El Camino Inca

On Wednesday I started hiking the Inca Trail. Although I had been surprisingly content in Cusco on my own, by Wednesday I was glad that the last 4 days of my vacation would be with a group. Especially after my mini-stalker experience the night before.

My group consisted of 7 hikers--2 friends from Canada, a aunt-and-niece from California, a German couple, and me. The German couple mostly kept to themselves, so the other five of us all hiked together. We were all women, plus our head guide was a woman, and we kicked ass.

The Inca Trail "blow by blow" really isn't all that exciting--you hike, you stop, you see ruins, you see views. Our weather was so-so--it rained most of the 2nd and 3rd days so we didn't get many spectacular vistas along the way. But it was still a great trip. In particular:
1) It was a great group of people to hike with
2) I had a 2-person tent to myself, so it was luxury camping
3) Even better, they set up our tents and cooked for us. It's a lot better to hike in the rain when there's a dry tent and hot tea waiting for you at the end of the trail.
4) It was good exercise and I felt good doing it--I packed everything I needed into my "day" pack and carried it with me the whole time, and I was the only one of our group of 5 who didn't hire porters at least for the second (high pass) day. And it wasn't that hard.
5) I got an *excellent* deal on my trip, paying a lot less for the same services than my companions.

Here's a shot of the landscape on the first day, plus my well-packed backpack (ponchos strapped to the outside):

Here me on the second day, in the forest before it started raining:

Here's me at the high pass. That was the view for most of the 2nd and 3rd day.

Here's the path through the jungle on the third day:

Here are "las chicas" overlooking the ruins at what is normally the last night's campsite:

So the big "bummer" of the trip was that we couldn't do the traditional 4th day sunrise walk into Machu Picchu, because there was a landslide blocking the last part of the trail. They told me this when I paid my balance on Monday so I was prepared, but others in my group were surprised. The only way to see Machu Picchu in the early morning, before the tourist trains arrive from Cusco, was to hike all the way down to the town at the base of the mountain (Aguas Calientes) on the third day and then hike or take the bus back up on the 4th morning. That added another 2 hours and 7 kilometers to our third day, mostly downhill which I like much less than uphill. But, it wasn't so bad. And for the last hour we walked along the train tracks, a la "Stand By Me." Of course there was plenty of room between the river and the rock face to avoid the 3 trains that came by...

But after the trek, it was nice to splurge on a hotel bed and the hot springs, so we were well rested for Machu Picchu the next day.