The Inca Trail

Oct 27 - Training Day
From Ollentaytambo we drove to Km 82 to pick up our gear. We each were allowed a duffel with 6 kg, 3 of which were taken up by the sleeping bag and therma rest. Porters carry the duffels and we each had a small day pack and a hiking pole to carry. Each porter is allowed to carry 25kg and they are all weighed at the start of the trek. We definitely couldn't complain about it being hard when we saw them literally running past us with those huge bags! Our group passed through the first checkpoint and we were on our way. The first day was fairly easy- about 5 hours of hiking. Our assistant guide Evelyn started us out with a nice slow pace. There were large flat sections and then some up and downs. We roughly followed the valley bottom. The terrain on either side was quite steep and dry. Not a lot of green trees around on those hillsides yet. Unfortunately today was also the rainy day! The weather switches so quickly, we were taking our rainjackets and ponchos on and off every five minutes it felt like! By the time we got to our lunch spot the porters were well ahead of us and had the kitchen and dining tent set up and a wonderful meal of soup, fish and rice waiting for us. Pretty crazy how wonderfully they can cook on a hike - better than Iot of meals at home! After lunch it was only an hour or so to our campsite. Again, tents were all set up with our mattresses inflated and sleeping bags out. Luxury camping! To pass the time before dinner we all played cards. Dinner was another delicious meal and then it was straight to bed!

Oct 28 - Challenge Day
It was a 5:30am wake up today, which isn't so bad when you are woken up with a cup of coca tea and a bowl of hot water and soap brought to your tent! Breakfast was quinoa oatmeal, cake bread and jam and a stuffed omelet. We started hiking at 6:30am. Today was called challenge day because the first five hours were all uphill. We quickly learned that slow and steady really does win the race, so by keeping a consistent slow pace with no stops (they just make you stiffen up!) we were able to make it to each rest point at the front of the pack and in good time. When we thought we couldn't go upwards anymore, we reached Dead Woman's Pass, which our guide had promised would be "the worst 20 minutes of our life". It was a lot of super steep stairs, but with our slow pace, a zig zag pattern, and some pump up music from the ipod we made it to the peak relatively easy. The incredible mountain and valley views make it a lot easier to take, and once you find your rhythm its easy to forget your walking straight uphill because there is so much to look at! This brought us to the highest point of our hike, it was at 4200m and the view was very rewarding but we were VERY chilly with the rain and wind up there! We waited for the rest of the group to catch up for a victory photo and then it was time to start the descent. From Dead Woman's Pass to our camp was 2 hours of downhill steps which definitely makes the legs shake and feel like jello after a while! Our walking poles were much appreciated on that stretch. Once we arrived at the camp we had a hot lunch, some time to play cards, popcorn and tea at 5:00, and dinner at 7:00. Every meal we had on the trail was delicious so we'll save time by not describing them all!

Oct 29 - Long Day
Another early start at 5:30am with the same tea and hot water waiting for us. Our first stretch of hiking from our camp was uphill but we got a break to look around an Inca Ruin. From it we could sort of see the figure of a woman on the opposite mountain which is what Dead Woman's Pass from the day before is named for. The day started out quite foggy so we didn't see much of the terrain for the first bit. We did see a deer though! A nice little three-point. The rest of the hike before lunch was several up and down sections with a stop at another Inca Ruin. We had lunch on a mountain top and were greeted by a hail storm with thunder and lightning- very glad we were in a tent for that point. Since we were ahead of schedule we decided to wait the storm out a bit. After lunch we descended through the jungle on the original Inca Trail (not all of the hike followed the original trail as some sections have been destroyed or were on the other side of the valley). The whole way along the mountain has been cut out to form a cliff that is laid with stones. It must have taken so much time and work to build! The third ruin we stopped at had a view of the backside of the mountain Machu Picchu is on. It was exciting to see how close we were getting! After descending for another hour or so on the same skinny path along the mountain we reached our last ruin of the day which was amazing. It was a series of large terraces cut into the mountain side accompanied by an incredible view of two mountain valleys. We spent quite a bit of time here taking pictures and soaking in the view. It was quite a content time- we were proud of how far we've come, we were excited because we could almost see the end goal, and it was so beautiful. We got to our camp quite late that day, it was about 12 hours of hiking. We just washed up quickly, had dinner and then went to bed. We needed to get a good sleep in for the big day ahead!


Oct 30 - Machu Picchu
Today was a 3:45am start, both because we wanted to get to Machu Picchu early for sunrise and because the porters had to have everything packed up and at the bottom of the mountain by 5:30am to catch the train back. We had to cue at the final checkpoint until 5:30am before we could start hiking. We were not first in line but we quickly passed more than one group (ha!). Most of the hour and a half hike was uphill but our excitement kept us going. When we reached the final set of stairs to the Sun Gate we picked up the pace and were the first two of our group to make it to the top where we got our first sight of Machu Picchu! It was such a rewarding view. By some miracle the rain clouds and fog we had experienced so far were gone, the weather decided it liked us and there was not a cloud in the sky over Machu Picchu! It was light by the time we reached the Sun Gate (at 7:00am) but we were still able to see the sun rise over it which was neat. From the Sun Gate Machu Picchu is still far away, lower down the mountain, but this view really emphasizes how isolated it is! After we had a snack and took pictures we continued the trek downwards until we reached the famous viewpoint of the ruins. Machu Picchu is immense! It's a massive fortress in the middle of a huge, otherwise uninhabited mountain range. It had been built for over 100 years starting around 1440 for the Incan emperor Pachacutec. After about a century the Inca's abandoned it because the Spanish were getting close. It was abandoned around 1537 and not scientifically rediscovered until 1911 by Hiram Bingham. He was told its name by the locals which is Quechua for 'Old Mountain'. We learnt you have to be careful pronouncing Machu Picchu or it has a veryyyyy different meaning ;) ) It's hard to describe what it felt like to be looking down on Machu Picchu in person but it was pretty incredible - very surreal. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience. We both agree that hiking the Inca Trail to reach it was the best way to do it, the people that took the train up may look better in their pictures but no way was it as rewarding!! Although actually reaching Machu Picchu was incredible the previous three days of hiking were just as amazing.

The sun decided to stay out for the rest of our time at Machu Picchu which was much appreciated. We had to hike down to meet one of our group who didn't do the trail with us and then we started our tour of the ruins, led by Luis who was our head guide for the trip. There is a lot of interesting history about the ruins and the significance of seemingly small details in the structures. The area is covered in huge terraces build for agriculture that now just have llamas chewing the grass. The Inca's built up the steep mountainside with layers of big rocks, little rocks, gravel, sand, then fertilizer and incredible rock work retaining walls to hold it in. There was also tons of storage houses and it was interesting to compare the rock work on those to that of the temples on site. The temples (of the sun, of the condor, of the three windows, etc.) have huge perfectly carved rock cubes with no mortar needed. The doorways are in a slanted shape to keep them earthquake proof. Quite mind boggling how advanced the architecture was. Even more complicated is how they designed the windows of the temple of the sun so that on summer solstice the sun would hit one window just right so that it cast a shadow on the bedrock floor inside, and also light the tomb below, and on winter solstice the same from the other window. That plus the original sun dial and rock moon calendar we saw just seem so advanced! On site there's also a huge structure which was like a university, a plaza area and plenty other buildings.

After a lot of walking around the site in the sun it was time to go. We both didn't want to leave despite our tiredness - there was just so much to soak in. However we bussed down the mountain, grabbed lunch and then took the train back to Ollentaytambo. The train ride was very scenic winding through the valley bottom but also very bumpy! From Ollentaytambo we caught a bus back to our hotel in Cusco. A disappointingly cold shower later and we headed out for dinner with the whole group. Four of us girls decided to celebrate after dinner, ignore the aches in our legs and go out dancing! Our guide from the trail Evelyn joined us which was fun!

All in all, an amazing four days!

-Court and Lisa

Pictures (again, apologies for the random order)
1-On the terraces at the end of the 3rd day
2-Dead Woman's Pass, 4200m
3-Our first glimpse of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate at 7:00am
4-We made it! The famous "postcard" viewpoint
5-start of the Inka Trail
6-Ruins on the 3rd day
7-some terraces at Machu Picchu
8-Machu Picchu
9-start of day three
10-12 - Machu Picchu
13-a section of the trail from day 1
14-a section of the trail from day 2
15-a section of the original Inca Trail from day 3

Cusco

Another sweltering hot night bus from Arequipa to Cusco. We had a lazy morning before heading out to explore the town. Cusco's a really cool city, it's the capital of the Incan Empire. It was planned so that when viewed from above it is in the shape of a puma- a very important creature in Incan mythology. They believed in the underworld, middle earth, and heavens which were represented by a snake, puma and condor, respectively. We've also heard these animals and levels coincide with the three main countries, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Further, the Incan cross symbol also represents the three levels, with a circle at the middle representing the centre-Cusco.
Anywho, we walked to the main square which has the nice churches and such and it seems quite quaint with all the stone work streets and sidewalks. It's really cool to see that all the buildings in this old town area have original Incan rock work foundations. When the Spanish came and looted everything and took over they literally just built there own buildings on top of the incans original foundations. We saw the Temple of the Sun (well the base of it) with the giant Catholic Church built right on top. We also walked up to a church called the San Blas to get a nice view of the city.

The next day we ran errands in the morning to get outdoor essentials for the inca trail hike looming; including a stop by the giant craft market for warm mittens and socks. Could've spent hours in there had we any more space in our backpacks! Once we got all we needed we had to try a practice pack of our duffel bags- we have a very strict six kilo limit for the duffel bags that the porters will carry, and then anything more we have to carry in our day bags.

That afternoon we went to an Incan museum and spent a good hour and a half wandering it. It was quite impressive and now that we've been surrounded by the culture longer and learnt more it was much more fascinating than previous museums. It was especially neat to see tribe names and city names on timelines that we recognized from our previous travels. We also enjoyed the Machu Picchu part of the exhibit- the more I learn the more excited I am to see it (assuming I survive the four day climb). After the museum Lisa and I felt ambitious and tried to hike up to a cross on the hill for a good view. We got up pretty high and did get some good scenery but called it quits early since it was to close to getting dark. We rushed back to the hotel before dinner- another shot at guinea pig for the newer people in our group, more delicious alpaca dishes for us.

Next day was touring through the sacred valley as we made our way to the starting point for the hike. We first stopped for another view of Cusco city from above by a huge Jesus statue on the hill. There was also an archaeological site here we could see called "sexywoman". We continued driving a beautiful drive along a mountain side with a huge valley with a river below- the sacred valley.
We continued on and stopped in a small mountain community that g adventures (our tour group) helps support. Many of the men in this village will be our porters on the trek, and for the women g is sponsoring a traditional weaving project. We were showed all the different wools (sheep, llama, alpaca, vecuyna- in order of softness). They demonstrated how they spin it by hand and then die it by boiling it with natural plants and fruits eg eucalyptus, and then hanging it from a cactus to dry. Finally, we saw the ladies weaving it on these loom type things. They're sitting on the ground with them strapped around their backs and then tied to a tree and their fingers went impressively fast- no patterns needed. We shopped the beautiful stuff, you can feel the quality compared to city markets. We also enjoyed feeding their llamas and alpacas.
We then continued on to the first Incan ruin of the day called Pisac which was impressive terraces down the mountain, with a beautiful view of the valley. Next we stopped at a little 'bar' where a local makes traditional chicha. We were told a bit about the process of making the chicha from corn and we each got a little sip. The first was not very tasty, definately an acquired taste, the next was a little better because it had fruit added, but I still think ill stick with pisco instead ;)
Finally, we arrived in Ollantytambo. Even our guides were surprised to find a big celebration with dancers and costumes and stuff going on. Found out later it was an anniversary for the town, unfortunately we couldn't hang around and watch because we went straight to the huge archaeological site in town. Another temple of the sun, it was unfinished because the Spanish conquered first. It was made hugely massive granite blocks. The town is covered in limestone, not granite! They went across the river and mountains away to a quarry where they carved these huge stones and brought them back! Quite astonishing, makes me realize how lazy our society is! There was a lot of stairs and terraces at this site so it was a good little practice hike for us :)
That evening our guide knew of a family that cooks for you so instead of a restaurant we went there for a lovely roast lamb dinner! That evening we all went to bed anxious to start day 1 of the Inca trail!
-Court

Pictures
1-dying wool
2-llama :)
3-Pisac
4-weaving
5-Ollentaytambo
6-new friends!
7 to 9- city of Cusco

Coca!

Now that we've been at altitude for a while in the Colca Canyon area we have been properly introduced to coca leaves. They're a very important part of South American culture and are widely used for lots of different things. They are supposed to help with altitude sickness and act as an energizer.

A bag of ~50 dried leaves costs 2 soles (1 sole~2.5 USD). Our guide showed us the proper way to chew them. First you take about 8 leaves and take the stems off of them, then roll them into a small ball. Next you break off a small piece of the bicarbonate sold with them which is a whitish, chalky stone. It's made from quinoa ashes, limestone and stevia to sweeten it. You put the whole thing in one side of your mouth and start chewing! Not the best taste, but okay. After a while your cheek and tongue goes numb, kinda feels like you're at the dentist. We chewed the coca leaves for about 10 minutes then you spit the gross paste out. Locals here chew it all day every day!

We've also tried coca tea where you just soak the dried leaves in hot water. It's a lot like green tea and is quite nice. There are also coca candies and cookies for sale in most shops which we'll have to try next :) The inca trail hike should be a good test of whether they actually help a lot or not!

-Lisa

Colca Canyon

October 21-22nd
Yet another night bus from Nazca to Arequipa, a small city in which we spent the day wandering and shopping. It is nicknamed the White City because a lot of the old buildings are made out of white stone collected from the volcanoes surrounding the city. There are three visible: Misty, Chan-channy and picu-picu. In the evening the whole group went out to a really nice dinner where we got our first taste of Al Paca; my new favourite meat. It was served on volcanic rock which was really cool. I'm glad we tried it before we saw all the llamas and al pacas around, they're so darn cute its slightly harder to enjoy eating it now :( After dinner a bunch of us went to a bar and then a club to attempt some salsa, which was a fun time.

Its a good thing we didn't party to hard because the early morning bus ride the next day was quite an adventure in itself. It was the start of our tour to the Colca Canyon- which involves a lot of windy bumpy roads. It's so beautiful here, the pictures don't do it justice. We first went up into the mountains and volcanoes. At one point we got to 4900m. We got out at this viewpoint and I could definitely feel the altitude- shortness of breath and dizziness, we had to walk around really slow. This lookout was covered as far as you can see in little stone piles like inukshuks for pacha madre (mother earth) that people make and wish on, which we did before continuing on. The entire drive was stunning and eventually we arrived in a tiny town called Chivay, which is one of about 20 villages along the canyon. We did a small group hike near the town- getting in some practice before the inca trail! That evening another lovely dinner that included local traditional music and dance entertainment. It was interesting, the tradition clothing and costuming here is so cool, extremely intricate. Most of the people in the town still where really traditional clothing too, which is neat. The dancers got us involved throughout the evening and at one point we had the guys in skirts, girls in hats, and I got involved in a strange story telling dance where I got whipped and then carried off over the guys shoulder- a bit odd, didn't quite catch the meaning behind it, but a good laugh!

The next day was a 5am wake up in order to head to the Condor Crossing. Our bus was almost off roading, going down dirt roads running along the edge of the massive canyon. The mountains are huge, and you see lots of wild vecunyas, as well as domesticated llamas, al pacas, and donkeys everywhere. All the mountains have thousands of pre Incan terraces built into them that the locals still use for their agricultural land. The canyon was so impressive, so deep with the small Colca River at the bottom. It's always shocking to see houses perched pricariously along it in total isolation. Then people who live there have to hike hours along these mountain paths to get into the next village for supplies. Seeing the Condors was pretty cool. They're giant birds of prey that glide throughout the canyon. They're brown when young, black when older and they get white crests around their necks too. It was a lovely morning sitting in the sun watching them and wandering around the trails along the cliff.
The weather here is challenging because we're at such high altitude (Chivay is approx 3600 m above sea level), the nights are really freezing, as was the early morning, but as soon as the sun comes out its baking, hard to dress for!
After we got back from the morning Condor Crossing we just had some lunch and a little wander through the markets, going to have a relaxing afternoon, and then it's back to Arequipa tomorrow for a few hours before our longest yet night bus to Cusco. We'll have a couple days there before the big Inca Trail hike. Should probably start doing my squats and jumping jacks now, eh?
- Court <3

Pictures:
1- Traditional "dancing"
2- on hike in Chuvay
3- viewpoint along drive
4- the "inukshuk" stop
5- condors!
6- Colca Canyon
7- more Colca Canyon
8- vecunya!
9- more Colca Canyon

Nazca Lines - October 18th

Today we went to see the famous Nazca Lines (featured in the Crystal Skull Indiana Jones movie). The lines were created in the Nazca desert a thousand years ago by the Nazca people. There are numerous geometric shapes, figures and straight lines. Its thought they were used for religious ceremonies and possibly the lines as a calendar.

Six of us fit into a small Cessna plane that took us on a half hour flight over the Nazca desert. We saw 12 figures in total: a whale, trapezoids, astronaut, monkey, dog, hummingbird, spider, condor, alcatraz, parrot, a set of hands and a tree. It was really amazing to see everything from the air. It was very impressive how large the figures are (some 300m long) and how long they have lasted. Of course makes you wonder just how they were made in such perfect huge shapes without technology or being viewed by the air!

On the way back to the airport our pilot took us for a "zero gravity dive" - pulling the plane straight up and then plunging down. At the top of the curve you and all your belongings fly out of your seat and float for a second or so like in a space shuttle. Pretty fun!

The picture with the lines is the hummingbird.

-Lisa

Paracas to Nazca- a busy day!

October 17th
We left Lima on Wednesday and bused to a small coastal fishing town called Paracas where we spent a quiet evening. We were up early the next day for a boat tour of the "Poor Mans Galapagos" or Las Islas Ballestas. On the way we stopped at the "candelabra" which is a large figure drawn in the sand a few hundred years ago by the locals. Noone really knows what it is or why it is drawn but it does resemble a candelabra. It was a nice smooth ride to the islands, which were really cool formations, I love all the arches and caves that have formed in the rocks. As soon as we got near the islands it was mandatory to throw a hat on because of the thousands and thousands of birds-pelicans, gulls, inca terns, cormorants (including a rare red foot one), blue footed boobies, and even adorable Humboldt penguins. So many birds in fact that exporting bird excrement for fertilizer is like a huge industry here, wouldn't bird shit scraper be a fun job? We also saw plenty of sea lions, spider crabs, giant jellyfish. Quite a cool little tour.
After that we bused to the El Catador winery/piscaria. They gave us a tour of how they make pisco the old fashioned way. Stomping and then using a huge wooden press, then fermenting in ceramic containers called botijas (named after the bird they look like), then distilling and then finally taste testing! We were all excited for that part (not that we haven't tried it already ;) ). We got shots of quite a few different kinds, and also local delicious chocolates. We may have also bought some to go....hehe
Next stop Huachachina which is a tiny town surrounding a little oasis in the middle of the Nazca desert. We went dune buggying and it was so so neat. Just desert dunes of beautiful fine light sand as far as you could see, it was like out of a movie! We got to get out at a few dunes and sandboarded down on our stomaches! The first few seconds was shocking because you pick up speed so fast, but then it's such a smooth ride I almost found it soothing... That is until the final dune, where I got a crooked push off to begin with, and there was no recovering, I bailed hard not even half way down the dune. I must have tumbled and spun around at least seven times before finally coming to a sand covered stop. Only a few scrapes and bruises to show for it. Super fun day!

-Courtney

Lima, Peru (October 15-16th)

October 15th
We arrived in Lima at about 8 in the morning after our night bus then took a cab to our hotel. Our hotel is in the Barranco district of Peru which is only a few streets from the beach. Lima is a huge city! There are approximately 9 million people here.

We got changed and sent our laundry in then caught a city bus to the downtown part of Lima. The traffic here is absolutely insane! Lines and lights have no meaning apparently, potholes have more authority! The drivers love honking and if you want to change lanes you just force your way in, no shoulder checks necessary! Madness! One cabby even had a DVD going on his sun visor and disco lights going to the salsa music on amongst all this- fun ride! In downtown Lima there is the presidential palace and city hall where we watched the changing of the guards ceremony accompanied by a large orchestra. It was interesting to compare it to the one we saw in Quito. We took a tour of the San Francisco cathedral which was really cool. Almost everything on the cathedral is original still with lots of elaborate statues, murals and paintings. There is also one of the oldest libraries in Peru in the cathedral which was neat to look at. Some of the books had paper made from animal hide. We also got a chance to tour the catacombs underneath the cathedral. There is an estimated 25 000 people buried beneath it. When it got too full the bones would be collected and placed into large pits. When you look down into the pit you can see rows and rows of skulls and bones. Cool but very eerie! Afterwards we visited china town and had a quick lunch. Then it was off to the MiraFlores district of Lima where we went to a large craft market. Court got a really nice alpaca sweater. They are so soft and warm!

For dinner we ventured back to the MiraFlores district. This was our last time out with the whole group sadly :( We went to a nearby club for drinks afterwards and some of the girls surprised us by holding an award ceremony for our group. We all got matching bottle openers and they said a little blurb about everyone. It was a really fun night and everyone was sad it had to end!

October 16th
Today was spent saying goodbye to everyone in our group except Hannah and Philly who we will be with for the next section, and welcoming the new group. Court and I both did a bit of shopping around Barranco and wandered down to the beach to soak up some sun. Walking along the boardwalk all through Barranco and into MiraFlores in the sun was a nice way to soak up the city. We had a meet and greet with the new group and checked out a local restaurant.

-Lisa

Picture 1 - view of downtown Lima from the Barranco beach
Picture 2 - downtown Lima
Picture 3 - Barranco
Picture 4 - the best group ever!!