Trailing the Inka's to Machu Picchu - Aguas Calientes, Peru
Aguas Calientes, Peru
We joined our tour with G Adventures on the 26th December and received our trip briefing from Henry our guide that evening. He took us through each day and the altitudes we would be reaching. Henry then delivered the news that once we had packed our sleeping bags and mattress, we would only have 2.5kgs left for the porters duffles each. The table mentally started throwing out the spare shoes and underwear as we prioritised our survival goods. Each porter has a 20kg limit which has been enforced by the Peruvian government, while many tour companies adhere to this, I have to admit I saw poor men carrying what appeared to be much more than this. I can understand why there has been such a clamp down by the government because the porters may be super human (one porter finished the trek in 3.5hrs, which takes us 4days!), but they should be treated fairly. The porters are from the many hill tribes around the area and in our group ranged in age from 19 to 65. Surprisingly this job does not appear to be a life time role and most had been doing it for less than 4yrs with the head porter having been there the longest with 8years (he was only 33yrs old). They carry not only our duffles and tents, but the kitchen requirements, the tables, gas bottles and all the rubbish we accumulate. We had 17 porters for our group to provide for the 11 Trekkers, along with two cooks and two guides. Even more surprisingly is the porters dress, while we all spent lots of money on trekking brand goods, they often wore suit pants and saddles in most cases. Just goes to show how easily we westerns are swayed into thinking clothes make the difference. The first official day in the tour was one where we spent the day in nearby villages & their ruins. We saw Ollantaytambo valley and then the town, along with Pisac. We also went to a mountain village called De Taray which is part of a G Adventures community program to bring money to the village in the hope the village keeps their culture going with the income source. A growing trend is for the children to leave to gain an income and never come back, therefore a culture is lost. This visit was particularly interesting as we got to see how they got their wool (lama, alpaca, first wool of a baby alpaca and a plain old sheep), cleaned it, dyed it and then spun and weaved it. It's actually quite complex process, using all natural techniques and dyes. For example the wool is dyed with flowers (yellow), leaves (greens), dried bugs (reds and purples) and cleaned with a root. The women spend their days between spinning the wool into yarn and weaving them into complicated designs. My mind boggles trying to figure out how they get a frog design onto a scarf with a few thread throughs. We visited Pisac which is a town with quite a large inca ruin above it. This was the first Inka ruin Adam and I had seen so were enthralled by it all. The terraces you can see were used to level out the ground for growing food. It also allowed them to grow certain plants on certain levels as the drop between them changed the temperature, all the soil within the terraces had been brought up from the valley for its minerals, which I can't even begin to imagine the effort that must have taken! The terraces also had another use, they made an attack very difficult. With most terraces being my height and the high altitude, any army would have had a great task to try clamber their way up and over to the community! Our night was spent in Ollantaytambo which was a town where the Inka King had spent some time when the Spanish started trying to overrun Peru. When the Spaniards first arrived in Peru the Inka's handed over their gold and silver to them as it had no real value to them, the corn and potatoes were of much higher value! Unfortunately the Spaniards went home with their booty and they decided they needed to govern Peru to gain any further gold and silver. I do wonder if the Spaniards had simply asked, would the Peruvians have given or traded the metals and the many years of war and elimination of the Incas could have been avoided. The ruins in Ollantaytambo has a fountain which still has the stone casing and carving around it, which gives you an idea how beautiful and crafted their cities must have been. They also had faces carved into the mountain side, one of an angry god who was watching over them with the food stores at either side (high altitude is great for dehydrating and also keeping food fresh) and another carving of an Inka face which is mainly seen in the summer solace when the sun shines over it straight into the sun temple at the top of the ruins. The Inka's did a lot of engineering feats, this being one, the sun would fall perfectly onto this carving and then onto the temple. In Machu Picchu the sun gate captures the summer solace rays through the gate posts and it shines directly into the sun temples 'summer window' (which is tiny). The other window is for the winter solace sun and both served as a key indicator to the people and their farming. The next morning was D Day! We separated into two groups as 4 of the group were doing the Lares trek which was higher and through many mountain villages. They would meet us up in Machu Picchu and come back to Cusco with us. The remaining 11-Julie and Nicole, from North Carolina, Mike from Chicago, Pavil, Victoria and Kesha (our dynamite 12yr old) from Canada, Victoria from Sydney and Joshna and Nayan from London who were on their honeymoon. I did wonder at this point if this was going to be in any way a romantic trip... We started at the check point called KM 82, had our passports checked, crossed a wobbly bridge over a raging river and were promptly passed at running pace by the porters. So we began the 42kms to Machu Picchu! Day 1 fooled us into comfort. It had only one real up hill, which while steep was over quickly and at no real altitude. We saw the porters stopping off for Cicha which is their corn beer and then passing us yet again. We saw a few ruins, check the map out to see which ones we passed, I hate to say it, but I can't for the life of me remember which is which. By the time we reached camp it was 4pm and we were hungry! Our two cooks made us a snack of popcorn and coca tea while we waited for dinner. At this time also came our first experience of the toilets... Oh my god! No words can describe the toilet memories of this trek. We had 3 loo choices 1) camp toilets, so hold it all the way and then chance it that they are ok. 2) the first two days offered farmers toilets to use, usually cleaner than the camp sites but required payment. 3) Inka toilets, dash behind a tree or rock and enjoy nature! I became a big fan of option 3 as it was far cleaner and not as vomit inducing as the first two. Toilet talk became a conversational point through out the hike and scouting Inka spots a sport. We had been warned that day 2 would be 'up' as Henry put it. He had the 2nd guide Herve lead the way at the beginning. This is when the group split into groups. Myself, Adam, Nicole, Mike and Kesha went ahead and by the time we got to the last resting point at 10.30am, we were pretty chuffed ourselves and had a beer! It wasn't until we started up what looked like a small hill for the final part, that we realised it turned around the mountain and became 'Dead Woman's Pass'. By far this is the worst experience of my life. We were going to the 2nd highest point in the trek at well over 14,000ft and it just never seemed to end! We couldn't breathe so you got a few steps forward before stopping again, to only look up and realise there was a bend you hadn't seen before and the end was not anywhere near. We dragged our bodies up this pass and by the time we got to the top, it was freezing so quickly left. Adam and I took Kesha at break neck speed down the mountain to the next camp site. All 3 of us just wanted to lie down, so we leaped down the 4km of steps to get to camp at record time of 1pm (they expected us after 2pm). It's worth mentioning at this point that Australian Victoria was struck down by altitude sickness overnight and the rest if the group proceeded to get it in varying forms. None as bad as poor Victoria who kept throwing up and still had to climb the mountain and come down. To add insult to injury she slipped on the way down and smashed her iPhone screen into pieces and cracked her sunnies. By the time the last group got to camp it was 4.30pm. Dinner that night was in almost silence and we all were in bed by 7pm. Even though I was shattered I didn't get to sleep until 1am which when you get up at 5am isn't great! I was warm, the mat comfy enough, but my brain was in over drive with all the exercise and what not. The third day, was promised to be 'up' followed by ups and downs and then down for 3hrs. Adam and I had been at altitude for weeks at this point so we wolfed down our meals and galloped onto the next section of the walk. Kesha and I scaled the highest peak and saw some deer and lakes while we waited for everyone else. We then descended the mountain and went into a ruin which only had one entry point of incredibly steep steps. We were told that the Inka trail had been used a lot by messengers and all the village ruins along the way had acted as lodgings or watch points for the messengers, they would run from one post to the next, sometimes a new runner would take the message onwards. I personally can't imagine running this trails, but watching the porters scale them with huge backpacks, I can picture the messengers. Most of the trail is still the original stone with a few sections requiring repair or rebuilding. There is speculation that the trail was purposely broken and disguised to protect Machu Picchu from the Spaniards. Day 3 was hard, by this time our knees and ankles were protesting loudly at the constant pressure. The stone steps seemed to keep on coming, but we did come to a more monotonous section of ups and downs with some caves which was good fun, but in the cloud felt like you were going in circles. At lunch we were treated to a cake by the chefs, which left us speechless as how they managed to create it in a tent on a camp stove is anyone's guess. We saw another camp site at lunch whose tents looked like giant orange eggs, I took a peak into their meals tent and not only was it huge, but they had wine glasses, proper table and chairs, table runners and a flower display. As I crept past I interrupted a couple doing yoga outside. Their camp site had their own porta-loo and shower, tents with stretcher beds and of course a masseuse to rub away the pain. Clearly these people were on a whole different kind of trek! I'm sure as we snooped around we sufficiently ruined the ambience with our 3 day stench. Although this was the 5star trek, we did see their porters weighed down far more than the others. Obviously the thousands they paid didn't go into more porters (although they had over 25) and a fair working environment. By the time day 4 came, we were promised only 2hrs of walking before we got to Machu Picchu. The down side is we had to rise just after 3am and start queuing at the check point for the 5.30am opening. The porters in the meantime packed up our camp and then ran down to train station by the town below Machu Picchu. They had 45mins to make it or wait for the 6pm train. By the time we got to the Sun Gate, which is the gate I referred to earlier that the summer solace hits and overlooks Machu Picchu, it was around 7am. Happy snaps and then the descent into the site began. We all were very tired and as we got closer to the ruins 'tourists' appeared. After several days of fairly few people, to be bombarded with so many people, it was overwhelming. Add the fact your tired physically and emotionally and in dire need of a shower and a real loo, we were not overly impressed that we had to share these ruins. Henry took us on a tour of Machu Picchu which is believed to be a city of 1200 and meant as a religious centre as they worshiped the sun and this place was quite high! When the American Bingham officially found Machu Picchu (which means old rock or peak) in 1911, he was guided by a farmer. They farmers had been using the terraces to grow their food, but no one would stay in the city and they all lived down the mountain. We believe this is out of respect. The ruins didn't have any gold and treasures in them anymore, as they believe the departure from the city was planned. Some say they left due to a small pox outbreak, but I think it was to protect this highly valued place from invasion of the Spaniards. Binghams main find was mummies and lots of them, which are all in the US today 'owned' by the university that sponsored his trip. From 1911 Machu Picchu has become a growing tourist attraction, while the Inka trail has a strict 500 pass per day, the ruins are flooded with thousands per day. All arriving for the day or staying at the village below. After a few hours in Machu Picchu we took the bus down the mountain. All managing to fall asleep in the 20minute journey and arrived at the village at the base where the train comes from. We all became giddy with excitement, there were 'real toilets' here and more importantly, BOOZE! We piled into the meeting restaurant and started our New Year's Eve celebrations. I can't think of a better way to bring in the new year, by far the inca trail is my best and funniest achievement. I loved every moment of it, even the stomach churning loos as they have added to the story. So the facts about our tour; Book early! The 500 trail passes per day go quickly! I believe this includes guides and porters! Our tour was through STA who use G Adventures and I highly recommend them. It cost us £500, which doesn't seem to be too outside the norm, if not under. It lasted from the 26th Dec through to the 1st Jan with all accommodation and most meals included. Be prepared to be grimey. Be prepared to avoid the loo and be one with nature! Food was brilliant! Always started with soup and the a main with rice and meat.