Category Archives: Peru

Beauty in the Mountains

23 Saturday Jun 2012

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This was by far the most beautiful day on the trail.  We had finally made it far enough into the mountains that we were surrounded by rain forest.

If you look closely at the picture, you will notice that there is a drop off on one side of the trail.  There are many parts of the trail that are actually a wall built up along side the mountain and you are basically walking on the top of it!  I kept thinking, how in the world did they build this??  And the truth is, they don’t know.  They do not know how long it took for them to complete the trail.  Like most ancient wonders, it probably took centuries to complete.

By this day, I think we were all pretty tired and I noticed there wasn’t as much socializing on the trail as there had been the first two days.  Most of us walked alone.  Sometimes there was no one within sight of me for very long stretches of time and I took the opportunity to stop and take pictures of the landscape.

I used this time to really try to relax and appreciate my pending accomplishment.  There was a lot of reflection that went on for me at this point in the trek and it is by far my most memorable.

We seemed to happen upon an increased number of ruins.  It was amazing to me how you could just look up at a mountain across the way and see old farming terraces or ancient structures.  Our guide told us that the Incas traveled all through these mountains and a lot of the ruins are still yet to be found.  Crazy, right?

It rained off and on a lot (a plastic rain poncho is a must!), but knowing that we were so close to our final night of camping, it didn’t dampen (ha!) our mood one bit!  Because the trail was mostly stones at this point, we had to watch our step because it could get slippery.  Especially when going through the Inca Trail Tunnel.

That night, we played lots of card games in our food tent, attempted (but never finished) to convert Cee Lo’s “F*** You” into a thank you song for our guide and porters and pretty much just enjoyed having survived the trail.  All we had left was to wake up at the most ridiculous hour the next morning to attempt to beat everyone else the couple of miles to the Sun Gate and then on to Machu Picchu!

The HIGH Point of the Inca Trail

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Upon waking after a less than stellar night’s rest (there was a very loud river right next to our camp site), I realized every single muscle in my body was aching.  Muscles that I didn’t even know I had been using on the first day of the trek were screaming at me.  The crazy thing though?  It never crossed my mind that this would hinder me in what needed to be accomplished today.  Here we were, in the middle of the Andes Mountains and it would take just as much effort to go backwards as it would to go forwards at this point.  So, no matter how hard it got at times…and believe me, Day Two is the KILLER…I never once thought I wouldn’t make it. 

It’s worth reposting this picture as a reminder!

This was the day we forged towards that peak far (really far!) in the distance from our campsite.  I should mention that they call it Dead Woman’s Pass.  A very telling name indeed!  This is the day that any hint of ego I had left went right out the window.  On the first day, you were keeping tally of what place in line you arrived back at camp.  You didn’t want to let people pass you on the trail.  You tried to keep up with people you shouldn’t have just to prove you could.  Really silly stuff like that.  Yeah…that second day, all focus was on trying not to let your heart explode.  My legs were jell-o.  If you ever decide to hike the Inca Trail, I beg of you: Do NOT turn down the opportunity to rent walking poles.  You notice I said poles = plural.  They will let you rent only one if you want.  RENT TWO.  They were my saving grace that day! 

The biggest change today was that just an hour or so into the day, we came to the last water and candy stop.  There were no more villagers beyond this point.  It was just you and the trail.  And yes, we totally let ourselves get ripped off by buying lots of overpriced candy bars because we knew it was our last chance.  What can ya do?

Dead Woman’s Pass is the highest point you reach on the classic Inca Trail trek and will take you to almost 14,000 feet.  Remember those steps I was mentioning in my post about day one?  There were lots more of those.  I was literally using my walking poles to hoist myself up onto each step.  The majority of the hike is uphill until you reach the top of the pass.  There are not many pictures of this part of the trail because, well in all honesty, my focus was on survival!

We were high enough to see snow!

Sometimes you would start to go downhill only to look up and see that you would only have to hike back up to the altitude you already were!  We were told the Inca Trail was designed like this on purpose to intimidate their enemy.  Well played ancient Incas…well played, indeed.

This is was the day I felt that you bonded the most with the others on the trail.  Believe me, there was a lot of stopping you catch your breath and often when you saw someone already doing just that, it gave you the perfect excuse to “stop and chat”.  There was one man from Denmark who must have been at least 70 years old and he was practically dancing up the mountain!  He would always stop and chat it up with you, sing you a song, give you a high five or maybe just give you some encouragement as he passed by.  Thankfully, his energy was contagious and you found yourself back on the move shortly after your run in with him.

Sweet Victory!

The best part of the day?  Upon finally reaching to top of Dead Woman’s Pass, everyone who has already made it up is killing time and cheering on each and every person as they make it to the top!  I had never spoken to a word to half the people up there and they were cheering me on like I had just brought home the gold!  And next thing you knew, you found yourself cheering along with everyone for the people that arrived after you.  It was such an exhilarating feeling!

The obligatory group photo at the top

Now, don’t let those cold weather clothes fool you.  I got a sunburn like nobodies business up there!  Because you don’t feel hot, it was easy to forget to keep reapplying your sun screen as the day went on.  Big mistake.  So, there is my public service announcement for the day: WEAR SUN SCREEN!

However, once our little rest was over, it was time to move on.  This time, downhill.  You would think that would be a welcome turn of events.  Not so much.  Our legs were so tired that downhill almost seemed harder than uphill at times.  Did I mention that there are many portions of the trail that are actually steps?  Yeah…not fun going down a million steps after having just climbed uphill for several hours.

Needless to say, we arrived back at camp earlier than the previous day and were extremely happy for the added rest time.  We spent our evening trying to make it sound like we were having a whole lot more fun than the group camping next to us (which included the Denmark guy) that were easily 30 years or more older than us…but truth be told, we threw in the towel long before they went to bed.  It’s a crazy world up there in those mountains!

Eight Down, Eighteen To Go!

16 Saturday Jun 2012

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In March of 2011, one of my closest friends climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.  I saw him through all his prep, both physically AND mentally.  I logged more hours in REI with him than I thought humanly possible.  I helped him pack and repack and then pack just one more time his ginormous backpack.  And when he hopped on that plane bound for Tanzania, I knew I had to somehow accomplish an amazing feat of my own.

To be honest, Kili seemed a little much for me and while the Himalayas of Nepal definitely caught my eye, I ultimately decided I would trek 26 miles of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.  I had always wanted to visit the mystical Inca site so this seemed like the coolest, most unique way to do it…and the bragging rights couldn’t hurt, right?

The trek would take three days.  We would be camping along the trail at night and walking the majority of the day.  One thing that saved all our butts is that we had porters that carried our camping equipment and had excellent meals waiting for us after our long hikes.  They would be last to leave the camp in the morning, then run (RUN!) past us on the trail and already have our camp set up again by the time we arrived.  Nothing short of amazing!  While we usually tried to say a quick “Hello, friend” as they zoomed by, nothing truly seemed adequate to thank them for their part in our success.

Day One Begins…

I was really quite nervous upon waking the first day in my tiny hotel room in Ollantaytambo.  Up to this point my trip had been spent meeting my fellow travelers, roaming though markets and museums in Cuzco, seeing ancient Inca ruins by comfortable bus…basically being tourist.  Today though, today I would become a trekker.  I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make the climb.  The vain side of me was worried I would be the last one back to camp at the end of each day.  The shy side of me was worried I would be sitting in my tent all by myself for hours since I was the only person that did not have to share one with another group member.

Once we were all gathered in the courtyard of our hotel and handing our bags over to our guide for storage, all of these fears disappeared.  Before I knew it, we were all swept up in the excitement of hitting the trail and we never looked back.

The starting point is really quite unassuming.  There is a little booth where everyone’s passport and trail permits are checked and you have the option of stamping your passport with an Inca Trail Kilometer 82 stamp.  You know I had to do it!

We set off and immediately realized that this part of the trail was not at all remote.  Yes, we were in the middle of the Andes Mountains, but we were right off the Sacred Valley where many Peruvians still live.  As a matter of fact, they still live on the Inca Trail!  And they are kind enough to sell you bottled water and candy as you go.  Word to the wise:  The price increases the farther along the trial you go, so buy early!  We also found ourselves passing by families with their donkeys or lamas hauling goods home.  This was the part of the trail that you had to beware of “Inca Coffee”…aka Lama poo!

The ascent was fairly gradual at this point and we stopped here and there for our guide to fill us in on some knowledge of the trail, the vegetation or some ruins.  The group stayed together during the hike and we really got a chance to get to know each other.  I was the only American in the group which consisted of a guy from Canada, two girls from Denmark, two ladies and a guy from Australia and two pairs from the UK.  As we interacted with other groups on the trail (you become fast friends with everyone on a journey like this!), I found that being the only American was a common theme.  I can only remember about 3 other Americans the entire time.  This was unexpected and in another post I’ll get into the conclusions I have derived in regards to this.

We stopped at a lovely little farm for lunch and I couldn’t stop chasing the piglets around trying to get pictures of them.

After a great filling meal, we set off again and encountered more challenging parts of the trail.  Most of the trail is actually flat stones that you have to carefully navigate and often times they create steps you must climb.  This was by far the most difficult thing about trekking the Inca Trail.  Lots of steps.  Also, I had never been in really high altitudes before so I found it very surprising how quickly my heart rate picked up and I found myself out of breath.

We trekked around eight miles that first day.  We were tired, but felt exhilarated.  The first day was done and we had all made it!  It was at this point that our guide pointed to a peak far, far in the distance and told us we would be trekking to that the next day…and then another couple of miles past.  I thought he was joking.

He wasn’t.

You see it in the middle of the picture.  Way, WAY out there?  Yeah, that was my reaction too.

My fellow trekkers and I were served another delicious meal and afterwards, a local woman brought over a bucket of beers for us to buy!  So there we were, in the Andes Mountains, a lightless night upon us, drinking Peruvian beer.  Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself!

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