Tina in South America: Machu Picchu

So I realized my Machu Picchu posts are going to take a couple entries. I want to finish them so my blog is complete but it might take a couple days.... So, without further ado, part one:

On Thursday morning we were up at 5:15am. We jumped into the shower but unfortunately the water was freezing! Rough way (but not unexpected) to begin! We were ready to go and met up with our guide, Percy, at 6:30am sharp at the entrance to the hostel. The first part of the journey was a trip in what was basically a 12-passenger van with no heat (brrrrr!). We picked up our porters (there would be 5 porters for the four of us!) as well as a Spanish-speaking Dad and his 16 yr old son who would be sleeping and eating with us but hiking with a separate Spanish-speaking guide. The journey was absolutely gorgeous with mountains on every side and mist everywhere. I was SO excited to actually be starting!! We made a short stop in a nearby town called Urubamba for breakfast where we also enjoyed hot coca tea (helps vastly with altitude!!). Then we continued for another 1hr to “kilometer 82” which is the traditional starting point for the 4-day classic Inca Trail. We unloaded and got ready to go along with many other people who were also gearing up to start.

The "official" starting moment picture! Clean, dry, and feeling ready to go!

We were each carrying a backpack with our clothes, lots of yummy snacks, water for the first two days, headlamps, and other essentials. We also learned that we had to carry our sleeping bags, (a surprise for us!), but luckily there are local women who are ready to sell you anything you forgot including straps to hold extra gear. After a bit of adjusting we were set to go. (Little known to us those straps would break several times throughout the journey but luckily, with a bit of tweaking, we were able to make them work til the end).

We were really pumped to start hiking but after just a couple of minutes we had to stop at the first check in point. Here we got our passports stamped, our names checked off, and then we were off! Percy was a great guide. He told us that if we are breathing so hard we can’t talk then we are “running” and we were “not allowed to run” on Machu Picchu. That was definitely fine by us as we wanted to take our time and enjoy the scenery!

Looking across the river at the train that takes those who aren't the hiking type up to Machu Picchu in mere hours...

We only walked a short way in the morning stopping to talk a bit about the Incan people and the trail we’d be following. The Incan empire existed in the early 13^th century and included a vast part of western South American including Peru and much of Ecuador, Bolivia, NW Argentina, northern Child, and Southern Columbia. Their official language was Quechua and the civilization was based in Cusco. The Inca trail to Machu Picchu was in fact only for royalty in the society. Common people were not allowed to go to Machu Picchu. Additionally, even though it only takes about 7 hours to hike from our starting place to Machu Picchu, (by traveling along the river), the Inca’s instead used this trail. The exact reason is unknown since no written records have ever been found but it may have been a spiritual or ritual journey for the Incas.

Soon we arrived at lunch which was SO incredible! The porters carried all of our food as well as a tent with small stools and a rollaway table to eat on. Each day we received breakfast, lunch, tea/happy hour, and dinner. Lunch and dinner were usually three courses: a small appetizer, a bowl of soup or vegetables, and then a main course. Happy hour was an hour or two before dinner and included popcorn, crackers, and tea and cocoa. As a vegetarian I felt really good about almost everything I ate which was awesome!

Standard squat toilet - this was the last clean one we saw.....

After lunch we had our first “test” – a steep (but very short) climb up to our first view point. Apparently those who struggle with this climb often have a lot of trouble on the second day of the trek. Luckily we all passed with flying colors! The views along the way had been incredible and here they only began to get more amazing. We constantly were reminding each other (and ourselves) that we were actually here, actually hiking, actually on the Inca trail! It was unreal feeling…. Our first viewpoint was of “Patallacta” which was used to grow crops, host religious ceremonies, and house soldiers and messengers. It was a pretty fantastic site to see!

At Patallacta

After that we had another couple hours to reach our first campsite called Wayllabamba. Although we slept in tents here it was less like an actual campsite. There are actually several dozen families that live in the area and we stayed on land that belonged to one. We even had a little one room cement space where we could eat and play some cards. Percy and the guide of the other two people that were with us taught us a new game called “Shithead” which we played several rounds of that night and every night after.

Campsite for night #1

We had two tents with two people per tent. It didn’t take long after dinner for us to head to bed. We knew that the next day was going to be hard. Percy, (and several others), explained that day one was the warm-up, day two was the hard day, day three was the pretty one, and day four the prize. We’d be up at 5:00am the next morning and needing to hike uphill for 5-6 hours before lunch and downhill another two hours. No one needed to tell us twice to go to bed!

Happy hour! The green leaves in the middle of the tray are coca leaves!

Holding a baby chick that was wandering around the yard looking cold

At 5am we were awakened by the porters who brought us hot coca tea as we packed up our stuff. We tried to eat a good breakfast since we knew we about to start the hardest hiking any of us had dowe. We would be ascending from 11,000ft up to 14,000 feet on stone steps and dirt paths. Our goal was to reach the top in about 5-6hours and we were ready to go!

Gorgeous morning view

The first few minutes started off well but it quickly began to drizzle around the same time the walking got steep. Percy explained that it's not uncommon for people to turn around early into day two. Altitude sickness is a main reason as well as just generally being too out of shape. While the trail is depicted as moderate I'd say it's more challenging then most people realized and the altitude definitely doesn't make things easier.

READY! Our "day 2" start picture!

About 10min later when I realized it was going to get WARM in gortex!

Both Jacquie and Shelby weren't feeling too well and even Sarah and I (who felt fine) struggled with the steep steps and incline. We soon reached the steepest area known as "grino killer one". Rest breaks for pictures, to chat, and just to try and catch our breath were common. Our lungs often felt like they were burning and it made it challenging to talk. The drizzle soon turned to outright rain and we struggled with keeping our body temps comfortable, drinking enough water, and maintaining a steady pace.

High up on the trail and happy to be there despite the challenges!

Even though we weren't going very fast we reached our main rest break along with many other hikers. Here we had about 20min to use the toilet, catch our breath, add layers, and grab a snack. But all too quickly we had to start again up "gringo killer two". This part is less steep but the altitude makes each steep challenging. There are no switch backs and at times I would walk up a step on the right hand side, walk along the length of the step, and then step up to the next step on the left hand side making mini switch backs. The view, however, made everything worthwhile. Seriously. Snow covered peaks, sweeping green mountains, mist and fog... unbeleivable.

Eventually the top came into view and we celebrated. We knew we were going to make it!! The feeling of reaching the pass (known as Dead Woman's Pass) was incredible! The rain stopped and the view from the top was the most gorgeous area I've ever seen. Snow covered peaks in every direction! Amazing! We celebrated, took pictures, caught our breath, and grabbed some well deserved chocolate to celebrate! We still had two hours of steep downhill hiking to go but we knew we'd be fine!