MY EXPERIENCE:
Our Inca Trail tour started in Cusco in a lovely hotel called Hotel Prisma. We had one plan for that day; go to the G Adventures head office to meet our group, learn about the trip and hire the things we needed so the porters could pack for the following day. I hired a sleeping bag and sleeping mat. Sophie and I shared a tent, and I had brought my own walking poles with me.
TOUR DAY 1
We woke up to the delightful sound of rain, not what we had hoped for, but we kept smiling with excitement of what was to come. Our tour consisted of 6 girls, all similar ages, we loved it, although not sure our male tour guide was so thrilled!
The first stop was White Jesus, a huge statue overlooking the city of Cusco. Even though it was raining, the views from up there were incredible.
Our next stop was at the Ccaccaccollo Community. My highlight was meeting the lovely traditionally dressed Peruvian ladies, and them showing us how they naturally dye and weave the alpaca fur together. And of course, how can I forget the cute baby alpacas!
Along the way we stopped at Sacred Valley and an Andean bakery, where we saw a Peruvian dog for the first time. They have no hair, so have to wear coats in the colder seasons, so cute!
Next was our first trek, a short one to warm us up. We did a 40 minute walk around the Pisac ruins. It may have been short but my gosh was it hard. The uphills definitely wear you out! As a moderately fit person, I found being out of breath after 5 stairs quite hard to get used to, as did everyone else in the group. It was just a taster of what was to come...
The lunch stop was a definite highlight. We stopped at the Parwa community and they fed us the Queens! The spread was incredible, best meal of the trip!
After lunch we stopped at a Chicheria, a place that makes Peruvian Corn Beer. We got to see how Chicha was made and even got to taste some different flavours.
We drove to Ollantaytambo, our last stop of the day, and settled into our cute room in the Inka Paradise Hotel. Before long, our guide came knocking, and whisked us off to the Ollantaytambo ruins for our second hike of the day. This hike was a lot easier than our earlier one because we were at a lower altitude, but you could definitely still feel it. We walked back through the town square where they were having a carnival, had a team dinner and headed back to our hotel to finish packing our 6kg and attempt to have an early night.
INCA TRAIL DAY 1
12km - 23,650 steps
INCA TRAIL DAY 2
11km - 21,173 steps - 4198m incline
INCA TRAIL DAY 3
16km - 30,829 steps - 3700m incline - reached 4,215m above sea level
INCA TRAIL DAY 4
6km to Machu Picchu - 22,371 steps