Machu Picchu: the one day Inca trail hike

I woke at 5.15am feeling exhausted. I quickly re-dressed in the same clothes as yesterday, then repacked all my belongings into my little backpack. At breakfast, Neil gave me a lunchbox that could barely fit in my bag at all. I regretted bringing pyjamas and I probably could’ve survived with just one jacket.

At 5.40am we (me, the two Germans Jana and Leo, and the two Singapore school teachers Tessa and Kirsty) were all trailing behind a very enthusiastic Santiago. He ushered us on as a bright moon hung in the dawn sky, illuminating the mountains behind the train. The journey was about an hour. I drank some coca tea in hope of it settling my stomach which still hadn’t come right.

Just as Santiago said we had two minutes until we had to jump off (most people were
continuing on the train), I had another set of stomach cramps and rushed to the toilet. The train came to a halt while I was still on the toilet and I sprinted out to find Santiago carrying my bag down the aisle, with heaps of people in the way. We took a photo together at the start and I had some time to sort myself out. The walk began on a gentle uphill slope, there was a narrow compact dirt path shaded by trees.

We reached another Inca site but didn’t spend long, as there was a huge tour coming behind us. We moved quickly and didn’t see them again until the end. From there the path climbed more steeply up the mountainside. At times, it was a completely exposed mountain edge with scrubby plants and no shade. But then we rounded a corner and the path became lush – suddenly every visible mountain was completely covered in jungle.

We had a snack at a little hut and stopped briefly at a waterfall, but other than those stops, we walked for three hours. The steepness of the slopes never changed – the path was literally cut into the mountainside. Occassionally there would be an 100 metre drop beneath us, other times there was just slopes so steep that if you tripped over the edge, there was no way you’d be able to stop yourself rolling down.

We reached a big series of Inca terraces called Winaywayna (or as I memorised it – mini-whiner, because I felt like whining after climbing up all the steps). It looked like a mini Machu Picchu. Four minutes later we came across the last campsite for the 4 day Inca trail. Porters were cleaning and drying tents and cooking equipment. (It was seriously impressive how much weight these tiny men could carry – and they overtook all of us) Here we used the toilets and couldn’t get through the final gate because the guard was watching the football.

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Me having a mini-whiner

We set off for the last two hours – one hour up, one hour down we were told. It was more lush jungle and we definitely noticed the uphill! The famous ‘monkey steps’ were in this section. They are named that because you have to use both your hands and feet to get up them. It was only another ten minutes to the famous Sun Gate, the original entrance to Machu Picchu. I can’t describe the excitement when Santiago announced that we would be able to see Machu Picchu at the corner just 10 metres ahead. We powered up those stairs entered the gate. It was a truly amazing site, made all the better by the long arduous walk to get there.

The final steps to the sungate

We sat and ate the contents of our lunch boxes – quinoa salads and juice. My bag felt a good 5kgs lighter. Then after lots of sweaty photos, we began our 45 minute descent to the ruins themselves. We past lots of train-goers asking how long it took to the sun gate. 5 hours, we replied smugly to their confusion.

It was hot with next to no shade in the ruins themselves. We found the hundreds of Instagram-ready, selfie stick toting tourists all jostling for the perfect photo quite confronting after five hours in the peaceful mountains. I can only imagine what it would feel like for those who did the 4 day trail.

Santiago gave us a two hour tour of the ruins, walking through each part and explaining what it was used for (often acting out scenarios). It turns out our guide had an anthropology degree and had been involved in some of the archeological discoveries around the city, so he was a fascinating guide. Plus, he ran the four day trek in just 7 hours and 45 minutes (that’s not even close to the top time!) He said he might’ve been a mountain goat in a previous life.

Apparently, the Incas used to have hanging gardens over each terrace, filled with orchids. And although the stones are greyish now, they are actually white granite so they city would shine in the moonlight. It’s incredible to imagine how beautiful it would’ve been.

It can’t be completely confirmed, but they believe Machu Picchu was actually a city for learning, scholars, priests (and there is a royal residence there). The terraces at the very top of the sugarloaf mountain behind the city were potentially a retreat for those who completed their studies, a way of graduating spiritually. It was deserted after the Inca’s were conquered by the Spanish, perhaps intentionally hidden because there was no word of it in the Spanish notes. It was ‘rediscovered’ in 1911 by an American from Yale, Hiram Bingham, looking for a different lost city. Some local farmers mentioned it to him and took him to the site.

We saw the ‘sacred rock’, shaped like an Inca face, one of the only original Inca sundials not destroyed by the Spanish, and the area that Bingham called the ‘industrial centre’ where they discovered a huge urn filled with hallucinogenic plant seeds hidden two metres under the ground. There were these strange rabbits sunning themselves on rocks around the city.

It was now around 4pm and although the shadows were getting longer, I was wilting in the relentless sun. We took a bus down to Machu Picchu town (called Agua Caliente), had some dinner, then took the train back to Ollantaytambo and hopped in a van back to Cusco. We got back around 10.30pm – it was a huge day.