Inca Trail 21. Juni 2009

Now its over – we booked so long ago, the time had arrived and now we are back in Cuzco!

So how was it? It was hard, hot, cold, amazing, annoying and what ever you can imagine!

On Sunday our guide Jorge came by to discuss with us the Trail. “Do you want the information in spanish, english or quechua?” *HAHA* Great joke! (Quechua is the native language here) Well, he explained and we didnt have any more questions and he left.

The next morning we got picked up in the morning at 5.30 and left to KM 82 (Cuzco-MachuPicchu) – that is the starting point of the walking. We were a group of 11 people – 5 american Peruans (a family), 2 argentinen guys (“ascha” ), 2 danish girls and us. The group was so far ok, not like the JeepTour (you remember? The chewing russian guy with his cuban girlfriend-slave). They werent the funniest one, but nice. We had two guides Jorge, who spoke “english” (it was hard to understand what he said and he didnt understand all what we asked) and Nati who was there for the spanish speaken people (like me ).

We started walking and I could already feel that the second day would be impossible to survive: We didnt hire a Porter (the guys who carry everything), so I had a backpack with about 9-10 kg (or whatever, but a LOT) on my back. First it was ok, but then we started to go up the mountain (Jorge said, that the first day is only down – what a lie (maybe the first one?))! So I climbed up and I did it, but of course I was last… The easy first day was for Eva and me the hardest because we had to carry all our stuff (only spleeping bags 4 kg). We walked about 12 km to the first camp and arrived there at about I dont know anymore. We got our “Happy Hour” *how funny is that*, which means tea time with popcorn

Later we had dinner, which was quite good. In general we can say that the food was quite good.

Second day:

We got up at 5 am in the morning *gähn* That was early. We started hiking without breakfast (that was hard for me) and we started to climb up … and up … and up! We gave the heavy stuff to a porter, so the backpacks where much lighter, which was good, because we wouldnt have made it. The second day was 5 hours up and 2 down. But you have to know: this is not like hiking in the Alps – 1300 meters altitude – but from 2900 m to the Death womans pass at 4215 m! This is really breathcatching. After the first 1,5 h we had breakfast (AT LEAST) and I felt soooo much better. To the next camp it was 1,5 h more and that was a really really beautiful scenery we had there: cloud forest with a little river coming down the mountain That was just beautiful! After the next camp we had to hike even more up…

I  never had problems with the altitude, so just the last 200 meters were hard for me. As Eva had more problems with that, she was a bit slower but of course she did it as well. So finally we arrived after 7 or 8 hours the deaths womans pass and had the most stunning view ever on the mountains around us. It was just amazing to see, from where we came and where we will go afterwards… Then we went down again about 600 m – my knees! But we arrived and had our lunch You must know, eating in that altitude is not that easy, the body has no oxigen to burn it and if you also have to climb a mountain its a bad idea to eat! So lunch came afterwards.

After “Happy Hour” *its still not funny* and dinner we went to bed – tired, but also happy, that the worst day was over.

The next day we got up at 5 in the morning and had breakfast *yeah*! Hiking up the next few passes (ok, just two) was also hard, but not thaaat bad anymore, because they were lower. We passed some IncaRuins and Jorge keeped asking “English, spanish, Quechua”, which was not funny at all. Well, he made a lot of jokes – very bad jokes! But most of the time it was easy to ignore him. When we visited the first Inca ruins another “cosa” showed up! I always went with Nati, because she was easier to understand. Eva and I compared the information both guides gave and big suprise: they were NOT the same! Two guides, one Inca ruin and two diffrent information. Actually that was not funny, but anoying. As Eva told me, Jorge even couldnt understand her questions, so till the end we didnt learn a lot about the incas – also a introduction in general was missing.

The third day was a lot of hiking down and we were super exhausted at the end of the day. But the landscape was again very beautiful with humid forest again. The knees were hurting, but it was nearly the last day. We had our last dinner (before that the “Happy Hour” *its not getting funny*) and the porters who carried everything were introduced. THIS was just crazy: some of them were over 50 and one even 60 years old! Can you imagine: carring your WHOLE life 25 kg (some years ago the weight limit was 50 kg!!!!) a mountain up and down in sandals. I have the most respect for this people and I really couldnt understand why they were only introduced to us on the last day.

Last day we got up at 4 am to hike to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. The hike was not so long and we arrived at about 6.30 the sun gate. Its a pity that our guides didnt told us, that on the solis (Sommer bzw. hier Wintersonnenwende -> tomorrow 21. June) the sun goes directly through a window. We heard it today in the Inca Museum. Well, in general we didnt get a lot of information, which was very annoying, because we paid 400 US$. But from that place, we had the first view over Machu Picchu and that was really impressive as well. Its just HUGE and amazing. We climbed down the rest and got our tour through Machu Picchu… As you already might have recognized we always have bad luck with the tours. We got a diffrent english speaking guide and HE was really good… good in ingnoring my questions, good in NOT even understanding my questions and good in not answering or know the answer, when I asked in spanish, what he understood (or should…). His favorite phrase was “Are you understands?” (every 3 sentences) or “Can you see” or “womens” I was close to the point of hitting him with my camera or what ever. At least the ruins were nice and the Llamas where running around – they were so cool

After Machu Picchu we got to Aguas Calientes the little village and got our lunch  (we had to pay). The choclate cake was just awesome after four days sweating and hiking. After lunch we went to the aguas termales and relaxed in the hot healthy water

At 10 pm we arrived in Cuzco again and find out that our couchsurfing couch was already occupied and had to search for a hostal. But at least we finally fall asleep…

What can I say afterwards: Everything where the tour had NO influence was great: the view, the ruins, the challengs etc.

But the tour itself was not worth its money: we paid for example 150 US$ more that the others in our group! We booked the tour with a company, but went with a completly diffrent one and nobody informed us. The guides were not that good (but that is a point you never know).

We dont regret it, we had fun, we had great views, WE MADE IT and we are proud of it!