The Inca trail deserves a long post since the experience is quite epic, especially for myself whose longest hike ever was about 3 hours (cu Mircea si Ana prin muntile din preajma oraselului Boston). At any rate 4 days and 3 nights of trekking was quite a challenge, that i embraced dearly :) I'll try to keep it concise to the best of my abilities. So here we go:
Day 1
Beginning the Inca Trail, the infamous km 82. Still young and fearless :) The first day encountered us with immediate rain as we got off the bus at km 82. Wayki trek, the company that I purchased my Inka trail adventure, gave me a personal guide, so to speak, that's just the way it worked out. Ruben, my guide, turned out to be pretty awesome, a true Quechua, dark skinned and knowledgeable about the history of his people.
First stop, first ruins at the bottom of the valley. This is an Inkas agricultural city, apparently one of the many to supply corn, beans, potatoes etc to Machu Picchu. Hence the importance of the Inka trail, it was used as a main highway for transporting goods and food to Machu Picchu.
Day 2
First night we camped out in the middle of the mountains. It was cold at night and of course it rained every night, but nothing beats the sight of mountain peaks when they are the first thing you see in the morning after waking up. Given that I was with a different tour operator, my tent was different from everyone else - red :) The second day was supposed to be a trekking day only, with us climbing over the pass at 4.2km. The tour guides scared us a fair amount so we started the day uneasy.
Moryak on i v Peru Moryak :)
The climb was rather rough, with periodic rain and wetness trying to get in our way. In total we climbed about 5h to the Warminawuska pass, or the Dead Woman's pass (I still don't know why). Of course me and my fearless guide, Ruben, charged ahead, mostly due to the fact that the rest of our group was 18 people and organizing such a crowd takes a bit more time and patience. It's weird to constantly climb seemless never ending steps, the altitude takes its toll on you as well, so you constantly run out of breath, but somehow find the energy to climb on, weighed down by your backpack and the sight of more steps to come.
Finally up on the top of the pass, looking serious like a true trekker, with a look of a true Mohican :) 4.2km above the sea level, this is really the highest I've been in my life.
Having reached the top we took a break and took some pics of our group ascending all together. This pic is for you Lucas :) So much strength and courage in those last steps to the over pass. I think I can truly appreciate now the meaning of this word "over pass", it took a few thousand of steps indeed :)
The most inspirational moment of the day! This lady from New Zealand at 50+ climbed together with us, with her last few steps to the top being applauded by everyone present. When I asked to get a picture with her, she said that I gave her hope somewhere on the trail when in passing I lively (common to my general nature :) exclaimed that there's only a few steps left. It's people like that you realize that you're never too old to dream, hope and accomplish those dreams!
Group pic at the top of the pass. Gotta say that these were some of the most interesting, colorful and cheerful people I've met in my life. Props to the Argentinians that represented well their extremely friendly and happy country :) Or in Herman's words, "we smile a lot" :)
On top of the world.
Beginning our descent into the abyss (also called the valley), more steps down. You really have to be there to appreciate the strength of the Inkas who carried kg worth of provisions along the trail. After a few hundred massive steps down, you realize that your knees are shaking and it seems that any next step they you'll hear a cracking sound and be left there hopeless on the ground with a torn miniscus.
Descending into the abyss...
Finally we reached our camp at the bottom of the valley, surrounded by streams of glacier cold water. I'm keeping it concise here simply because although every evening dinner with the group was very fun and awesome I'm simply not a good enough writer to relay that in words, so we'll stick to pictures.
Day 3
Day 3 started pretty miserable with rain continuing through a good part of the morning and through the climb to over the second pass of the trip at 3.8km.
At the top of the second pass. You can see the glacier mountain tops in the background. The Inkas were very close to mother earth and the tradition is on each mountain top on a pass, one must leave a piece of food for mother earth, meditate for a couple of minutes about one's life and finally place a stone on top of a stone pyramid. It's interesting how the Inka traditions are tied so closely to mother earth.
Stumbling into the valley we're about to descend.
Mi Argentinian amigos descending on the never-ending steps with the fearless leader watching from above.
One of the multiple times the rain has caught us on the road. The porters always ran ahead and set up tents with food ready for us when we, slow-pokes, arrived :)
Of course how could you survive Peru without a Lama :) they're pretty big animals although very calm.
Herman and the Argentinians one step from the abyss, or "el inferno verde".
The porters virtually running down the steps to our last camp site, each carrying about 15-20kg and wearing just sandals on their feet. These guys are really amazing.
Myself on the "gringo killer" steps. These steps are so steep that walking down them puts tons of pressure on your knees as you carry yourself and your backpack. Instead the best thing is to run down them, if of course you've got the courage. On top of that, they were built in Inka times about 400+ years ago and not exactly rigid. But of course, my fearless leader charged ahead, so i really had no choice but to follow.
The rainbow over the sacred valley, this has got to be on of the most magical sights of the entire trip. My camera really couldn't capture the colors and beauty of the moment, but it surely lives in my memory.
Being mesmerized by the rainbow...
Me and my argentinian amigos at the site of Winawayna. This was an agricultural city of the Inkas as you could have guessed by the cultivating terraces that span almost to the bottom of the mountain. It's really amazing how they developed an entire irrigation system that channeled water from the top of the mountain to each terrace. water was sacred for the Inkas, bathing also symbolized cleansing of the soul, a meaning that sadly we lost through the years in our modern society.
Looking though 400+ year old windows. You really gotta see this place to appreciate its power.
Day 4 - Machu Picchu
On day 4, when we were finally supposed to reach the lost city of the Inkas, we woke up in our tents to a torrential downpour at 4am. After quickly eating breakfast, we headed to the gates to the rest of the trail leading through the Sun Gate to Machu Picchu. Of course Ruben, my guide ran ahead, and I had to follow. The rain kept going on and on, forecasting a pretty bad beginning of the day. Who'd want to see Machu Picchu in a downpour?
the trekking on the side of the Machu Picchu (which btw means in quechua "old mountain") continued for about 1h until we reached the infamous Puerta del Sol. Finally, the lost city revealed itself in the distance. We were the first ones of that day to reach the gates, which really made that moment special for me...wet but very special :)
Covered in mystical fog, this sight really was worth every effort on our 4 day trek. Unlike major touristic world sites, this one I can safely say is not overhyped.
Finally having conquered the 40 min descent from the Sun Gate, we stood at its feet. Still soaked and very melodramatic :)
Some more photos of our team.
The camera really can't capture the depth of this sight, the mountains are breathtaking, with the urubamba river snaking at their feet.
Different viewpoint of this amazing place. It is really massive, supposedly housing 700 people of Inka nobility and future leaders. This is really the historical importance of the city, it was a citadel for future leader, scientist and highly important people in the Inkan society.
As the day progressed the sun came out and some picturesque opportunities arose. Me and my South African friends, a father and a son. It's really inspiring when you can share such a travelling opportunity with family.
A picture worth posting on my wallpaper.
The last pic of the day before heading down to Aquas Calientes. Next day... Hyanupichhu
