More than six months ago, just after we finalized our decision to take this trip through South America, Peter and I booked a 5-day trek along the Inca Trail, culminating in a visit to Machu Pichu. The trek was to begin October 20 (which, even in the beginning of April, was the soonest available date). As our first firm commitment, the Inca Trail trek became the block around which we built the rest of our itinerary.
Although I was still a bit sick when we began the trek last Sunday, I was on the mend. The first day’s hike was the easiest, the first campsite was at the lowest altitude of the three, and optimism was in the air! We enjoyed our ten fellow travelers and the trip’s leaders and staff. The views were out-of-this-world beautiful. We were served exceptional meals in a “dining tent” complete with tables and chairs. And despite that 500 permits are granted daily to hike the Inca Trail, our group encountered no other hikers.
The first leg of the Inca Trail ran adjacent to the tracks for the train to Machu Pichu. For one terrifying 100 meter stretch, we had to walk along the tracks. Don’t worry, our guides assured us, the train engineers know to look out for pedestrians here. If they do show up, we were told, squeeze to the side and don’t take selfies! Minutes after our group cleared the tracks, a train whizzed by.
At one point the trail took us down an original Inca staircase (shown below).
Our tour company, Explorandes, provided a true luxury camping experience. Toilet tents and a large dining tent were set up for lunch and at each final campsite.
The first campsite was at the foot of the Patallaqta ruins, and we ended the hike with plenty of time to explore. Our group had the site to ourselves.
We watched a breathtaking sunset, ate a phenomenal dinner in the dining tent, and turned in for the night.
All was well, but I was not. My cough continued all day, I was unusually fatigued after the day’s relatively minor hike, and during the night I had coughing fits that made me feel short of breath. In the morning, I spoke to the group leader, who said he thought the coughing fits could prove quite dangerous upon reaching the high altitude trails and campsites to which we were heading. With plenty of loving prodding from Peter, I made the difficult decision to turn around. And Peter made the selfless decision to come with me.
But before we left, we enjoyed a final breakfast with the group and the tourists were introduced to the twenty staff who, along with our two leaders, made the fantastic trek experience possible by carrying equipment and food, setting up and breaking lunch and camp sites, and cooking and serving us.
Then the evacuation began. Octavio, one of the porters, was assigned to walk us down the mountain. Remember the sign I showed you above—no free-range tourists! As was the practice among most Inca Trail tours, he carried our personal duffel bags, our tent, and our sleeping bags.
During the hike down, we took a shorter and more populated (but also stunning) route. We passed by staff and hikers for nearly a dozen different Inca Trail trekking companies on the way.
At the bottom of the trail, we were driven to Ollantaytambo. By luck, we found the Initambo Hotel, which perfectly met my needs with comfortable beds, window views of Inca and pre-Inca ruins (and some spectacular landscape), and a third-floor terrace.
Other than lying in bed or sitting on the terrace, my activities were limited to several visits to a Peruvian doctor (who ordered four nebulizer treatments, and a pile of medications) and three trips for lunch to the Cuchara Llena restaurant, which opened onto the Intipaka ruins and kindly provided huge quantities of blended hot water, ginger, lime, and honey. The doctor diagnosed acute bronchitis, consistent with my brother’s conclusion following an exchange of just a few texts. Thanks, Matthew—glad to have my back-up doc at times like these!
Happily, Peter was able to have some adventures without me, including a hike to the top of the mountain behind the Intipaka Ruins and some soccer-watching festivities at a local bar.
On the fourth day of the tour, we were able to take a train to Agua Calientes, the tourist trap town that sits at the base of Machu Pichu, where we rejoined our Explorandes trekking group for their final night in a hotel. And on the fifth day, we toured Machu Pichu with our group.
The Inca ruins at Machu Pichu are considered as one of the top wonders of the world. And wonders they are! The surroundings are, well, take a look! And they are much more intact than other ruins, in large part because they were never discovered (or at least never destroyed) by the Spanish conquerers. Today, however, these ruins certainly have been discovered by the Spaniards—and everyone else on the planet!
So, at least we had days one and five. But clearly, days two, three and four were the best of the trek, climbing up steep, challenging, and breathtaking terrain, passing through cloud forests, encountering Inca ruins without any other tourists present. We were very sad to have missed out. I turned out to be quite ill, however, and I’m certain I would not have made it through the entire trek. I told Peter he could continue on without me, and I meant it, but I am truly grateful for his sacrifice and care.
Today, we are more than happy to say goodbye to Cusco, where we have spent far too many days. We are heading out on an overnight bus (with reclining seats and blankets) to Cocacabana, Bolivia, next to Lake Titicaca.
On our final day prior to catching the bus, we wandered the streets, happened upon a fascinating parade (in honor of a saint?), visited the Qorikancha museum, and, just to end on a truly exotic note, went to the mall to watch a dubbed (horrible) American movie and eat dinner at a Chili’s.
As we head to Bolivia, our timing is again not the best. Bolivia had an election on October 20. As expected, its two-term president, Evo Morales, came in first and Carlos Mesa, a more conservative candidate who is also a former Bolivian president, came in second. The controversy is over the point spread. Early unofficial counts showed Morales falling well short of the ten-point lead needed to avoid a runoff. Reporting of the count counting then stopped for a while, and suddenly official results showing that Morales achieved the requisite ten-point gap were announced. Morales has declared himself the winner with the courts’ backing, but Mesa has declared the count a fraud and is urging his followers not to accept the results. Rioting and strikes are continuing. The international community is taking sides, with the UN (as well as the United States, Argentina, Brazil and other countries) urging an audit of the vote count, and more leftist governments in Venezuela, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Cuba supporting Morales.
Fortunately, our first stop (Copacabana) is a fifteen minute drive from the border and seems to be unaffected by the strikes and riots. Our plan is to get there, enjoy Lake Titicaca, and assess the situation before deciding whether and how to continue our journey through Bolivia.
We can always skip ahead to Argentina or Chile. But of course Argentina, in the midst of an economic crisis, has its own controversial election tomorrow. And Chile has been erupting in protests and riots over a subway fare hike and economic inequality.
We knew from the outset that our adventure would not always follow the plan.
gorgeous pictures. Great writing. Thanks for doing this and for getting better. I was a worried mommy.