Finding luxury on the Inca Trail

A few days through the Andes mountains

A few years ago I hiked the Inca trail. Apart from a few scribbled notes, I never wrote about it. Perhaps I was too tired! So now finally, it’s time to capture this incredible memory and put it on paper. Well… virtual paper anyway. My trip was part of a bigger Peru trip, that started with a company event. After some more sightseeing I took a bus to Cusco and started an incredible journey. You can’t hike the trail without a guide, so I’d booked a group tour. It also included porters taking up all the gear and I could pack 2,5 kg to give them. The rest I had to carry myself. Turns out 2,5 kg is very little! I had an extra pair of clothes and something to sleep in. My daypack had several kilos of snacks, my rain gear, first aid kit, camera, sun protection, water bottle and some small things. I’ll admit I was slightly nervous. Exactly how intense would this hike be? How cold would it get at night? And, had I brought enough stuff?

I properly tightened my boots and we walked to the Inca trail checkpoint. You don’t just get on the Inca trail. You have to book in advance, register with your passport and be with a licensed guide. Once we’d all passed the checks we could finally go on our way. Only 12 of the 50 km were planned this day, to ease into it. The path went up and down, but didn’t have any super strenuous sections. Or so we thought. Campgrounds were assigned at the checkpoint and given to the porters. At lunch we found out we had to walk a little further than expected, essentially walking the first half hour of day two, which is unreasonably steep. But at this point we didn’t know that yet. We were walking and talking and enjoying the good weather, while we slowly got deeper into the mountains. 

Along the way we saw some villages, where they offered toilets and snacks. Donkeys were making the trek up to the villages with supplies. We saw mountains everywhere we looked and we even saw our first Inca site. Porters ran and speed-walked past us, their backpacks sometimes bigger than their body. In no time we seemed to arrive at our lunch spot Tarayoc. The team had already set up tables and the cooks were preparing our meal. We were all so surprised to find soup, trout and fried quinoa with vegetables. It tasted incredible, and not just because we were hungry!

The rest of the day was also mainly easy going. It wasn’t until the very end that most of us had underestimated the steepness of the path a bit. We started to go up fast, the end of the day, another meal and the comfort of our tents not far away now. We were so close! But this path was much steeper and suddenly my feet wouldn’t move that fast anymore. Those 30 minutes I was struggling and seriously doubting how I would finish this trail. When we reached the campground all the porters were clapping for us and we were offered a drink. 

The tents were already pitched and again the cooks were already preparing our food. Everyone in the team of porters had their own tasks and knew what to do. Someone appointed me a tent and helped me with the mattress. Not much later we all got a tub of hot water to freshen up, since there were no showers at this campground. This is the most luxurious hike I’ve ever done. All I had to worry about was walking, the rest was all taken care of. 

When I’d changed into my leggings and three layers on top, I walked down the stairs to the dining tent for afternoon tea. Besides tea we got some biscuits. I heard some popping in the background and thought I must be going crazy. Two minutes later a huge bowl of popcorn was brought in. Popcorn! These guys kept surprising us. Not much later dinner was served. We got soup with French fries in it. Our main course was potato with meat in a delicious sauce and rice with vegetables. We got some more tea after our meal. Besides eating there was not much to do at the campground, so we all ended up in our tents pretty early. 

At 10PM I started hearing the rain drops on the canvas of my tent. It didn’t stop anymore after that and I think I heard every single drop fall. I really had to use the toilet, but didn’t want to get out. That’s probably why I didn’t get much rest. It had stopped raining by the time we got our 5.30AM wakeup call. This was the best wakeup call ever! Our assistant guide would come by all our tents “Coca tea amigo?”. I’d stick my hand out of my tent and get a hot tea to wake up while I was changing and packing. 

Up for a challenge…

When you have a tough day ahead you need a good breakfast, so we started with a porridge of quinoa. We all thought that was it, but then our waiter (yeah a waiter on the Inca trail!) brings in plates with pancakes and bread. Delicious! I felt stuffed when I started walking. Today was the day of Warmiwañusca, or the dead women’s pass. At 4198 m it’s the highest point of the trail and the path up is challenging! From the campground you pretty much only go uphill until you’re at the top. I think I went through all possible emotions today, amplified by my lack of sleep.

It was a pretty warm day, for March anyway, and we took a lot of breaks. At times I wished we didn’t take so many breaks, but I guess it helped us to save our energy and pace ourselves. Soon the chatter started to quiet down and it seemed like each of us was walking their own race. There was a beautiful section through the trees, but as we got higher in altitude, the surroundings got barer and the steps steeper. The porters showed us how to walk up in a zigzag pattern that could offer some relief. I zigzagged on, trying not to stop too much or to look up! This last bit was a mental challenge more than anything. I found a steady pace and powered up.

The last 20 meters seemed impossible! I remember a couple of people from our group had made it to the top and they cheered for me as I looked up and stared sheepishly at them. I felt broken! My legs felt like lead. With my last energy I soldiered on and made it to the top in good time. This meant I had a long break to enjoy the view while the rest of the group was catching up. It felt amazing to stand there. The view was excellent, although clouds were passing by and a chilly wind cooled me down a fair bit. I was on top of Warmiwañusca, which may as well have been the top of the world in that moment!

After most of the excitement of reaching the highest point of the trail (and finishing that terrible climb) had passed, it was time to descend. You don’t think of walking down as being hard, but this was the longest rocky path/staircase ever going down the mountain. You had to pay attention to where you placed your feet and I was glad I opted to bring walking poles for this bit. It was pretty heavy on the knees. One guy in our group twisted his ankle. We were well out of range of donkeys, so he borrowed someone’s pole and limped on. That couldn’t have been pleasant, but he also didn’t want to quit.

That night we camped in a very pretty spot. There were some small terraces where our tents were pitched. We went through the same routine and got an incredible dinner again. The cooks even managed to bake a cake with all the basic equipment they had. It was insane! We had a discussion about all the porters clapping for us as we arrived at the camp. Although we all thought it was quite the accomplishment, we also realized their accomplishment was so much greater. They are the last to leave camp, pack everything and then rush past us as we are struggling to climb. Then they set up everything for lunch and while we start walking again, they clean up and then pass us again. And they do this time after time, group after group. So much respect for these people!

Pacha Mama speaks up

In the morning the rain had created several waterfalls around our camp ground which made a pretty picture. I started hiking with rain gear on, but luckily Pacha Mama, as they call Mother Nature here, had some sunshine in store for us as well. Clouds moved in and out as we continued to Runquraqay, at 3950 m the highest point of the day. It is meant to have a great view, but unfortunately the clouds were not permitting us to see much at all. We did a bunch of Inca ruins today though. Sayacmarca was a really nice settlement to explore. It was terraced at the side of the mountain, of course with incredible views.

A bit further lay Phuyupatamarca, at 3650 m, the ‘city in the clouds’. It was clear today why it got that name! This site is known for the ritual baths the priests in the complex used. It also had an ancient irrigation system, which is said to still work! Most days it’s surrounded by clouds that rise up from the lower jungle. And this is also what makes this day incredibly pretty. The journey goes through a very lush part of the mountains. Even though it was raining and we didn’t get the amazing view, the water brought the jungle to life. On the sides of the cobbled trail big plants and colorful mosses grew. The mountains felt completely different here. We even had to descend in between some rocks. It felt very adventurous.

Just before you reach the last camp, you walk through the ruins of Wiñay Wayna ‘forever young’ at 2650 m. It’s so incredibly big! It consists of massive terraces that are carved in half circles into the hillside. From the top you have a great valley view and it’s the perfect spot for a break. Then you continue down past all the terraces and from the bottom it may even look more impressive, since all the stone walls are rising up in front of you. At the campsite it’s clear you are close to Machu Picchu. The facilities are so much better. Well, there are facilities! You can take a cold shower, which sort of made us miss our warm tubs of water from the previous days. It’s quite a big camp where you start to feel the crowd, whereas the other camps had been much quieter.

Ending an epic adventure

On our last day we had to get up ridiculously early. The porters had to pack everything so that they could take the special porter train that leaves Aguas Calientes at stupid o’clock in the morning, so that the tourist and porters do not get mixed up. They have to race down in order to make the train. So that meant that after breakfast and packing up, while the porters started their race, we had to wait for the checkpoint to Machu Picchu to open. A long cue formed with everyone who wanted to get to Machu Picchu. This meant that unlike on the other days, we were basically walking in a long conga line of raincoats to reach the Sun Gate. Occasionally you could pass people, but it was noticeably busier than any other day.

It was a dreary, rainy day and even when we reached the Sun Gate after an hour or two it was still cloudy. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see that iconic view of Machu Picchu. But then the miracle happened. Just as we started to descend into the archeological site, the sun drove out the clouds and a euphoric feeling came over me. There it was! Machu Picchu! It looked incredible, because I’d been challenged to hike to this moment, at altitude, over small, steep paths and through the rain. I mean Machu Picchu was beautiful, but also a bit of a shock to the system. Tourists crawled through the site like ants on a mission. I’m glad I took the trail, where crowds are controlled and where I could enjoy empty Inca sites, beautiful Peruvian food and an experience I will never forget. My tired legs followed our guide on the tour through Machu Picchu and while it was amazing, I was also sad we’d reached our finish line.