Pouring One Out for Pachamama on the Inca Trail

The Inca Trail... Where to even begin? Well to start, I should say it was amazing, inspiring and truly an experience like none other!

After 3 days in Cusco, Peru-- drinking lots of coca tea to help acclimate ourselves to the 3,300 meter elevation, exploring the city and Sacred Valley and getting ready for our trek-- it was show time!

The Inca Trail is a 4 day/ 3 night journey where you hike through small villages, mountains and rainforest to end on the last day at the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu. The trail is challenging, the weather can be less than pleasant (rain and cold weather) and your knees will hate you for the primitive, rocky and steep trail you must follow-- but none of this matters, because you are hiking the Inca Trail and it is all worth it... every single step of the way!

Being on the Inca Trail made me feel like a camper again. The company we booked our trek with (Peru Treks) prided themselves on being locally owned featuring delicious food, ethical treatment of the staff and high quality equipment. Short of wiping our behinds after using the squat-over-a-hole-in-the-ground ´toilets`-- they took care of it all for us! The food was out of this world and plentiful-- seriously delicious! A typical meal had about 5 courses, complete with hot beverages, desserts and multiple meal options served family style with plenty to go around. I should mention that meals were served in a giant tent, with a banquet table, table cloths, proper silverware, lighting, etc.-- it was amazing! After a full day of hiking we would arrive to our campsite, sometimes wet and cold and often tired to find our tents neatly set-up and prepared for us. We were woken in the morning with what they called ´room service`-- hot drinks served to us from the comfort of our sleeping bags inside our warm tents! Every night at 5:20 was ´happy hour`-- hot drinks and snacks to tie us over until dinner, only a brief 1 hour away. It would have been luxuious treatment and service in a city... let alone backpacking in the mountains of Peru somewhere around 3,000 meters elevation!

The trail itself was gorgeous and was enhanced with Inca ruins which we visited along the way. Our guide Frank was incredibly knowledgable and provided us with information about everything we saw. Our assistant guide was a slightly overweight man named Ernesto, who was an incredibly slow hiker. We all got a kick out of  Ernesto our `guide´arriving to the campsite, huffing and puffing, dripping sweat-- about an hour after we all arrived! I was shocked to find out on the last day of the trip that good old Ernesto was carrying the 1st Aid Kit-- thank goodness no injuries arose, or else we would have been out of luck! Despite his slow hiking, he was a good guy with a great sense of humor! Our trip had 16 participants, yet a staff of 2 guides, a chef, an assistant chef and 21 porters who carried nearly everything along the trail for us from giant propane cylinders to chairs and our delicious food!... It was quite impressive! The porters are incredible, hiking along the Inca Trail with an unfathomable amount of weight on their back, strapped on with bungee cords, rope and who knows what else-- all while wearing sandals! One of our porters was 71 years old and was carrying rice, oil and other cooking staples along the trail! Needless to say I felt a little silly when the 71 year old barely shedding a drop of sweat, passed by me on trail while I slowly hiked along gasping for air! Once again-- impressive!

On the last night of the trip, there is an awkward ´ceremony` where all the trek participants give hugs and kisses (and let´s not forget tips) to all 25 Peru Treks staff members. It was one of the funniest things I have ever experienced and likely the favorite part of the trek for all the staff members-- money and some tourist loving-- score! 25 hugs and kisses later-- we were ready to hike to Machu Picchu the next morning!

On the last day of our trek we were woken up at 3:45 am to make it to Machu Pichhu in the early morning hours. Machu Picchu was everything I had hoped for and then some. I had dreamed of visiting for years and truly loved every moment there. The ancient city is fascinating and mystical and full of detail and lore to keep you endlessly engaged and peeking around every corner. In the first hours at Machu Picchu our guide Frank gave us a tour, which was very interesting. After the tour, Beth and I maged to hike our weary bones up to the top of Waynapicchu (the giant mountain that overlooks Machu Pichhu), which was also an incredible experience. The views were spectacular and the trail itself was a challenging combination of hiking, rock climbing and awkward side stepping down frighteningly steep stones-- pure awesomeness!

After enjoying some time on top of Waynupicchu we enjoyed more time exploring Machu Picchu... from temple to housing, watchtower to sundial-- it all was incredible!

The Inca people were devout believers in Pachamama-- mother earth. At all Inca sites, there are shrines to Pachamama and intricate artwork and design in her honor. We were encouraged by our guides at meals to pour a little of our drink on the ground in respect of Pachamama along the Inca Trail.

So on that note, I thank Pachamama for an amazing experience on the Inca Trail and even more so for our wonderful adventures in Peru... Next stop is 9 hours south of Cusco to Arequipa for some canyon hiking,  mummy viewing and warmer weather!