Cusco and the Inca Trail

The day before my departure for the Inca Trail I visited a few sites in Cusco: Sacsayhuamán (pronounced "sexy woman"), which is famous for its enormous carved rocks; the cathedral; and one of the museums. I also ran into a guy (Mark) wearing a Brit's Pub t-shirt - it turned out that he wasn't from MN but used to spend a lot of time in Minneapolis. I met up with him and another guy (Stu) from CA after my Inca Trail trip.

There were 14 people in my group for the Inca Trail and we set out for the first day at 6 a.m. It was a fun group, with a lot of people from Australia and England. I opted to carry my own pack rather than hire a porter but was rather envious of all the people who chose to get a porter on the second day. The first day was relatively moderate. But we made up for it on the second day with "Dead Woman's Pass", which is a 2 hour ascent and the highest point of the trek. There was a train strike so the guides suggested we go past the regular stopping point on day two and hike for an additional 3 hours so that we could make it to Machu Picchu early if necessary. We hiked almost 10 hours on day 2 and we were all pretty exhausted by the time we made it to our campsite. It rained for a good portion of the trip, which made the rocks quite slippery. As a result, the steep downhills were the most challenging part of the trek. Not only was it knee jarring, but the weight of my pack added a bit of momentum making it challenging to stay upright on the slippery steps. There wasn't much room for error, and I couldn't help but wonder how many tourists had gone gone over the side of the mountain. Our guide later confirmed that it happens relatively often. We found out on the third day that the trains were running so we had some extra time to explore a couple spots along the trail that most groups don't make it to. It was relatively easy day, and there were showers and beer for us to enjoy at the 3rd campsite. We got up at 4am on the 4th day and hiked in the pouring rain through the cloud forest in order to make it to the Sun Gate around sunrise for our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Our timing couldn't have been better. It rained during the entire hike to the Sun Gate and we figured there was no way we would be able to see Machu Picchu. But the clouds cleared for about 10 minutes right as we arrived at the Sun Gate. From the Sun Gate we hiked down about another hour to the stunning Muchu Picchu. We spent a couple hours exploring and enjoying the views before hiking down to a town to called Aguas Calientes for lunch and the train ride back to Cusco. Our guides were absolutely amazing, and I have never eaten better on a camping trip. They even served us tea or coffee in our tents every morning.

We got back late Sunday night, and a few of us celebrated a successful trip over a few drinks at Mama Africa's, a popular tourist spot on the Plaza. I left Cusco early the following morning to meet up with Mark and Stu in Bolivia.