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5- The Inca Trail and Manchu Pichu

September 8, 2003

Hola Gringos, how´s everything going in the States and and elsewhere? I am just pumped up. I have just returned from not one trip of a lifetime- the Inca Trail and Manchu Pichu, but I have also just returned to Cusco after spending 6 days in Manu in the most protected jungle in the Amazon rain forest. But first things, first. Let´s just talk about the former and I´ll leave the jungle for another episode.

I had no problems getting up on the morning of Wed Aug 27th. I put my valuables in storage with the family that owned the hostel and walked down to the plaza to meet up with my tour. Yeah, it was 630 am but I was wide awake. The bus finally got off around 715am. There was a group of 16 of us with two guides. Herbert, was the main gui and spoke English that was a little hard to understand at first. Jose Louis was his sidekick and bairly spoke any. Both had good dispositions and seemed friendly enough. The
first stop was Ollantaytambo, a small village about an hour and half away. They set up some tables in the middle of the square and served breakfast. There were two groups of 16 with SAS travel, the second would shadow us for most of the trip. I should have known, as a bad oman, it began to drizzle down a little. Most of the Trail was going to be a cloudy and a little wet.

We arrived at the begining of the Inca Trail called km 82. This was the begining where all of the porters and cooks would meet up with us. Unfortunately, SAS forgot to hire me a porter which I definately requested. Hey think about it. If you could hire someone to carry your bags for four days up and down steps with terrain that varies almost 1500 meters, in all sorts of conditions, for only $8/day, wouldn´t you? About three years ago, the gov´t inacted these new regulations like you have to be with a tour guide to be on the Inca Trail as well as where you can camp, porter pay and so forth. It has increased the price for doing the trail 3 fold but has definately helped the local economy and improved environmental regulations. We had to go thru a checkpoint before being allowed to cross the suspension bridge and start of the trail. The checkpoint was tighter than the I remember passport control and customs being at the airport! Almost as soon as the group got to the other side, it began to rain pretty hard. I got out my handy 3 soles plastic (trashbag-like) pauncho and was fairly dry. The first day hiking is pretty moderate with only a 100 meters increase in elevation. We passed thru small villages with thatched roofs, and pigs and chickens running around. The group was a good age with 29 probably the mean age. It mostly consisted of couples with the standout being this Canadian guy named Daniel who was traveling with an American gal named Sarah. Daniel was playing the role of the boisterous, loud, and somewhat abnoxious American during the hike. I was happy he came, it took the normal int´l pressure off of me, who is typically the lone American in groups. He even was kind enought to bring his Dig Camcorder and have interviews and monolouges during the hike-pretty funny (typically Yankie) behaviour. We had lunch on this cliff overlooking Wayba Quente ruins, a recently excuvated ruins on the valley floor. When we arrived, the lunch tents were already up and Jose Louis was waiting for us with some Coca Cola. If lunch was an indication of what was to come, I was probably going to gain weight instead of lose it. We had stuffed avacodoes with cheese and pasta- yum!!!! There was only a few hours left of hiking for the day. At one stop, Daniel drank some chicha beer without knowing what it was. Chicha is an Andean beer that is made from corn and is aided in its fermentation by salavia and spit. I was thirsty, but I couldn´t even bring myself for that frosty one. You should have seen the look on his face when he found out what was in it! Arrived to camp (already set up of course) with "tea" awaiting us- popcorn, cookies, tea and cafe. I was introduced to Jonathan, the young British lad (who had a boyish face "@18yrs old )who I was going to share a tent with the next three nights. He had been teaching in the Gallapogos Islands (Ecudor) for the past two months. I was excited to break out my chess set to play Daniel, only to find out to my dismay, that I was missing a piece-arghh!!! WE had dinner and mate de cocoa and crashed early for the next grueling day that was ahead of us- the climb over Dead Woman´s Pass at 4250 m. 530 am rise. At least every morning you can wake up to mate de cocoa in your tent as you wake up.

Camp was only at 3000 meters so it was going to be an almost 1200 m (4000 feet) ascent. I was ready because of the Santa Cruz trek. The environment on the Inca Trail is high mixed jungle. Very green and misti, with a lot of rain and clouds. The steep 3 hour climb went thru some beautiful cloud forest. Sarah and I stopped a bunch of times for wild orhids, hummingbirds, and some passion fruit that have a really nice purple flower. Lunch was wating for us again, 2/3rds of the way up. You could make out some of the glaciated peaks in the background, behind the lush, green-covered, trangular jungle mountains on the trail. Everyone was short of breath as the porters passed us by without stopping. I did really well with the help of some pre-conditioning and my best pre-trip purchase, my mp3 player. I was powered by the funk of the Chemical Bros, Ben Harper, and the Dead!!! At the top of Dead Woman´s passs, it was so cloudy you couldn´t see any of the valley below. Daniel, who complained about the pace of the group before, arrived at the top towards the end of the pack, exhausted. He talked the rest of the group into getting some coca leaves out and chewing on them with this nasty black ball thing that helps release the leaf's energy. I passed this time. The backside of the pass had really steep and uneven steps. I took a pretty good spill and twisted my ankle, but was ok. We arrived in the Pacaymayo valley camp around 330 pm with a waterfall on top of the hill and a river running besides the camp. Most of the tour groups camp in the same vincinity due to logistics of the hike and regulations. The facilities actually had flushing toilets and terraces of different tour group´s tents. I was feeling pretty funky- I think it was the altitude. Igor, this Rusian-American guy was having a tough time and had to be adminstered oxygen. The evening´s highlights were playing cards with some cool Dutch girls and talking to Jonathan about Ecudor before crashing. Another moniker for the four day hike is "the Stinka Trail" and I was begining to understand why. Me and Jonathan kid around about how at least half of the tents should be quarentined. Sarah and Daniel´s tent made some God awful noises that I think included snoring.

Ahh, another 530am wake up call. The third day was probably the toughest. You could see the 1st major Inca ruin halfway up the second pass. It was a semi-circular building (Runquaracay) overlooking the valley. The problem with the figuring out the history of the Incas is that Quechua, their native tongue, is not a written language. Althought there are still plenty of people in Peru that stil speak Quechua, any history or knowlede of the Incas is mostly conjecture. The Inca Empire was the largest in the new world that covered 1/3 of S. America. Their accomplishments included archetecure, a calander, and a legendary system of trails and roads that linked the massive Andean Empire. But now, after the Spanish conquest in the 1500´s, there is not much evidence or leftover artifacts to tell the whole story. We contiued up to the second pass, which wasn´t nearly as tough as Dead Woman´s pass. At the top, Herbert explained that there is a Peruvian saying that if you take a stone from the lake at the top of the pass and carry it to the next, it will give you good fortune. I took two stones: one for me and the other in honor of someone that I had just heard passed away prematurely of cancer. I knew her husband better, but always considered her a fine person and a friend. At the top I paused in the middle of all of the rockpiles. From that point onward, began the real authentic Inca Trail. The previous section had been built recently for tourists. The next set of ruins, Sauacmara (Inaccessable town) was on top of a ridge in the middle of a confluence of valleys. The fog was getting pretty bad. Herbert tried to give some sort of speech of what happened there, but I was beat and fell asleep. The parts I did pick up always seemed to be refering back to Cusco, as the Inca capital. Herbert was a great guy, and was a lot of fun to joke around with. I called him gordo (fatty) but told him it was ok cause I was too-he got a kick out of that. He said he was an archeology student, but most of his stories did not make sense. The next part of the trail went downhill into cloud forest with thick fog. It was another few hours til we had lunch at the top of the final pass. At the next ruin, Phuyupatamara, the valley began to open up and you could tell we were getting close to Manchu Pichu. The fog begn to give way and you could see the Urrambamba River and Aguas Calient (the village that serves MP) down below. The thing with Inca ruins is that other than the brickwork, done without morter or iron tools, the most impressive aspect is acutally their location. Phuyupatamara was no exception. Everyone arrived at our final campsite near the ruins of Winay Wayna around 3pm. I immediately opted for the hour long siesta in my tent and a shower at the lodge. Dinner was an event with the cook making pizza and carving veggies into birds and sharks. There was a weird tipping ritual where Herbert introduced all of the porters and staff, and we had a little difficulty figuring out what was a good tip. For 16 touristas there was a total of 22 people including porters, guides, and cooks, not shabby. I got to know Hilbert and Andy (another American) better over some cervasas while the girls danced to YMCA. Everyone crashed early because of the even earlier day that laid ahead. I gazed at the vast starry southern sky with anticipation of what was to come.

420 am wakeup call. No mate de cocoa this morning. Just an hour and half hike through the dark with your flashlight and steep cliffs on your right. We were the second group to arrive at the gate and the rays of the morning began to creep thru the valley. There was a dense blanket of clouds below as we reached the Sun Gate, the first viewpoint and entry to Manchu Pichu valley. To everyone´s dissappointment, you could not see a thing beneath the immense layer of clouds below. Not what most of us invisioned. The whole group (even hyper Daniel) grumbled to the next viewpoint about an hour downhill. Our spirits were definately not on ¨cloud 9". It was about 730am and Herbert decided it was a good idea to proceed to the Manchu Pichu restaurant which is directly ajacent to the complex and you have to go by there anyway to go thru the check point. Proper restrooms were 1 soles and you could grab some cafe. As we waited for everyone to get ready and head back in, an incredible thing occured. The fog began lifting, and it lifted pretty fast. By the time we got back in where Herbert wanted to begin the tour, it was completely gone! The massive complex with a surreal location was finally revealed for the 1st time and I was in awe. Supposedly, MP was discovered by a American (Hiram Bingham) in 1911, but I don´t belive it for a second. The place is just too magnificant and big for no one to know about it. Instead,I propose that the locals knew all about it, but did not realize the value of the site, but it´s anyone´s guess. Herbert did a better job of touring inside MP. The Temple of the Sun was interesting how the Incas marked the summer and winter equinox from the surrounding mountian tops. Other highlights were: the Royal Mausoleum, Temple of the Condor (the rocks did kind of look like one), temple with 3 windows, and the intuhaunta- a sun dail to mark the days of the year. I was releaved when the tour was finally over so I could do some exploring on my own. We took a group photo and said our goodbyes. I was going to meet up with the two Dutch girls and Jonathan for lunch. We were the only ones in our goup that chose to stay another night in Aguas Caliente. Most everyone else (including Daniel and Sarah) were leaving on the train at 420pm. It´s funny how group dynamics work. They decided to get the bus down to AC around 11am and had lunch and get trashed on cervasas. Apparrently they were tired of ruins. I, on the other hand, have always dreamed of going to Manch Pichu and was going to take full advantage of it. I rather, to be honest, be on my own to explore at my pace and see what interests me. I don´t have much patience for large groups. There were some llamas in the middle of the complex. I returned to the second viewpoint on the massive terraces to take it easy and enjoy the famous view. To my surprise I found Andy and his girlfriend Carla hanging out. We exchanged e-mails and I went back to the MP restaurant to meet up with the Dutch and Jonathan. One of the Dutch girls was there so we had the most expensive sandwich in all of s. america and talked for a spell. Sitka turned out to be really cool. She has had an interesting life for a 23 year old. Her and Nadia have been traveling in S America for about 2 months. I decided to go ahead an make my way to climb Huyna Pichu, the triangular mountiain in the background of MP. I arrived at the gate at 230 pm and the guard wasn´t going to let me go bc it takes 45 minutes each way, and it closes at 4pm. I begged in Spanish how I have come so far and no one had told me and I promised to be back by 4. He reluctantly let me sign in and go. I don´t think I have ever ran so hard in my life. On the way up, I ran into Jonathan and told him I would meet him later. The top was impossibly steep with so many precariously steep steps and ropes. It was really dodgy.

By the time I got up to the top (in a record 25 minutes and exhausted) there were 4 Frenchman smoking a joint! I don´t know how they expected to get downhill in that condition. From the top, you could see the unbeleivable location of MP on the cliffs. I was lucky to not have fallen on the way down. I had to slide down on my butt to get down those 30 or so steep steps and almost slipped. I reached the exit at 4pm, as promised and proceeded to walk towards the park´s exit. Manchu Pichu is one of the most impressive sites I have ever seen and I have had the fortune to see Egypt, Massada, Petra, and tons of other ruins. More than anything, as with most of the Incas remnents, it was the location and interaction with nature that makes it one of the wonders of the world. I splurged and gladly paid the $4 for the bus to Aguas Caliente. SAS owns a hostel there and we got a free night with the train ride at 545am the next morniing. The touristy village is named after its hot springs, which should be called Aguas Color instead. The hot springs were kind of strange. A long walk beside the river to the complex. It was like a public swimming pool at home. You had to check your things in. I asked the guy up front if beer was ok and he said no problemo. As I was slidiing into the huge concrete pool that held about 30 people and the brownish water, a local gave me hard time bc he sold drinks himself, inside the complex, and I wasn´t suppose to bring one inside. At least I got a few drinks in before-I was worn out and really thirsty for a cold one. I met the other SAS group, all of them were staying another night. On the way back to the hosel, I ran into Mark, the huge Aussie guy at Mama´s in Cusco. He´s so big he is hard to miss. He was busy with two British girls on his massive biceps. Met up with the Dutch girls, Jon and an Aussie guy that the Dutch girls knew. We were all so exhausted we crashed right after dinner at the hostel. Overall, the group was pretty good and the Inca Trail and Manchu Pichu were everything they have been cracked up to be. On this edition I have added some photos of the Inca Trail and Peru. Sorry they are so big. I will return with the next adventure-the Manu Nat´l Park
and the Jungle!
Happy Trails,
Talbot

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