The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

I survived the Inca Trail. After four days and 48 kilometers, we arrived at Machu Picchu. Here's a day by day synopsis of what happened:

Day 1:

Maryam and I wake up at 5 because we are to be picked up from our hostel by our trekking company anywhere between 5:20 and 6 am. After awhile of waiting the bus comes for us at about 6:15...pretty much on-time. We picked everyone else up who would be in our group and then headed off to the town of Ollantaytambo, where the Inca Trail starts. There were 16 of us in total. Maryam and I were 2 of 4 Americans. The rest were from Canada, Australia, Belgium and Sweden. Right at the beginning, Maryam and I noticed that our backpacks were definitely the largest of all the people in our group. We had no idea how we could have made them smaller because we packed the bare essentials. They were probably double the size of all the other backpacks. The reason for this was because most people hired an extra porter to carry a sleeping bag and mat and some other things. Maryam and I did not. I was slightly panicking because we were both struggling, and it was only the 1st day, and supposedly the easiest. Our guides noticed that we were struggling and mentioned to us that the following day we would be able to hire an extra porter if we wanted. I signed up right away otherwise there would have been no way that I could have finished. It was a little more expensive than if we had hired them at the get go, but it was totally worth it. We got to our campsite at around 4:30 pm with our tents ready and waiting for us. Here was our view from the tent:



It was the first night that I slept in a tent. It took me a little while to fall asleep but I finally did, and slept like a baby until our wake-up call at 5:30 am.

Day 2:

This was definitely the hardest day of all. It was 13 km long, and the entire morning was completely uphill. And I'm not just talking a little bit uphill. It was a really big incline and some really steep steps. We made it to the peak of 4200 meters around midday, and the rest of the day was all downhill on stairs. We got to our campsite a little early and we were able to rest a bit after lunch and before dinner.

Day 3:

The easy day. Well relatively easy compared to yesterday but still pretty difficult. We hiked from about 7 am till 4 pm with few breaks in between. We got to our final campsite which had some more awesome views of the Andes and the valley below. We got to walk around some ruins which were pretty spectacular. We went to bed early since we had to get up at 4am the next day in order to secure a spot in line for the hike to the sun gate, which ended up being in vain.

Day 4:

We woke up so early and waited in line for a good 45 minutes before we could start hiking to the sun gate. It started raining pretty hard on the way there which didn't make the hike that fun. When we got to the sun gate it was rainy and cloudy and could not even see a speck of Machu Picchu. Once we hiked an hour or so more down to the actual ruins it had cleared up a little bit and continued clearing up as the day went on. I took some pretty good pics so check them out. The ruins themselves were amazing. It's one thing to see them on TV and in magazines, but to actually see them firsthand and upclose was like anything I've ever experienced before. I'm not surprised that it was voted one of the new seven wonders of the world.

After Machu Picchu we headed down to the town nearby called Aguas Calientes. We went to some man made hot springs which ended up being pretty nasty.

That's it for now...Stay tuned for a post about Lake Titicaca