The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Most people have heard of MP the lost city of the Incas never found by the Spanish. Most visitors (2500 per day) take the train along the sacred valley from Cusco to the end of the line at Aguas Calientes and bus up via the hairpins to the site. 

Hardier souls like us hike and camp for 4 days on the trail high over the mountains and arrive high above the site at the Sun Gate where at the solstice the sun pokes through.

We were allowed 6 kg to be portered including sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses (a must have) and the porters were checked to make sure that they did not carry more than 25kg. This Durham pit pony can confirm that a porter's pack is a step too far. 

We started off travelling into the Sacred Valley visiting other Inca sites and weaving and restaurant co-operatives. The weaving was fascinating because they did everything from scratch including scouring, spinning and dying the llama and alpaca wool. I couldn't help thinking about Titus Salt who sussed out how to use alpaca and cornered the market.

Lovely eyelashes don't you think?

The question is - did Titus get it right? The houses in Saltaire are much "nicer "than here in the village but thy don't have the constant din of the looms or have to clock in and out. How much is enough?

Answers on a postcard please. 

The other sites made it apparent that civilisation depends on being able to produce enough potatoes and quinoa to support the guys writing poetry or taking gall bladders out without them being distracted by hunger. Agricultural terraces are the way to go. 

Day 1 of the inca trail is a gentle introduction, reaching halfway for a 3 course lunch. 

Wildflowers and humming birds slowed us down. 

Day 2 is the hard one - climbing over 4200 meters without a lunch stop but rewarded by fantastic views.

 The full team - porters, guides and all.

Day 3 involved walking over the real inca trails hewn out of the rock with dizzying drops down the mountain side. 

We had an early night to prepare for our 3.30 am start on Day 4. The porters had to catch a special train back from the valley floor and so we had to let them get off early and we hung around for an hour and a half before we could start. Time to finish Nicholas Nickleby.

Then along the narrow undulating path interspersed with steep steps with a rising sense of anticipation as we approached the Sun Gate.  And then the rain started........

So what did we glimpse from the long awaited gate?  The inside of a cloud.  We were very disappointed and hung around for a while hoping that it would clear before starting to descend towards the ruins.  But wait!  I think it's clearing!

And it gradually did clear to a blistering hot day with stupendous views of the surrounding precipitous mountains. It's no wonder the Spanish didn't find the place. The Incas knew it was all down to Location,Location and Location. 

The place seems to have been a mixture of administrative centre, palace, religious centre, agricultural site and military post. A lot must be conjecture and of course the mystery is how they managed to physically build the place. One theory is that they had a magic potion that they rubbed on the rocks to make them malleable and they could then fit them together easily. Sounds plausible.

You can see what the houses would have looked like when they were thatched. 

So a wonderful day but we were shattered by the time we had got down the hill to Aguas Calientes, had lunch and taken the train along the valley ( there is no road) to where we could get the coach back to Cusco and our final couple of days in Peru.