Machu Picchu Part 2!

Day 3: Chaquicocha to Winay Huayna

Well, we survived our first two days of hiking, but the hardest parts were behind us. Day 3 was supposed to be mostly down hill, and only about 5 hours of hiking total. Since we survived about 12 hours of mountain climbing the day before, we were happy for the "rest" of 5 hours of descending steep, rocky, slick stairs ;)

Snow capped peaks through the clouds

We had breakfast, but the chef had prepared a surprise. He had baked a cake for a couple in our group on their honeymoon. I have no idea HOW someone bakes a cake with only the things they have been carrying on their back for 2 days and no oven in the middle of the wilderness before 5am, but like I said before, our chef and porters with Llama Path were AMAZING.

An awesome Honeymoon Cake :)

The trail hugging the side of a cliff

After a hearty breakfast supplemented with cake, we again reluctantly packed our daypacks and headed out for our day of hiking. We started the day on a narrow path that clung to the side of a cliff in a valley. The views were spectacular, and we could see the tips of the snow capped peaks around us peeking through the clouds and mist.

It was awe inspiring to see how well the Inca Trail was constructed and after walking for 2 solid days, it was amazing to think they built all of their buildings and trails with their hand in the middle of the jungle without modern machinery.

Our whole group!

The day, as promised, was a lot of stair descending. We climbed down from 12,073 feet to 8,792 feet, mostly by stone stairs. At one point, I got a little impatient and decided I would trot/jog down the stairs, since it seemed a little easier on my knees to keep the momentum going. I was doing great for about 15 minutes or so, and got ahead of some of the hikers in our group and was catching up to some of the hikers in the "lead".....but the thing about ancient stone staircases is that they aren't perfect. There are rocks that have shifted, loose stones, and some spots that are pointy or slanted or generally uneven. 

I hit a very uneven rock, stumbled, and went tumbling onto my hands an knees. Luckily, I was about 5 minutes ahead of Dan and our gang, so nobody from my group saw my little display of grace...unfortunately, I had caught up to three girls from another group taking a snack break and literally fell at their feet. I was more embarrassed than hurt, and attempted to regain my composure before the boys caught up, but one of the girls pointed out that I was bleeding. I had scraped my knee, and after rining it with some water and putting on a Band-Aid, I was almost ready to start walking again when Dan caught up with me. Sadly, my little spill was obvious because my new hiking pants were torn at the knee and had a bit of blood on them, so I had to confess my tumble. I was just really glad I hadn't twisted my ankle or broken anything (or gone careening over the edge of a cliff!).

My hiking ego soon recovered, and before long we were approaching the campsite, and after a few snack breaks and hundreds more stairs, we turned a corner and could finally see the mountain that Machu Picchu was on - but the Incas were smart: from the trail, you could only see the backside of the mountain face, and on the far side, where we couldn't see, was the great Incan citadel of Machu Picchu. You can't see the actual site until you climb up and around and through the famed Sun Gate, which hangs over Machu Picchu on a nearby peak.

But we were within sight of the mountain that housed our goal, and not too far from our last campsite! We were 15 minutes away and were presented with a choice, hike 20 minutes uphill to another ruin on a mini archaeological detour, or head 15 minutes downhill to camp. The majority of hikers headed to the ruins, but Dan and I and a few others were lured to camp by the promise of HOT SHOWERS! I know it had only been two nights since my last shower, but after 3 grueling days of hiking we were beginning to attract flies ;)

After lunch, a brief and expensive "shower" (campsite showers in the middle of nowhere in Peru definitely leave something to be desired, but it was still much better than nothing), and a mini nap, our guide led us on a short walk to the last major ruin before we would see Machu Picchu. It was called Winay Wayna. It was really beautiful, and was dominated by amazing agricultural terraces etched into the slope in a verdant valley.

We wandered the site and listened to the guide's history lesson. It was so odd to think that this ancient city was laying in ruins about 500 yards from where I was sleeping. 

It was our last night eating in the food tent, and the dinner was terrific. We even had some beer from the bar at our campsite and some wine (from a box ;)! After the dinner, we had a little "ceremony" where we gave the porters their well-deserved tips, and we went around and thanked them for everything. It was pretty emotional, since not only were they serving us, hauling our stuff, and generally making sure we survived, but they were gracious and happy and excited to share their country and their history with us. A few of us tried to thank them in Spanish, and overall it was a fun evening.

A few hikers headed to bed, but since there was a bar at the campsite, a bunch of us went to have drinks! It was monopoly priced for sure, but beers had to be shipped in by train and then hauled up to the campground, and we willingly paid whatever was asked for a few cold beers and other libations :)

I was starting to feel sleepy, and had a suspicion that I was getting a cold, so after chatting with everyone for a little while and knocking back a (medicinal) whiskey, we headed back to our last night in our tent.

Day 4: The Sun Gate and MACHU PICCHU!!

We were woken up SUPER early - we had to eat breakfast and pack up on a strict time schedule. There were two reasons for this: 1) The porters had to serve us breakfast, pack up ALL the gear and RUN down the mountain all before 6am to catch the "Porter" Train back to Cusco. The train only runs once a day, so they have to complete all their morning work and descend well over 2000 feet to the train in Aguas Calientes. And 2) We weren't allowed onto the last section of the trail until 6am, but there is a gate that every group lines up at, and our guide wanted us to be at the front of the line.

We had tea and breakfast, and were all a little quiet knowing that it would be our last meal in the meal tent together...also, it was 4am. But once we were done eating, we were all excited and packed our daypacks for the last time.

We made it to the entrance gate at 4:30am, and were the second group in line. Once our spot was secured, we took turns wandering back to the bathrooms and all meandered around brushing our teeth. Within a few minutes, all the other groups were lined up, and the crowd of anxious hikers stretched as far as I could see down the trail. We were all pretty thankful we were at the head of the line, and again realized how awesome our guide was to know the best timing AND be able to motivate a group of a bunch of whiny hikers out of their tents at 4 in the morning! At 6am the official arrived, and opened the gate - our tickets and passports were checked again, and we were on our way!

We didn't have too much hiking to do, only about 2.5 hours of "Inca Flats," but there was one exception. We were told that there was a staircase called the "Gringo Killer" just before the Sun Gate. It was a super steep series of stairs that prompted most hikers to half-crawl on their hands and knees. It seemed perfectly fitting that we would have to scramble up a huge staircase as our last test before reaching our goal, but we were all dreading the stairs a little as we set out.

We wound through very thick jungle for the first half of the hike - there were orchids hanging everywhere and a thin misty rain was falling. We hiked up and down for about 1.5 hours, and there were people everywhere! They were passing us, briskly walking by, hurrying to get to the Sun Gate...it was quite the change of pace since for the past 3 days we rarely encountered other groups.

When we finally reached the "Gringo Killers" we were excited! The stairs were pretty intimidating, looming over us as numerous hikers attempted to scale them upright....but most were on their hands scrambling up the huge, slick rock stairs. I was no exception, and I shamelessly crawled up the 50-something giant stairs!

Once we were at the top, we were reunited with the rest of our group and we were officially passing through the Sun Gate. Sadly, the valley containing Machu Picchu was COMPLETELY fogged in, and we couldn't see it. This spot was supposed to be your first amazing view of the site, but all we could see was clouds. Undeterred, we were promised by our guide that the fog would burn off and we would get our perfect photo by the end of the day. So after pausing for a snack and a last hiking group photo, we started off again. But first there was yet another surprise from our guide - they had awesome t-shirts to give us! I felt like I was getting a 1st Place trophy, and was proud to be the new owner of an "I Survived the Inca Trail" shirt :)

We were less than a half hour from the entrance to the site, so we marched on and kept our eyes on the fog in the direction of Macchu Picchu (MP). Every once in a while, the fog would thin and we could see a lone building, or the pattern of a stone wall through the mist, but we could never see the whole thing. We reached the last overlook before the entrance, but the fog was still hanging in the air. This was the spot where every tourist stands and takes that one, perfectly awe inspiring photo of MP perched on its cliff, but we could still see next to nothing! I have to admit, I was a little bummed, but our guide kept promising the fog would be gone, so after another snack and a quick lecture about the site, we finally reached the real entrance to MP. 

Immediately, the atmosphere around us was different. There were busloads of tourists everywhere. Kids were running around, Asian tour groups and their leaders carrying flags were every place you looked, and it was generally crowded. We got to skip the lines since we had tickets and hiked in, and we entered the site after checking our backpacks.

Between checking our packs at the visitor center and walking back to the main entrance, the fog had magically cleared, and when we walked to the first stop on the tour we got our first real view of Machu Picchu - it was spectacular!

The mountain peaks rise from the valleys and are lush and green, and there is a river that snakes between them. Along the river, the train tracks run between the town of Aguas Calientes and Cusco. The site itself is breathtaking, hundreds of structures delicately balanced on the pinnacles of rocky spire-like mountains, all breaking through the thick morning fog and illuminated with the bright sunlight. To help you understand our mindset, we had just hiked for 4 days: we trekked 30 miles, climbed a total of over 6,500 feet up, and descended over 7,602 feet. We went from desert to jungle to freezing rain and back. By the end, a tin shack on a barren hill would have looked kind of decent in those surroundings, but between the extreme green of the jungle and the impossible angles of the mountains and the sheer overwhelming beauty of the ruins, it was definitely worth the price of admission :)

We spent the next few hours wandering the ruins with our trusty guide, learning about the Incas who built the structures, their culture and all the mystery that still surrounds MP. We saw the royal rooms, the sacred areas, the public lawns and plazas, and of course the agricultural terraces. The guide explained that while MP was the most well known site, there were other sites in the immediate area that are still shrouded by the jungle and may be even more spectacular. Many areas of the archaeological site are still actively being reclaimed from the dense vegetation that had grown over much of the deserted Inca empire.

We saw huge sundials, a variety of astronomical tools and carvings in the rocks, and the most amazing rocks walls - the Inca did not use mortar between their bricks, instead, they carefully carved each stone so it perfectly fit those around it. We even saw a 20 sided block! It had been uniquely chiseled to fit in only one spot and it had 20 flat sides. 

We also found a LOT of llamas. They were hanging out on the lawns and serving as Low emission lawn mowers ;) We frolicked in the grass, hung out with the llamas, and finally climbed back up to the lookout point above the city to get the classic Machu Picchu shot.

The Classic MP landscape - taken by me!

After filling up several megapixels of perfect MP shots, we finally headed out of the citadel and down the mountain. We took our last glimpse of the amazing landscapes, and got onto a bus to get to Aguas Calientes.

When we got to the town, Dan and I wandered around until we were supposed to meet up with our group one last time for dinner. But it was one of the most touristy places I have ever been, and after a few minutes of aimless wandering, we both gave up, found a coffee shop, and parked it there waiting for dinner.

Dan eating guinea pig!

We met them at a restaurant and had a fun goodbye dinner. Dan even tried cuy (guinea pig!!) for the first time...I don't think he was a big fan :)

We lingered at the restaurant for a while and exchanged information with our hiking buddies. We had met a lot of really fun people over the last few days, and it was a little sad to have to say adios. But we hugged and carried on and promised to look each other up if we were ever in Australia/England/Argentina/New York... and eventually each group left to find their hostel or take the train back to Cusco.

When we originally bought out tickets, Dan and I decided to be fancy on our train ride home and we sprung for the more expensive "Vistadome" train - the one with a dome of windows as the ceiling of the train. But what we DIDN'T realize, is that we booked the last Vistadome train of the day, which just so happened to be well after sunset! So we booked the train with the view in the dark :P

Demon nap-ruiner?

But we were so exhausted that we could barely keep our eyes open either way, and as soon as we hit the comfy seats we passed out!

Cusco at night

However, about 20 minutes into our train ride, I was awakened bu loud shouts, clapping and a screeching whistle. Apparently, there as some sort of cultural demonstration, and a creepy masked devil-thing was stomping through the aisle blowing a whistle. I have NO idea why, but it was amazingly annoying and all I wanted to do was sleep!

But we made it back to Cusco. We even went and got some food and a drink before finally passing out back at our favorite Frankenstein themed hostel.

No idea...

Overall, it was an AMAZING experience, and I would reccommend it to anyone who is ambulatory and wants a challenge. It was definitely the hardest 4 days of hiking I have ever done, but it inspired me, and after this I signed up for and ran TWO half marathons!




Stats for the hike:

Days hiking: 4
Distance hiked: 45 kilometers (27.96 miles)
Elevation climbed: 2,030 meters (6,660 feet)
Elevation descended: 2,350 meters (7,710 feet)
Hours hiked: approximately 25 hours (haha, about 1.12 miles per hour!)
Pictures taken: only about 700, 3.85 gigs!
Blisters:  a lot!
New favorite drink: Milo (like Ovaltine, but hot!)

Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!! Part 1

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!

The market in Cusco

Back when I purchased my tickets to Peru (FINALLY!! After a long wait – I had been planning the trip for over 2 years!! I secured my fellowship back in 2007 and set the dates in 2008) I talked to my friend Dan. Dan and I met on my trip to Israel in December 2007 and have stayed in touch since our 10-day bus tour through the Holy Land. Dan was super excited that I would be in Peru, and pretty quickly bought tickets to come visit me in Peru! We hadn’t seen each other since Israel, but we had a blast on that trip and anxiously began trying to plan a trip to Machu Picchu.

We both wanted to hike the famous Inca Trail, but Dan only had 7 days in Peru, and the trail takes 4 full days. Eventually, after tons of emails and calls to companies that offered treks on the trail, we settled on a company called Llama Path, and booked our 4 day/3 night, 45-kilometer hike to the sacred citadel of the Incas.

Dan arrived in Lima at midnight on a Saturday night, and I met him at the airport. I booked us on a 6am flight to Cusco (to maximize our time in Cusco before hitting the trail: it is recommended that you spend at LEAST 48 hours at higher altitude before starting the trek!), so we sat in the airport having coffee and catching up until our flight.  We made it to Cusco without any trouble, checked into our unique hostal, Hostal Frankenstein, and had a quick shower and nap before hitting the city to explore.

We decided we wanted an authentic lunch to start off the trip, and headed to a local lunch spot we heard about from our hostal owner. We had a great Peruvian lunch of roasted meat, potatoes, and Inca Kola. In case you haven’t heard of it, Inca Kola is a neon-yellow soda that sort of tastes like a combination of cream soda, cotton candy, and bubblegum. The only problem was that the medicine Dan and I were taking to prevent altitude sickness actually changes the way you taste carbonated beverages, and neither of us could actually taste the bubbles in the soda!

 

Since I had spent 2 weeks in Cusco at the very beginning of my Peruvian adventure taking Spanish classes, I sort of knew my way around the major landmarks of the city. After lunch, we wandered through the main market in Cusco, which is really a pretty interesting place. You can buy everything from scarves, hats and gloves to meats, cheeses, herbs, fruits and veggies, or even full meals cooked up in front of you. My favorite area was always the meats, because I have just never seen anything like it. The smell is actually pretty awful, but where else can you buy a whole cow snout (and WHY would you want to?!)?

 

I took Dan all around the town, and we ended up in Plaza San Blas, which is a cute little plaza high above the main plaza that is surrounded by cafes, restaurants and art galleries. We strolled around, had a coffee, and visited the small, but informative Coca Museum. The museum is dedicated to spreading information about the coca leaf, the plant that is the raw material for producing the infamous drug, cocaine. The Incas have used the plant for centuries, but it had many medicinal and ceremonial uses long before modern chemistry was able to turn it into something nefarious. Chewing the leaves (with or without a carbonate based catalyst) or drinking coca tea is said to relieve everything from altitude sickness, fatigue, upset stomach, headaches, and much more! I personally love coca tea, and drank tons of it while at school in Cusco. It tastes like a yummy herbal tea, and with all those supposed benefits, why not?

 

After buying tons of coca themed souvenirs, we headed to explore an old monastery and convent that was in the guidebook. El Convento Santo Domingo was a pretty cool site – it used to be an Incan complex that had been built over by Catholics over the centuries so that the architecture of the complex is now a jumble of perfectly sculpted Incan stone walls, classic Spanish, and modern looking buildings all piled on top of each other.  We spent a while wandering the cloisters and corridors, but I’m not a huge history/architecture/museum fan, so we opted not to read every plaque or visit the convent’s sister museum, and instead headed to dinner.

 

We had a classic Peruvian dinner of lomo saltado (stir-fried beef, peppers, and onions over French fries) and even stopped for a pisco sour (the national drink of Peru! Its made of Pisco, a grape brandy, lime juice, simple syrup, and egg whites and garnished with a drop of bitters) before we ended up collapsing back at the hostel.

We woke up in the morning and had a huge breakfast before heading out to the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley is an area outside of Cusco that is basically filled with tons of different ruins. There are a bunch of sites to choose from, and since they all seemed relatively similar (rocks, hills, old stuff) we sort of randomly picked one to go to. We ended up at Pisac, a site about an hour bus ride from Cusco.  The bus ride was super scenic, and in between my mini-naps, I was treated to valley vistas surrounded by snow-caped mountains :)

We arrived in Pisac, and split a cab with a French couple up to the top of the ruins to start our tour. We elected not to hire a guide, and spent 2 hours wandering through the huge archeological complex. We climbed up and down the trails, stomped through the ancient buildings, scrambled around the crumbling stone walls, and perched on top of the long-empty agricultural terraces. The Incas used these huge stair-like terraces to grow their food, but now they lay fallow. I think they are super cool are really enjoyed seeing the way the ancient cultures carved these huge hillsides into what look to me like a staircase for giants.

We headed back down to the town of Pisac for lunch, and after some alpaca kebobs, set our sights for the market. Pisac is supposed to be a pretty cool place to shop for souvenirs, but when we stepped back outside a storm was headed in, snd the thunder and wind had prompted most shopkeepers to pack up their goods and head indoors. We took the hint, and headed to the bus stop to try to beat the rain.

We made it onto the bus before any major downpours, but the bus was packed! We were forced to stand for the whole hour trip home (on the way to Pisac we had comfy seats and there was nobody standing) and poor Dan got thrown around pretty well during the trip. We made it back to Cusco in one piece (although we were pretty hot and tired from the long ride) and headed to our orientation for our trek!

Our route to Machu Picchu

We sat through the briefing and were told what to expect during the hike…..Basically, it sounded tough. Lots of hills, lots of stairs, lots of possible pain, haha.

But, I knew all that long before we threw down a ton of money, and we had opted to hire a porter to carry our things (clothes, sleeping bags, etc) so all we had to do was carry a daypack with our raincoats and water. At the urging of our guide we even rented walking sticks – he promised even though we would look like dorks the benefits would outweigh the nerdiness.

After the orientation we had a delicious dinner of pollo a la brasa, or roasted chicken, a Peruvian specialty. We tried to have a beer, but the medicine had the same effect on its carbonation, and it’s hard to enjoy beer without being able to taste the bubbles! We went back to the hostel to try to pack and get into bed early, but packing and showering took us a while, and we got to sleep around midnight. I don’t know if either of us slept very well, we were both pretty excited and anxious about starting the trail the next day!

Inca Trail: Day 1 – Cusco to Wayllabamba

We awoke bright and early (and by that I mean dark and really early…3:30am), grabbed our daypacks and small bags of clothes (to give to the porters to carry), and headed out to meet our tour group. We got on a private bus that took us to breakfast – our group was made of 13 hikers from around the world. I was actually the youngest member of the crew, and the oldest in the group was only 39 years old. There were 2 girls from New York, a few Aussies, a girl from England, a couple from Venezuela, and a few people who were sort of from everywhere (born in Poland, lived in England, Australia, the States, etc). It was an eclectic but young and well-traveled group, and I was sort of worried that I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with them all on the trail!

After breakfast in a quiet valley, we got back on the bus and headed to the head of the Inca Trail. We started the hike at “Kilometer 82,” a distance marker and train stop on the train line that leads from Cusco to Machu Picchu.  When we got out of the bus it was quite a busy scene. All the groups hiking the trail start in the same spot, so there were buses, hikers and porters everywhere. But, this is where we noticed the first awesome thing about our tour company. Our porters, the men that carried all our food, tents, supplies and gear, were all wearing red from head-to-toe. We could spot them from a mile away. For our 13 hikers we had 2 guides, 18 porters and a chef! That’s a support crew of 21 people for our 13 hikers.

Our AMAZING porters 

After packing up all our gear, filling up our water bottles, and lacing up our shoes, we started on our way! We had to get our passports checked before starting (the trail is SUPER regulated and only a few hundred hikers are allowed per day), but after the obligatory stamp, we were hiking.

 

The first couple of hours were over relatively flat, dry, desert valley terrain. We wound through the valley, following the train tracks and hugging the banks of the river that flows all the way to the base of Machu Picchu. I say “relatively” flat, because the guides tend to refer to anything other than a 45 degree hill as “Inca Flat.” Inca Flat became a running joke, and almost killed my feet on the first day.  Against my better judgment I had purchased a new pair of hiking boots, and breaking them in on the trail wasn’t exactly the best idea!

Foot relief

But after soaking my poor feet in a freezing cold mountain stream, we continued our hike. We had an amazing 3-course lunch (cold drinks, hot soup, chicken, salads, rice, fresh avocados, and dessert!) and hiked for a few more hours to our first camp site.

Our first day of hiking was pretty difficult – I was short of breath most of the day, it was pretty hot, and the Inca Flats were pretty rough, but the views were SO incredible.  I shared the trail with donkeys, llamas,  and hummingbirds, climbed up and down hills and valleys, and finally made it to camp. The porters had hot tea, and warm water and soap waiting, and we had a Happy Hour of hot chocolate, popcorn and camp songs all before our elaborate 3-course dinner.

 

We all passed out after a few rounds of cards and a few thousand calories worth of rice and hot chocolate. A great first day!!

Inca Trail: Day 2 – Wayllabamba to Chaquicocha

Aka the Hardest Day EVER

In the jungle

O.M.G.

By far the most difficult day of hiking/physical activity I have EVER experienced. But it was absolutely amazing.  We woke up BEFORE the sunrise (to hot tea delivered to our tents, and buckets of hot water and soap to freshen up), had an amazing breakfast, and then set off for a 12+ hour day of hiking.

The first two hours was literally straight uphill through the rainforest. Luckily, we had an overcast morning (with a slight on and off drizzle), so it was cool and shady in the forest. After a quick snack break in a valley, we had an amazing view straight up the mountain to the famous Dead Woman’s Pass – it was covered in a thick mist and as we restarted the hike it started drizzling.

STAIRS. I have never climbed so many stairs.  We climbed for 2 hours on a rocky trail poised on the edge of the valley, through on-and-off misting rain, and we finally made it to the very top of Dead Woman’s Pass! From day one (8923ft) we climbed to 13,779 feet!

At Dead Woman's Pass

Sadly, we still had 6-7 hours left of hiking :(

After reaching the peak, and refueling on chocolate and a variety of Amazonian nuts, we had to begin a treacherous 2,000 foot descent.  Unfortunately, the weather on the next valley was crazy: once we crossed the peak there was a driving wind blowing the now legit rain into our faces and the temperature dropped to a few degrees above freezing. Instantly my hands were numb, my pants were soaked, and I was trying my hardest to see through the tiny slit I left in my waterproof jacket hood.

I finally decided to just go for it and I ended up half-jogging down the never-ending staircase. After about 30 minutes of awkward galloping, countless downhill switchbacks, and a few hundred meters, the weather lightened up and it began to warm up. Overall, we climbed down for about 2 quad-liquefying hours. Knees still shaking, we stumbled into camp and had hot tea and a huge delicious lunch.

But the respite was short lived, and we were told that we had to climb another 1,500 feet up. And then? Down another 1,320 feet to the next campsite (to our next meal).

So, I re-laced my terribly ugly boots and fortified by a small mountain of carbohydrates took to the trail again. I can’t say I didn’t consider lasso-ing a llama and riding it up the next pass. But the next few hours were beautiful, up slopes covered in ruins, past high, hidden mountain lakes, and up and down more and more stairs. We came to the top of the next pass (13,123 feet!) and then into a valley. Hanging on a ledge on the inside of the valley, there was a HUGE ruin, a compound overlooking the jungle floor.

Dan's feet didn't fit on the stairs! :)

It was a really amazing site (and sight). I was almost getting sort of tired of piles of rocks that people call ruins, but this one was really beautiful. The sun was setting behind the mountains, and this huge site was just clinging to this precipitous ledge. It was a great way to end the day.

After wandering around the ruin for a while, we climbed DOWN the valley for the last time for the day, and found our campsite. From the site, we were surrounded by vistas of snow capped peaks and the sunset. The fog rolled in just as the sun dipped all the way behind the mountains, and it got cold quickly. We had a HUGE meal, complete with hot cocoa and dessert. Not surprisingly, we passed out immediately. We had another big day coming up!