Sacred Valley & Inka Trail, Peru

Back to Cusco to meet Danny and finish off the trip with a bang.

Rather than take a tour bus to see the sights, Danny and I opted to rent motorbikes and have our own tour of the sacred valley. But, first, we had to get Danny some motorcycle lessons. They took him up to a muddy field which was home to a large black pig for his first lesson. Oh Peru, sometimes I wonder about you. It worked out though, and, despite driving the last hour through a teeth chattering cold rain, the last motorcycle tour in South America was awesome.

The following morning we were picked up at 4am to begin the four day trek of the Inka Trail to Macchu Picchu. Hiking up the “gringo killer” stairs at 13,000 feet was amazingly difficult. On the first day, the unacclimated lungs required a stop every five steps or so of the final day one climb that was equivalent to a 210 story building. The body adjusted over the next three days, and we woke on the last morning at 3am to make the final push to Macchu Picchu right around sunrise. The ruins were really awesome, but the trek to get there was equally rewarding.

It’s really a pretty amazing operation. For the seven folks in my group, there were 12 porters and one guide. These porters carried all the food, tents, and communal stuffs. They also set up our camps, cooked our incredibly delicious meals, tore down our camps, and cleaned up after us. So, we would leave them there each morning with a full camp after breakfast, and start out on the trail. These guys would then clean every thing up, strap on a 60 pound pack, and would blaze past us gringos about an hour later. We wouldn’t see them again until they were clapping for the panting gringos as we arrived in another fully set up camp where warm drinks were waiting for us. Truly amazing.

Again, pictures don’t really do this justice, and I was too selfish to deal with the iPhone camera.

Reality is only a few days away, and I am looking forward to it.