Tripping to Peru (Part 1)
More on our trip to Peru from this past May:
Cuzco:
After our walking tour through Lima it was back to the hotel for some well needed rest before flying out to Cuzco the next morning.
The next morning we were up at 4:00 am to take a quick shower, pack and enjoy a quick breakfast of coffee and warm bread with jam. We also met Tilly, an attorney from Germany who would join us on our trip to Cuzco, the Sacred Valley and the Amazon Jungle. Tilly is an attorney from Germany who has lived in the UK for many years. So many years, in fact, that she had developed a British accent. Around 5:30 we were picked up by a van and taken to the airport where we would catch our flight to Cuzco.
We landed in Cuzco and met Lucho, our guide for the next several days. He was a really great guy with lots of enthusiasm and knowledge about the area. Cuzco is a beautiful, historic city that was once the capitol of the entire Inca Empire that totaled as many 4 million people at it peak sometime in the 1500’s. Firm dates and history on the Inca people are unknown since their civilization did not have a written language.
We spent the day in Cuzco touring the city, checking out the food market and the San Pedro craft market where we bought lots of great souvenirs. We also walked up the steep roads to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced "sexy woman") to check out the remains of a really incredible Inca community. Lucho took us to a great shop that sold delicious coca tea and coca chocolates. We enjoyed this shop so much that we visited it again when we returned to Cuzco later in our trip.
While we were in Cuzco we went horseback riding over some paths that took us to a number of different Inca remains. One memorable part of this activity was almost getting kicked by my horse when I made the greenhorn mistake of walking behind it. Lesson learned, I’m pretty certain I won’t make that error again.
After a nice dinner at a great authentic Peruvian restaurant, it was back to the hotel for bed before another early morning wake up call for our trip on to the Inca Trail!
The Inca Trail!
Early the next morning we were up for breakfast before meeting our Martin & Joseph, our tour guides for the Inca Trail. They weighed our stuff sacks of clothes and mine was about 1 pound over the weight limit. Porters would carry our bags along the trail and there was a weight limit for the amount of baggage we could bring. I removed a half dozen Mojo bars and 1 base layer shirt and stuffed them in my daypack and this brought the weight of my stuff sack within the limits. We then climbed aboard the large van which included the rest of our Inca Trail group and we were off and running.
The ride to the start of the Inca trail probably took an hour or so and included a few memorable events. As we climbed up the mountain and along the curving roads someone in our van yelled “pull over” just before Kyle, one of the passengers, became sick. We originally thought Kyle was suffering from motion sickness but later we learned that he and the rest of his family ate something that didn’t sit well with them. After pulling off the road to dismount and clean up the inside of the van, we loaded up again and continued on. As we got closer to the start of the trail we saw several sections of road with piles of rocks in them that became obstacles for our van as well as other vehicles traveling along in front and behind us. We later learned from our guides that the rocks had been placed in the road by local farmers who were on strike in opposition to the Peruvian government’s plan to privatize the supply of water that flowed from the Andes Mountains. This water was a free resource the farmers used for their crops and privatization would create a major expense that would threaten their livelihood.
After stopping a few times to move rocks from the road our van arrived at the start of the Inca Trail where we grouped up, received our bag of snacks for the 4-day hike, received a briefing on our upcoming journey and paid our fees to hike the trail. We also receive a very cool stamp in our passports!
It is really difficult to summarize the next 4 days of our trip. Our hike though the Andes Mountains along the Inca trail was totally incredible and this portion of our adventure was a highlight of the trip. We started off at a relatively low altitude where the weather was sunny and warm and we would eventually hike up to an elevation of 13,800 feet where we reached at “Dead Women’s Pass” the day before reaching Macho Pichu. The entire trail was paved with large stones set into the ground hundreds of years ago. According to our guides it is believed that the Inca people had quarries throughout the region to supply the stones and that slaves may have been used to set the stones in place. But the skill, time and human resources that must have been required to complete this incredible task are mind boggling to me.
We were really well cared for during our trip along the Inca Trail. Each day we would stop for lunch at a scenic spot where tents had been set up and hot, delicious food had been prepared for us. We would then hike the rest of the afternoon before arriving at our campsite for the evening where the dining tent had been set up along with the tents all of us would sleep in each evening. We were served hot coca tea and a light snack before dinner and we enjoyed a great meal by candle light each evening. Our porters set everything up and tore everything down each day and then carried our moving campsite along the trails. It was incredible to watch these nimble footed men fly past us on the trail while carrying large loads of tents, chairs, food and personal items. One memory that stands out for me was watching one porter carry two 5-gallon cans of water up a steep section of the trail as I struggled to climb the same section with only a light daypack. These guys were truly amazing.
Our first evening at camp the sky was crystal clear and we could see satellites passing along the sky. We also saw the Milky Way, the Southern Cross and a large, brilliant shooting star.
The sights along the trail were more incredible than anything I can put into words. Beautiful valleys, mountain views, wild life and flora were our constant companions as we hiked toward Machu Pichu.
Coming up: Machu Pichu!
Tripping to Peru (Part 3)
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