The Inca trail is a four day trek up to the recently voted new wonder of the world, Machu Picchu. The terrain here is incredible. The stone clad path leads you through deep forests, along gorgeous streams, through flourishing valleys and to the peaks of steep mountain tops. In fact, with so many gorgeous mountains, I was quickly introduced to the concept of “Summit Pants.” A simple concept: climb to the tallest summit, then ask a passing stranger to take a picture of you with your trousers around your ankles.
The second day was the hardest and coincidentally also my birthday. The day is a step climbing exercise, uphill all the way. Upon reaching camp everyone was totally exhausted, but the feeling of self satisfaction was great. Then as we sit down awaiting dinner a small candle appears out of nowhere from around the corner and the classic birthday song begins. Somehow, in the middle of nowhere, half way up a mountain, our cook has managed to bake me a cake. And a particularly good one at that.
I can’t stress enough how incredibly impressed we were with the Peruvians. Our Inca Trail cook made possibly the best meals of our Peruvian experience while our porters carried half an industrial-sized kitchen together with all our tents and enough food to feed two dozen people for half a week. But not only did they carry this, they also jogged the whole way up and down the mountains, without even breaking a sweat. My attempt to keep pace with one on the third day lasted all but an hour, despite the fact that his bag was twice that of mine and it was all down hill. My legs spent the whole next day living to regret it.
The fourth and final day starts as a race. The gates to Macchu Picchu open an hour pre-sunrise to allow the best views when you arrive. However first there’s a mad trek along a thin and narrow path which ends with a 45 degree climb up to the Sun Gate. The problem with this path is that its breadth only allows a single-file queue of one behind the other. So with hundreds of people urgent to finish the last leg of their trek there is serious pressure to keep pace with the fastest of the horde. One girl behind me soon broke down in tears, refusing to stop, despite her literally hyperventilating in the low-oxygen altitude. Passing people sympathized with her suffering, but no-one wanted to risk missing that critical moment as the sun rose and spread light over Macchu Picchu.
As you arrive to Macchu Picchu you are literally astonished at the beauty of this place, and you realise instantly where the inspiration for every “lost jungle city” style movie-set has come from. What you don’t realise, as you begin to relax, thinking that that trekking is finally over, is that they will now tell you that the enormous rock that appears in the back of every Macchu Picchu picture is in fact the ultimate view spot to observe this wonder. Put off we were not, as of course upon reaching the top, what better opportunity to add to our growing Summit Pants collection!
The second day was the hardest and coincidentally also my birthday. The day is a step climbing exercise, uphill all the way. Upon reaching camp everyone was totally exhausted, but the feeling of self satisfaction was great. Then as we sit down awaiting dinner a small candle appears out of nowhere from around the corner and the classic birthday song begins. Somehow, in the middle of nowhere, half way up a mountain, our cook has managed to bake me a cake. And a particularly good one at that.
I can’t stress enough how incredibly impressed we were with the Peruvians. Our Inca Trail cook made possibly the best meals of our Peruvian experience while our porters carried half an industrial-sized kitchen together with all our tents and enough food to feed two dozen people for half a week. But not only did they carry this, they also jogged the whole way up and down the mountains, without even breaking a sweat. My attempt to keep pace with one on the third day lasted all but an hour, despite the fact that his bag was twice that of mine and it was all down hill. My legs spent the whole next day living to regret it.
The fourth and final day starts as a race. The gates to Macchu Picchu open an hour pre-sunrise to allow the best views when you arrive. However first there’s a mad trek along a thin and narrow path which ends with a 45 degree climb up to the Sun Gate. The problem with this path is that its breadth only allows a single-file queue of one behind the other. So with hundreds of people urgent to finish the last leg of their trek there is serious pressure to keep pace with the fastest of the horde. One girl behind me soon broke down in tears, refusing to stop, despite her literally hyperventilating in the low-oxygen altitude. Passing people sympathized with her suffering, but no-one wanted to risk missing that critical moment as the sun rose and spread light over Macchu Picchu.
As you arrive to Macchu Picchu you are literally astonished at the beauty of this place, and you realise instantly where the inspiration for every “lost jungle city” style movie-set has come from. What you don’t realise, as you begin to relax, thinking that that trekking is finally over, is that they will now tell you that the enormous rock that appears in the back of every Macchu Picchu picture is in fact the ultimate view spot to observe this wonder. Put off we were not, as of course upon reaching the top, what better opportunity to add to our growing Summit Pants collection!
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