October 28th – November 1st, 2023
Check out Part 1 of the post at https://exploringduo.com/peru-1!
Chapter 4: A Strenuous Group Hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
Okay, here it is! After a few days of acclimation, we’re now at the main reason we’re in Peru and the highlight of our trip. The night before the start of our hike, we went to orientation at the Alpaca Expeditions headquarter in Cusco. They gave us a rundown of what to expect and a duffle bag to put personal belongings that our porters would be carrying during the hike. We did our best to pack quickly that night and go to bed early because they next morning we’d check out and start traveling before the sun came up.
Day 1
We got picked up at 4:30am from the Airbnb. After a bus ride to this checkpoint area, we had breakfast in the mist outdoors while the porters scrambled to organize and pack all equipment we needed for the next few days along with our personal belongings. After breakfast was another drive to “Kilometer 82” where the hike starts.
We get off the bus and bam, it starts raining for real. We donned our ponchos, got our passports checked, paid a peso to get in a last call trip to the restroom, adjust hiking sticks, I feel a bit nervous, and off we go.
Luckily for me and my confidence, it was mostly flat in the beginning. In fact, it was so flat and enjoyable in the beginning that Victor said “this hike is too chill”. Not for me! I wished the whole hike could be like this; I’m having a great time at this point.
On this first day, it was constantly poncho on, poncho off. Weather can be really unpredictable so rain was a lot of stop and go. At these lower elevations was also a ridiculous amount of bugs, like these big, big swarms of them. Blech. Annoying and gross, but you get used to them because there’s nothing you can do! Lol.
After the mostly flat part in the beginning was lunch, and after lunch was 2 hours of a more steady uphill. Nothing too memorable here. We got to the campsite at 5pm. As with all the days, the team of porters got here before us and had all our tents set up. We got to rest, have happy hour, then eat the dinner they cook for us. (It’s so nice to have a team working for you on your hike.) With day 1 done, it feels good to have one day under our belt. We can do this.
Day 2
Today was crazy intense, the hands down most challenging day on this hike. The distance was the longest and altitude hits the highest. On day 2, we woke up at 4:30am, packed our stuff, had breakfast, and started hiking at 6am. Hiking would take 11 hours (with rest stops of course) until we arrive at the campsite at 5pm. To add some color to what was ahead, our tour guides gave a pep talk before we set out: “Attitude over altitude!” they said, and we did a group huddle and break with our hiking sticks. The porters even lined up and clapped when we LEFT camp; they usually only clap when we arrive so that’s how we knew today would be bad.
Immediately from camp, it was 2 hours of nothing but steep uphill. But my mind was in the right place and I was feeling good. Just keep going, just keep going, you’re killing it I told myself between heavy breaths. We were one of the earlier arrivers to the checkpoint, got a good restroom break in, ate snacks, and waited for the rest of our group. After those first 2 hours of steep uphill was another 2 hours of steep, steeep uphill to Dead Woman’s Pass. After adjusting our gear, we were the last people to leave checkpoint aside from the couple who was almost in their 50’s and I remained the last one to arrive aside from them. I don’t know what happened after the rest stop, but my can-do-it attitude was replaced by a holy-crap-this-is-tough attitude. In the last few dozen feet to the top, I told Victor to go on ahead and he said he sprinted due to the social pressure of everyone watching form the top. Me though? Heck no lol. As I approached Dead Woman’s Pass, within sight but still out of reach, it was take a few steps, stop to breathe, repeat. At 13,828 ft of elevation, Dead Woman’s Pass is really high up there. Whenever someone reaches the top, everyone claps in support and we feel good with the knowledge that we’ve conquered the most challenging part of the hike. We take a break for photos. Before heading out again, a member of our group presents a poem he crafted about the hike, complete with verses about each of the 16 members and how we went about the hike. Victor was called “hot hot chicken legs” and I was aptly described as steady and persistent. We were so impressed.
What goes up must come down. From there it was 2 hours of just as incredibly steep downhill. Finally we get a lunch break. Then another 1.5 hrs uphill (uphill?! But we’ve already suffered so much today!), a rest stop at an Inca site, 1.5 hrs downhill to camp, then finally dinner.
Day 3
Today was much easier, not so much up though there was a lot of down. Woke up at 5am, started hiking around 7am, and finished at 2pm. We got lucky with the weather, no rain today. In fact it was so sunny it was hot. There were 3 Inca sites today. At the first one we took a break at, the most memorable information to me was about human sacrifices. They sacrificed babies since they’re believed to be closest to the other afterlife— huh, that reasoning has some logic to it. The second site was towards the end, only 30min from camp. We climbed 100 steps up to see the ruins but felt no need to explore since it was foggy and looked similar to other ruins we’ve seen already. It was also decently large and boyfriend had more important priorities, i.e. sprinting down the mountain due to his upset stomach. At least one other person had bad stomach issues on this hike and it made us wonder how food is kept fresh over 4 days. We don’t know and won’t ask.
The hike itself on this day was not so memorable, so between checkpoints we played trivia, cooked up by a member of the hike just off the top of his head. Did you know that Bill Clinton was the president who lifted the trade embargo that banned coke after the Vietnam War?
The 3rd Inca site of the day Wiñay Huayna was my favorite of the trail, aside from Machu Picchu of course. It’s described as a mini-Machu Picchu and it’s only accessible by those hiking the Inca Trail. It’s only a 10min walk from camp for the night. So after arriving at the campsite, a cold shower (the only one on the trail), rest, we got here refreshed. The weather was lovely, we had the whole place to ourselves, and the former rice terraces no filled with grass were so fresh and green.
The other highlight of the day was meeting the porter team behind the scenes; there were 20+ of them. We went around sharing our names, where we’re from and ages. The oldest one was 62 years old and several youngest ones were 18. The head chef, sous chef, lead porter, and the porta-potty cleaner were all pointed out. Since all the porters introduced themselves in Spanish, those of us who knew a bit attempted to too, to much nervousness on some of our ends. I haven’t discussed them must yet, but porters by the way, are superhuman. They carry 25 kilos of weight and always speed by us with barely any breaks while we’re dying on the trail. They set up camp, cook food and by the time we finally arrive, they all clap for us. Pretty hilarious feeling having folks clap for your arrival. When they’re doing al the heavy lifting, literally. And tearing down camp, making the trip comfy for us like delivering hot tea right to our tent first thing in the morning… I have great respect and sympathy for these humans, many of whom are farmers who do this to earn a little extra income on the side.
Day 4
On this last day of the hike, we finally get to see Machu Picchu! We started the day by waking up at fricken 3:20am, to a light rain as well. Rushed packing, a quick breakfast. The reason we did this was so porters could pack up camp (tents, etc. since we only had to pack our personal belongings) and catch the 5:30am train back to Cusco. It was the one nice thing we could do for the porters. After waking up and getting ready so early, the official control point where they check documents didn’t open for awhile so we had to sit under this roofed shelter just waiting for 1hr 40min.
Setting out from the control point, it was an hour hike to the Sun Gate. There we were supposed to get our first view of Machu Picchu in the distance but it was nothing but fog, very reminiscent of the experience tourists get when they go to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It wasn’t going to clear up so we kept going, one more hour down.
When we finally turned the corner after 4 long days of hiking, a magical moment happened where the clouds parted after an entire day of cloudiness, to reveal Machu Picchu in all its glory. Finally seeing this end goal that we put all our efforts into reaching over the past 4 days, we felt such a rush of happiness and everyone smiled so big all around.
We took a million photos at the viewpoint above, especially since the clouds kept playing peek-a-boo. Then we took a tour of it with our guide. I have to admit though, at this point we were all so exhausted, it was so hot, we had been up since 3:20 in the morning and and it took everything not to zone out and fall asleep.
That was the end of the hike! We took a took 2 hour bus to a nearby town and had a celebratory lunch at a restaurant. We took a 2 hr train back to Cusco, very beautiful… another long bus ride with a gorgeous sunset and after unplanned for traffic due to it being Halloween, it was a mad rush getting our big bags from the main office, repacking, hopping into a taxi and rushing to the airport. Our flight that day back to Lima was at 11pm. May I remind you again that we got up at 3:20am that day? By this point, we were practically delirious. But also proud! Yay us.
Chapter 5: Not doing the Santa Cruz Trek & Going home
We’re back in Lima at this point. The following morning we were supposed to take an early flight to Huaraz so we could acclimate then do another 4 day hike called the Santa Cruz trek. LOL. Hilarious. This one climbs to an even greater elevation. As each day passed on the Inca Trail, we were more and more sold that this second hike would be beyond our limits. So after getting signal on the last day, we scrambled to change our flights and cancel whatever reservations we could. At this point we were also tired after traveling so much this past month. It hit us that even we could hit a point where we prefer to just be home. Maybe we’re just older now.
So this meant we had one final day in Lima before returning home. I thought it would be a day to chill. I just wanted a massage and to finally drink a Pisco sour but somehow Victor had a packed agenda for the day. He just moved the day of Lima that was supposed to happen after the second hike to this day. So we got lunch, went to tour ruins in Lima, did get a massage at least hehe but it sucked, grabbed street food, hit up two places for dinner, then my last objective was to obtain Pisco sour, the national drink of Peru.
We were cutting it close to our flight that night so I ordered one, poured it into my water bottle then sipped it on our 45min ride to the airport. In the security line, bam out of nowhere my stomach is suddenly upset at me. Thus begins the most unhappy, multitude of bathroom trip filled flights back to the states I’ve ever experienced. How incredibly lucky I was that we managed to obtain emergency exit seats that granted me easy access to the bathroom. It occurs to me after the fact that Pisco sours contain raw eggs and it was probably a mistake to slowly sip my drink on the way to the airport, long after the ice has melted. Never again!
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And there you have it! Our trip to Peru. We ate, learned about ancient cultures, and got to check off the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu. While I’d say the nature on the W-trek in Patagonia is still hands down my favorite hike, the Inca Trail is unique in the cultural aspect, something that most other hikes in the world cannot offer. Having porters was a new experience too. Lastly it is also much harder, quite an achievement we can look back on and feel proud of!