Gully and Elise's Travel Blog: An Inca-mparable Experience

We made it. We survived the 42 km Inca Trail hike from Ollantaytambo, Peru to the “Lost City of the Incas”, Machu Picchu. It truly was an unrivalled, unparalleled, unsurpassed, unmatched experience (I confess, those are all the synonyms for “incomparable” from right-clicking in Microsoft Word). Seriously, though. It was unreal. But it was no easy feat: we hiked for four days crossing three mountains passes – the highest at 4200 m, and camped at over 3600 m in the bone-chilling rain to get there. The views left us (literally) breathless. I mean, we’re strong hikers, but when you take away our O2 it’s a different game! Mind you, I guess we weren’t soooo hard done by considering we had nineteen porters, one chef, and one sous-chef catering to every back-country need of the mere sixteen people in our hiking group. These guys blew my mind. They carried 25 kg of gear each as they ran ahead (in sandals!!) to set up camp for us and get started on the next meal. Then, they welcomed us to each camp with applause and a fresh glass of boiled stream water tang. I felt like an Inca king the way they cooked for us! We ate things like quinoa porridge alongside crepes for breakfast, tea and sandwiches for brunch (that’s right – a full sit-down brunch on the mountainside about 500 vertical meters after breakfast!), avocado salad and fried fish for lunch, and alpaca steak sprinkled with fresh mint leaves alongside stuffed peppers, fried rice and fresh veg for dinner. What did YOU eat on your last camping trip?

Did I forget to mention the intended purpose of the hike? Machu Picchu anyone? For me, when it comes to ancient civilizations, ruins are ruins. You've seen one, you've seen ‘em all. Machu Picchu surprised me, though. It’s a full-on city that you can actually walk around. That said, the real draw for Elise and me from the get-go was the hike itself. Few tours meet – let alone surpass – my expectations. This hike was EPIC. It was an immense physical challenge (yes…even for me….mostly due to the altitude, but the original Inca stonework stairs – nicknamed the “gringo-killers” – would have been gruelling even at sea level). There were jaw-dropping mountain views and we had all four seasons whip through us over the course of the four days as we continuously moved between dry mountain valleys and damp cloud forests. But enough chit-chat. I think the pics below speak for themselves.

-G