Inca Trail

startof Inca Trail
startof Inca Trail

1'st day on trail

1st day on trail.

1'st nights camp

2'nd day on trail

Sacred Valley, 'urban' taxi


guides "Juve & Emilio"

more cusco photots

cusco during the day

cusco at night

More photos

lima hostel, El Patio

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is everything we have heard and more.

Our guide is excellent explaining the history from the pastt when it was the Incan capital, how it had managed to escape the spanish conquest, to its abandonment, and finally to its rediscovery in 1915 by American explorer Hirim Bingham. When it was rediscovered, the site was totally covered with jungle type vegetation and home to many poisonous snakes.

After spending a few hrs. exploring we head back to town. We were lucky to explore the ruins in relative privacy because around noon the train from Cusco came in and with it about a thousand tourists who soon made their way to Machu Picchu. We did however head back up, because we forgot to have our passports stamped with the official Machu Picchu stamp. We decided to walk back to town and ended up almost running down the stone steps so we would get back before dark. As we walked into town it was getting dark.

We stayed in Aguas Calientes one more day as it is a very interesting town. There are no cars, just a few buses to take the tourists up to the ruins. The train runs right up the middle of the street.

The next day we take the train back to Cusco. What a lovely city Cusco is, with its friendly people, lively markets, great restaurants where two can dine for about $10. including drinks.

The next day we decide to head to Urubamba, about one and a half hrs. away in the sacred valley to meet a shaman recommended by friends in Canada. We had phoned him and he gave us directions to his place, as it turned out a beautiful retreat he had built. To get there by local bus was only 3 Soles about $1.25.

Yeaterday, May 2'nd we planned to return to Lima by plane and found out our flight has been canceled. Luckily after abit of scrambling we got another flight on a better airline for the same price. Ah too soon our trip will be over.

Going to Urubamba

On April 26th we were picked up at 5:oo a.m. at our hotel in Cusco. The night before, Peru Treks had dropped off the duffle bags that the porter would use to carry our sleeping bag, clothes, etc We were given specific instructions in that the bags could weigh no more than six kilos. What a job that was, as the sleeping bag in the bag already weights three kilos. Since we could only access our duffles bags in the evening at our camp site, we also had to carry a day knapsack with our essentials, i.e., clothes (if it got cold, or rained) water (we drank up to three litres per day) and sunscreen, hats and walking sticks (which came in VERY, VERY, VERY handy).

Our bus picked up 16 trekkers in total (including ourselves) and picked up 22 porters and one cook in Urubamba. Urubamba is approximately one hour from Cusco.

The porters and cook are all from the Sacred Valley area, many of them from Pisac and most speak Quechua, the native language of their area. We had two guides, a guide who lead the group and an assistant guide who followed at the end of the group making certain that everyone was safe and no one was left behind.

We had breakfast at a restaurant in Ollanataytambo and bought walking sticks there. We then proceeded to km 82 which is the start of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. This first day was supposedly to be an easy day we found out differently. Many trekkers later felt that this first day was the hardest. The hike was only 12 km. However, these km were not Ontario km. -- there were up and down and around and up and down.

During the hike we crossed the Vilcanota River and floowed the trail to the right of the river, going up very steeply. The trail consisted of stone steps that weaved back and forth as we climbed up. We passsed through a small village, the ruins of the Inca mountain fort high above the mouth of the Cusichaca River known as the ´happy bridge´.

Our guide, Juve, being a native of the Sacred Valley, provided us with much information in terms of history. It seems the Incas built a fort on the mountain when they conquered the area, because the site commanded an excellent view up and down the Urubamba Valley and controlled the entrance to the Cusichaca Valley.

Having climbed up for some time, we descented down to the Cusichaca River. While it would seem that descending is easier than climbing up, this is not the case, given the steepness of the slope down.

The sceney is quite breath-taking for example, seeing the snow-capped peak of Veronica MOuntain at some 5860m. off in the near distance. As we hiked along, we had an excellent view of the Inca ruins of Llactapata. Llactapata meaning the ´upper town´in Quechua and was first discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911.

This site was primarily an agricultural station used to supply Machu Picchu with maize, the staple crop of the Incas. This settlement consisted of over one hundred buildings, including five bthas, for workers and soldiers.

We proceeded along for some 7 km. (once again, not Ontario kms. but Incan kms.) following the left bank of the river up to a small (very small) village of Wayllabamba (at 3,000 m). This was the last place to buy snack and drinks.

We spent the night a Wayllabamba. On the Incan Trail, the government regulates where campsites can be set up. At our camp site, there were approximately four tour companies set up. Our conveniences included: squat toilets (reminisent of Morocco), cold water and very little privacy. Often the male porters would come into the women´s area because it was ´somewhat´cleaner (all relative) than the men´s, or perhaps, because it was faster. Did I mention -- no toilet paper -- luckily we brought our own as many others did also.


Our first day of hiking ended at approximately 5´:00 p.m. Supper was at 7:00 p.m. We have to say that the meals and service in terms of meals was excellent. We would have a starter course i.e., an avocado with tomato and cheese, soup, main dish and dessert and drink, i.e., coffee, coca tea. Our tents were roomy, our sleeping bags warm, despite the coldness of the night.

Our Guide was very diligent about informing us of the next day´s itinerary. However, he tended to downplay the degree of difficulty that would be encountered during the hike.

We woke up at 5:15 a.m. the next morning with room service to our tent consisting of coffee or tea. We had to pack up our belongings and have them out of the tent and be sitting for breakfast at 5:45 a.m. While this may seem easy to do, it is not when you are barely awake and looking for the flashlight to make certain you have packed everything. Thank goodness the breakfasts were worth scrambling for. By 6:30 a.m. we were on the trail.

The second day was to be the most gruelling day of all. We began by climbing up from Wayllabamba, following the left bank of the Llulluchayoc River for about one hour and coming to a samll bridge over the Huayruro River. A little further on we entered a cloud forest, passing a waterfall.

A fruther three-hour trek through steepening woods and amazing terrain brought us a meadown at some 3,680 m. Then, we began the climb to the first and highest pass the Trail called Dead Woman´s Pass at some 4,200 m. During this part of the trail, we were exposed to the Andean elements of first, scorching sun, and then, closer to the pass, freezing winds. At this point, we had climbed over our first mountain. Then we descended 800 m. to our second night´s campsite at Pacamayo.

While this trekking is gruelling given the stone steps and paths and the varying slopes and steepness of the paths, the altitude provided an additional element of difficulty at times. We were thankful that we had aclimatized ourselves having spent some time in Puno and the hiking in the Sacred Valley.

On Day three of the Inca Trail, we started the day by climbing up to the ruins of Runkuracay. Day 3 on the Incan Trail was the most spectacular. We were climbing and descending stone steps and pathways that were more than 90% Incan made, which meant the steps were smaller and easier to handle. These small, circular ruins occupied a position overlooking the Pacamayo valley below. Then we headed up again to 4,000 m. crossing our second mountain. Then we descended down steep steps. This section was particularly beautiful as the path crosses high stone embankments and steep drops.

Then we arrived at a ruin site called Sayacmarca. Sayacmarca means inaccessbile town, because the ruins are protected on three sides by cliffs. We saw other small ruins called Tambos which were used for weary travellers on their way to Machu Picchu. Then we headed in the CloudForest again filled with orchids, tree ferns and flowers. On our Trail, we passed a few more ruins and went thru an amazing rock tunnel that the Incans carved out of the cliff complete with steps. There were many birds including hummingbirds crossing our path as we made our way towards Winay Wayna to have lunch.

The Trail then climbed to the third pass at 3,700 m. going by the most impressive ruins of the Trail so far, called Phuyupatamarca. The name Phuyupatamarca means ´town in the clouds´. Next we descended a 1,000 or so steps (and our guide said that this was our easy day -- later we heard it was called the Gringo Killer) then another three hours of walking through cloud forest we arrived at Winay Wayna. Thank goodness as we went over our 3´rd pass and descended into beautiful cloud forest were the shade of the trees was a welcome respite.

As usual by the time we got to our lunch site, the porters had the dining tent set up and lunch ready. After another wonderful lunch we have a ceremony where the porters introduce themselves, tell us their age and marital status. From all the laughing I think some of them were pulling our legs when they said they had many wives. We then give the porterstheir tip and shake their hands. We won't be seeing most of the porters again because we are going to be spending the night in Aguas Calientes.

Winay Wayna is named after an orchid of the same name meaning forever young. Here we had lunch. Normally, we would have stayed here and prepared to wake up the next morning and walk up to the Sun Gate and entered Machu Picchu. Last month there was a landslide that blocked the normal route to Machu Picchu thru the Sun Gate, so we have to get there via Aguas Calientes. Two persons, who worked in the area of the landslide have disappeared.

Consequently, the alternate plan was to walk down into the town of Aguas Calientes i.e., back down the mountain and along the railway tracks into town took some three hours going at a neck-breaking speed. We descend down to the railway line which took about 2 hrs. of steady going and then we walk between the Urubamba River and the railway track for another 2 hrs. We are taken to a hostel with private bath and hot water! It must have been the thought of staying in a hostel versus a tent and having a shower that created this ´second wind´. We arrived in town 5:00 p.m.

We meet at a restaurant for supper with the Peru Trek cook doing all the cooking. Our guide tells us to be ready to have breakfast the next morning at 4:45 a.m. so that we can take a bus up to Machu Picchu before sunrise.

market at Pisac that happens every Sunday

More Pictures

steps beginning at the walk

























is the walkway at the beginning of the mountain climb to see the ruins at the top in the city of Pisac

















from the ruins looking down


















picture of another Spiritual site where the Inca performed sacrifices




















is watersystem for the City of Cusco built by the Incas Tambomachay





















Saqsaywaman -- Spiritual/military Centre of the Incas.

























A Square in Cusco





















Saqsaywaman

Urbamba

We left Pisac on Monday on a local bus which cost some three soles for the two of us, approximately $1.25).

It certainly was not a luxurious bus. However, it was very interesting -- the people here in the Sacred Valley are very friendly and very willing to help, not to mention, colourful.

The bus took us to Urbamba where we got on another bus which took us to Ollantaytambo our destination for the night. We arrived there in about two hours.

We settled into a place, which turned out to be verrrryyyyy nice, beside a fast-flowing river, which we could hear from our room.

We walked around Old Town which is very much in use today. These streets and houses were built in the fifteen century and demonstrated the Inca´s masterful urban planning.

Then we went to the Fortress ruins just outside of town and climbed up to the top which is reached after climbing 200 steps. A mere 200 steps compared to the climb in Pisac, which took two hours.

The terraces built by the Inca remain intact still. Ollantaytambo is at the northern end of the Sacred Valley, is rare if not unique in Peru. Ollantaytambo is a massive citadel located 50 kilometers from Machu Picchu. The citadel served as both a temple and a fortress. At some time unknown, and for reasons unknown, work mysteriously stopped on this huge project.

It is totally awesome and unbelieveable to think that the Inca carried all these stones up and created walls for agricultural purposes.

Climbing down the other side of the site, we saw an example of the Inca´s engineering genius in terms of seeing the irrigation system which ran into each house.

We found a wonderful restaurant, very cheap, to eat lunch and dinner in, i.e., lunch was six soles, approximately $2.50 and dinner was more expensive 12 soles, approximately $5.00 and that´s for both of us.

We left this quaint, peaceful town this morning to return to Cusco to get ready for our Inca Trail experience, which we begin tomorrow. We were fortunate in being able to get the right buses at the right time and arrived in Cusco before noon.

Tomorrow morning we will be picked up by Peru Treks at 5:20 a.m. and head our trek to Machu Picchu.

This is a picture of our neighbour.

Cusco- City Tour More

Then we returned to downtown Cusco around the Plaza de Armas where we visited La Catedral. The Spanish built this Cathedral on the site of an Inca Palace.
It is indeed a beautiful and artistic monument.

It was completed in 1669 and possess some 400 HUGE canvases that were painted from the 16th to the 18th centuries. There are also spectacular carvings in the Church, made from cedar from the jungle.


The main altar is made from 882 pounds of silver brought in from Bolivia during the Neo-classical period. Since the paintings were painted by the Peruvians, The Last Supper shows the apostles drinking maize beer and eating guinea pig. The Peruvians wanted to honour their existence in the paintings and carvings. We were not allowed to take pictures or video in this Cathedral.

Pisac´s famed Market

Today, Sunday, April 23rd, Pisac´s famed Market draws hundreds of shoppers. It is one of the largest and liveliest in Peru. Vendors come from many different villages, many of them come from remote villages high in the Andes. They dress in typical clothing from their village.

People selling everythings from fruits and vegetables to crafts to a significant amount of silver jewllery, not to mention Alpaca sweaters, coats, scarves.

The things we take for granted like hot water, toilet paper have to be planned for here. We take for granted our fast computers, while some of the ones we have been on take forever to send pictures or even commentaries.

Sacred Valley of the Incas

We decided to tour the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We headed out for Pisac in a local bus that cost us S/ 2 ) (two soles) a little less than one dollar for an one-hour ride.

The Andea town of Pisac lies at the eastern end of the valley and is renouned for its splendid Inca ruins. We decided to climb the mountain to get to the ruins on top of the mountain.



It is totally amazing that the Inca built terrances on the mountain side made out of huge stones. People still farm on the terraces today. The walk continued past streams, waterfalls, stone stairs the Incas had placed to get to the top of the mountain. The walk was ome three miles. The Pisac ruins are some of the largest in the valley. The hike down was a lot easier than going up given the altitude impact. Although the walk down was gruelling also.


Tomorrow we head to another village in the Sacred Valley called Ollantaytambo, some two hours away.

Cusco - City Tour

(Shawna's note: All pictures here are from the internet. They are at too slow connections to upload photos).

We arrived in www.infoperu.com/en/view.php?lang=en&p=41"> Cusco on April 20th at 4:00 a.m. after a six-hour ride from Puno. We got our hotel and after a few hours sleep began exploring Cusco.
Cusco or Qosqo is a beautful city of nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains. It was the capital of the Inca Empire. There are many walls, streets in the city that were built by the Inca. We tasted some of Peru´s cuisine and had a band serenade us during dinner. However, we have not had a meail of coy (guinea pig): The next day we took a City Tour.



First the City Tour took us to the Convento De Santo Domingo Del Cusco, Qorikancha It is compared to the Great Mosque in Cordoba, Spain. The Spanish in Spain built over an original Muslim Mosque.

In Cusco, the Spainish built over the Inca Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon. The walls of the Inca temples were lined with gold. There were life-size figures, altars made of gold, together with a huge golden sun disc. The Spanish ransacked the temple and melted the gold and used the polish stone walls as the foundation for the Convent. This happened in the 17th century. We were not allowed to take pictures in this Convent/Temple.

Then we went to a couple of other Inca sites that were truly amazing.

We drove out to the Sacsayhuaman ruins. This site was both religious and military. The work involved in building the site in terms of huge stone blocks that were piled upon each other.
To this day, scholars, historians do not know how the Incas were able to do this, as some of the blocks weigh 100 tons.
Sacsayhuaman (satisfied falcon) - (pronounced like sexy woman) - is an Incan sacred and strategic site above the city, serves as the head of the puma.

On the peak of a hill overlooking the city of Cusco lies the ancient fortress of Sacsayhuaman . Once the domain of Inca warriors, nobles and engineers it now stands in ruins but many visitors explore its maze of intricately constructed walls, stairways and structures. After the conquest of Cusco in 1536 most of the inner structures of Sacsayhuaman were dismantled and used to construct Spanish Cusco.



We also went to another Inca site called Tambomachay, which was the site where the Inca built three tiers of stone platforms to control the flow of water. The Incas worshipped the sun, earth and water, so there is always a water element to their temples. This sytem fed the City of Cusco its water through a system of aqueducts and canals. The water is still running to this day.

The construction is attributed to the public works commanded by Pachacutec Inca. It's also known as the "Baths of the Inca" for its fountain, falls, and streams. This place of recreation for the Inca and the princesses was also used as lodging for hunting trips. The fountain, its terraces, stairways, portals, and walls give the place a devout atmosphere.

It is considered to be a sacred place for water, a theory shared by past and present Andean inhabitants.

Then we went to site where the Inca performed sacrifices to their "gods". It was a spiritual Centre for that purpose. The Incas scarificed llamas for the purpose of having a prosperous year. The scarifice altar was a huge stone built underneath the site. In addition, the spiritual leaders met here for prayer and to discuss important issues.

Taquile Island.

Located on the Titicaca Lake, Taquile Island possesses 5.72 square/km of fertile lands on which inhabit some 300 Quechua families that live keeping their ancestral customs.
The special and beautiful cloth that they wear, are product of their textile art, as old as the same history.

Taquile Island was a two-hour trip away from Amantani Island. Here, we hiked the stunning and beautiful island which is a half a mile wide and four miles long. It is littered with Inca and Pre-Inca stone ruins.
The hillsides are laced with Inca stone agricultural terraces. Initially, we climbed up 866 steep` feet , viewed the famous textiles of the island, had lunch and then climbed down some 580 steep steps back to our boat for the four-hour trip back to Puno.

Heights of the village which one reaches after having climbed more than 500 steps, From this arch are the sight on the lake, the bay of Puno, Bolivia in the fogs and the altiplano reward for all the climbing efforts.

An interesting footnote, i.e., the men do the knitting in this culture.



Arriving in Puno, we went to a cafe for a cup of coffee and a sweet treat to come back to civilization.

Click here to find out more about Peruvian coffee.

We left vibrant, lively Puno that evening all too soon to go to Cusco. It seems that there is little time to do everything that we want to do. However, we are making a good effort, I think.

Amantani Island Evening Fun!

The island was celebrating their yearly festival, which included costume, dance and band competitions. To get to the competition was a half hour walk on a beautiful stone path through terraced fields filled with various grains. The path was steep and gruelling. As many pictures as we took of the island we are certain that the pictures will not do justice to the beauty of the surroundings.




However, it was interesting as we continually passed the natives of the island dressed in their special finery for the ocassion. The competitions were a sight to see and listen to. We watched from above, looking down upon a socceer field. The festivites included the bands, dancers coming back to the Plaza in the evening to continue their celebrating.







We went back to our family for supper.
After supper, we tried to say no to the local custom of the families dressing up their guests in the local outfits. However, we were not successful. Gerald wore a poncho and a hat and I was dressed in a multi-layer skirt, embroidered shirt with wide belt and a shawl.





The women in this community wear shawls instead of the usual ´bowler´hats many indigenous women wear in Peru.


Back to the square we went with our new identities to participate in the dancing and the festival.






The next morning the host, Wilma, had made pancakes and were able to demonstrate how to eat the maple syrup we had brought for them from Canada. This experience was truly impactful.

Walking the steep paths, I was reminded of pacing myself, being aware of my breathing and slowing down. We were also reminded of how priviledged we are. Although, the couple we stayed with had the most amazing view of the lake the surroundings.

That morning we left and proceeded to Taquile Island.

Amantani Island

From the Uros Island we boated out to the Amantani Island, which was approximately 35 km. from the Uros.

Located on the Titicaca Lake, it possesses 15 square/km of area and 3,663 inhabitants (1988). Its population is Aimara and is dedicated basically to the agriculture concentrated on the town of Amantani.

Here, we hiked up stone walkways to meet with the indigenious family we were going to spend the rest of the day, sleep overnight and leave right after breakfast the next morning.




The family we stayed with were a couple in their sixities. Walking to their house, with our overnight-day packs proved gruelling because of the altitude and the complex stone pathways going up and up and up and up and up.
Elhandro showed us our accommodations for the day and night. These accomodations included an outdoor, narrow wooden staircase which took us to a room, without electricity, and only a candle. The walls were lined with blue camping tarps, there was a table, a wooden bench and one chair. The bathroom was back down the wooden stairs , around behind the building up a little path around another corner (duck your head). The bathroom was a clean square building with a hole in the middle of the floor. Elhandro did not show us any water facilities.

To go to lunch, we went back down the wooden stairs, down the path, through the gate, passed the sheep, through the courtyard, ducking into a small smoke-filled kitchen.

Inside the kitchen Elhandro´s wife, Wilma was cooking lunch on a very unique stone stove that had four various-sized holes where clay pots fitted into. The stove was heated by putting small stickes underneath the holes. We sat on tree stumps and ate our lunch. The couple did not speak Spanish, only Quechua which made communication very difficult, but we managed somehow.

Uros Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca

The next morning we left to go for a two-day, one night trip to Lake Titicaca and two Islands.
We learned that Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable body of water in the world. It is believed by the people who live in (floating islands) and around the lake concern themselves descendants of Sacred Mother and that Lake Titicaca was the birthplace of civilization.

We took a boat from the bay of Puno to the Uros Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca. There are 45 islands with some 2,000 inhabitants. The islands are made out of totora reeds. It was strange walking on the reeds when we got to the island. The houses are made out of the reeds and grasses. The people support themselves by the men fishing with unique boats made out of reeds. The boats hold approximately 25 people.

Uros Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca