The morning walk lasts about three or four
hours, then we stop for a leisurely lunch of an hour or more at
a scenic spot on the trail. Lunch is usually a meat or vegetable
salad, along with a cream, drinks. After lunch, we walk for
another few hours until we reach our campsite - each one, it
seems, more beautifully situated than the last! Dinner is
prepared late in Peru (around 8 PM), so the crew usually serves
us afternoon tea and a snack to tide us over until mealtime.
Before dinner, there's free time to read,
relax, or wash hair or clothes in a stream if we're near one.
Dinner is a mixture of continental, Peruvian, and Quechua
cuisines. It's a hearty meal consisting of a delicious hot soup
(often made with the local grain, quinoa), with a main course of
spaghetti, stroganoff, or other beef or chicken casseroles and
pudding or cake for dessert. After dinner, we usually chat away
the evening in the dining tent, perhaps enjoying a glass of
pisco, rum, or wine. Sometimes the
lovely and soon hauntingly familiar sound of a single quena
(Andean flute) fills the Andes with melody, always a fitting
accompaniment to our spectacular setting
We take a small bus to go to Ollanta (86 kms) after a 30 minute
stop, we continue travelling through Chillea (72kms). 0ne such
trail follows the gorge of the Urubamba River. The main highway
turns north out of the valley just below Ollantaytambo, to cross
the Panticalla pass leading to the jungle settlement of
Amaybamba. Perhaps this was the only highway still in use by the
time of the conquest, for the Spaniards never discovered the
trail that continued on down the valley to a point where it
becomes a gorge and will soon be a canyon. The Incas built a
string of settlements onward from here down the left bank of the
Urubamba.
Here you pass the ruins of Llactapata
(town-on-a-site). above to the right. Below to the left, near
the banks of the Cusichaca close to its confluence with the
Urubamba, is the Pulpituyoc (pulpit-having), a great carved
rode, Which was the principal huaca of the area. Following the
trail you descend to the river and cross just
below a small ravine, adorned with an Inca buttress. (2 km.). We
have Lunch and relax.
After crossing a small pass to the left of
the ravine, your route follows an undulating course up the left
bank of the Cusichaca. At first the valley is broad, higher up
it narrows. At the end of this bottleneck you see a tributary
stream, a valley, and traces of an old landslide on the right
bank. Here there is a log bridge over the Cusichaca. We descend
and cross it.
Continue uphill along the main valley, on the
right bank now, until you reach the village of Huayllabamba
(grassy plain) at 3000m elevation. We camp in the Huayllabamba
schoolyard (7 km.). Tea and Snack time. Then we have time
for rest and Dinner.
Second day
Wake up with a hot cup of tea.
Breakfast. Before walking we provide you a snack and bottle of
coca tea. The trail now leaves the Cusichaca, turning northwest
up the valley of the Llullucha (the name for a kind of herb).
The climb gets steep and unrelenting. You are ascending toward
the first pass.
About 1 1/2 km upstream is the Llullucha.
Both valleys are steep-sided and and densely forested. Follow
the trail up the leftbank fork for roughly 500m beyond the
confluence, then leave this trail to the right and descend to a
log bridge across the stream. With luck you might see a
white-tailed deer, or even the rare Andean taruca ( a small
barrel-chested deer with spiky little antlers).
This is the last, hard climb to the first
pass, the Abra de Warmihuanusca (Dead woman's Pass. We have no
record as to the origin of this name). Notice traces of ancient
steps at the head of the pass, the first unmistakable signs that
you are following a pre-Columbian highway. This is the highest
point of the trail at around 4200m. (10km.)
Lunch time and relax. In the afternoon we
descend to the valley of Pacaymayu. If visibility is good you
can see two high passes ahead of you. The one on the right is
your destination. You can pick out the two small takes near the
pass, and the circular ruin of Runkurakay below them.
As you near the valley floor you see the
waterfalls of the river Pacaymayo tumbling down the mountain to
your left. The valley floor of the Pacaymayo is an official
campsite. We have tea time and rest before Dinner.
Third day
Wake up with a hot cup of tea. Breakfast. Before
walking we provide you a Snack and bottle of coca tea. We begin
walking from Pacaymayo. Here you are at last convinced that you
are walking an Inca trail. Up to now the path has been a trail
like any other, but now you find stone steps built into the
mountain as your route zig-zags up its slopes to Runkurakay
(5kms).
The circular shape of the main structure at
Runkuracay is unusual for a large Inca construction. The two
concentric walls of the enclosure form two long , curved
chambers and four small ones, all giving onto a central
courtyard. The outer walls are massive and solid, and have no
windows, but the eastern quarter of the courtyard is open,
giving a magnificent view over the Pacaymayo valley.
Descent. As you do so trail becomes more and
more obviously an Inca highway. Below lies a long, shallow lake,
green with algae. Soon you can see ahead of you, clinging to a
spur, the ruins of Sayacmarca (dominant town). A trail to the
left climbs abruptly, via a flight of steps hanging above a
cliff, to reach these ruins, while the main highway toward Machu
Picchu descends almost as abruptly to your right (7kms.).
Sayacmarca was discovered by Hiram Bingham in
1915. He called it Cedrobamba, meaning "Plain of
Cedars" But since it is not a plain, nor are there any
cedars. Paul Fejos, who visited the area in 1940, gave it a new
Quechua name meaning "Dominant (or Inaccessible)
Town." The complex is built at the end of precipitous
ridge, commanding a sweeping view of the Aobamba valley, with
the snowcapped Pumasilo (ca.6000m) in the distance. But it would
be wrong to consider it a fortress. It might have served as a
center from which to control travel and cargo along the two main
highways visible from this point.
Descend from Sayacmarca by the same route you
entered. After 100 meters or so the trail cuts down to the left.
There's a small campsite here, as you approach the stream. About
15 minutes from Sayacmarca the trail crosses a shallow bowl
known as the Dry Lake (Cha'Kicocha).
The third and final pass is at close to
4000m. Here you emerge onto a stupendous view of the Urubamba
Valley. The ruin of Phuyupatamarca (Cloud-level Town) lies below
you to the left. If the day is clear you will just see the tip
of snowcapped Palcay (ca.5600m), Salcatnay (6180m). We stop here
and we have lunch and rest.
Phuyupatamarca was another of Hiram Bingham's
discoveries. His for this one is apt, because clouds tend to
settle around the ridge below which the complex is built. There
are many agricultural terraces here, possible enough to have
made the site self-sufficient. Once again we find ritual baths
here.
Where the trails exist from the ruins on the
west side you come to two flights of steps pointing downward
into the jungle. The first of these is an incredible granite
staircase that was probably the principal route from here to
Huinay Huayna , the next major site along the Inca Trail. This
trail and staircase is a recent discovery. The staircase is two
meters wide in places.
The trail cuts across the mountainside and
eventually joins a new pathway that descends near a line of
electricity towers. The original Inca trail probably led
directly to Huinay Huayna. We camp in this site. Tea
time and rest. Dinner.
Fourth Day
Wake up with a hot cup of tea. Breakfast. Before
walking we provide you a Snack and bottle of coca tea. We visit
the ruins of Huinay Huayna, which lies about five minutes walk
off the trail, around the hillside to the right (South) at this
point.
The site is named after an orchid (Epidendrurn
crassilabiuma E. Secundrum) with red, violet or yellow flowers,
that was once abundant in this area, and is still to be seen.
The plant blooms year-round, hence the Quechua name, which means
"forever young".
The ruins here were discovered in 1941 by
Paula Feijos, during the last days of the Viking Fund
expedition. He had time only for rudimentary survey and clearing
work. The ruins are built on the steepest of mountains slopes,
flanked by ancient farming terraces. Due East from here the land
plunges into the Urubamba Gorge and then soars upward to the
shining glaciers of Mount Veronica.
Leaving Huinay Huayna you are on the last leg
of the trail. The trail traverses fairly steadily across open
mountainside at first, and then enters dense woods, rising and
falling. When you come to a steep, imposing flight of stairs,
you have almost arrived. Soon you reach the top of a ridge,
where the path passes through a ruined gateway flanked by
remains of buildings: Intipunku (Sun Gate)
You have reached the city limits. Walk to the
far side of the ruin and you see the climax of your journey. The
tall peak of Huayna Picchu lies directly ahead.
Before it, spread impressively over the ridge
below you, lies the lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu (7 kms.).
We descend to the Citadel. As soon as you decide, we take a bus
to get down to the campsite located in Puente Ruinas. Lunch and
rest. Later we walk to Aguas Calientes (Hot Springs). After six
in the afternoon we return to the camp. Dinner.
