Ever since I had heard of Peru I wanted to go there. For me, it held an almost mythical significance. It seemed like a land steeped in history, intrigue and staggering natural beauty. The Incas, the dominant native people of the time, and their brutal suppression by the Spanish Conquistadors was a story I knew very well and I longed to see their ancient forts and temples of gold first hand. And so it was, in the first year after graduating, instead of looking for a proper job my wife and I saved every penny we had to get there.
Most people have heard of the Incas but not many people know anything about them, often getting them confused with the Aztecs and Mayans of Mexico. The Incas were a very advanced civilisation, a true Empire even, with well established mechanisms of Government and administration, the keystones of all empires. And what an Empire. It stretched from Ecuador in the tropical north to Santiago, Chile, in the desert south; a distance of more than 3,000 miles taking in rainforest, high Andean mountains, the driest desert on Earth and a huge stretch of Pacific coastline. And at the heart of it all - Cusco. Meaning Navel of the World in the native Quecha language, Cusco was the capital of this vast empire. A city of hundreds of thousands of people, it was as large and advanced as any in Europe at the time; what they did not possess, however, was gunpowder, horses or resistance to European diseases. So it was in 1532, once Francisco Pizarro had been given permission to conquer them by King Charles, that the Incas had little chance of successfully defending themselves. The Empire had already been seriously weakened by a civil war between two half brothers for the imperial crown and had little left in reserve to withstand the European invaders. Still, no one could have predicted that the 80,000 strong Inca army could be beaten by 168 conquistadors. But let's not get too teary eyed about a poor, peace loving, native people being overrun by the evil White Man. The Inca Empire, like all Empires, had itself used brutal suppression in it's own emergence and upkeep.
The other key to a strong empire is financial might and here, once again, the Incas were not caught short. They criss crossed their lands with over 40,000 km of paths and trails that facilitated the movement of both caravans of alpacas bearing goods for trade and the swift distribution of Imperial edicts and the all important tax demands. Each of the trails was populated with runners, each responsible for their own portion of a few miles, who would run messages back and forth in one long relay. There were houses placed along the roads and each was populated by a small group of men, two of which were permanently on lookout. If they saw another messenger approach they would run to meet them and carry the message on the next leg of the journey. A message could cover over 150 miles per day this way which, given the terrain, is very impressive.
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| Part of the ascent up to the second pass. Pretty steep. |
La Camina Inca, or the Inca Trail, is actually a collection of these trails that essentially start at Cusco and end some 43 km away at the town of Aguas Calientes - literally,
hot waters, so named because of the towns hot, natural springs. Machu Picchu is located an hours walk from here, almost vertically up the mountainside. The bulk of this distance is covered in a sprightly three days leaving just a couple of kilometres on the final day, to be covered in the early morning darkness so that you can arrive just in time for the sun to rise; a magnificent sight.
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| Hiking above the clouds |
The terrain on the trail is extreme. There are two passes to be crossed and there's no avoiding them, the highest of which will take you to nearly 14,000 feet, or half the cruising altitude of a passenger jet. So although you may only have a target of 7km distance to cover over a morning you will also have to climb 1,500m and descend halfway back down again. For example, on the morning of day 2 you have to spend 5 hours climbing the 1,200m of the Dead Woman's Pass, up to a total of 4,200m. That's the equivalent of climbing Ben Nevis from sea level and going most of the way down again but at three times the altitude; and that's all before lunch and the afternoon session.
But the true difficulty in this endeavour lies in the altitude itself. At 4,000m tying your shoe laces is difficult, I promise you. At that height, even whilst peacefully sitting still, you will occasionally gasp for air uncontrollably because your resting breathing rate is too slow. Throw in a back pack, the steepest paths you've ever seen and a system full of adrenaline and you begin to see where the challenge lies. It is
strongly recommended that you spend a few days acclimatising in Cusco before setting off if you've arrived straight from Europe.
The trail itself is a mixture of different types. For a while it might be pleasantly sloping gravel paths following the gently meandering Urubamba River, at other points it'll be a staircase cut into the naked stone of a cliff face one person wide. Needless to say Health and Safety has yet to make it to Peru, and that pleases me. I fear that if the Inca Trail went from Milton Keynes to Luton we would have closed it by now for being too dangerous. Sections of the trail are only a yard wide with bare cliff to your left and a bare drop of a thousand feet to your right. There are no fences. There are no ropes. If you fall, you die. There are also no short cuts, if you get injured or just plain decide you've had enough then you're out of luck. At best you may find an alpaca or mule you could be strapped to but you still have to travel the distance. There is a helicopter in the area but it will only pick you up if you have $5,000 in cash on you, so it's only really for the film crews that frequent the area. I'm not even going to tell you about the bit they affectionately call The Gringo Killer because you wouldn't believe me anyway.
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| Paths are narrow and not to be played on |
That said, thousands of people successfully complete the trail every year with very few casualties, and the rewards are more than worth it. Upon passing through the Sun Gate and seeing the sunrise behind Machu Picchu I've never witnessed so many adults in one place crying with tears of joy. The idea on the final day is to get up long before dawn so that you can beat the crowds of fat, lazy Americans that will arrive at Aguas Calientes by train throughout the day.
One of the most amazing aspects of the whole trip was understanding just how superhuman the porters were. At the end of each morning and evening session the group would slowly plod into camp in dribs and drabs, throw whatever they were carrying onto the ground and collapse in a heap, exhausted. After a moment they would be brought a nice refreshing drink, and a little after that we'd all be shown into a large tent where there would be at least a two course meal already prepared. The porters would have all this ready for us. Having packed up all the tents, all the food and water everyone needed for the trip, all the equipment and anything else that the tourists had paid them to, they would carry all this along the track not slowly and methodically, not even particularly briskly but, literally, at a run. That way, having left after us, they would beat even the fastest of the tourists to the next camp with enough time to set up every tent and have a hot meal ready and waiting for us.
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This is not one of my photos but nicely shows the massive burdens these guys can run along the mountains with.
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The Inca Trail is closed through February, and once a year when there are no slow tourists clogging up the narrow paths all the porters get together and have a race with a prize for the winner normally in the region of $300. The winner generally covers the whole 27 miles, mountains and all, in under three and a half hours. Incredible. Anyone thinking of doing the trail needs to make sure they're going with a reputable company that ensures the welfare of their porters. Find out how much they get paid, just a couple of pounds per day can mean the difference to them between struggling to feed themselves and getting a decent salary; and remember to tip well.
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| The classic Machu Picchu shot |
No, the title of this post is not a spelling mistake, it truly was a trial, my wife will happily testify to that. It remains the most difficult physical challenge of my life and is likely to stay that way. But it was also one of the greatest achievements of my life. Sleep deprived because of the altitude and camping, constantly soaked by the tropical rains, physically exhausted from the exertion and deliriously happy despite of it all the Inca Trail was a lifelong ambition fulfilled and I'm only sorry I haven't had the chance to do it again since.
You can see more photos from my travels in south America at
my website.
