The Final Countdown to Machu Picchu

Our last day was a busy one. Everyone was excited about it! We woke at 4:20 to pack up and move our backpacks so the porters can tear down the tents. We went straight to the checkpoint that we were to clear and left our bags there with one of the guides. Otherwise, we would be in the back of the line and not get to see the ruins without hundreds of people in the way. 

Some of us went back up to camp for breakfast: omelettes and tea. We ate fairly fast so we could get back to the line where we waited about an hour. When the gates opened, the race was on. We were almost at a jog to get to the Sun Gate first, before the other groups. Most people fell behind when we reached the steep staircase. In fact, we were so fast, our guide said it normally takes and hour and a half to get there and we did it in 45 minutes. 

We were excited when we saw the ruins of the Sun Gate. And there it was, from the Sun Gate, we could see Machu Picchu. It had the same look as I had seen in pictures, but pictures obviously don't do their justice, we sat and enjoyed the view for a while until everyone else arrived. Our guide took pictures of the group with Machu Picchu in the background before we continued. 

It didn't take long to arrive at the ideal picture spot, where most Machu Picchu pictures are taken. Our guide gave us a little history on the tomb that was next to the picture spot before we kept on hiking. 

We finally arrived in Machu Picchu and our guide let us spend some time taking pictures. We had to go to the ticket gate and store bags because the park won't allow large backpacks. When we were there, more people started to show up. You could easily see the difference between the types of people there: the smelly people who experienced the Inca Trail an the clean people who rode an hour on a bus. 

We all met our guide and he took us through the ruins and gave the history of each spot. The day started out warm and sunny, but halfway through the tour, it began to rain. It seemed like the rain stopped by time the tour was done and our guide gave us 2 hours to explore and explore we did. I was going to tell you all about the things we saw, but Machu Picchu is something that can't really be described in words, or pictures. You just have to experience it yourself. 

After Machu Picchu, we were to take the bus to Agues Calientes for lunch. We also had the option of hiking an additional trail to get there. The three Getmans and I were the only ones who did the additional hike, which was rewarding. When we arrived at the restaurant to meet with everyone else, our guide bought us our meals and drinks for doing the additional hike. 

During lunch, we collected a large tip to give our guides and one of the girls gave a thank you speech to our guides and gave them the tips. Our guides gave us our certificates saying we survived the rugged Inca trail. I passed mine around and had everyone sign the back. One of the girls got all of our contact information on the back of hers and will add us to a group on Facebook for us to share our pictures and videos and stay connected. 

After lunch, we were able to leave our backpacks at the restaurant and walked to the hot springs. About 9 of us hung out in the hot springs for about 2 hours to loosen our muscles. 

We hurried back so we could get our backpacks. On our way back, we ran into the Germans who were staying in Aguas Calientes for the night. I kind of wished I would have decided to stay as well. It was a neat little town.  We gave the Germans hugs and were able to say our goodbyes before heading to the train station. 

On the train back to Ollantaytamba, I met 2 others from America and 1 from England. We talked most of the way. In Ollantaytamba, we got our bus and headed 2 hours back to Cusco. I think most of us slept on the way back. 

We were dropped off at the plaza and all agreed to meet for dinner the next evening (where only 3 of us showed up). I had a long walk to my hostel where I checked in, then walked back to my old hostel to retrieve my bag I left there during the hike. I stayed at Pirwa hostel when we got back and I didn't care for it as much. It was a little more upscale, but wasn't busy like I'm used to and didn't seem to be intended for backpackers. 

The whole trip has been amazing and, as our guide said, a trip I'll never forget. I will do a part 2 to this post to sum up what I thought of the overall trip. 

Last day in Cusco:

Easy day

Waking up on this day at 5:20, I had lots of energy. I slept great and when we opened the tent door for our coffee, we had an awesome view of the mountains. After tea, we packed up and went to breakfast which consisted of soup and omelettes. During breakfast, our guide stressed for us to take our time today and enjoy the sights. 

The day started as downhill, then started back up. The day was challenging, yet seemed easy. I think we all had our hiking legs by this day. Most of the hike was along the side of a mountain and through rainforest that was awesome. We saw many ruins throughout the day. At one point on the trail, there was a fork in the road where we could continue to climb 98 stairs to get to another Incan ruin site. Most of us left our packs at the bottom with one guide and went up with the other guide, who gave us the history behind the site. Afterwards, we were able to explore around. 

From there, we hiked to another ruin and just pass that was a spot for a break. This is where most groups ate lunch but our guide knew of a better place, so we snacked as our guide showed us how to get water out of the moss that we saw in the jungle. It was warm this day, but did have occasional drizzling. 

It didn't seem to take long to reach another summit where we had a great view of the whole mountain range, the Urubamba River, and Agues Calientes. I was first there and a porter met me with some Chicha Morada, which was amazingly good after a hike. There, we had lunch of ceviche, soup, alpaca, quinoa, pimiento rellano, Jello, and tea. This was to be the last lunch the chef makes for us, so he went all out. I think the fact the we are the last group of the season influenced a big lunch. 

We all had the option to either hike from there to camp, or take the long way to a huge series of terraces. The hike through the jungle was awesome and before we knew it, we were at the terraces. Our guide said we were one of the few groups where everyone took the long way, especially since this was to be our longest day, distance wise. We put in 18 km. 

Camp was right next to the restrooms which was nice. When I got into camp, I took a short nap before tea time where we had popcorn, cookies, wontons, and tea. 

After tea time, we didn't have much time before dinner, our last with the porters. After tea time, we all got together and came up with a big tip for the porters and the chef. 

Dinner consisted of a beef dish. After dinner, the chef came in with a farewell cake. Yesterday was one of the porters bday, so we called him in and made it also a birthday cake. The guide found a match that we used as a candle and sang to the porter. We decided to cut the cake in half and gave a half to the porters. 

After cake, we rearranged the dinner tent for a final get-together with the porters. One of the guys in our group is fluent in Spanish and gave a speech to the porters, thanking them for everything they did for us on the trail. We presented the tips to the head porter who divided it up and gave our tip to the chef. We also took our remaining coca leaves and gave them to the porters. After that, we were able to say our goodbyes to the porters before going to bed. 

All uphill

After the first day, I was feeling good and ready for the second day. However, many people were nervous about it because it was to be all uphill. 

We woke around 5:45 and the guides went to each tent to give us coffee or tea. I enjoyed some coca tea as I packed my stuff. Everyone took their backpacks out of the tents so the porters could start packing them. Breakfast was on open tables (most meals were in a meal tent). Breakfast included fruit, pancakes, porridge, and tea. We had a great view during breakfast; Wayllabamba is a tiny town in the valley between 2 mountains. 

After breakfast, everyone brushed their teeth and got their packs ready for the day. It was a little chilly in the morning, but we warmed up as we started hiking. We all gathered together and were able to meet the porters who carried most of the stuff and did all of the setting up and cooking. They were unable to speak English, so our guide translated.

When we started out, we went through a checkpoint where we could get our passports stamped by the mayor. Wayllabamba is considered the last Incan city, so it was cool being able to get our passports stamped. 

The day started as uphill from the beginning but didn't seem too hard. Though, after about 1 hour, the 20 lb backpack started to feel heavy. 

We didn't see many ruins this day. Most of it was just hiking through the forest. The cool part was seeing the landscape change as we got higher. It went from wooded, to dessert, to rain forest and jungle. 

There were several breaks this day because of the uphill the whole way. We had a few shelters to stop at but not as many as yesterday. We did get to know each other pretty well on this day because of the amount of time hiking. Of any of the days, this was going to be the one to cause altitude sickness. Partway up the mountain, we stopped under a grove of trees to get out of the rain. It rained most of the day and most of us got soaked. When we stopped under the trees, we had a coca leaf break. We each took 10 coca leaves and our guide gave us an activator (charcoal) that extracted the alkaloids from the leaves. To use coca leaves, they are placed in the check and occasionally chewed for about 10 minutes, swallowing the juices. They sort of make your mouth numb and tongue tingle. 

We were so glad to see lunch! It was nice to get the backpacks off and sit for a while. Our guide told us this would be our last chance to get water, so we all bought water for the rest of the trip. For lunch, we had soup, Hawaiian pizza, lomo saltado with alpaca, and coca tea. We rested for a bit before continuing uphill. As lunch was still being made, we got the opportunity to play with llamas. 

The last bit was hard. It was all I could do to walk up those thousands of stairs. I think everyone's legs were about to give out. The hike was worth it, though. We made it to the top of the summit of Dead Woman's Pass. I didn't realize we were going to summit a mountain of 14,500 feet. To my amazement, I didn't get any altitude sickness. When we got to the the top, we all hung out there for a while and got pictures with the sign saying we made it, taking about 6 hours to reach the top. I have to say, summitting this mountain was a huge accomplishment, probably my biggest. 

From there, a few of us climbed a portion that was a little higher to get a better view of the mountains. The wind started to pick up and it got pretty cold, so we started down the other side, 2 hours downhill. We did see some ruins as we were going down, which was pretty cool. 

Camp was at a site called Pacaymayu, a layer of Incan terraces that our tents were set up on. When we got in, we had afternoon tea with popcorn, then took a short nap until dinner, which was fried rice and chicken. 

I decided to turn in early, as did everyone else. I shared the tent with one of the other Germans, Paul, and had an awesome view of the mountains from our tent. I slept pretty good until it started raining. The tent had a small leak which was dripping on my head. I pulled my rain coat over my head and slept most of the night.