Inca Trail
Wow. Where to begin…
An unforgettable life experience in several ways: seeing and learning the magic of the Incas (truly badass), trekking through the magnificent Andes, and the physical challenge of hiking and camping at high altitude for several days. There were multiple moments I paused and felt how happy my soul was - I think my most used phrase was “my heart is singing”.
The Inca Trail we did - the proper version - is a 4 day and 3 night trek along the Incan’s religious trail to Machu Picchu (they had commercial and military trails too). A pilgrimage, you might say, as our guide did. Although the goal was to reach Machu Picchu, really the beauty of the adventure was the hike itself.
In our group were five people who’d come from Philadelphia just to do the trek and they were excellent. We very quickly became a group of seven friends and our group dynamic was great.
Our guide Dan (aka Papa Llama) was born to do this job and turned our experience from a trek to a privileged glimpse of Peruvian and Incan life, with fascinating history lessons and an unlimited supply of truly hilarious quips (“no probllama” and “llama Mia” being just two of them). Our superhuman porters turned our camping into glamping, and thankfully our research to find a sustainable tour company that treated their porters well paid off.
We had daily starts of 4am (or earlier!) in which we were woken up by a steaming cup of hot coca tea (good for altitude sickness) and some fresh, hot water to clean ourselves with. We set off before dawn most days and hiked until 3pm or 4pm, stopping for lunch en route. Along the way we stopped at multiple Incan ruins and learnt about their way of life, society, architecture, and incredible intelligence and learned wisdom. For example, they made copper gloves for “surgeons” to wear pre-surgery, to take advantage of copper’s sanitising and anti-bacterial properties (news to me!). Each day had different challenges (gringo killer numbers 1, 2, and 3 spring to mind) and very different and fascinating flora and fauna.
The food we were given is deserving of a whole paragraph of its own. It was AMAZING. At least three courses for every meal and each one restaurant quality. Our chef Jorge was a magician, sneaking in carbs in creative and delicious ways (even for me who’s not much of a carb fan) [Jeremy edit: My favourite was the mashed-potato-Swiss-roll starter, which was genuinely delicious!]. Breakfast was a brunch-worthy affair, with pancakes, bread and jam, fresh fruit, coffee and tea and hot chocolate. Lunch and supper would always start with a homemade soup, followed by multiple vegetarian and pescatarian courses as well as various types of meat dishes, with the occasional decorative bird made out of fruit and veg, and once a turtle made of half a pineapple and some frankfurters! This would then be followed by one - or sometimes two - puddings. On our final night Jorge even baked us a cake! With no oven and no electricity! At high altitude! Apparently they’ve developed some way of doing it in a frying pan… regardless, the end result was moist and warm and delicious.
We had near-perfect weather every day, which meant it was sunny all the time and freeeeeeeeeezing cold at night. However, the heavens opened just before dawn on our final day, as we were waiting for the gates to the final part of our route to open… which meant our steep, slippery climb on the edge of a cliff up to the Sun Gate was both terrifying and exhilarating (especially the parts in the dark before the sun had come up), and Machu Picchu was so disguised in the mist it wasn’t until several hours later we could see it properly [J: I guess we’ll just have to go back and do it again].
This didn’t dampen our spirits though. Nothing could after such an awe-filled experience!
Extra photography by Tim, Rob, Michelle, Fezile, Fransisco and Dan (Papa Llama).
