In Search of Machu Picchu
By Lorna Marsland
Inca Trail - Day 1
David and I had waited a number of years to do this trek mainly because I knew we would need longer than a normal holiday to make the most of the distance travelled and so we delayed it until my retirement earlier this year. On reflection I’m not convinced that it was such a good strategy as I found the requirements of the trek more demanding than I had expected and I no longer have the resources, either physical or psychological, to rely on when things become more challenging. Most of the people on the Inca Trail were between 20-40 years old and they seemed to bounce along it whatever their initial fitness level, in a way that has become a distant memory to me. Having said that, it was a wonderful experience which I really enjoyed, but I wish I’d done it 10 years earlier.
One of the greatest challenges I found was the constant obsession with Alpine starts. Every day we got up before dawn and it was no surprise therefore to learn that our meeting point on Day 1 was the square in Cusco at 4.30am. The coach was already parked up and the other members of the group were on it when we arrived although we weren’t late. I slept for the first couple of hours until we reached our breakfast stop at Ollantaytambo where we stayed for 45 minutes and then continued up the Sacred Valley until we reached the starting point of the trail known as Km82.
The first thing we did was have a group photo under the sign and then onto the checkpoint where our permits and passports were checked against the list of trekkers permitted to pass through on this date. It was all very formal and strict and I was surprised as there seemed little evidence of organisation elsewhere in Peru. Once through, we crossed the river and began our upward climb. The weather was sunny but cool and the path at this point was not steep. I didn’t feel great; the early start was catching up with me and I was nursing the headache which was to become a firm friend on this trip. On the plus side, the walking was gentle and it didn’t become at all strenuous until we approached our lunch stop a few hours later at Wayllabamba at 3,000 metres. The porters had set up a kitchen tent and were busy preparing our food which was delicious and we all devoured the full 3 courses! Foolishly I ate too much and had heartburn all afternoon so I resolved to be less greedy and to eat light on subsequent days. It was tough though as each meal was a gastronomic delight.
After lunch we set off again uphill for a couple of hours and a further 300 metres of ascent to Ayapata where we camped for the night. It was not customary for most parties to spend the night at Ayapata, apparently, but moving on meant that we were significantly ahead the following day and would therefore have a marginally less demanding day as a result. This was important as tomorrow would be the hardest and longest day of the trek - and it was!
Meanwhile, we reached the campsite at 4pm, knackered. It was quite scenic with spectacularly awful loos, which we had been told to expect. It also became cold as soon as what little sun there was, disappeared. That night I slept little, waking up at 2pm shivering and with numb feet and that was all the sleep I had that night which would become a problem later.
Inca Trail Day 2
I had lain awake most of the night wishing I had brought my down bag and so it was a relief to be disturbed at 5.30am with tea and warm water to wash in. We had 40 minutes to pack, wash and eat breakfast and then JJ (our guide) appeared saying ’ Will we go now family?’ which was his customary way of telling us to get going. By the end of the day when we had been walking for more than 10 hours, the need for dawn raids became clear.
Today’s trek could be divided evenly into 4 parts; steeply up, steeply down, lunch, followed by more steeply up and even more steeply down. The first part appeared quite innocuous as we followed a stony path beside a stream up through rain forest but increased gradient and humidity increased the challenge to the extent that by the time we stopped for a snack break, I was beginning to regret the whole notion of the Inca Trail. I was incredibly tired, through a combination of altitude and lack of sleep, and I briefly considered going down . However experience had taught me that turning back is the last thing to do in these circumstances as the memory is always one of regret. So, I drank some water, ate the Snicker bar I’d surreptitiously bought in Cusco, and carried on. It was tough. I’d not experienced problems with altitude before either in the Alps, or in Nepal, even at 6,000 metres, but of course I was much younger then, so I suppose it was just the physiology of old age - great!
Meanwhile David was striding out showing no ill-effects whatsoever. We had been training for this walk for the past 5 months by walking or cycling every week, as he had been concerned that it would be too difficult for him, and it had obviously paid off. Which just shows you that altitude sickness is no respecter of fitness. A guide from another company who was sitting beside the path when we walked passed, shouted out to him:
‘Hey old man, how old are you?’
’66’ he replied
‘Gee, I hope I’m still doing this at 66!’
At which point David swelled to his full height and wore a beaming smile for the rest of the day. I, on the other hand, was still staggering my way up this elastic path, bound for Dead Woman’s Pass, not named lightly I thought.
We took team and individual photos and had some fruit before we began our 2 hour steep and gruelling descent into Pacamayu and then it was lunch time! So soon, I thought, we’ve only be walking 7 hours!
The scenery was amazing. I couldn’t believe that the treeline was above 4,000 metres, and what looked like impenetrable bush cloaked the mountainside. Interlocking ‘V’ shaped valleys of huge proportions filled the skyline. Faint paths snaked through the vegetation, contouring the steep sided mountains like fine threads of twine. Even with the brand spanking new folding trekking poles, the steepness of this terrain was telling on the knees, so a lunch stop was gratefully appreciated as a time to rest rather than tuck into the 3 course meal gallantly provided for us by the porters to keep us going. Pleading indigestion, I ate the soup and had a nap.
After lunch it was up again to the second pass of the day, in what appeared to be an endless series of steps and zigzags although this ascent was shorter, I planned renovation projects for two rooms at home as a distraction strategy, which continued throughout the 2 hour descent to my favourite campsite. The loos were still minging but the views were spectacular and a pack of llamas wandered around the campsite at will, helping with the tent assembly. They were used to humans as a fresh group visited each day and so were quite happy to be photographed and herded away by Geoff, the Aussie llama whisperer.
We all sat down to dinner wearing everything we had, including hats, gloves and scarves, as the temperature had plummeted severely, it being the highest camp at 3,600 metres. We looked a motley crew huddled around the table, swapping recollections of that day’s challenges. Someone asked David if it had been his idea to do this trek as they had seen me struggling at times during the day and I presume they thought that being male the Inca Trail would have been a macho-driven objective. He vehemently denied this and laid the responsibility firmly on my shoulders, claiming that he was doing this for me and that he had really wanted to go wine tasting on the Loire! He then began to wax lyrically about the nice little hotels to be found there with hot showers, comfy beds and a nice bottle of Sancerre with your dinner, so that everyone else began to question their choice of holiday!
Fortunately the food arrived at that point and was again stupendous and the presentation magnificent. Fruit had been prepared on skewers and stuck into a pineapple shaped like a tortoise which had a modified carrot for a head. This was one of the many artistic meals we were presented with over the course of the trek. I filled my water bottle with hot water tonight to use as a hot water bottle as I didn’t want another sleepless night and fortunately I slept like a log, snug as a bug in a rug!
Inca Trail Day 3
We had a lie in today and weren’t wakened until 6.00am with tea and warm water - luxury! The Monty Python sketch came to mind but there was no time to linger over it. Again 40 minutes to eat and break camp was a bit of a challenge, although there would be more.
The walk today was much easier and the third pass was achieved with little awareness of any incline. The temperature was hot and humid as we walked through the cloud forest although the sky was grey tending to drizzle and we all wore waterproofs. I had Spanish tummy and had to keep darting off into the bushes and was very relieved when we came to a rest stop with some loos whatever their state. Then it was down big time. There were one or two complaints from the knees but as we descended the cloud gradually lifted and we could enjoy the fantastic views of the approach to Machu Picchu. We couldn’t see the actual site but the path emerged from the forest at the bend in the river where we were able to look down and see mountains plummeting vertically towards the valley floor where there was little room for anything but the river and a single track railway line. For those of us used to the wide, glaciated valleys of Europe, it was quite amazing.
En route to our next campsite we visited another Inca site where again the llamas were used to visitors as there was a stream of them daily. One llama was particularly friendly and JJ suggested that I feed him. He gave me a piece of apple and told me to put it in my mouth and feed the llama. We had a few teething problems with one of us dropping the apple but having secured it firmly between my teeth I gave it another shot and he happily munched and swallowed. I gave him a big hug which he seemed to enjoy but not as much as the apple or having his picture taken with some batty Brit!
Our third camp was on a precipice a couple of thousand metres above a bend in the river and provided more spectacular views. From here we visited JJ’s favourite Inca site, Winay Huayna which, like Machu Picchu, had a very steep irrigation system allowing water to fall between terraces and be hived off to irrigate the land for crops. He explained that the forest was taking over the site and llamas and other animals were kept by the National Park to keep the grass down and prevent the site becoming overgrown as had happened with other Inca sites. I had assumed llamas were used for transporting goods but apparently they can only carry 20kg so the more sturdily built alpacas do the heavy work and the more attractive llamas court the tourists
After another exotic 4 course dinner including a freshly baked cake (how do you do that in a tent?) and gluten-free option which wasn’t fruit , we retired for the night. It was only 8.30pm but we had to be up at 3pm for some nonsense involving queuing for permits to enter Machu Picchu - another Alpine start - oh joy!
Inca Trail Day 4
It was a mere 5 minutes’ walk to the mandatory checkpoint but we needed to be first in the queue so that we’d be ahead of it when it opened at 5.30am, 1.5 hours later. We all got very cold and very bored during this time but eventually we passed through the gate and began our trek up to the Sun Gate. The rain which had been persistent all night, had reduced to drizzle and then stopped completely but there was a dampness in the air. The famous view from the Sun Gate made a cloudy offering, so far removed from the pictures we’d seen before. Ethereal mist cloaked the mountainside and hovered over Huayna Peak giving it a spooky but very atmospheric presence.
Photos taken we pressed on and descended to the controlled area of Machu Picchu. No pack, food or drink was allowed within the site so we left these at the luggage store before passing through the gates with all the other punters who had taken the bus up from Aguas Calientes.
JJ gave us a thorough tour of the site, which was amazing not least because of its location, perched on a steep hillside overlooking the river valley filtered in the mist. Then the sun appeared from nowhere and we hurriedly snapped our memories of a stunning trek which was suddenly over. The company had been great the porters indefatigable and our guide knowledgeable and amusing. In fact we were quoting him all the way home…
5-8 May 2015.
