After acclimatizing for a couple of days in Cuzco, Peru Treks picked us up at 5:30am on Monday the 28th. Thoughts on the Inca Trail:
The Hike
Mileage was modest, averaging 5-7 miles a day. This gave us time to catch our breath from the altitude (around 12,000 feet at the highest pass), eat several multi-course meals, check out Incan sites, and hang out around camp at the end of the day. Our packs were super light compared to typical backpacking loads, since porters carried all the food and tents. Many people also hired personal porters to take clothing and sleeping bags, leaving them only with a small daypack. Most reasonably fit people would have no problem completing the trail, particularly with a personal porter. I saw trekkers from 15 to 60 years old.
The easy days also let us appreciate the incredible scenery: Cloud forests, snow capped glaciers, cold rushing rivers, ancient stone walls, perfect terraces along steep canyon walls, night skies full of southern constellations...By the end of the third day, I honestly didn´t care that much about Machu Picchu - the views on the way were enough for me.
The trail was so much fun that I could easily have kept on it for another day or two. In fact, if you like backpacking, I would consider one of the longer trips that go to alternative sites besides Machu Picchu. They would definitely be as beautiful and less traveled.
The Crowds
My only complaint about the trail was the sheer number of people on it. Rarely did I find myself alone, surrounded by 15 other group members and several other agencies. Water bottles, candy wrappers, and toilet paper were common sights on the path. Campsites were well established tent cities, all with running water.
Honestly, though, you can´t expect much alone time on a world-famous route that sees 500 people a day (a cap set by the Peruvian gov´t). All things considered, the trail was actually in pretty good shape. Our guides explained that clean-up programs limit the rubbish, and the well-developed lunch- and campsites helped limit our impact.
The Guides and Porters
Our guides, Washington and Efraím, showed nonstop enthusiasm, impressive since they do the trail 40 times a year. Washington, the head guide, had been working the trail for 10 years, reflected by his thorough knowledge of Incan history, enormous English vocabulary (spanning topics from archeology, astronomy, biology, etc.), and bizarre British accent.
The porters, however, are the real stars. These guys, who range from 18 to 55 years, carry over 50 lbs, easily over 1/3 of their body weight. (Porters are not allowed to carry more than 25 kilos, but often end up with more if the load is wet or if some hiker decides they can´t carry their stuff after all.) This load would be tough in a frame pack, but most use makeshift systems built from cloth sacks and straps. In every group, some poor bastard carried a propane tank (like the one attached to a gas grill) strapped to a folding aluminum stool. To make matters worse, none of them use hiking boots. Most wear light sneakers if they´re lucky (like Converse All-Stars) or rubber sandals.
They would leave camp after we did, beat us up the hill to the next site. We arrived to perfectly arranged tents, a dining table with place settings, and a hot meal. These guys anticipated every possible need, including zipping up rainflys during the showers, guarding our tents when we weren´t in them, showing us to our sites, greeting us with tea or coffee in our tents in the morning, boiling water for us to drink, etc.
Every meal had multiple courses with delicious veggie and meat entrees and several side dishes. Even on the last day, when we got up at 3:30 to hit Machu Picchu at sunrise, we enjoyed a hot breakfast. This service was waaaaay more elaborate than I expected, and took some getting used to. Compared to a normal backpacking trip, the Inca Trail was effortless and embarassingly luxurious, thanks to the porters.
All my comments about how reasonable the trail is obviously do not apply to porters. It´s easy to think that these guys are superhuman machines, used to the altitude and hard working conditions. But after speaking to a couple of them, it´s clear that the work beats them up. According to Washington, most porters go into it for lack of any other job options. They only do the trail 2-4 times a month because it wears down their bodies so much.
Peru Treks supposedly takes better care of their porters than other agencies, claiming to give them rain jackets and backpacks. But that didn´t seem to be the case on our trek, and at least one porter told me that all the agencies treat their porters more or less the same. It´s tough to sort out the economics and labor issues here as an outsider.
At the end of the trip we suffered through an awkward tipping ceremony, where I gave a "thank you" speech in stumbling Spanish. Basically, these guys work their asses off, letting us enjoy ourselves.
Our Group
The group of 16 (maximum size) was almost evenly split between Yanks and Brits, with a token Australian. This was a fun, young, energetic bunch of people.
Most conversations revolved around differences between Americans and Brits, including an extended dialog on how the Brits use their dining utensils. Bacially, they would build a little dam with meat at the end of the fork, then push the rice or potato onto the back of the fork. After watching one guy daintily assemble this engineering marvel, I decided it was way too complicated. (My dad, educated in London, tried to teach us this method in prepapration for our first trip to the States as kids. In the Philippines, we use forks and spoons, the only proper way to eat rice.)
The Characters
The 6 British Girls: Just out of Oxford, or "uni," these girls had been traveling thoughout South America. If you could somehow harness the girly energy from this group, you could power a small city. At one point, I was trapped behind them while they sang Christmas carols on the way down 3,000 stone steps. All smart and fun.
Alan and Jeannine: At 33 and 32, they were the old folks of the group. Alan showed a sharp Scottish sense of humor while Jeannine, the group´s lone vegetarian, would painfully try to determine if the soup had chicken stock at every meal. Of course it has chicken stock. Geez. I liked these two a lot and we´re hoping to meet up with them in Argentina. Also, they stayed an extra night at Machu Picchu and got engaged!
Peace Corps Buddies: Logan and John had just gotten out of 2 years in Honduras with the Peace Corps. Both great guys with good Spanish, but painful American accents. John had gotten food poisoning so many times in Honduras that he approached every unbottled beverage with fear. He called the chicha, a homemade beer which the porters would guzzle at reststops, "diarrhea in a cup." Logan would passionately discuss everything from crappy movies to his ayahuasca trip in Ecuador. "Does professional wrestling suck?" remained a bitter point of contention between these two. No, really, they were actually pretty bitter about it.
The Badgers: University of WI grads, Matt and Mike. About our age, with a fair amount of backpacking experience. Matt, however, was sick for the first two days, and even threw up on the trail. He refused to take a personal porter, though, and would gut his way up the hardest passes. Mike bore a strong resemblance to a young Dan Akroyd, right down to the Chicago accent. Really good guy. I suspect he had a crush on all the British girls.
Joyce, the Chinese Australian: Joyce had no backpacking experience and no proper gear. She hiked in fashion sneakers and tight jeans, always at the rear of the group. She barely complained, though, and even took an extra 2 hour hike to the top of another peak after we got to Machu Picchu.
In Sum
The trek was my favorite part of our trip thus far. Hard to believe we´ve only been gone for 3 weeks. Seems like forever.
1 comment:
FYI Dan Akroyd would hate to hear you say he has a Chicago accent since he was born and raised in Ottawa.
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