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Machu Picchu, Peru

Our goal like many millions before us is to reach Machu Picchu via the Inca trail. Most people would assume there is just one ‘Inca trail’ but in actual fact there are a few inca routes, including the Classic and Community treks. Back in the day (the 1400’s), the Incas walked from Cusco to the summit of Machu Picchu. The Classic route is from the bottom of Machu Picchu mountain to the summit. The Community route takes you on a leg of the royal Inca route, to the bottom of Machu Picchu. The Classic is the **********e to get on because it is advertised as going through the Sun Gates at sunrise (but it’s actually at 6am) and is less kilometres and lower in altitude. The problem with that one is you’re trekking with a few hundred people beside you on a trek well worn by tourists.
News flash I have something good to say about Dragoman: they are the only company to have set up a Community Trek, using the Inca trail, with profits from us benefiting the community through social and environmental projects. Only Dragoman customers are allowed on this specific Inca trail. This means the only people we will see for the next 4 days will be the 15 of us and the wonderful Andean Travel Crew and one token Dragoman guide. On the Classic trip, they will walk along side up to 200 tourists and 200 guides and sherpas.
The best thing about the Community Inca Trek is that the profit goes to communities – if only a measly $25 per person. They have actually just changed the trek route so that a different community will benefit as the old one has become self sustainable. The communities are often resistant at first, as anyone would be getting something for nothing. The first year is getting to know the community and finding out what they actually want, not what a large organisation thinks they need. The last trek project lasted 10 years. It funded and supported a community by formally educating school teachers and paying for an extra teacher until the government took over 9 years later. The money built a hotel to give locals jobs, rebuilt a school, reforested (30k plants) and bought a school bus so kids could go to secondary school in the neighbouring town rather than walking the three hour journey each day (also it was the first privately owned school bus in Peru).
The second project community trek, the one we are on, is assisting a new community. This new project, using our contribution will directly fund major projects, including reintroducing alpacas and llamas to the land they once inhabited 200 years ago and funding a reforestation project. Each alpaca cost $150, so our group basically bought two of the furry devils. The community will benefit from a breeding program for wool and meat. The other project is the reforestation of native trees. Non native trees (such as the eucalyptus) drink too much of the valuable water supply. Using money from treks coming through in the following months, they will be able to help plant the new trees. Although the physical benefits will be seen in a year’s time, the social benefits won’t be realised for many years. With the help of Dragoman customers trekking the Community Trek, this particular project will be completed in 7years. Every project also pays for the community to have dental and medical care twice yearly.
To sustain the established community, the first community trek, is now opened to other travel companies. Places that weren’t on the map, now are thanks to this fantastic initiative. With that intro out of the way, the 5 day, 4 night journey to Machu Picchu begins. A journey of emotions, challenges and achievements.

DAY ONE – It begins
4am – I can’t sleep. I’ve already started worrying about today’s trek and we haven’t even left the hotel. I’m not the fittest person and I’m worried about trekking in the altitude. At least it’s only a short 2 – 4 hours today – or is it? How long does 6 km take to walk?

7am – We’re in the bus and ready to go. I’ve just found a hole in my pants. At least the people behind me for the next few days will know if I’ve changed my knickers or not.

8am – Visit to the Saqsaywaman city which is built to look like a head of a puma. It’s body was Cuzco…. If you have a bloody good imagination. The Incas worshiped:
– The Condor Bird (representing before birth or heaven – Machu Picchu looks like a condor supposedly)
– The Puma (Representing life on earth – and looks like Cuzco)
– The Snake (representing the afterlife or underworld – yip I can see how they thought the snake looks like a river.. The river and the Milky Way link creating the circle of life)
Back to Saqsaywaman city, the temple. This rock masterpiece was once 20m high. It’s amazing to think that something of this size was achieved in the 14th century, built over 25years by 300,000 people – all this for a temple. Sadly not much remains as prior to 1956, locals could take granite rocks from the former temple to build their houses. The Spanish also used them for building church stone walls in Cusco city. It would be as odd as going to the Vatican and stealing the light bulbs for your own house.
The Inca ‘headquarters’ was in Cusco which is why there are so many ruins. The Incan empire was a powerful civilisation that spread as far as Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. They worshiped the sun and moon as it was important to agriculture.

10am – Fantastic presentation of traditional woven materials. ‘Another’ opportunity to buy a woven alpaca blanket. It’s just so cheap.

11am – Interesting visit to a former Incan temple, built in the 15 century. The Spanish invaded and tried to integrate the Catholic religion by building on top of the Incan temples. Now a days, the Peruvian government wants to build an airport in the middle of this serenity. I think they all need to be more considerate.

12pm – It’s probably as clear as day that neither Dave or I have done so much as Google anything about the Incan trail, let alone research how hard it is. We didn’t know how long, or how many days until the pre departure meeting last night. The trek has just begun and we have just found out our route is 45km and over two mountain ranges – so much for a flat stroll up to Machu Picchu.

1pm – It begins. The bus dropped us off to the furthest point. It’s a daunting thought of what lays head.

5pm – Day one is over. We were so relieved to have arrived. Today was through farmland so the odd cow avoidance was necessary. After 4 hours of trekking I find out we haven’t actually started the Inca trek. Today was a practice. What the…..? This is a little worrying. They said today was easy yet we are all out of breath.
As we haven’t started the trek, we are in a home stay with a toilet and beds. Tomorrow, we won’t be so lucky.

8:03PM – So tired, lights out early – on a Easter Saturday night. Rookies.

DAY TWO – 12 km, straight up
3:30am – My lord, it’s Easter Sunday and the music and ceremony for Easter has started in the village. Yes, at 3:30am. Do they not know they have alllllll weekend to celebrate or commiserate. (KRIS: don’t shake your head at me)

5am – The sherpa / servant / guide dudes knocked on the door for wake up call, turned the lights on, and delivered us coffee in bed. Oh yea! Coca Tea (the devine plant and what cocaine is made from) is also offered as it helps with altitude sickness.
It is said that today is the hardest day. The plan is to increase in altitude by 1100m, bringing us to 4500m.a.s.l by the end of the day.

9:15am – It’s only 9:15. I feel like I’ve walked all day, yes it’s only been two hours and 20 mins. Mind you, now we have already walked up 600 metres. Bringing us to 4000m.a.s.l. That is very steep and very high. It’s like walking up a staircase in this air. One foot in front of the the other, like a wedding walk is the only way to make it.

10:30am – Break stop, in fetal position, collapsed..

11:30am – Holly ****! – we actually made it to the highest point of the day, 4500m.a.s.l. Climbing up the last 200 Metres w
as so steep it was nearly hands and knees. Anything after that is going to be easy(ier). Even before lunch we have gone though farmland, forests and tussock grass fields.

3:15pm – 8.5 hours after we left the home stay, we arrived at our home for the night… the side of a mountain. After Kris, Dave and I got there in 2nd and 3rd place. Not even 20 metres away from the tents site I fell over. This time, straight in the mud. Wet pants, shoes and socks – Sigh. At least this time it wasn’t a cow patty -Relief.

There are two groups of mules and sherpas. For the four hours it takes us to walk, it takes these guys 1 hour. They are as old as 65 and they run ahead of us with their pack horses along side them. The first group of sherpas were ahead of us at lunch, so a pre cooked 3 course meal was served in a tent when we arrived. The second group were ahead of us at dinner. Our tents were set up by the time we got there. This was perfect as it started raining on our arrival and just didn’t stop. (Here they say “it rains alpacas and llamas” not cats and dogs) Straight to bed at 15:30. Dinner isn’t for a few hours – let’s hope it’s room service….

4:15pm – The sherpas called out ‘agua caliente’ outside our tent and two tiny dog bowl sized bowls full of warm water were delivered – for showering our hands, feet and woopsidasey. I giggled uncontrollably showering my whole body in a bowl of water, inside of our dome tent.

DAY THREE – 13 km
5am – The sherpas came knocking on our tent with coffee and bowls for washing ourselves. Last night was freezing, without the wind chill it was -5 on the side of the cliff. By 6:20am we had enjoyed breakfast and were on the trail. It begins, again.

9:45am – We have been walking up hill for the last 3.5 hours. Yesterday’s trek took us up and over a mountain range. Today was through a valley with the last leg before lunch ‘directly up’ 200m to another mountain. We’ve crossed ice, rivers and marshland already.

10:50am – Made it to the highest point of our trek, 4,700m – from THIS moment on it’s all down hill. That last bit was sheer cliff face with red rock. It’s another hour and a half before lunch is ready and waiting for us.

4:30pm – We have arrived. Second and last big day. Apart from the epic climb to the top, it was a day full of valleys and cliff faces heading downwards. It’s amazing how fast the body adapts, physically and mentally. A few days ago I was struggling to walk a few metres or up stairs. Once that mammoth, up hill mountain walk yesterday morning was completed, I felt like anything could be tackled. Mind over matter and the body adapting to the altitude and fitness requirements. The tent site tonight is in a valley, with clouds coming right down to the river and glaciers in the distance. A former school (tiny building) lays in the valley. Only 5 kids attended so it was closed. The government required 15 pupils. Those 5 kids must now walk for miles to a neighbouring schools each week.

DAY FOUR- 14km
5am – The last walk taking us from our campsite in the mountins to a hotel with shower. Problem is it’s raining and has been all night, even with a bit of snow. All the mountains surrounding are covered in white. Dave and I slept in all our layers of thermals and it’s still freezing. I’m just looking forward to being there now. Let’s hope the rain stops…… We delayed the start until 730am, until the rain stopped.

10am – So close to the finish and I’m, again, shin deep in mud. Once again the shoes are gross for the last hour. At least that wasn’t the foot with a blister the size of my toe. Just man up Julia, just man up!

11am – Dave and I were the first two to walk over the finish line, two hours ahead of schedule. We actually ran for it but he has longer legs so got first place. Gets me every time.. When we started this walk four days ago, we couldn’t breath. Huff puff every two minutes, just walking up a hill. By the end, walking hours on end was just a stroll in the park (…a park on a cliff face). The ups were obviously harder than the downs. Like anything ‘the challenge’ is what makes it memorable. I can see why the people on this trip have set themselves challenges such as Everest, Kilimanjaro and now the Inca Trail. We could have taken the easy route, via the train. However we choose to walk the path the Incas took, up 4,700km of high mountains, through forests, farmland, marshland, mountain ranges and ancient Inca terraces. We contributed financially to projects in the community and to the hard working sherpas who worked tirelessly for us. Achieving something of this enormity, is something we will remember for life.

4pm – This is the time we should be going to look at the Ollantaytambo Sun Temple worship thing. This is the place the Incas would go before going to Machu Piccho for afternoon worshipping. That’s ‘nearly’ as impressive as our dear friend Kris going to mass at 3am before a 12 hour trek. The temple is strategically placed with views over the Sacred Valley providing a perfect defence location. The most amazing thing I have heard about the Incas to date is the effort they went into to make this temple. They MOVED THE RIVER to get the giant rocks across from the mountain to the new temple. Like, who does that?
This 4pm session of Inca information was courtesy of Kris who went on our behalf. After the big walk we opted for chilling in a pub and wandering the markets while appreciating the view from a distance.

DAY FIVE – A day at Machu Piccho (translating in Quechua language to “old bird” or “old peak” – if pronounced wrong, it translates to Old Penis)

7:30am -I am sitting on the cute little Machu Piccho-choo train up to Machu Picchu sipping organic coffee and chocolate. Thank goodness it’s by train, then by bus, because my whole body aches – damn exercise.

9am – Arrived at the entrance to Machu Picchu along with a few thousand other people. We had a wonderful guide who gave us the low down on this high city in the clouds. To summarise over 100 years of effort by 10,000 workers, Machu Picchu was built in 1414, between mountains and was classed as an ‘administration city’ as it was central to 20 other Inca cities. Although it feels like it’s in the clouds, this “New 7 Wonder” is located at 2400m.a.s.l. For me, what makes this so impressive is the condition it is in; meaning it doesn’t look like a pile of rocks. It’s incredible the way these rocks have been ‘carved’ to ‘join’ together. For this reason the structures remain intact after 600 odd years and survived natural elements and disasters. There are a number of hypotheses for why the Incas left Machu Picchu in an unfinished state. The most likely is the Spaniards invading South America, although they never actually found Machu Picchu. Sadly the last living Inca was found in South America in 1572, about 35 years after the Spanish invasion that killed the Inca civilisation. I think another interesting feature in this place that was designed to house 500 Incas is the strategically placed windows. They are positioned in a way that proves it was them who started the idea of 4 seasons. The whole of this city and the 100 stone retaining walls used for terracing the farms was built facing east, towards the sun rise. All of these design features show how advanced they were for their time, especially considering how bloody heavy these rocks would have been to move and chisel down with caveman-like tools. I would have never thought to sand my house down with pumice for goodness sake! They even had different quality buildings made of rocks based on hierarchy – high quality (for Gods – who would ‘actually’ live in there?), medium (priests and equivalent) and low (for the plebs).
Haven’t I come a long way from not really appreciating the “piles of rocks”? To finish our Inca expedition, we climbed up to the Sun Gate. That is the first place the Incas saw Machu Picchu after walking for eight days. As mentioned at the beginning that is where the Classic Trail first see Machu Picchu. After walking up h
uge, steep rock stairs up to the Sun Gate, we have a new found respect for our travelling companions who did that Classic trek. It’s a hard slog walking and climbing stone. After the visit to the Sun Gate our trekking days were officially over, so we caught the bus back to Aguas Calientes from where the train delivers us home – not before trying some guinea pig and drinking beer. The little animal’s skin is a bit odd but the meat tastes similar to chicken. Trust our doctor mate Kris to dissect the head – thankfully the eyeballs came out after the last bite 🙂

11pm – We finally arrived back into Cusco. Although a relief to be back, that sadly marked the end of our journey with Kris. Over the last year we have travelled with hundreds of people but there really has only been a handful that we will be friends with for life. Kris has made the world of difference to the two of us over the last 6 weeks in South America. You live and breathe every moment with these people. They see you at your worst and the memories shared will be remembered for life. Kris – you’re one of a kind, top bloke – see you in OZ in a few years!

DAY SIX – A whole lot of nothing
No 5am wake up call, no delivery of coffee to the tent, no showering in a bowl, no toilets in holes in the ground, no 8 hour walking up a cliff, no cold tent to sleep in – Only sleep ins, wifi and massive amounts of western food at Jack’s Cafe is planned for today. The last 5 days was bloody hard work, probably the most physically challenging thing we have ever done. I wouldn’t swap a day of it for anything – and I can now do up the top button on my pants! That feeling of accomplishment can only come from hard work. Dave was with me, as always, by my side motivating and supporting me to finish. Although I’m not surprised, I am thankful. We did it together, as we always do. What better way to celebrate than to spend the last day in Cusco, just the two of us. Cusco is a cool little town. The main square and little cobbled streets remind me of Prague but as it’s a town with the sole purpose of people doing treks so it feels like Kathmandu. It has all the same little trekking shops as Kathmandu does for trekkers to Everest.

After a leisurely breakfast together, Dave and I went and had a 1 hour couples full body massage for $30! Midway through, my masseuse was switched and a commotion began behind the see through curtains. Once we were dressed and got up to leave we realised the commotion was 4 cops and someone from the ministry having a blue with the masseuses. At least we got out in time, before the unwanted “happy ending” commenced!

With the Inca adventures over, the last leg of this trip to Lima is just about to begin…… But not before we say ola to our closest buddies from the last leg of our trip. It was a sad day when we bid Ashka, Dane, Lesley and Alex a fairwell in La Paz, Bolivia. Who would have thought a few weeks later, at 11pm at night we would stumble across them in the world’s highest Irish pub in Cusco, Peru. There was no other choice but to go out dancing with them at Mama Africa until 3:30am – and to get our face painted of course! Prior to this trip, 9pm was my late night. What did this lot do to me! The Incas never said goodbye, they said see you again, so that is what we did to our awesome kiwi buddies.
Only a few hours after we stumbled home, our bags were packed and we were on the road again. For the last time.

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