Machu picchu (not pichu)

So I made it back safe and sound! The Inca Trail was really wonderful and I will definitely remember it for the rest of my life. The views, the ruins and the food! I went with SAS Travel and though they are at the top end price-wise, they are one of the best. Our group was really wonderful, with a wide-range of personalities and experiences but we got along so well, which is definitely hard to do with 16 people!

Luckily, when I was in El Calafate in Patagonia, I met this really cool brit chick, Alex, who was also planning on doing the Inca Trail around the same time as me. I mentioned to her that I booked with SAS for the 18th and she ended up booking the same trip! So it was nice to see a familiar face on the trip, especially since most of the people came in pairs. We ended up sharing a tent so I'm glad I ran into her.

The Inca Trail is a 4-day, 3-night trip that ends at Machu Picchu, an almost intact Inca city that was discovered only in 1911. The only thing I had to carry for the trip was my personal belongings, sleeping bag and mat. There are porters, usually local farmers, who carry the rest. I mean tents, utensils, food and anything else that we would use as a group. It doesn't sound like much except that we ate 3-course meals in these huge mess tents. These porters carried tons of food, gas cookers, propane, tents, chairs, platters, you name it across the Inca Trail. They carry over 50 pounds each, not in backpacks but just tied across their shoulders. And then they run the trails to beat us to each point and have our meals and tents ready when we get there. I've never felt more like a grotesque tourist than on this trip.

Porters taking a well-deserved break. Their packs are ridiculous.

The flash on my camera sucks but to give you guys an idea of all the FOOD we ate!

But I was really lucky to get a good group. 16 very different people but we were able to stick together for the most part on the trail and we had a blast hanging out. We would laugh ourselves silly during meals, usually over incredibly inappropriate topics like the state of our toilets (which were pretty atrocious) and personal habits. But it definitely made the time go faster and a ton of fun. The trail was definitely a bonding experience. After 4 days of no showers and tough trails, you get to know someone pretty fast.

Happy to climb the first pass called Dead Woman's Pass (Deidre, me and Alex). Yes, 4,125m!!

Me and the other Alex at yet another Inca ruin.

Screwing around during downtime. The last night, we ended up at a lodge where we could enjoy some well-deserved beers!

The trail itself was also pretty tough. We started at 7,200ft and we climbed to over 12,600ft (twice!!) and back down again, all over over 50km. I was really sick the first day so I was DYING. The flu I had before blew up the night before the trip and I decided to go on antibiotics to try and kick it quickly. So on top of being tired from only a couple of hours of sleep, I was dizzy, achy and pretty delirious. I seriously thought about turning back a couple of times but I soldiered through. I felt much better by the second day, which was good because we had to go over 2 passes that day, each over 12,00ft. Since I was ill, I elected to hire a porter to carry my stuff that day. I know, how weak am I? Especially since Christine and I had done similar altitudes on the Rae Lakes Loop all with 40lb packs! (Seriously, Christine, after the Inca Trail, I have NO IDEA how we did it!) The trail was pretty ridiculous at times, steep with a bazillion stone steps. Actually on the 3rd day, we climbed down over 2,000 steps, aptly called the "gringo killers." Well, it was all worth it when we got to Machu Picchu!

Welcome to the Inca Trail!

Taking a break. We all had these ridiculous ponchos because of the constant rain. We stopped near some houses where there were chickens and pigs scavaging for food. Gross!

It was rainy/cloudy the entire time but it made for beautiful vistas like this.

Beautiful Inca ruins along the way. This was definitely one of the best, set up in the hills.

High above the clouds.

Ruins and mountains.

The amazing view from our tent!

Machu Picchu (pronounced Pick-chu. It means Old Heights and its very important to get the pronounciation right. In Quechua, pichu with a softer 'c' means willy, according to our guide, Victor. Oops!) is a monastery from Incan times, which was abandoned way before the Spanish conquerors came. The Spanish actually never knew of its existence so its pretty much entirely intact except for deterioration over the last 400 years. So its an amazing look into the religious life of the Incans, especially since a lot of understanding of Incan life was lost after the fall of their empire. We had 2 great guides, Victor and Julian, who helped edify us Incan culture with helpful but sometimes long-winded lectures. After 6 hours of hiking, stone ruins tend to look the same! At least they were cheerful. Especially Julian, whose constant "Buuueeeeno!" became our team motto.

Classic view of Machu Picchu.

Llamas everywhere, just hanging out at Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu used to house the beautiful virgins groomed for ... sacrifice! These are their quarters.

We got incredibly lucky with the weather on Machu Picchu day. It had been raining on and off throughout the trip with clouds covering pretty much everything but it was actually sunny when we got there. We woke up at 4am to catch the early light over Machu Picchu and spent a couple of hours touring around the ruins before the crush of tourists who come up on the trains. Apparently, there are over 500 people on the Inca Trail and over 2,000 visitors to Machu Picchu a day. I thought we would spend all day around the ruins but by 11am we were exhausted. We sat around in the heat and then headed back to Cusco on the train.

It was a hard, long 4 days.

It was simply an unbelievable trip. It was great to see all the amazing site along the way but more than that, I was able to share it with my great group. A million thanks to the guides, the porters and the crazy characters in our SAS group! Now I'm spending one last day in Cusco tying up loose ends before heading to Bolivia on the night bus. I took a shower (and scrubbed and scrubbed 4 days worth of sweat and grime off), did a bit more shopping and now I'm ready to say goodbye to Peru!

Thanks, guys!!

I know, tons of photos this time. It was just that great of a trip!