Path Less Travelled - South America. Series 2 Post 4 - Inka Trail - Road to the sacred city

Machu Pichu, Sacred Valley, Peru

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Machu Pichu

I am writing this after a week I returned from the sacred city. The place for the elite and the knowledgeable. I had booked an expensive trek to the top for usd 500 and was unsure if I could even make it to through. But I did.

This trek was a four day affair where you walked for about 45km crossing 3 mountains going to a maximum height of 4200m. All this was done with about 12 kilos of luggage on my back and the rest being carried by 8 porters for our group of 7. We were 4 Danish, an American, myself and the guide. Being used to be the oldest in the group from IIM Bangalore, I felt just comfortable with the 19 year old scouts who carried 13 litres of beer for themselves on day one.?

The food was amazing and for the first time I felt satisfied as the cook ensured I had nice vegetarian food. USD 500 is a lot of money. We all talked with the porters who would tell us about their life and how many times they had trekked on these mountains. Unfortunately many of them had never visited Machu Pichu as they leave us on day 3 and did not have the money to spare for the entry fee of the archeological site. With our humble resources, our group tried to tip them the maximum we could afford.

The other life saver was the coca-gifta combo. While walking we would chew some coca leaves (same plant used to make cocaine) and a black fruit. This same is given as tea to all people in the morning. It just numbs your mouth and help breathe you better. Don't worry these are no drugs.

We slept in tents during night and woke up early to start walking again. Apart from this the whole trek had a lot of unnecessary excesses like special dining tents, chairs, four course meals......poor porters could have carried much less.

We were lucky to not have rain for the four days and the company was quite interesting. The Danish were like the Vikings and cheered and shouted at everything. Told me a lot of stories about their history as well. The American guy was just floating around the world looking for some good time. A very pleasant guy. Our guide on the other hand flirted with every female he met on the way. I say female as the age did not matter to him. Crazy man. I don't know where did I fit in.

We took our first shower on end of day three and cleansed our spirits and sweat covered bodies before visiting the sacred city. I played the game of arch loch and president with the Danish and it was interesting to realise how loud can a card game be. Others thought there was a soccer game going on.?

After 3 tough days of rigour and climbing we reached the sun gate only to find our view of the ruins blocked by clouds. So, we just kept walking till the first sight appeared before us. Was I shocked,amazed. I don't know. I was relieved that I made it and happy to part of a great experience. That's when the clouds gave way out to the sun and I saw Machu Pichu in it's full glory. So, now was my turn to be awestruck and forget all the cramps I was feeling in my calf muscles. It was just as awesome as it was supposed to be.?

After completing the tour of Machu Pichu we descended down to Aguascalientes and took a the train back to Cuzco. The train runs along the urubamba river and has some beautiful views on the way. We reached back in Cuzco at night and I relaxed till the next day before leaving for Puno.