Nestled deep in the Andes Mountains, steeped in myth, mystery and mist, Machu Picchu has always been a bucket list destination for me. Located in southern Peru and the eastern Cordillera mountain ridge, Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca Citadel and is often referred to as the “lost city”, it was abandoned by the Incas around the same time as the Spanish conquest. While it was known to the native population of Peru, it was not known by the Spanish during the colonial era. In 1911, Machu Picchu was brought to international attention by the American historian Hiram Bingham.
As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, access is controlled by the Peruvian government and in recent years they have capped the number of visitors allowed per day and started requiring that visitors be accompanied by a guide in an effort to help preserve the site. Having been to various historical sites around Peru, I can tell you the level of preservation and budget for it varies greatly, so it’s nice to see some effort going into preservation.
With my best friend joining me to explore the southern part of Peru, Machu Picchu was a no
brainer, but how to get there? Machu Picchu can be accessed two ways, via bus from Aguas Caliente which you reach by train from Cusco. Or, you can hike in via the trail. With my love of hiking, obviously the Inca Trail is bucket list hike, and the chance to hit two bucket list items was too good to pass up! Luckily my bestie was game to tackle the Inca Trail and so after a bit of research into trekking companies we settled on Peru Treks & Adventure, for more information on ethical issues around trekking companies you can check out my article on ethical issues in travel here and a list of reputable trekking companies for a variety of budgets can be found here. In order to help control erosion,the Peruvian government has limited the number of people who are allowed to be on the trail a day, this includes guides, trekkers and porters. A permit is required to hike the Inca Trail and they are really only available through a trekking company; treks often book up to 6 months in advanced. While there are many things in South America that you can just rock up and arrange for that day or the next, hiking the Inca Trail is not one of them.
Machu Picchu sits at an altitude of 2,400 meters and the trek starts at 2,600 meters and reaches a peak altitude of 4,200 meters or 13,852 feet so per the trekking company’s directions we spent a few days first in Arequipa and then in Cusco to adapt to being at altitude. If you’ve never experienced being at altitude or altitude sickness, it can be pretty rough. I know that I take a little longer to adjust to being at altitude and can get really bad altitude sickness. Luckily, I’d been at altitude for a while as I’d been traveling in Bolivia for two weeks prior and Ashley didn’t have any problems adjusting. While hiring a porter to carry your pack is an option, I opted not to hire one and carry it myself, for more information on gear my packing guide is here.
Day 1
Day one does start fairly early as the trekking company is picking everyone up from their hotels and then you start the drive to the trail head at KM82, Pisqhakucho. We stopped for breakfast and to pick up any last-minute snacks and supplies, like TP. The Inca Trail itself is quite easy to hike, and what I mean by that is the Inca’s built a good path. It’s fairly wide and smooth, so there’s no walking on un-even ground or loose trail which can be really tiring to hike on especially over long distances. The trek is also broken up into really manageable chunks by the guides and we were always given ample time to complete each section, usually 2-3 hours per section followed by a break. Our group had 12 “guests” aka those of us paying to trek, two guides, a cook and a number of porters. Our guides, did a great job sharing the history of the
Inca Trail and the Spanish conquests from the perspective of the Quechua people, who are indigenous to that part of Peru. The porters and guides were all Quechuan, both our guides started as porters and eventually worked up to becoming guides after learning both Spanish and English and finishing a guiding and tourism course at university. Most of the porters only spoke Quechuan (this is very common in the indigenous communities) as they are mostly farmers and also work as porters to earn extra money for their families. On day one, we passed Llaqtapata, which is an archaeological site thought to be used for agricultural production and originally found by Binghamin 1912, but it was not widely explored until 70 years later. It’s located in a valley, so we only looked down on it from our vantage point. Day one ended at Wayllabamba, the camp is located right next to a village. There are some ruins a short walk from the camp, the night we camped there a birthday celebration was going in the village, so they were in party mode. There’s no electricity, so the party only lasted as long as daylight. There are showers at this camp, but they’re cold water only. Overall, day one pretty easy, the hiking is fairly leisurely and we arrived in camp well before our target time. Our trek was at the beginning of rainy season so we had some light mist on and off during our hike on day one, but the weather was clear one we arrived in Wayllabamba.
Day 2
Day two is when you conquer Dead Woman’s Pass, which takes you to the highest point on
the trail and many people say this is the hardest day, but I actually thought day three was harder. Warmi Wañusqa is the Quechuan name for Dead Woman's pass, the name was given to the pass because the ridge line looked like a woman lying on her back and looking up at the sky. Slightly to the southwest you can find the archeological site of Patallaqta, which housed the local occupants as well as travlers and soldiers from the nearby hill fort of Willkaraqay. This village was burned by Manco Inca Yupanqui as he retreated to Machu Picchu from Cusco and away from the invading Spaniards. You do spend most of the day hiking uphill as the camp at Wayllabamba sits at 3,000 meters and the top of Dead Woman’s Pass is 4,200 meters and the increase in altitude is probably what is the most challenging. As I mentioned before, the trail is easy to hike due to being wide and having relatively even footing, this makes very easy to zigzag which can make hiking uphill (and downhill) a little
easier. One of the cool things about the Inca Trail is the number of eco-systems that you pass through, including cloud forests and alpine tundra. Our group happened to include a couple who worked for the US Forestry Service and were super knowledgeable on the plants in the various eco-systems. On day three, these ecosystem changes were especially evident on our climb up to Dead Woman’s Pass and on the hike down to our camp for the night at Pacamayo. The views from the top of the pass over the surrounding valleys are stunning, as we were hiking during rainy season, we only had a few minutes of clear views at the top of the pass before the clouds and fog rolled in along with a little drizzle, this did make for some cool shots of mist rolling over the mountains though.
Day 3
Personally, I found the morning hike of day three to be the hardest, I have asthma and even with using an inhaler I felt like someone was standing on my chest for a good part of the hike up to Runkurakay. Runkurakay was one of the break spots on day three, it’s an archeological site that sits on a mountain with the same name. Another archeological site that we stopped at on day three was Sayacmarca. This site is cool as it is built on the edge of a precipice, which shows the level of skill the used when building this site. Archeologists argue over whether it was built by the Inca’s or was conquered by the Inca’s and built by a smaller indigenous group. From Sayacmarca, it’s a fairly easy hike to Phuyupatamarca, because of its location at 3,600 meters Phuyupatamarca is often called La Ciudad entre la Niebla or the City Above the Clouds. A fun feature of this archeological site is that it contains five small stone baths that connect with a series of aqueducts that move the water and during the rainy season they still work!The last section of hiking for day three takes you down to 2,700 meters and the campsite at Winay Wayna. Winay Wayna means "forever young" in Quechuan; the site contains houses, a water system and terracing for farming. When we arrived there were alpacas grazing on the terraces that Ashley wanted to see, so we stopped and explored the ruins for a bit with the Aussie family who was in our group, before heading down to the camp for the night. This campsite also has showers (cold water only) and I elected to tough it out shower and wash my hair here.
Day 4
Day four is a pretty easy day, while every day is an early wakeup, day four is even earlier as
trekkers start lining up around 5am to be let onto the trail. It is one of the check points on the trail and no one is let on before it is light out (around 6am) , this is for safety so that trekkers are not navigating the trail in the dark (it's a bit bumpier section, with lots of tree routes and some uneven stairs), the 90-minute hike takes you down through the cloud forest to the Sun Gate or Intipunka. Fun note, despite its name there are usually a lot of clouds at the Sun Gate, but when there is sun, it shines through a window in the gate and into the Sun Temple in Machu Picchu. From the Sun Gate you can get a view of Machu Picchu, weather permitting and there is a vantage point where all the trekking groups stop for photos. It’s thought that the Sun Gate was used as a control gate for people entering Machu Picchu as it is thought that the city was for Inca nobles. From the Sun Gate, it’s a pretty easy mosey down to Machu Picchu, you encounter tourists who have come up to Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes and are hiking up to the Sun Gate. You actually exit Machu Picchu to store your bags and maybe grab a snack or coffee before re-entering to tour the site. The reason for this is that there are bag restrictions for Machu Picchu, so large bags like a 50-liter backpack are a no go (selfie sticks are also prohibited). Bags safely stowed, we headed back into Machu Picchu with our guides and spent about 1.5 hours exploring the site with our guides sharing information about the sites and taking pictures. After you’ve explored the ruins to your hearts content, everyone takes the bus down Aguas Calientes for lunch and to catch the train back to Cusco. Ashley and I had decided to spend the night in Aguas Calientes to hike Huayna Piccu the next day so after lunch we wandered around the town (Ashley needed some pajamas so she could do laundry), I checked out the hot springs and we both fell asleep early despite the fact it was Christmas Eve, although I did wake up around midnight when the massive amount of fireworks were being set off to celebrate.
Huayna Picchu
Want that iconic shot overlooking Machu Picchu? You’ll need to hike up Huayna Picchu, the mountain opposite Machu Picchu to get it. Huayna Picchu is accessed via Machu Picchu, but it requires a separate ticket for entrance. This something you’ll need to book in advanced as only 500 tickets are issued per day, with half allowed in at 8am and the other half at 11am. The time on your ticket is important, when we were booking our bus tickets to Machu Picchu, we got told our tickets were for the later time and we missed our slot. As a result, we weren’t able to hike Huayna Picchu, but it was super rainy and foggy so we wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway, plus now I have an excuse to visit Machu Picchu again ;). The hike up Huayna Picchu is narrow and steep, you may also need to que for that photo. If you have time you can hike further around the mountain to reach the temple of the moon.
Aguas Calientes
Machu Picchu Pueblo or Aguas Calientes was originally settled by a few farm families in 1901 and later became a railroad camp in the 1920s as the railroad was being built. Today, it serves as the hub for travelers arriving from Cusco and Ollayantaytambo on their way to Machu Picchu. There isn't much to see in Aguas Calientes itself, there are hot springs, hotels and restaurants, including a great brewery overlooking the river where we had our Christmas Day lunch prior to heading back to Cusco. There is also a market where you can find a variety of souvenirs, personally I think the market in Cusco is better.
FYIs
Trail Etiquette
Basic trail etiquette on the Inca Trail calls for slower hikers to move to the side to let faster hikers pass, and everyone moves aside to let the porters pass. There are communities of Quechuans who live and farm in the land around the Inca Trail, they occasionally pass by with their herds of llamas and alpacas or on their way to various places, you should give way to them as well.
Tipping
It is expected that guests will tip the guides, porters and cooks, I know a lot of people complain about this, but if you can afford to fly to Peru and afford an Inca Trail trek, you can afford to properly tip those who work to make the experience better for you. Typically the guides will get the largest tipped (we tipped our guides individually after our final lunch with them in Agues Caliente) tips for the cooks and porters were collected on our final night and distributed to them by the guides with the cooks and head porter receiving slightly bigger tips. Remember, cooks and porters are usually being paid a minimal amount and are doing this to earn additional income to support their families.
Rainy Season
If you're considering hiking the Inca Trail during rainy season...go for it. We went at the
beginning of rainy season and although I was worried about there being a lot of rain, it only rained a little and it was not very heavy. You may want to bring two sets of clothes to hike in, that way you can alternate instead of having to put on cold wet clothes everyday. Rainy season can mean more fog and clouds which can obscure your vision, especially from the Sun Gate and if you decide to hike Huayan Picchu.
Bathrooms
When it comes to showers, the trail offers limited chances to shower...and cold water only. There are restrooms at some of rest areas on the trail, you should be prepared to pay 2-3 soles to use them as they are run and maintained by families who live along the trail. If you're scared of port-a-pots, you may also have a hard time with some of the restrooms available along the trail, they're on par for what you'll find on the Salt Flats (in Bolivia), and other remote destinations in developing countries. You should also have your own TP as not all restrooms have it.
Food & Diet Restrictions
The cost of the trek includes most of the meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea) for the duration of the trek, with the exception of breakfast on day one and lunch on day four. The food on our trek was really tasty and there was always plenty for everyone. Our trekking company was very accommodating to dietary needs, I'm vegetarian (one of three on the trek) so there was always a veggie option. My bestie doesn't eat fish, and they had fish free options for her for the meals that were fish. One of the other trekkers had her birthday on the trail and the cook made a pretty banging cake. Additional snacks are the responsibility of the trekkers, with Ashley coming from the US, she brought us a stash of Cliff bars and Lara bars. We also picked up some jelly snacks and chocolate in Cusco as it's nice to have something that you can share with the porters.
Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail were both bucket list items for me and they both lived up to the hype and expectations. Beautiful scenery, a deep history, and fantastic company, it truly was the trip of a lifetime.
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