The Inca Trail

The Inca Trail was the first thing we booked on this trip as only 500 people per day are allowed on the trek and 300 of these are made up of porters and guides - this makes it necessary to book up to 4 months in advance... Last year, when I booked it, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into if I'm honest... The word 'Trail' to me conjures up images of nice, flat, tree lined pathways that one can stroll through at a leisurely pace... What it really should be called is 'The Inca Hike Up and Down and Up and Further Up Frikking Steep Mountain Sides in Torrential Rain Trek' ... But I guess it just doesn't roll off the tongue in the same way.
The first day was relaxed enough - I recon I only reached a 6 out of 10 on the wheezing scale and we had a good time getting to know the others in our group - 2 Norwegian girls, 2 older Aussie couples, 2 younger Aussie girls, an American/British pair of honeymooners, an English couple and an English girl on her gap year. We thankfully all got on pretty well and I have to mention that I have absolutely loved meeting people in their early 60s who are willing to rough it on campsites and tough out treks that us 20somethings found testing... So in case you Aussies do decide to read this I'd like to thank you for A) The great company and B) Making me look forward to my golden years!
After the relative walk in the park that was the first day came the real test. The second day of the Inca Trail involves 5 hours of pure uphill trekking - it's enough to make the thought of just dropping of a cliffside a rather pleasant one... Having said that when we reached the highest peak at 4215m, aptly named 'Dead Woman's Pass', the levels of euphoria made the whole thing worth it - and the stunning mountain views certainly helped as well... Unfortunately most of my pictures are on my big camera so I don't have too many to upload at the moment... Even more unfortunately, on the 3rd and supposedly most beautiful day of the hike, it was raining absolute buckets. There's nothing quite like waking up at 5am to hike down what are effectively waterfalls. By 8am I was convinced I had frostbite and would lose my poor fingers and my feet were so wet that when I did finally take my hiking boots off they just looked like white prunes... Having said all that; i do think that one of the trek highlights was when the rain finally stopped after lunch and we walked through the again aptly named 'Cloud Forest'. Even though the clouds completely obstructed the apparently beautiful view, they did give an amazing sense of walking through the heavens in a very green and lush paradise - and we were all spread out enough that we were walking alone for awhile which made it a really lovely and personal experience. In the afternoon the clouds cleared up to reveal an absolutely stunning view of the river and the mountains with some photogenic llamas thrown in just for good measure... Again all the good photos are on my big camera so you'll have to rely on your imagination for this one until future uploads.
The final day was a 3am start and a short but painful 2 hour trek to the Sungate where we got our first overwhelming glimpse of Machu Picchu (this I do have photos of!). The feeling of reaching the Sungate was really indescribable; not only because of the 4 days trekking but also because Machu Picchu for me has always been the major point of interest in South America and its been somewhere that I've wanted to visit for the longest time... So it wasn't really a 4 day journey at all, it was really the culmination of 10 years of dreaming.

The rest of the 4th morning was spent lugging our exhausted muscles and bones around the amazing city of Machu Picchu... Our amazing guide, Rosi, without whom the trek would have seemed impossible, gave us a tour of the site and its major temples. It also happened to be her birthday that day so at lunch time we asked the restaurant to do something special and they brought her some cake and had the house band play her happy birthday which was a really nice end to the whole experience...

I'm not sure if I've sold it or not with my description, but I can honestly say that despite the pain it caused, the trail was one of the best things I've done on this trip and I can highly recommend it to anyone.

I also want to acknowledge our porters who I mentioned in passing. Most of these amazing men are farmers earning extra cash for their families between harvest time. They woke up earlier than us to prepare our breakfast and bring us tea and hot water, they carried up to 20 kilos on their backs and even though they stay behind to pack up our tents, managed to rush passed us during the hike each day to get to camp before us and have our tents and our food waiting for our arrivals. Then once we are tucked up they would clear everything away to get ready to do it all again in the morning. I'm really grateful that at the end of the 3rd day we had a 'tipping ceremony' where we each got to say a few words of thanks to them because they were truly amazing and I'm not sure they would know how impressive and appreciated what they do is if we didn't get a chance to tell them ourselves. During this ceremony we were also taught a Quechua word which I quite liked and I think is useful for travelling as you meet so many people - 'Tupananchiscama' is a Quechua word meaning 'until the next opportunity' whether that be in this life, or the next. When you travel you meet so many people from so many places and you never know if or when you'll meet them again so I think I'm going to adopt that word into my every day vocabulary to replace less optimistic and less flexible 'goodbye'.

Key info: Tour booked through G Adventures. One day before the Inca trail was spent visiting sites near Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley including a Planeterra weaving project where we learned about the whole weaving process, from spinning and dying alpaca/llama/sheep wool to making the final products.

Cusco

The beautiful city of Cusco is the historic capital of the Inca Empire. Built between the most fertile valleys in the Andes, the area was sacred to the Incas whose lives revolved around nature and agriculture. It was also the centre of the Spanish colonisation which is evident by the number of churches which have been built on the sites of Inca temples which were destroyed and replaced. It is this sad fact of history that gives Cusco its interesting and beautiful hybrid architecture - colonial churches and houses built on foundations of incredibly sturdy Inca walls. There is something sad about experiencing Semana Santa in a place where you know that Spanish culture and religion was imposed by force, but we are assured by the locals that most South Americans practice a hybrid of religions somewhere between Catholicism and the ancient Inca religion which worships nature and the Pachamama (mother earth). Quirky traditions such as placing figures of bulls on your house for luck (apparently they were probably originally llamas before they were Spanishised!) or hanging up bloody scary voodoo dolls of people you dislike are still prominent and visible and the indigenous languages such as Quechua are still spoken by many descendants of the Inkas, but sadly not much is known about the ceremonies that may have taken place in the incredible ruins that surround the city.
Unlike the Spanish, the Incas did not build their impressive structures with the use of slavery. Temples were built collectively by communities and as they did not use currency, the Inca way of paying taxes was through manual labour - the type of 'tax' that was paid depended on the skills of the person in question. Women cooked and weaved, children would pick flowers for use as dyes, men would work in agriculture or construction and the people would work for the benefit of the whole community. Cusco was an important centre for trade connecting trails from the mountains and the jungles, the Inca people would meet in what is now the main Plaza de Armas and trade goods from different areas of the Andes. Silver and gold were used purely for decorative purposes and as offerings to the gods rather than as currency.
As a modern city it's economy is driven by tourism and as well as its historic beauty there are plenty of trendy bars, cafes, restaurants and nightclubs which made it a nice spot for Cata and I to rest our bones for a few days. We stayed in the area of San Blas which has a lovely Saturday market and plenty of nice places to shop, eat and catch some live music. One of the days was spent exploring the surrounding areas on horse back where we had the luck to see an amazing double rainbow across the mountains. The walk down from the statue of Christ that overlooks the city was also worthwhile with beautiful panoramic views of the city (and really slippery cobblestones).

On a random note, if I see another knitted alpaca jumper/sock/hat/glove/leg warmer I might just have to set fire to it... Just letting you know so that if I do get arrested you know why.

Now we are heading for a four day hike of the Inca Trail which should be interesting considering that walking up a flight of stairs feels like running a marathon at this altitude! Tomorrow is our first (and apparently easiest) 6 hour trek... Wish me luck!


Key info, Cuzco
How we got here: 15ish? hour night bus from La Paz

Where we stayed: Hotel name tbc in the lovely San Blas area. The hotel was cheaper than most others we saw for a nice, basic ensuite twin room and great location.

Best breakfast EVER: Jack's cafe in San Blas, serving the crispiest bacon and the fluffier pancakes. Mmmm... English breakfast at Paddys Irish bar on the main square was also epic (don't judge me, I've been away for 2 months and sometimes you just NEED an English brekkie!!!)

Best sandwiches ever: Juanitos in San Blas, just down the road from 7 angelitos... I recommend your was it down with an amazing Inka Cola which to those Llanis out there reading this tastes just like Vimto (specifically Gibraltarian Vimto not the crap you get in England!)

Live music: Revisiting my teenage angst with Radiohead cover band at 7 angelitos bar was a highlight. Nightly live music from 9.30pm... And when that was too rammed km0 5 minutes away also has nightly live music and more of a chilled out vibe.