The Curse of the Inca Trail

It was just under 10 years ago, January 2009, when I last did the Inca Trail. Back then I was short on time, I only had three days to do the four day hike. This meant that I did the second and third day together, without food and little water, but that is another story. Thus it is hard to describe my surprise that when Elle and I finally found the little company that would take us on the trail, they told us that the flight we had going out to Lima would not give us enough time to do the hike.

Shit.

The first word of English that is learnt by Peruvians is "impossible," this one word has the ability to crush spirits and mark the beginning of a long negotiation. Sitting in the small office, which provided me the two biggest surprises of the day by 1 - being there and 2 - being open, we ran through a myriad of possibilities to try and solve this unfortunate recurring problem. The final compromise that we arrived at two hours later through their broken English and our mastery of the first five numbers, hello and thank you of Spanish, was that we would have to leave early on the fourth day and make a dash for Machu Picchu to have a look and then get the bus that connected to the train, to the driver, to the plane. It was clear that nothing could go wrong. Elle was thrilled.

Warm up hike.

I described the hike to Elle, as a good warm up for our later climb of Aconcagua. Maybe I used other words like "flat" and "easy," maybe it is hard to recall.

To assist with our training run we both carried our own backpacks, a task that seemed to be done by few people. The first day's hike began following the long bus ride through the single dirt street which straddles a fast flowing river with buses coming the other way, the hike was an enjoyable 5 hours along the river and nice country side. Arriving at our camp site near the rivers it looked beautiful, we really felt we were in Peru and doing something special.

First night sleep was average as the beautiful camp sight had a incline that seemed more visible from the inside of a sleeping bag when at 2:00am it feels you are at the top of the toboggan run. The hygiene of the bathroom facilities...............well.

Second day was the hike through the 4200m pass, called Dead Women's Pass. It was said to be the hardest day, a 5 hour hike up to the pass and 2 hours down to the next camp site. With backpacks on and beautiful hiking weather, not to hot or cold, we began the second day. A fair bit of work, both of us climbed well, Elle the ultimate slow and steady altitude climber did really well. With not to much problem we reached the pass and went back down reaching the third camp site at 2:00pm, giving us time for a siesta and some Uno, the chosen card game of the group.

Day three. Following some negotiations from the night before with our guide, we worked out that if we could reach camp three by 2:30pm we would be able to continue to Machu Picchu that night. Stay in a hostel and go back again the following day. Our guide was not keen but seemed accepting. So we tried to leave early, but this was difficult due to group breakfast dining delays. Still we were off, this day was one of the best. A 3900m high pass was not to demanding and there were a number of spectacular ruins and mountains along the way. The rolling clouds added to the special mystic of the sights on the trail as on approach the cloud seemed to lift, giving you the feeling that you discovered the place for the first time.

We were making good time and arrived at lunch at 10:00am, a pretty good time for lunch. Our guide seemed insistent we wait for lunch, an old Peruvian stalling tactic, once again it was the taste bud titillating vegetable soup for entree and a main being a meat of some sought combined with a vegetable soup sauce. Really worth waiting for. By 11:00am we were of again. It seemed that we had the whole trail to ourselves which added to beauty of both the trail and the sights we discovered along the way.

Both of us were pushing hard and at 2:15pm with our deadline approaching we ran into a fork in the road. Our guide seemed to have disappeared. It was round about then that I realised last nights negotiations did not go as well as I had previously thought. Some porters were there and we asked which way we should go. The steep downward path had the look of speed across it, but in the hills that can also be a bad thing, the porters pointed to the flat trail. We listened. At 2:25pm we realised that was not a good idea, we saw the camp site below, directly below the turn off. 2:35pm it became clear our goal would not be reached, but we did walk through another spectacular ruin.

On our way down, at about 2:45pm, guess who pops up? Impeccable in her timing our guide arrives from below to let us know of the fantastic short cut at the fork in the road. Like selling Telepresence in India.

The gate shut, we spent the night at camp three, where there were little luxuries like eatable food.

Day four. Waking up at what at first seemed like the ridiculous time of 3:30am we packed up ate some breakfast and were at the gate at 4:00am, the gate opens at 5:30am. Believe it or not we were the first ones there. Our guide told us she would stay with us for 5 minutes as there could be Pumas about. This brought up a myriad of questions in both our minds, the main one being where would the Puma be after 5 minutes, however I knew we would be safe as I have been to Africa, my experience there taught me that there is no way on earth I would be lucky enough to see a Puma let alone a kill.

To our surprise however at about 4:15am the hordes of trekkers started coming, first a blips of head torches then as a wave. By 4:30am there was over a hundred people waiting at the gate. By 5:20am the line was beyond sight. When the ranger came walking down, he was cheered like a rock star, the gate opened and it was like the beginning of a horse race.

We walked the last two hours of the hike in an hour and a half, some of the first to arrive at the spectacular mountain city. It seemed surreal. Elle and found a spot and sat overlooking Machu Picchu in awe. For the next hour we took photos and walked through the buildings on an unfortunate time limit, but one that meant we soaked up every moment so that it would be etched in our memory.

From here against all odds everything went well, from 30 minute bus ride to 2 hour train ride to 2 hour taxi ride to 1.5 hour flight to 1 hour taxi ride, we arrived in Lima to drive through the developing coastline and our room with warm shower and a fantastic meal along the parks of Lima.

Tomorrow we are of to Buenos Aires then to Elle's Christmas surprise.