Day 342: Inca Trail Trek – Day 1
We booked our Inca Trail trek with Alpaca Expeditions – one of the mostly highly rated agencies on TripAdvisor with a solid reputation for professionalism, ethical employment of porters (called “chaskis” in the native Quechua), and best of all for having delicious food! Our guide, Joyce, picked us up at our hotel at 4:30AM for the 2hr transfer to Ollantaytambo (to pick up supplies), then another 1hr drive to the trailhead at the KM 82 mark. Our journey over the next 4 days would take us 27KM down the “Royal Route” AKA “Pilgrimage Trail” to Machu Picchu. (There is also a 2D/1N trail along the river which was the ancient “Commercial Route” between Cusco at Machu Picchu. Shorter and easier – where’s the fun in that?)
We arrive in Ollantaytambo around 6AM – Lindsay is so bleary eyed she can barely appreciate the mountain-top ruins peeking out of the mist
Local market is already in full swing selling various foodstuffs: bread and cheese…
…fresh chicken and meats…
…and a variety of local vegetables from the farms of the Sacred Valley
Walking around the Plaza de Armas of Ollantaytambo, where Disney Pixar may have a copyright lawsuit on their hands…
A misty morning in Ollantaytambo. As we wait for our team of chaskis to assemble, we make friends with yet another street dog.
Warm water for washing and a delicious breakfast spread are set up for us at the trailhead
Every year the Inca Trail is closed to trekkers during the month of February. The government is very strict with conservation regulations in order to protect the trail (no wonder – it’s one of their biggest tourism draws!), and they use the off month to perform maintenance and clean up. It’s also the wettest month of the year, so closing the trail helps to prevent rapid erosion. Since we were starting our trek the first week the trail was reopened, it was fresh and clean, but also very, very wet. We had our fair share of hiking in the rain (even with “rainproof” pants, mended boots and ponchos, we still got drenched and miserable), but most days the weather cleared up for a few hours of sunshine. We were expecting worse conditions in the rainy season, so we were pleasantly surprised.
Starting the Inca Trail at the KM 82 trailhead
Crossing the Urubamba River (AKA Chocolate River – due to the heavy silt deposits) after the first checkpoint
During our first snack break, our guide points out a plant with white flowers called Brugmansia, or “Angel’s Trumpets”. When brewed into a tea, it produces hallucinogenic effects – used by the Incan shaman for religious purposes. (No, we didn’t try any.)
Mist and rain on the trail forces all trekkers to break out our neon-colored rain ponchos. Looking ahead we can see a line of green and blue – it’s an army of chaskis walking down the trail!
Stopping at the guardhouse of our first Incan ruins: Wayllabamba
Thanks to being active all year and in good trekking shape after the Everest Base Camp Trail, we were *killing it* on the Inca Trail. We were a good hour ahead of the other trekking groups (granted, a small private group is always going to go faster than a large group of a dozen or so tourists), and we felt great at the end of the day. Which was very promising, as today was considered the “training day” – we had hiked for about 6hrs and had a mild ~600M ascent. Tomorrow would be the real challenge: two mountain passes, including the infamous Dead Woman’s Pass which would peak at 4,200M – the highest point on the trail. We headed straight to bed after our enormous dinner around 8:30PM – gotta preserve our strength!
While sitting around and waiting for our lunch, a pair of kittens randomly decide to crawl into Lindsay’s lap. (No pussy-grabbing jokes, please.)
OMG – a stuffed avocado is our *appetizer* during our ridiculously large and delicious lunch spread. Rice, salad, corn, trout, potatoes and garlic bread – how are we going to hike after eating all of this?!?
Relaxing after lunch in the sunshine on our matress pads, sipping cups of coca tea and trying to digest a mountain of food
Locals carving a llama onto their wall, and a cute little piggy walking near the trail
A dry and sunny trail for the rest of the afternoon. It was starting to get pretty hot, but luckily most of the rest of the trail was in the shade
Stopping at the second checkpoint – this one is for porters, to make sure they are not carrying more than the 20KG limit
Our first glimpse of Dead Woman’s Pass – eeekkk!
We arrive at camp along with our porters around 4PM – we try to stay out of their way as they set up our tent for us
Our chef prepared another fabulous feast for dinner and surprised us with banana flambé for dessert! Fancy!