Walking the Inka Trail
Aug. 13, 2012
The Inka trail starts at kilometer 82 from Cusco, from here the train goes on to Aquas Galientes, the last town before Machu Picchu. The train goes along the Urubamba River but the Inka trail goes around the mountains on the other side from the river. The first day we walked mainly on a dirt path through a few villages. Lunch was a surprise, there was a dining tent with tables and chairs; we sat down to lunch of soup and main course served by a cute uniformed butler. Meals were like this through out the trek.
Inka ruins dot this valley which the Inkas call the Sacred Valley. The Urubamba River snakes through the low, steep valley. The Inkas believed that the river was a reflection of the Milky Way in the sky. In the morning we spotted a riuns called Q'Anabamba far on the other side of the river. Many of the ruins such as this one were stations to check the comings and goings of the people or storage for food, clothes, or weapons.
Later in the day and high up by a lookout, we viewed another site called Q'Entimarka (Patallaqta). All the Inka place names are in Quechuan language, the language of the Quechua, which are Andean people. The Inkas, on the other hand, were royalty of these people, so mark the difference. The Inka towns were self-sufficient agricultural towns populated by royalty, priests, astronomers, engineers, and other highly knowleageable persons. They usually consist of residence areas, sometimes temples, other scientific buildings such as sun dial (which tells the days and months raher than the time of day), and terrace agricultural areas.
The first day was a nice walk and we camped a little high up from the bottom of the valley. The camp site had a public toilet but no shower. By the time we reached the camp, all the tents were pitched and the sleeping pads laid out in the tent. We each got a bowl of water right by our tent for wash up, another surprise luxury. Maximilian was the wash guy through out the trek. He would bring the water, had liquid soap and paper towel handy for us to dry our hands. After the delicious dinner, I slept from 9 to 11 when I went out to the toilet and after that sleep failed me, maybe it was the altitude ?
Q'Entimarka (Patallaqta)
Aug. 14, 2012
Today was the toughest walk of the 4 days, and the most difficult walk for me because we had to go through Dead Woman Pass at 4,200 meters. I found the name of the pass a very bad omen as I was the last one to go through that pass. Higher than 3,500 meters, I had hard time breathing. We started the climb after breakfast, around 6:30-7:00. The terrain was high plateau, the mountains were mighty and treeless, their peaks piercing through the clouds.
Apparentaly the name of the pass comes from the contour of the pass from the other side, it is supposed to look like a women lying with the breats jutting up, frankly I was able to imagine only the one breast. But really why not Lying Woman Pass, noone has to be dead. After we finished climbing up, it was going down on the stone steps, today everyone had knee support on. On this day we had not one pass but 2, the second one came right after we reached the bottom of the first, this one was 3,800 meters, not as bad but after 3,500 I was puffing away again. Right before we reached the second pass, there was another nice riuns called Runkuracay. It looked like a fortress but the guide told us that along the Inka road there were stations such as this one for storage. The Inkas used the trail for communication in the former times. There would be messengers/runners who took messages between Cusco to Machu Picchu. It took these messengers 5-6 hours to run up and down the mountains and completed what we needed 4 days to do. The ruins along the Inka trail served as storage for food, clothes, and weapons for these messengers as well.
Dead Woman Pass
Runkuracay
Before we reached our second camp, we past 2-3 more ruins, but there was no time to visit them as today was a long day and we didn't want to reach the camp in the dark.
Phuyupatamarka
This camp was on top of a smaller mountain and was surrounded by 360 degrees of higher peaks. We had the whole sky to ourselves and the stars were pretty spectacular at night. It was cold outside but we were warm in our tent and I slept much better this night.
Aug. 15, 2012
The third morning, again we woke up at 5:30, apparently to skip mosquitos which come with the sun. Today it was a very nice and not-tiring walk. We were now on the other side of the mountains where the climate was more rain forest. But as now was a dry season, we didn't encounter any rain. There were trees and beautiful plants to behold along the path which was leveled by the side of the mountains. We were literally walking by the clouds, it was wonderful.
By our camp, only 5-minute walk, there was the beautiful Winaywayna or Little Machu Picchu. It had steep agricultural terrace and some stone buildings. The place was tugged by the side of a mountain and was peaceful. This was the last camp site before Machu Picchu and it was crowded. From our tents looking out, we saw the Urubamba River down below and was able to see part of the town of Aquas Galientes.
Winaywayna
Aug. 16, 2012
Today was the day we would reach Machu Picchu. We had to wake up at 3:30 and walked 5 minutes to the check point to wait until 5:30 when they opened. Then it was a nice 2-hour walk to the Sun Gate. This was a structure on top of a mountain and it was the first location where Machu Picchu could be viewed. It was right down there at only 2,800 meters, with the morning clouds that sometimes obscured the whole structure. The site of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate is what most trekkers treasure; it is the angle we often see from magazines or tourist brochures. If you visit Machu Picchu by train, you don't get to see this view with your own eyes, unless you walk up more than 1-hour walk to near the Sun Gate.
Machu Picchu, from half way between the Sun Gate and the site.
We reached the site at around 9 am. Had a tour of the place for 2 hours. It is undertood that Machu Picchu was a temple of the sun (there was a temple of the moon, temple of the rainbow with 7 windows, etc). On solstice the first ray of the sun passes through the Sun Gate to the central stone in the main temple. The location of the Inka towns were also very well planned astrologically. They also take up shape of certain sacred animals such as condor, puma (Cusco), crocodile (the main elongated part of Machu Picchu), etc. The Inka's knowlege was far beyond peoples of their times and that made them godlike rulers. The conquest of the Spaniards over the Inkas put an end to this magnificent civilization, but that is totally another story, no?
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