We had arrived at Sayacmarca after about 10-11 hours on the trail on day 2. From there we could see our day 2 camping spot which our guide was claiming was at the same elevation as where we were currently sitting. It sure didn’t look that way. It looked like it was at least 200 feet above us and no one was in the mood for more climbing. We were suspicious because the guides were not above fudging the numbers to keep us motivated. So when he said the walk would be flat we didn’t believe him. And we told him that. It turns out he was telling the truth. Score one for him.

But he also told us it would only take five minutes to reach the camp. We all wandered down from the ruins in singles or small groups. It took us at least 15 minutes to get to the camp. One of our friends walked for ten minutes or so. Not finding the campsite, and with darkness approaching, she panicked a bit. She turned around and raced back down the trail, only to run right into Raul. “Where are you going?” he asked. “Oh” she said “I thought maybe I was going the wrong way.” This sounded funny to our guide as there are only two ways on the Inca Trail. This way and that way. Mind you it sounded funny to our friend that our guide didn’t appreciate how getting lost in the dark in the Andes with all of those Inca spirits floating around might spook someone.

Safely at camp everyone had the same idea. Toilet time. This would be my first visit to a squat toilet since Beijing in 2008. There were two toilets for probably 50 men (more than one group used the campsite). So by the time I entered the area was a bit grungy, though not as bad as I had read it would be. I’ll try not to give too much detail but then again, comparing squat toilet stories was the highlight of the post-hike celebration party. It goes without saying that I missed the target. But what I also missed was the string you could pull to release a torrent of water that would clean up most of the mess. As I didn’t see it I didn’t pull it. So when I left the stall the porter entering after me gave the Quechua equivalent of WTF? Later I would find that pretty funny. I thought the locals would soil my toilet. Here I was ruining theirs.

Skipping ahead to the third day, I had hoped my toilet use on day 2 would carry me over to the end of the trail. No such luck. As soon as we arrived in camp on day 3, a touch of diarrhea hit. I raced to the toilet. Missed the target again. But at least I understood the sprinkler system by now. So I pulled the string. But the stream of water was missing the target. So I tried to use my foot to redirect the water to where it would do most good. Complete failure. I raced out of the toilet, wet foot at all, so at least no one would be able to identify me as the culprit.

The mood at day 3 dinner was a mix of festive – the tough part was behind us – and fatigue. We had walked for 12 hours. We had another great dinner combining meat, rice, salad, tea and other foods. As usual our guide gave us the briefing for the next day. We only had 15 kilometres to go. We were at 11, 800 feet, 4000 feet above Machu Picchu. Day 3 would be 10k and the final day 5k. We would stop at more ruins and spend a little more time at each. It felt like the hiking part of the trail was almost over and the educational/spiritual part was beginning. We would be ending the trail feeling more refreshed than if the tough days were at the end. Although for the guides it doesn’t sound as if there are any tough days. Someone got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. They ran into the guides watching a movie on some small portable device. That would have been about 3 hours before it was time to get up.

The Inca Trail truly is a magical experience. But as a person in the marketing business I have to say someone has done a brilliant job of designing and packaging the hike. The flow, the messaging, the visuals. As one example to be discussed later, getting up at 3:30am on the final day seems to me to be an attempt to pay the porters one less day and to let them get back to kilometre 82 to start another hike. To us it is explained as a way to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu at the Sungate. In fact many people cry at the Sungate when the clouds shroud MP. Personally, I say pay the porters another day and let us sleep in.

Wow, loving your report. I've only seen you in the lounge, where you're one of my favorite posters (ok, my favorite, but don't let it go to your cold head). But here, in this trip report, you've taken it up a notch... or a few steps anyway (and really... what are a few steps, right?).

Can't wait for the rest and am also looking forward to the Puno portion. I took my daughter to MP (and Puno where we did an overnight home stay on one of the islands) several years ago. She wished we'd hiked the MP trail, but she would have been terrified. I sent her your story about how you used to have to wait for the stadium to empty out so you could climb over the rows to get down. She said it made her want to hug you.

Anyway, i'm hanging on every word, so keep it coming!

althom said it well, cold, you have taken trip reports up several notches, or steps!

this is a wonderful start to my day with my morning coffee/tea.

Those Peruvian guides... they are so hardy. I came up with a name for the woman guide at Pisac and I can't remember what it was but I am sure it was a very clever and funny name. It was something like sadistic goat. She could deftly climb up anything at a rapid pace with no show of effort and then gently "yell" at those who weren't keeping up.

Thanks so much Althom. I have read all of your trip reports, including Egypt (where we were last year) and Peru. We also used All Ways Travel in Puno. They were great. I have some minor issues with Uros, but I know your overnight was further out in the lake.

... as was yours Ncounty. By the way Ncounty gave me the name of a guide to use in Puno. But when I contacted the company they said they had never heard of the guy. But boy did they have a great offer for me lol.

Our guide in the Sacred Valley would stand with his back to the drop off with his heels over the edge - I couldn't look at him!

What an amazing and arduous experience. Are all your vacations like this one? Did all 9 of you take part in the planning and know what they were getting into?

Elizabeth_S - I told our guide that someday I would read about him falling. He said that that would be the perfect way to go. Jackie, most of our vacations are to interesting places. This was just the hardest physical trip. And we aren’t rich. But we don’t want to wait until the kids are gone to travel. They are 80% of the fun.

The original plan was to go Australia but the airfares were through the roof. Once we agreed on Peru, we invited one friend who had just lost her Peruvian born mother and another friend who has a PhD in archeology. Their spouses came along, with moderate degrees of enthusiasm. I did most of the planning because I have the most experience with this stuff. And some people really dislike making decisions.

I made a mistake above when I referred to our day 3 dinner. We had only finished day 2. I get the end of day 2 and the start of day 3 mixed up in my mind. I think we were on a roll by that point and the ruins were starting to resemble one another.

As we only had 10k to travel on day 3 you might think we could sleep in. But it was time to rise at about 6 and move out by 7. The mind works in strange ways. We were warned on days 1 and 2 that we would be climbing thousands of feet so that is what we defined as our challenge. On day 3 our highest point would be 270 feet above our start line. As we had in our minds that day 3 would be downhill, those 270 feet seemed like 1000 feet.

The path climbed initially into an area where I started thinking “Oh oh. These cliffs are going to get me.” The paths were very rocky, curvy, no vegetation and no more than 5 feet wide. The fall-offs weren’t that great but high enough to kill someone. A few times I held on to the rock wall on the other side.

From there the path descended into a magnificent rainforest or cloud forest as they call it there, full of orchids and ferns. We also passed through an Inca tunnel carved into the rock. This is one of the spots I wish I could do again and again. The first and only time you do it you are very careful to watch where you are stepping. The tunnel was steep, narrow and wet. Then you get through it and keep going to stay with your group. Too bad as those tunnels were amazing to look at.

The trail then climbed up to the 3rd pass (12,700 feet). This was our favourite pass as it was extremely gentle. The porters lined up to clap upon our arrival. The view from the pass offered great views of several snow-capped mountains. It was here the guides found the highest spot, pulled out their phones and tried to call someone - family or girlfriends? We could not receive a signal on our phones. One of the Belgium guys explained that in South America some people use a phone and a network that is somewhere between a cell phone/network and a satellite phone. Thus they could call and we couldn't.

We continued downwards after the pass to Phuyupatamarca, the most impressive Inca ruin so far. Actually I am reading this off my Llama Path map, but I have to say I have no recollection of this ruin. What I remember is being followed by a porter from another company and his beautiful black dog. I had noticed the dog when I glanced over my shoulder to see if someone was passing. What I saw out of the corner of my eye was a medium-sized black animal. My first thought was that it was a Puma. Now that could have made us miss a step. But it was the same black dog we had seen the day before leading the way for his master, the porter. The poor guy was sitting down every few hundred meters to rest and have a drink. Our guide told us later that this particular porter also has a drinking problem.

We also had another porter race by us that day. Apparently, one company had left without sufficient porters and this guy was racing over 30 kilometres in one day to join the group.

I am again (as I write this) reading from a description of Phuyupatamarca from the Internet. It says “Leaving the site via an impressive Inca staircase leading from the west side of the ruins (the far end from the baths) you descend a thousand or so steps.” I must admit that I remember the lead in to this ruin and the thousand steps after it but I don’t remember the ruin itself. That is awful. I do remember the next ruin called Intipata. That ruin was on a steep hillside. We could see for miles on a beautiful day. We could also see our next campsite. And we knew that Machu Picchu was just around the next mountain. What a great place to relax.

Frankly, I'm beginning to find your trip report a little discouraging. It's too good. Too cool. Who's going to be interested in our dumb trip to anna maria island in february after reading this report? Boring. Florida, meh. Oh well, it's what it's. At least it's not skiing.

SM - Anna Maria island? Was everywhere else booked?

LOL, sm. I know the feeling.

Cold, I got goosebumps when I got to the great views of the snowcapped mountains with the porters clapping. What an experience that must have been.

I love the honesty of your writing; I especially chuckled when you should have been appreciating the ruins you had labored so hard to get to but was instead focused on the black dog.

I also love that you are putting in this adventure travel while you have all your kids in the household. Very wise, imo. I took my son to London and paris last year after my Peru trip (he would have come with me to Peru but he was in school during my birthday; also, I don't think he would have been quite up to all that adventure). I plan to travel with him more in the next few years before the college grind starts; take full advantage of the time we have them.

Ncounty I have a story for you later about travelling with children.

The final campsite is at Winay Wayna. It seems like every group stays here so that we can all start the mad rush together to Machu Picchu the next day. Our tent was perched along a sliver of ground about two feet wider than the tent. You had to pick your way in front of the tents or you would fall about 7-8 feet – not far but far enough to do some damage, especially if it happened in the middle of the night. Note to self – no trip to the bathroom tonight.

This positioning of the tent was noteworthy as it reminded us of a show on Canadian television about two people being killed on the Inca Trail in 2010. It had been raining for days resulting in landslides. One Argentine woman was killed when her tent was hit by a falling rock. A guide was also killed. We had watched this show just weeks before leaving for Peru. The producers recreated the scene of the woman’s death. While watching I commented to the family that someone would have to be crazy to pitch a tent along a sliver of ground below a steep slope. Well our tent in Wanay Wayna appeared to be in exactly the same spot. I am sure it wasn’t but the similarities were creepy. And that night it really started raining hard. Oh well … we survived.

The humorous part of the stay at this site was how long it took five of our group to race off to shower. Answer – about 30 seconds. The campsite had one cold shower and a separate building where you could pay 5 soles for a hot shower. The Irish boys took no time in jumping into the cold shower – not together mind you. Our daughter and the two other women in our group immediately headed off for their hot shower. They were gone quite awhile. Apparently there was much cleaning to be done! My wife and I and the two boys didn’t bother. After three days without a shower what was one more day?

The third night on the trail is the night you say goodbye to your porters, even though you will see them the next morning. It is really the night you thank them and the cook with tips. Most companies recommend a certain amount per porter. Our company was recommending 60 soles per porter (about $22) and 120 for the cook. Our guide called us together and suggested 60 soles for the porters but mentioned 200 soles for the cook. I was named collection agency manager.

These tips are a hot topic in chat rooms. Some hikers feel manipulated, especially those from countries where tipping is less common. Our guide left the tent and I did the math. 19 porters times 70 soles (we were generous) divided by 14 hikers = 95 soles plus 15 each for the cook = 110 soles from each hiker (about $40). The Irish guys paid immediately. Charles from the US borrowed the money from me but paid it back at the end of the trip. The Belgiums told me they didn’t like the idea of tipping at all but said they would pay. And they did pay most of the amount at the last minute. I didn’t have a problem with their objections. The process is a little awkward.

After dinner Raul called in the porters to our dinner tent from the pissing rain. He summarized their assistance to us and then asked me to say a few words. I have read some groups pick a Spanish speaker to speak but we only had 1-2 Spanish speakers and they weren’t volunteering. I will repeat what I said that night not because it is particularly eloquent but because it does signal the great respect we had developed for the porters. They work hard from 5 am to 8 pm. It’s a dangerous job. Many of them also end up with significant health problems. So I said:

“In our group we have people from many different countries. We have two people from Belgium, two from Ireland, one from the United States and a large group of us from Canada. Even though we come from different places, we agree on many things. We agree on the beauty of your mountains, your forests and your rivers. We agree on the importance of your ruins and what they mean to you. And we agree that Raul and Marcelito have taught us so much about the Incan and Quechua cultures.

But many years from now when we are back in our own countries, there are two things we will remember the most. We will remember how our cook Valentino managed to make wonderful meals under less than perfect conditions. Always good, always healthy and always more than enough food. And always with a smile on his face. Thank you Valentino (handshake, picture and transfer of 200 soles). And we will remember how hard each of you worked to make us comfortable, from getting us up in the morning, to setting up our lunch spot, to carrying our belongings to helping us go to sleep at night. The image we will all remember is the sight of each of you carrying so much weight, racing down the trail so that you could keep us comfortable. You are good people and we appreciate what you have done for us (transfer of 1330 soles)."

It all sounds a little corny now but I daresay that as much as we will all remember our first sighting of Machu Picchu, our most dominant memory of the trip will be those porters racing up or down steep steps with our stuff on their back. Yes they were being paid. And they sure were earning it.

Very nicely said.

Well said!

You are a master wordsmith, cold!

Cold,

Good for you for being the funds collector and the eloquent ambassador.

Thanks for a very interesting and informative (and fun to read) report.

I heard there is a special on Business Class seats heading down under. Check with Clara for details.

gruezi

Well done, and well said !

Yes, well said!

Hmmm - all very nice of you but it really isn't difficult to say nice things about people when you believe what you are saying. We all came home with very strong feelings about the porters. And we know right at this moment most of them are probably back on the trail cleaning up after dinner. Amazing people.

I was hoping to write about day 4 tonight but Ottawa is playing Toronto in hockey.