Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

On Friday I got up bright and early for the start of our trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I got picked up at about 5am and we all headed out to the town of Ollantaytambo in the sacred valley where we had a nice enough breakfast in a restaurant overlooking the central plaza. The locals were all out trying to sell walking sticks to the throngs of trekkers. We continued on to KM82 which was the starting point for our trek. The porters were quick to grab their huge bags and start running down the track. We certainly had enough with our group of 12 people we had 20 porters, a cook and 2 guides. It was a leisurely walk along the river past some small Inca ruins. At lunch we were impressed to find the big tent already made for us, with seats set out. First course was a fancy avacado salad, followed by 2 more courses. We certainly weren't going to go hungry on this trip. From here we veered off the main valley and followed a tributory to our camp only 1 hour away.

In the morning we had an early 4am wake up, but the pain was eased with the guides delivering us hot chocolate in bed for us to wake up. Along with some pancakes for breakfast we were ready for the hardest part of the trek. This was a 1300m ascent to the Dead Womens Pass. Our group was made up of 3 american couples who were all equally slow and struggling even on the easiest sections of the trail, a group of 3 young english lads who prefered to sprint the track, 4 norweigans who powered along, and a kiwi guy and canadian girl. We broke away from the americans and got to the pass in 3.5 hours. Here we got another 3 hours to enjoy the fantastic view while the americans rolled up the hill, but with snow capped mountains all around and the sun shining it was very enjoyable to hang out here for a while. From here we descended almost another 1000m with almost as many stairs to our second nights camp. Here we had the most amazing views down to the valley below. With a nice stream flowing right past the campsite I even enjoyed a dip in the glacial waters.

Sunday we started the morning straight up with another big climb up the second pass. This seemed more difficult than the previous ascent given the fatigue and extra steepness. At the top of the pass we visited another old Inca fort, and then followed original Inca trails that were nicely paved along the ridges and contours. At one point we trekked into the bush and found a ruin that hadnt been restored yet, and was being overgrown by griant trees. Along this stretch we had great views to some of the highest mountains in this part of the woods. Our lunch site was on the top of the ridge looking back down to the sacred valley, the town of Aguas Calientes, and we could even see the mountain of Machu Picchu, behind which was our ultimate destination. From our lunch spot it was a steep descent nicknamed the 'gringo killer'. After 2 hours of continuously going down steps we made it to our final campsite, perched on the side of the mountain.

We decided to make a early start in the morning with the aim of being the first people to Machu Picchu for the day. With this aim we got up at 3am and had everything packed up by 4am. Just outside the camp was a ticket control point which opened at 5.30am so we waited there for 1.5 hours being the first people there by only 5 minutes. By the time the gate opened there was a lengthy queue with several hundred people. We got through and it was everyone for themselves dash in the dark with torches in hand to the Sun Gate. I got to the sungate pretty quickly with our group being the first to set eyes on the Machu Picchu ruins. From the sun gate the ruins were spread out just like in the postcards with the mountain of Huayna Picchu in the background. We continued down to the actual ruins to watch the sunrise. The ruins were remarkable, set right up the top of sheer cliffs and mountains towering all around. There were areas with houses, temples and plenty of terraces. Our guide gave us a tour of all the sites and then just squeezed in as person 388 out of the 400 person daily quota to climb up Huayna Picchu. This was a bloody steep climb up the mountain but gave another fantastic perspective over the ruins and also of the trek we had just completed.

Once I'd seen enough of the ruins at 1am we got the bus down to Aguas Calientas for lunch with the group. The main street in town was the train line, with trains going just 2 meters from our restaurant table. We got the train back to Ollantaytambo and bussed it to Cusco to complete a great trip.

On Tuesday I enjoyed a much deserved massage and visisted the remaining museums in town. In the evening I took the overnight bus to Nazca.