Inca Trail- Day 3 &4, Machu Picchu
I was looking forward to a shorter hike on Day 3 but still was not convinced it was going to be as “easy peezy limon squeezy” as promised. We had been told that this would be the day of 3000 steps. I’m still not sure who counted those steps as I believe we went down more than 3000 depending on which rocks you wanted to count as steps and which you counted as just rocks!
The day started off wet and rainy and of course chilly. Today I would break out my lovely green poncho and backpack cover. Of course one truth to rain ponchos is that it doesn’t take long to get warm in them! Fortunately the rain didn’t last long.
While we had been told that this day would be all downhill it of course was not. The morning started going straight up. I started off energetic and quickly realized I was spent. My muscles were aching, my chest was aching, I was just done. But I continued to put one foot in front of the other and an hour and half later I made it along with my group to the third pass of our hike. Along the way we went through an Inca tunnel. That was great fun as it was very different from anything we had seen so far. Toro hid in the darkness of the tunnel and jumped out to surprise us. Even for those of us at the back that knew he was there he still succeeded with the jump scare!
We stopped at an archeological site where we learned about the Inca religion. We learned that the 9th Inca put a stop to human sacrifice. The Inca cross was explained to us with the significance of the condor, the puma, and the snake. And we learned the laws that needed to be followed – do not lie, do not steal, do not be lazy. It was easy to see why so many Peruvians who were raised catholic found a way to incorporate the two religions into their lives as they learned more about their ancestors’ beliefs.
At the third pass we were told that we could get a cell signal. I was so excited. I really needed to connect with my daughters. I felt that would give me the boost I needed to succeed. I actually reached one of them and that gave me such encouragement. We rested for a while at the pass. We saw some alpacas on an adjacent ridge.
Now it was time to start the descent.
Two and a half hours of down. I’m not sure who counted the steps but I feel certain there were more than 3000. The idea of step was probably subjective. Some areas were obvious steps while other areas just appeared to be rocky terrain going down. 
Overall this was easier than the uphill climbs had been but I was still slow going as I was always so afraid of falling and my knees were feeling the strain. But down, down, down we went until we arrived at a magnificent ruin. What a beautiful view! 
It was so incredible to look out at the river and valley below us and back up at where we had come from. It was amazing to think that the next day we would be in Aguas Caliente as we looked down on it from here.
After a nice respite at the ruin it was a short thirty minute walk to our camp. Yes we were done for the day! We arrived around 1:15 PM to camp. It was time for lunch followed by a siesta!
I was certain I had a rock in my shoe during part of today’s hike. Unfortunately I learned the “rock” was actually a very large blister on the bottom of my big toe. While I had been smart enough to pack mole skin I was not smart enough to pre cut it. Fortunately Cara had some blister treatment she could share with me and Greg had a knife to cut my mole skin. As a result the rest of the trip was much more comfortable than it would have been!
This was our first campsite that could have been classified as hot. Jeff wasn’t sure he was going to want to siesta in the tent due to the warmth but it didn’t take long to realize that a nap was exactly what we needed. If you watch Game of Thrones you may remember when Tyrion was imprisoned in the Eyrie. His cell was slanted so that if he wasn’t careful he would roll out and into the clouds below. I was reminded of that cell when I attempted to leave my tent. We were close to the edge and definitely at an angle so you had to be careful getting out of the door, especially as other people might be walking by on the narrow ledge at the same time. While falling here may not have resulted in death it most certainly would have resulted in severe pain!
After our siesta we headed down to the ruins of Winay Waney, a short 10 minute walk from our campsite. These were extensive and beautiful ruins. Again we learned more about the culture of the Incas. We watched llamas playing and had a chance to explore the temple of the rainbow and the temple of the water. We were given our Alpaca Expedition shirts that I believe may be my favorite souvenir from the trip. Anyone who has not done the trail will not appreciate the truth in the statement on the back “I survived the Inca Trail.”
Tonight would be our final happy hour and meal on the trail. Alejandro made us a beautiful cake decorated to say “welcome to Machu Picchu.” Tonight would also be our opportunity to thank our porters and chef for their service. So in a special ceremony we thanked them and gave our group tips to Alejandro and to the head porter to distribute. Once again we circled and shook hands with everyone. Our group had all diligently learned enough Quecha to say thank you “solpayki.” Afterwards it was time to go to bed as we had a 3 AM wake up call.
So the final day was finally here. I hadn’t slept much due to an unhappy gastrointestinal system so I was up before 3 and starting to get ready. Jeff sadly had even more intestinal distress than I did and we wanted to be sure we had a chance with the meditation tent before we set off. We were ready to go by 3:15 AM. There were about 600 people in this campsite that night, 250 of which were hikers, and we were quickly hiking past all of them. We were in a dash to hike five minute to the checkpoint that would open at 5:30. Our guide had told us that there was very little space there to sit under cover and he wanted to be first. It was a pretty cool feeling to be ahead of all the other groups. Alejandro had made us a sack breakfast and that was handed out to us as we waited on the bench. Unfortunately several of us had some upset stomachs going on and the chicken and cheese sandwich, juice, and cookies were not very appealing at that time.
With two hours to wait we had plenty of time to go back to the facilities. This proved a difficult task for many people who walked past the facilities. It was crazy how hard it was to hike back up to them. Why was I so out of breath? The facilities were easily located in the dark by listening for the running water and following the smell. This was an experience of the Inca toilets I had read so much about. I thought I was going to vomit when I walked in there. Excrement was everywhere. I now understood why people said you should tuck your pant legs in your socks. And yes it was a porcelain hole in the ground. Unfortunately I had to make two trips to this lovely facility before we left for the morning. On my second trip I dropped my toilet paper. Fortunately I already had what I needed in my hand. The rest stayed behind. I was not going to touch anything that hit that floor!
Once the checkpoint opened we had our final stamps on our permits and we were off. We would quickly learn that the “race to the sun gate” was in fact a race. The pace David set was ridiculous. We were basically running in the dark on loose rocks. We kept up as long as we could. Eventually we started to drop back and finally we had to slow down to shed some clothing layers. At this point we were passed up by other groups. When we reached the “Gringo Killers” a series of 57 vertical steps that were almost like a ladder Greg said David somewhat angrily told him, “you let them pass you.” We all began to wonder if the guides had some money on this race and were determined to win by having their group make the sun gate first. We were all so tired after the sprint that we had been on that we didn’t care when we made it.
The sun gate was a bit of a disappointment. As noted by so many others who have travelled this road it was completely cloudy when we arrived so there was no view to see.
We rested for a while and hoped the sun might make an appearance and burn off some of the clouds but it was evident that was not going to happen. So we took a group picture and started on the path to Machu Picchu. Unfortunately when we arrived to the spot to take the iconic postcard photo of Machu Picchu we once again found clouds. We had a second to get a photo in but by the time our whole group had arrived that second had passed.
We made our way down to the gate and were told there was a bathroom. I was so excited to see a toilet and running water! I was a little surprised by the mirror; I hadn’t been prepared to see myself yet but it did feel good to wash my hands in a sink. I had switched from my regular back pack to a small day pack for this day. I didn’t want to take any chances of having to check my bag when we arrived. I had put my rain cover on my pack as it was so cloudy and humid when we started out that morning. I had taken out a sol and left my pack outside with Jeff while I had gone into the bathroom. When I came back out Aleh was feeding a dog and I found some scraps from my breakfast to share with him as well. 
I then opened the pocket where I kept my passport to get it out so we could head to the gate and I panicked. My passport was gone. I emptied my pack. I was starting to have a full blown panic attack. I hadn’t walked all this was not to be able to get into Machu Picchu!!! My husband was more concerned about me being able to get back home. Toro was checking with the lady at the counter for the bathroom. Jeff checked the trash. I was about to start crying. At that moment Aleh handed me my passport. She had pulled my rain cover off the pack and found it in the cover. She said she had lost a bean bag that way and thought to look there. I think I may have hurt her with the hug I gave her at that moment. She was definitely my hero! With the crisis averted we handed over our walking sticks and headed to the line to get into the citadel.
I must say that I did feel a little like the walking dead at this point. Alpaca Expeditions had arranged for Aleh and Ebony’s friend who had been too sick to hike with us to meet us today so we were all excited to meet Abby and welcome her into our group. We were given a two hour tour of all of the highlights of the magnificent site. It is somewhat surreal to be there in person after seeing pictures of this beautiful place. It is everything I had hoped it would be. Jeff and I had signed up to climb Hyuanna Picchu but at this point our muscles ached and we didn’t feel that we needed to climb any more mountains so we spent our additional timing touring the site on our own. I also wanted to climb back up to the perfect picture spot to get our own iconic photo. I was so glad that we did that – I would have forever regretted not getting that photo.
It was hard not to feel a little bit superior to the other tourists there knowing how hard we had all worked to get there. At one point I asked someone to take our picture for us. He was a guide with a guest and asked if we had done the trail. When we replied yes he congratulated us on our accomplishment. In my exhausted state I felt I was not enjoying or appreciating Machu Picchu to its full amount but that compliment reminded me that I could appreciate so much more than a short visit to one of the great wonders of the world. 
Exhausted and tired of the crowd we decided it was time to catch the bus and head to our meeting point in town. This would be our final meal together as a group. It was time to celebrate with a beer and say goodbye to our guides. Unfortunately David and Toro would not be on the train with us as they had learned they would be leading another tour the next day and had to return early.
We still had a lot of travelling left to do that day. We had a two hour train ride back to Ollantaytambo followed by a two hour bus ride to San Francisco square in Cusco. Here we were given a plastic sack to empty our duffel bag contents into. We then were put on a smaller bus and taken to our hotel. We arrived back around 8:30 PM so it had been a long day. I don’t think a shower had ever felt so good!
While we were at Machu Picchu I commented that it was almost a shame that we didn’t get to wait and come the next day. On the tour I met another tour group and a guide from that group. Adolfo was kind enough to point out some sites like Winay Wanay, where we had been the night before, from the train and to answer a question I had about Hiram Bingham. I noticed this group looked much cleaner and better rested than we did. I made a comment that I wished we had been able to visit Machu Picchu the next day and that’s when they told me that is what they did. Their trip had them arrive at the Sun Gate when there was actually sun. They then headed into Aguas Caliente for showers and refreshment and a good night’s sleep and returned to Machu Picchu the next day for a tour and exploration. I wish I had known about this tour company before I booked! The company is Exodus.
I am so happy we did this trip. It was very challenging physically. I did not find the spiritual experience I had hoped for but if I am honest with myself I feel I did experience a spirituality and connection that I hope stays with me.
My advice to anyone planning this trip – train, arrive early to acclimate, and don’t be disappointed with yourself when you still find it challenging! Enjoy every moment. I’m off to plan our next adventure!
