Peruvian pilgrimage
spent an unforgettable four days hiking the Inca Trail.
Dawn was welcomed by a band parading through the streets and it was the perfect wake-up call for the first day of the Inca Trail.
It was 4.30am and coffee was scarce. My partner and I anxiously sat in the hostel foyer, in the muddled town of Cusco, Peru, watching other backpackers lug their impossibly large bags over their shoulders as they waited for their tour guides to arrive. We didn’t know what to expect.
Cusco sits at about 3353 metres above sea level, and the highest point of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Dead Woman’s Pass sits at 4200m. Altitude sickness is something to watch out for, it can affect even the fittest people. We stayed in Cusco for three days before the Inca Trail so we could adjust and for the first few days we both felt sick. Taking altitude sickness pills seemed to help. What didn’t help was getting food poisoning on the first day, after eating at a local Irish bar. But that wasn’t going to stop us.
Day one, 12km: Cusco to Wayllabamba
Our quirky tour guides, Marco and Percy, welcomed everybody on board the bus. We made our way through the mountains as rays of sunlight reached across the windows. The rickety dirt and cobblestone roads made it a wobbly 21⁄2-hour ride. Parts of the road were so narrow we had to back up and wait for other cars to pass.
We passed the villages of Chinchero, Urubamba and Ollantaytambo and stopped in the Sacred Valley for breakfast before continuing for another 30 minutes to our starting point, at the Vilcanota River.
Sleepy tourists staggered off the bus and began preparing their belongings for the next four days. We decided to carry everything ourselves for the first day; clothes, toiletries, sleeping bags and two mattresses. Most people had hired porters, and by the second day we were lucky to hire one too.
Peruvian porters are smallframed, and unbelievably strong when it comes to carrying big bags, tents and God knows what else. We were amazed at how they do it. It takes four days to hike the Inca Trail, but the record for running it is set by a local porter, who did it in just under 31⁄2 hours.
The first climb across the Vilcanota River was steep, everyone in our 16-group tour was wheezing – this was meant to be the ‘‘easy day’’. We stopped after 20 minutes in the blistering Andes heat, surrounded by mountains to introduce ourselves and learn about the local fauna – and one that was going to help us: cocoa leaves. They are the same ones used to make cocaine and we chewed them to help give us energy and overcome altitude sickness. They’re sacred to the Andes.
The next few hours we saw our first Inca ruins of Llactapata, discovered by American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911. We pass the ruins of the Inca hillfort of Huillca Raccay and Cordillera Urubamba mountains with the snow-capped peak of Veronica in the distance. We were sweating in the Andean sun while gazing at the snow. Hours later, we arrived at camp Wayllabamba with our tents already set up by the porters and our dinner sizzling away, prepared by our designated chef.
Day two, 12km: Wayllabamba to Pacamayo
The toughest day began at 6am with a light breakfast and a side of sore legs.
Luckily we were able to hire a local porter from Wayllabamba who carried one of our 12kg bags. That was a lifesaver and made day two more manageable.
We continued for one hour to Tres Piedres, meaning ‘‘three stones’’ and a small bridge over the Huayruro river for a break. Here we were lucky enough to take part in a ritual where our tour guide, Percy shared a part of his culture with us. We picked three stones out of a river which each represented somebody special in our lives.
The ritual involved placing them on a ledge above the mountain and throwing some cocoa leaves into the air, it’s a way of sending love and leaving all your ‘‘bad energy’’ behind.
Along the way there are mini stores where hikers can buy Gatorade and snacks which is exactly what we needed. I must have had at least two litres, because it was stinking hot and I still felt very ill from food poisoning. The tour guides are so understanding and supportive, and there was no pressure to keep up with the group if you feel like lagging behind.
After an encounter with a cute kitten, a few holes in the ground for toilets and buckets to wash our hands, we continued on for three hours through steepening woods toward Dead Woman’s Pass.
The steep climb to the 4200m peak was tough. Our tired bodies were soothed by the sound of an old man playing a traditional Peruvian flute at the peak. The sound drifted through the mountains as we admired the view.
On the descent we experienced cold winds, a nice change from the blistering heat – it was all downhill from there. After more than six