains is amazing, however you can see on the right places where these walls now need supports from the rain and wind…
From this shot with people and terraces you can see how large these terraces are on the back side of the site. These steps between the terraces lead to this next area….
where on the side of the mountain these holes are graves were high officials and members of society were buried often with their belongings. Most of these graves were looted after this site was discovered even though they are in a hard place to get to…
In these higher altitude environments flowers still flourish often very small and beautiful as you can see here. Many more of these to come as we begin hiking….
It was now time to eat and we drove to the Parwa Restaurante which is another business that Gadventures helped start and supports with their travel business.
We sat in the open dining room on a long table with whole trekking group….
The villagers in this area cooked and served us some great food check it out below….
Our meal started with an appetizer of … potatoes, guac, potato chip, etc.
Next we have a baked stuffed pepper, round potatoes and some great couscous..
For desert was this cherry and chocolate hot compote which was delicious…
All fueled up it was now time for a long drive to the Inka site Ollantaytambo,
We walked through the entrance and were again welcomed by a huge terrace..
We started our climb up the the large steps on the left side of the terraces and realized what were were in for on our hike.. and this was a good warm-up with us already feeling the altitude.
Looking back from the top of the terraces we could see two things: The city and across two other inka sites on the side of the mountain.
On the right and the left are storehouses where the people in the village below would store their grain etc. Why up on the mountain? The wind and cool temps preserved their food longer, but man what a walk to get food..
Can you see the face in the middle.. yes this is said to be naturally occurring..
On the top of the terrace is the Temple of the Sun.. This temple was never finished because of the invasion of the Spanish, but we can see the remains…
The easy way to tell when you entering a sacred place is to look at the entrances and the stonework.. There are double entrances like the one below when entering the Temple of the Sun…
Also the stonework does not have any mortar between the stones (above and below). Cutting the stones this perfect and putting them into place is a truly amazing feat..It would have been a marvel to see completed..
The site is huge so we explored going down as many steps as we sent up 🙂
It was a great introduction to the types of site and the temperatures we were going to experience on our trek…
We stayed the night at the Inka Paradise in Ollantaytambo a short walk from the city. After a great pizza dinner at a local place it was off to bed because tomorrow we hike..
Inka Trail Day 1
The beds at Inka Paradise were comfortable, the rooms clean and upgraded however the showers for us were a mere trickle. We awoke on Day 6 of our journey about 6 AM and double checked our gear. At 7 AM we had some eggs/bread in the dining area with the rest of the group. Then we gathered up our gear, packed up the bus for the ride to hike start.
It was about a 45 min bus ride to the hike start. The views out the bus windows were amazing. Here we can see the snow capped just below the clouds in the distance, with small villages in the foothills.
At the trailhead it was all business unloading the bus, the porters getting their huge packs loaded with our secondary bags and all of supplies for camping. We grabbed our day packs and our hiking poles (these are essential for this trail). After a bathroom break were were off hiking to the trailhead.
Here is the full hiking group minus our two guides at the trail head. We were all so excited to get going and the day was beautifully sunny and warm. The railroad tracks directly in front of us are for the train that takes people directly to Machu Picchu who do not do the trek (we will be taking this train back).
The Inka trail is highly regulated and these checkpoints make sure permitted people are on the trail. A maximum of 500 people are allowed on the trail each day, of which only 200 are trekkers, the rest being guides and porters. Before passing our guide had to show our permits and we each had to show our passports to prove we were on the list. Just a formality since GAdventures had taken care of it all but it takes time with all of the hikers from many groups.
Next we walked across the bridge to start the trail..
The river crosses the Urubamba River which runs from where we are now all the way to Machu Picchu and is what the train follows all the way there. We don’t realize right now how much hiking we have to go 🙂 ….
The trail doesn’t waste time going up as we leave the river and get going on the hike..here you can see Sara easing into the hike..
Our porters (purple backpacks) rushed ahead of us up the trail. Some go ahead to setup for our lunch and other go ahead to our camping site for the night to get it started. The amount they carry is regulated and Gadventures gives them good gear to carry the load (more on this at lunch).
Our first break of the day was mid morning after our first steep set of climbs. It was getting hot out so it was nice to sit in the shade for a break. Everyone broke out our snacks (distributed in the morning) to fuel up for the rest of the morning.
Along the trail cactus was growing in the warm temperatures and also this white fungus growing on the outside. Jesus took this white fungus in the palm of his hand, swished it around and it turned a purple color.
This purple color was marked on each of our faces as you can see on Sara and Thomas in the background. Our group also needed a name so we decided on “Sexy LLamas” and sexy LLamas need to have face paint :).
Our second guide was nicknamed Cheecha. Here he was describing the Inka site LLaqtapata behind him. We stop at each Inka site to learn about its history, use and when it was last used.
LLaqtapata was a gathering site being so close to the river. At this point we at about 8,600 feet elevation. You can see the large flat area’s for people to gather below the steps. There is also large storage area’s on the top of the steps for goods to be stored. We did not hike down to this site but continued up the trail.
This porter was a welcome site as his presence indicated to us that the camp was near. He was one of many amazing porters who made this adventure so wonderful.
This grassy area was just off the trail and near the river. The porters had set this all up while we were hiking. On the far right is a small tent with a portable toilet and in the distance our tent to eat lunch.
We dropped our packs and poles on the tarp and were immediately given something to drink and we were hungry.
Bowls of water and soap were laid out for us to wash our hands outside the eating tent. What a luxury…
After cleaning up it was time to site down “close” together and eat like a big happy family….
For lunch it was trout with potato and beans. All of our meals you will notice are light and nutritious, so we can eat and still continue to hike…
This picture I like to call Sara porter. When we were relaxing after that great lunch Sara got the idea that she wanted to feel what it was like to carry one of the big porters packs. Here you can see her after Jesus helped her get it on her back. She said it was heavy but road really well for how big it is..she is such a stud…
After lunch is was more hiking up in elevation until we reached our first camping site about 3:30 – 4 in the afternoon. We were hoping to make it further today however the camp sites ahead of us were already taken. You can see us here resting with our packs and poles resting while our camp was being setup. Just above were we were sitting was what appeared to be a locals house and we could see chickens and dogs around..(this will be important later).
Here is Sara in our tent for the night after we had a chance to get our sleeping mats, sleeping bags and gear setup. They are very nice tents with nice rain flies.
Here is her view our of the tent..not too shabby. We both were able to wash up and were hungry for dinner…
Dinner was peas,cauliflower,carrot, and chicken with rice and potatoes. If you haven’t noticed the trend most meals in Peru come with some sort of potato (they have thousands) and rice. It sure hit the spot after a day of hiking.
After dinner we all gathered up and Jesus had each member of the crew introduce themselves. Most of them speak the native “Quechua” language so he translated for them. We also introduced ourselves to them which was fun. Our porters varied in age from about 21 to 63 year old.
Here is the group at the end of the first day..16 hikers, 19 porters and 2 cooks. Great group of people from many countries: Germany, UK, Canada, USA (Colorado, California, Kentucky), Australia. Great first day now time to get some rest for our next very long day of hiking.
Inka Trail Day 2
Let me start out day two of our hike with the words ” Rooster at 3:40 AM 🙂 ” Yes remember that locals house that was very close to our campsite, well the rooster seemed to have the need to make himself known early today. Our wake up call was set for 5 AM so we rested until then and then were greeted by a porter with hot coca leaf tea (helps with the altitude).
This day is going to be filled with changing climates and mountain passes…
After our tea came hot water to wash our faces and hands and start the waking process…awesome.
Next it was time to pack up and carry our day packs with us to breakfast. Breakfast was in our normal eating tent and we learned something new in the cool morning… it is good to be at the back of the tent if you want to be warm. Breakfast was oatmeal to start and then thin pancakes. Some fuel to get the body going and as always as much tea as we care to drink..
Breakfast was porridge for starters
and pancakes, good fuel for the day ahead…
After breakfast we headed up the trail past the trail to Wayllabamba at about 9.800 feet and kept hiking up, the temp was good and the it was dry..
After a short while the trail started to turn to less dirt and more stone steps and trail…
We started weaving our way through very dense forest at times where there was vegetation growing on everything..
Here we are at one of our rest breaks as we were heading up the trail..we all tried to keep to one side of the trail so other teams and porters could pass…
The views when were were out in the open were breathtaking with the mountains and the clouds dancing together..
We stopped in a clearing for a rest stop for our last push to our first mountain pass summit of the day, here there was water and sort of toilets
We had some company when a herd of sheep decided to cruise by in the clearing..
It was a very pretty stop and we could see looking up where we had to go and the weather that was coming..
Next it was back to hiking and the trail simply started to go way upward.
The summit of Warmiwanusca at 13,780 feet was a great accomplishment so Jesus was giving everyone high fives when they finished…
Watch – video of summiting Warmiwanusca
After a short rest the weather started to change and light rain started to fall so we changed into our rain gear for the hike to the next summit called Pacaymayo at 11,808 feet..
As we hiked and went higher the rain got heavier and we added our rain ponchos and pants… below is Sara at the summit..
We thought it took work and determination to get to this second summit but going down the stone trail and steps in the rain was lots of fun too..
There were some really tight spots where we actually went through the rocks..amazing
We climbed down to a camping/eating area now to have our lunch. It was great to get some fresh water/ a toilet and some lunch. It was cold only because we were all so wet and were now not exerting ourselves so much. Luckily the porters were always on the spot with a place to sit and eat and hot tea to hydrate..
You can see that waterfall behind out eating area it was site to see as we were hiking down..
After lunch here is the trail we started .. as you can see it didn’t spare time going up :)…you can see our lunch spot in the distance..
Next up the trail is the Inka site called Runkuraqay. This site was used as a relay station for messages and messengers traveling the Inka trail. It has a circular center with rooms around the outside. when we arrived it was socked in with fog and light constant rain..
Entering from the trail into the Inka site..
and then walking into one of the rooms for Jesus to give us the history of this place… as you can see the weather had changed..
We headed up the trail and it had already been a very long day when we reached out last Inka site for the day called Sayaqmarca at 8,692 feet. Most of the group had enough steps for the day (almost me too 😉 ) but we climbed them with Jesus, Frank and Amanda. Our favorite inca site so far.
The views from this site were amazing. It was a religious site and was a marvel how it used an aqueduct system to bring water to the whole complex here on the top and edge of this mountain.
Here a couple more views as we looked out over the valley below…
We could see our campsite from here but we still had some hiking to get there. You can see it in that clearing on the right..
We now had to downclimb the steps and climb up to the campsite.. here is a small Inka site on the way over near a stream..
Then across some wooden bridges..
To our campsite for the night.
I haven’t mentioned the toilets yet, but the ones offered are the ones on the floor, squat type, where you need good balance :). Last time we saw these were in Thailand. Lets just say that No one does plumbing better than the USA.
We stowed our gear in the tent and this was the view from the campsite into the mountains as the sun was setting…
That night at dinner Jesus said we had to change our group name from Sexy llama’s to Speedy Llama’s because of how fast we hiked today..everyone staying together.. Dinner was noodles with chicken and veggies. It hit the spot and we turned in early very tired…
Inka Trail Day 3
Our third day hiking started at 5:45 AM (late 🙂 with tea and hot water. Day three there is only one summit and then we start heading down to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu, we were all excited. We got up, got our gear ready and were ready for breakfast
Off in the distance behind Sara were some snow capped mountains such a pretty view in the cool of the morning.
Breakfast was quiche with a smile – I mean the plate had a smile – I mean real men don’t each quiche 🙂
And then we headed off on the Inka trail to Phuyupatamarca our next peak at 11,930 feet.
The hiking went well for the speedy llama’s and in no time we were at the Phuyupatamarca peak.
This gave us time to fuel up, use the bathroom and get some great pics of the surrounding 360 degree view from this high point.
There is also an Inka site with the same name just up the trail.
As always we were able to visit it up the trail as we hiked forward like the porters above. Here is Chincha and I posing for the camera below the steps to this site…
The inka place Winayhuayna was the next on the trail…
After this site we started to go down in elevation, it started to get warmer and the climate became more tropical rain forest. The flowers along the trail were small but amazing…here are some examples
A golden slipper….
We stopped for lunch at an area used for camping . Here you can see the porters customary practice of clapping for us as we hiked in. They were so cool..man they worked harder than us.
We got settled and the cook had prepared an amazing lunch with some many dishes to choose from, here you can see it all on my plate…
We had a newlywed couple hiking with us so the cook baked a heart shaped cake for them, it was amazing for him to do this on the trail….and very good to eat 🙂
After lunch we gathered with the porters and presented them with our gratitude tips. Frank on the far left gave the speech for the group telling them how much we appreciated them and their hard work while Jesus translated…
After lunch we loaded on our packs for our push to Maccu Picchu. We had to go through one more checkpoint….
And then we were on our way hiking hard trail and rock steps again..
This steep stairway on the trail is known as Gringo killer. I wonder why?
And like this from the top of the steps, Jesus is way down there on the bottom.
I took some video just so you could experience the steps for yourself…
Our last break came at a sandy area on the side of the trail where Jesus immortalized the Sexy Llama’s and we were happy to pose for the camera
The last stretch from this rest point was very steep, here is Sara finishing up the climb to the Sun Gate.
When you climb on top it is the first view you get of Machu Picchu, you can see it to the right behind us. Just below us you can see the winding road that the buses take shuttling people up from Aqua Caliente below by the river. Unless you hike it is the only way to get to the site.
Here is a closer shot of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate. As you can see it is a huge side with large terraces on both sides of the mountain.
Our hike wasn’t over yet so we said good by to the sun gate…
and continued down the trail toward Machu Picchu…
the closer we got to the site the more magnificent the views became along the trail, just looking off to the right…
This is the speedy llama’s staying together as we neared the site
We were in luck because we neared Machu Picchu just before 5PM when it closed so as we finished our hike…
Machu Picchu was the Speedy Llama’s to gaze upon in all of its splendor…
We wanted to stay and explore but we had to head down the mountain… so it was down the trail again…
And out the entrance to the waiting buses…we will be back tomorrow to check it out.
That night we stayed in Aqua Caliente at the Hotel Pachakuteq. It was a comfortable place with decent beds and warm showers.
Since Aqua Caliente is situated on the side of the mountain the streets are way hilly so we had fun waddling downhill to dinner at the APU Salkantay restaurant.
Our cook from the trek was there to prepare our dinner – trail style. We were all hungry and thirsty so the meal and drinks were going down easy…
Now on to the next post for our time at Machu Picchu and our journey home…
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