inca trail addventures day 4: the arrival to machupicchu

there are two reasons we woke up at 3:45 am on the last day
1.  if you wake up really early and hike your ass off, rushing past other groups on the trail, you can get to the "sun gate" in time to watch the sun rise above the mountains and shine onto machupicchu.

2.  (pay attention because this information will come back later!) we were informed that if the porters leave late they will miss their train back to cusco.  apparently, peru rail only has two "local" trains a day, one at like 5:30 am and one at night.  there are more expensive "tourist" trains during the day, but the porters cannot afford the tourist trains.  so what happens if the porters miss their early train, you ask?  don't they just wait 12 hours for the evening train?  no, dear blog readers.  these badass porters actually WALK back to cusco, with all the shit they've been carrying for 4 days.  now, as much as it pains me to wake up at 3:45 am, i couldn't live with myself if i chose to sleep late and then forced the porters to walk the 30 or so miles back to cusco.  and i'm sure they don't get paid extra if they miss their train and walk.

so with much grumbling (more about this later!) we all eat breakfast in the dark and then make our way, flashlights in hand, to the sun gate.  now, we were told that everyone is trying to rush to the sun gate at the same time so the bolshevik and i decide that we are going to pull out all the stops and use our last bits of energy to get to the sungate as quickly as possible.  even though i was wearing my backpack again, i was a renewed woman, zipping past all these suckers who were stopping to do such silly things as taking pictures and trying to breathe.  we watched as the sky got brighter and brighter, hoping that we would make it to the sun gate before the sun appeared from behind the mountains.

our fearless guide had told us that right before the sun gate there would be "50 steps."  fifty steps?  that's all you got?  according to our fearless guide we had already done 3,000 steps!  what's another fifty?  but when we got to the fifty steps we were a bit alarmed when we saw that they were straight up.  more than "steps" i would say they were 50 stone notches in a wall.  instead of walking up them as one would walk up stairs, we had to ditch our walking sticks and crawl up them one by one.  halfway up i had to stop to pant for air for a while, but eventually i made it to the top.

we walked through the stone pillars of the sun gate and once we were through we could see machupicchu below us on the other side of the mountain.  it was still shrouded in darkness, and we breathed a sigh of relief that after all our hardwork (and some annoyances that will be discussed later) we had made it in time for the sunrise.

a few minutes later the sun emerged from behind the mountains, with an incredible brightness.  one of the guides explained that it you put your hands in the shape of a diamond (as though you were singing twinkle twinkle little star), the sun would shine on you through the diamond shape and the gods would grant you a wish.

then over the course of ten or fifteen minutes the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, completely illuminating machupicchu.  and then we set off for the last hour of our hike to actually reach the site of machupicchu.

walking around the site of machupicchu was spectacular.  it is so vast and impressive.  it is amazing to think of anyone hiking through the mountains to this spot and then building such a huge organized city.  and, our fearless guide explained that the incans built aqueducts below the city, which still work today.  incredible.

one thing i was not prepared for was the llamas.  a large number of llamas live in machupicchu and walk around, showing no fear of tourists.  our fearless guide explained that the llamas act as "lawn mowers" eating all the grass and weeds, and keeping machupicchu "well fertilized."  clever.

after exploring the vast inca city, the bolshevik and i were pretty tuckered out.  soon we took the bus to aguas calientes town, where we had lunch and beers with our guide and some of our fellow hikers.  then we checked into our treehouse hotel room and took a nice long nap.

the end.

inca trail adventures: day 3 OR short shorts and sacrificing virgins

on day three i awoke from the tent feeling a sinking feeling of dread when contemplating putting my backpack on my back for a 16 km day of hiking.  even though our fearless guide assured us that day 3 was significantly easier than day 2, i was feeling the burn.  my knees were not happy after all those steps.  ¡ay mis rodillas!  ¡no mas gradas!

so while the bolshevik was busy packing up his things, i snuck out of the tent all stealth-like, found our fearless guide, and asked him if it was possible for one of our fabulous porters to carry my crap for a day.   there are actually very strict rules about how much the porters are legally allowed to carry.  porters have rights too, you know.  but thankfully our fearless guide assured me that they would be able to carry my bag for the day.  i know, dear blog readers, i know.  i totally pussied out.  but you know what?  day three, sans backpack .... fuckin' awesome.

let me tell you a little something about the inca trail ... legally, there are only 500 per day allowed on the trail.  and even though these people are from all different tour groups and countries etc, you wind up passing and being passed by the same people every day.  like this man, for instance.  now, i don't know if you can quite tell from the picture, but this man's shorts were miniscule.  and, there were slits on the sides of the shorts, making them even shorter.  it was hard to get a good shot, but often when i would see him coming i would avert my eyes for fear that i might accidentally sneak a peek at his balls.  seriously people, how is this useful hiking attire?  i'm new to the hiking world and all, but i'm thinking long shorts or pants.

moving on!

in addition to the aforementioned sights, we also saw some inca sights.  phew.  at this particular sight our fearless guide explained that the incans would find the most beautiful girls in the empire and bring them to live in this place.  i started imagining a harem of beautiful women in togas (i don't know why, since the incans didn't wear togas).  they probably would lounge around and discuss art and politics while eating grapes and being adored from afar by the empire's men.  sadly our fearless guide explained that only the most beautiful women would be collected here and then sacrificed to the gods.   not cool, incans.  not cool.  but they certainly know how to build them some archeological sights.

after the inca sights, we got to hike through the cloud forest, which was quite lovely.  it was all tropical trees, flowering vines and fluttering butterflies.

and then came more steps.

the last couple hours of hiking was all steps again.  and even without my backpack it was killer on my knees after a while.  and that pesky bolshevik, he was flying ahead of me, backpack and all.  no fair. 

towards the end of the day we were racing to get to our campsite before sundown.  and on the way we caught this glimpse of machu picchu mountain.  of course the inca site is on the other side and you can't see anything, but it was exciting none-the-less.

end of day three.

inca trail adventures: day 2 OR the slowest most boring game of tag ever

over a lovely breakfast of quinoa porridge, our fearless guide explained to us that the second day of the inca trail is the hardest.  it is about a 14 km hike, and the first 4 or so hours are a steep uphill climb.  yay! 

at this point in time i'd like to discuss the make-up of our group.  there was the bolshevik and i, both young fit whippersnappers.  then there were two gentlemen in their late 40s early 50s.  and get this ... they were both librarians!  3 out of 7 members of our group were librarians.  crazy!  anyway, then there was a man traveling alone who was 60.  and then there was an older british columbian couple, we believe the woman was in her mid to late 60s, and the man his early 70s.  so the bolshevik and i are thinking that we are going to be the shining stars of this group, no?  i mean, these people are old, right?  how can they compete with the likes of us?

well, as soon as i put my backpack on i was feeling not-so-hot.  the soreness from the day before was creeping in, and i had a long road ahead.  no sooner than we started, the elderly british columbians shot up the mountain, out of sight for the rest of the day.  granted, they weren't carrying anything (nada.  more about this later), but still you'd think that a backpack would at most be an equalizer between us and two senior citizens.  not so.  these guys kicked our asses.  they made it to the top hours before us.

the first hour or so of the hike was pleasant, even with the steepness.  we were suddenly surrounded by a completely different type of environment:  huge trees with big broad green leaves, beautiful flora and fauna, lovely shaded areas.  it was difficult, and every few minutes we would need to take a little break to catch our breath, but overall it was so beautiful it was a fine experience.

and then came the steps.

after a while we were confronted with stone steps.  now, let me elaborate ... these are not stairs made out of stone.  these are crude step-like structures that have very uneven surfaces and vary greatly in spacing and height.  due to the uneven-ness, we had to take the steps extremely slowly, and often they were so high i needed to step up onto them, as though i was climbing onto something.  this was extremely tiring, then add the fact that i'm carrying all my crap on my back, it was downright exhausting.  also, during this portion of the trek, we seemed to lose the beautiful fauna and foliage of the morning, and were now in the beating hot sun.  fun!

soon, the bolshevik and i found ourselves shuffling along very slowly like slipper-clad inhabitants of a nursing home.  we would take a few small steps and then rest.  then shuffle our feet a bit more, and then rest.  we were moving, as our fearless guide would say, "slow like pregnant turtles."

but then dear blog readers, the bolshevik and i created a silly new game.  we call it The Slowest Most Boring Game of Tag Ever.  the rules are similar to regular tag.  one person is "it" and he or she must tag the other person, making them "it."  however, instead of running around and being chased and other fun aspects of tag, we were instead very very very slowly trudging up an extremely steep mountain path in the andes.

it went something like this:

bolshevik: [three feet behind me, and speaking in an old person's voice] i'm gonna get you, miss dewey decimal.  i'm hot on your trail!

me: [trying in vain to stay out of arms reach, while also speaking in an old person's voice] oh no you don't, bolshevik!  you'll never catch me!

[bolshevik eventually is able to gain a foot or two and tag me, then pass about three feet in front of me]

me: [waving a fist in the air] oh you bolshevik!  i'll get you yet!

and so on and so on, one of us very slowly passing the other every few minutes.  not to continually reference bugs bunny cartoons, but it was very much like that one where bugs bunny goes to the mad scientist's castle and a bottle of ether is somehow knocked over during a chase scene, and the mad scientist says "Come back ... here ... you ... rahhhh ... bittttt."

anyway, after two hours of these painstaking steps we eventually reached the top of the mountain.  quite literally, we were on a very pointy bit of mountain with nowhere to go but down.  it was very satisfying to finally make it to the top, and we took a nice long break once we got there, snacking on luna bars.

then when it was time to go down the other side, we thought it would be a snap to go downhill.  NOT SO!  although it was certainly less tiring, since it didn't cause us to huff and puff like going uphill did, it was very challenging.  the entire two-hour hike downhill was also solely comprised of these uneven stone steps.  and as much as i wanted to walk down them quickly, as i would regular steps, it was impossible for fear of tumbling down several miles of rocky terrain.  every so often there would be a flat bit of path where we could walk at a normal speed and it felt like we were flying along, or maybe possibly gliding on roller skates.   either way it was a long journey to our camp, where again we passed out soon after dinner.

end of day two.

inca trail adventures: day 1

well dear blog readers, i am back from my adventure trekking through the andes.  so much has happened and i have several hundred pictures to sort through, but hopefully i can give you some interesting tidbits.

we were picked up at 5 am on the first day, and then i promptly fell asleep as soon as we were in the van.  about an hour later we went to what was referred to by our fearless guide as "porter village."  you see, there are porters.  now, don't get the wrong idea about the bolshevik and i.  we didn't hire any porters.  oh no.  that would have been sensible.  instead, we decided to be a couple of badasses and carry all our personal items ourselves.  but the porters carried the tents, kitchen supplies, food, etc.

anyhoo, at around 6 am we arrive in a small town where many of the porters live, and we are told that we will be having breakfast in one of their homes.  porter village is pretty much a dirt road town, with houses constructed from bricks made out of mud.  we walk through the town and there are chickens and donkeys and dogs roaming the streets. the bolshevik and i were particularly taken with this donkey that looked like he was trying to disguise himself as a bush, like they used to do in old looney tunes cartoons.

the house we had breakfast in was pretty much one large room with a dirt floor.  in one end of the house was a "kitchen" consisting of a hot plate and a brick oven.  in the center of the room was a long table for eating, with benches covered in llama fur.  then behind the table was a cushioned area for sleeping.  our tour group sat around the table eating a lovely breakfast of breads and cheeses and potatoes and corn, and of course, coca tea.  while dining, we notice a lot of free range guinea pigs scurrying around on the floor.  we were informed that these were called cuy and that on special occasions they would be eaten for dinner.  poor little cuy.

and then we were off!

the first day of our hike was the easiest.  much of it was walking on a flat dirt path, which afforded us such spectacular views as this one.  if you look closely, you can actually see a glacier in the background behind the clouds.

we also would pass by very small farming communities on the way, many of which set up little stands selling water and other bottled drinks, as well as snacks.  i was surprised to see civilization while on the hike, but it really only lasted the first and second day.  after that, we were in no-man's land.

now let me explain a little something about the porters.  they range in age from about 20 to 60, and every single one of them is a super jedi master.  these guys were incredible. each of them carried huge sacks on their backs, containing several people's backbacks, sleeping bags, etc.  other porters carried huge office-sized water cooler bottles on their backs, tents, food, cooking implements, etc.  not only were they carrying about 30 pounds of stuff each, but they flew up the mountain.  FLEW!  we'd be trudging along and then all of a sudden a porter would be right on top of us trying to get around our sorry asses.

anyway, at lunch time we would stop at these little camping grounds along the way and by the time we got there the porters would have already set up dining room tents (we ate in a dining room!), created a temporary kitchen, and had lunch underway.  our meals were amazing.  i wish i had a picture of them but i was too mesmerized by the movable feast before me to stop and get my camera.  we typically had a soup (different soups each day), bread, cheeses, salads, a vegetarian option or two, meats, pastas, rice, etc.  then we would have some coca tea before heading back onto the trail.  their culinary accomplishments were truly incredible.  better than some restaurants. 

on day one, we also passed some inca sites.  many of these sites are inaccessible unless you do a multi-day hike like we did.  so we felt pretty cool about that.

then, after 12 km of hiking, we made it to our camp.  now we didn't realize how quickly it gets dark in the mountains.  but the sun sets at about 5:30 and by 6:30 it's pitch black outside.  we had imagined that we'd be up at night reading books by flashlight, or playing cards by a fireside.  but after dinner, we promptly passed out.

end of day one.