This is the third time I've been on a hiking trip, and the third time I've underestimated the physical toll such an activity would take on my body. I suppose it teaches me a good lesson to always be humble, respect nature, and be in a decent physical shape at all times.
Visiting Machu Picchu has been on my bucket list for many years now. This year, I checked that off the list. Most of the tour operators were around the $600 range, so I chose the one that promised me a private toilet tent - Trek Peru. I have to say this is NOT an endorsement of the company. In fact, I was deeply disappointed as my toilet tent did not show up. At this point they are investigating what happened to the darned thing. Our guide Martin was well informed, all our stuff arrived intact and before us, and for the most part our tents were set up well and in time for our arrival, the food was generally good (although the lack of dessert made me sad and I saw another group had a cake) but this toilet tent thing simply blew my mind, especially after I had asked multiple times for confirmation on this. So, dessert and toilet tent aside, everything was as expected.
We met some folks on the way.
1) Team New York - I spend a bit of time walking with some of the gentlemen on this trip. They seemed nice and one even fed me a Kind bar when I was dying which I really appreciated. I never learned their names, but thank you.
2) LA Engineer - We met on day 2, and he gave me me a CLIF blok when I was dying. I like it when people save me from dying.
3) Toronto bros - Liked wearing infinity scarves/bandanas. They piggy backed each other on cliffs (I seriously thought they may fall over) for photos, carried porter packs for fun, did push ups and shot gun beers. Champions of the world.
4) Brazilian bros - Liked riding on people's asses to try to overtake. Also into the infinity scarves/bandanas.
5) Fat Mexican dude - Truly entertaining. He was a very huge man (with a huge mother and sister also on the trip). Paid the porters extra because they couldn't carry their day packs. On the last day when everyone was standing in line in the dark, he tried to get ahead of the line with no flash light, tapping his stick like he was blind. Zito turned on his headlamp to show him the way, and he exclaims "don't ruin my night vision!". We were all stunned and unsure what his deal was, and then he proceeded to tell us how to get used to the dark and see better. People sure are weird!
Camp toilets are gross. We all had to do the third world squat, and learned how to do pachamama (really means mother earth, but we used it to mean bodily function) in the great outdoors. Thank you to all my gym trainers or work out friends who made me do squats, to save me from falling into a squat toilet.
Our guide Martin was a pretty funny dude. He entertained us with many stories, and knew a lot about the history of Machu Picchu. He seemed to play down the amount of physical activity we had to exert on the trail, which led to poorly managed expectations. His explanation for the ruins and the significance that was built into the construction seemed to be for the most part aliens. He also told us most of the tourist clothing items they sold were made in Bolivia, not Peru, and the local joke when one was trying to buy alpaca items was "maybe alpaca", not "baby alpaca". Glad I did not buy any maybe alpaca except for 2 hats for Lingon and I. He told us of how parents in the Incan times would give up their children as sacrifice, and their children would be prepped for months and then taken up to the glaciers where they would be made to drink some hallucinogenic liquid and then whacked in the back of the head and offered to Gods.
Here are some photos from the trip.
-Day 1: Relaxing, we only started walking around 10am or so, and for the most part it was pretty easy.
-Day 2: The most physically challenging. The uphill section was long and the altitude was high, I felt myself getting weaker and weaker, and got really queasy in the stomach. Thanks to our friends Team New York and LA Engineer, plus all the other random people on the trail feeding me and cheering me on, I made it, and was totally wiped out after.
-Day 3: A very long day, with what Martin said was downhill 2000 steps, which probably destroyed my knees.
-Day 4: Sheer exhaustion, more because we had to wake up very early and it was after all the last day of the hike. Part of the early day was because the porters needed to catch a 5.20am train, which is crazy, so we had to wake up at 3.30am, leave around 4.30am, and then stand in line for 1.5 hours for the control to open. Many people were still in line, and before the start of the whole hike I wanted to be first, but was glad I was not, since that would involve being awake about 2 hours earlier I was cold and miserable for quite a while, but eventually the control opened and we were allowed to start walking and eventually I warmed up. Nothing could prepare me for the beauty of Machu Picchu. The photos I took simply do not do it justice. The guide took us around and explained the various parts of the lost city. At 10am we went to climb Huayna Picchu, which was about 10,000 steps up and down (I think this number is sheer exaggeration, but it certainly felt like it at the time), and the breath from the top was unparallel.
Here were some photos of the food that was made for us on the trail. In general food was pretty good, albeit salty, and I supplemented with a coca tea (these leaves are used to make cocaine, but the tea form is very benign and supposed to improve health, and especially help with altitude sickness).
Martin said there is a chance they will restrict Machu Picchu and have people stand on observatory platforms. If you get a chance to go soon, please do, but please take care of the site and preserve it as well as possible for other people to see. It is such a stunning site.
Visiting Machu Picchu has been on my bucket list for many years now. This year, I checked that off the list. Most of the tour operators were around the $600 range, so I chose the one that promised me a private toilet tent - Trek Peru. I have to say this is NOT an endorsement of the company. In fact, I was deeply disappointed as my toilet tent did not show up. At this point they are investigating what happened to the darned thing. Our guide Martin was well informed, all our stuff arrived intact and before us, and for the most part our tents were set up well and in time for our arrival, the food was generally good (although the lack of dessert made me sad and I saw another group had a cake) but this toilet tent thing simply blew my mind, especially after I had asked multiple times for confirmation on this. So, dessert and toilet tent aside, everything was as expected.
We met some folks on the way.
1) Team New York - I spend a bit of time walking with some of the gentlemen on this trip. They seemed nice and one even fed me a Kind bar when I was dying which I really appreciated. I never learned their names, but thank you.
2) LA Engineer - We met on day 2, and he gave me me a CLIF blok when I was dying. I like it when people save me from dying.
3) Toronto bros - Liked wearing infinity scarves/bandanas. They piggy backed each other on cliffs (I seriously thought they may fall over) for photos, carried porter packs for fun, did push ups and shot gun beers. Champions of the world.
4) Brazilian bros - Liked riding on people's asses to try to overtake. Also into the infinity scarves/bandanas.
5) Fat Mexican dude - Truly entertaining. He was a very huge man (with a huge mother and sister also on the trip). Paid the porters extra because they couldn't carry their day packs. On the last day when everyone was standing in line in the dark, he tried to get ahead of the line with no flash light, tapping his stick like he was blind. Zito turned on his headlamp to show him the way, and he exclaims "don't ruin my night vision!". We were all stunned and unsure what his deal was, and then he proceeded to tell us how to get used to the dark and see better. People sure are weird!
Camp toilets are gross. We all had to do the third world squat, and learned how to do pachamama (really means mother earth, but we used it to mean bodily function) in the great outdoors. Thank you to all my gym trainers or work out friends who made me do squats, to save me from falling into a squat toilet.
Our guide Martin was a pretty funny dude. He entertained us with many stories, and knew a lot about the history of Machu Picchu. He seemed to play down the amount of physical activity we had to exert on the trail, which led to poorly managed expectations. His explanation for the ruins and the significance that was built into the construction seemed to be for the most part aliens. He also told us most of the tourist clothing items they sold were made in Bolivia, not Peru, and the local joke when one was trying to buy alpaca items was "maybe alpaca", not "baby alpaca". Glad I did not buy any maybe alpaca except for 2 hats for Lingon and I. He told us of how parents in the Incan times would give up their children as sacrifice, and their children would be prepped for months and then taken up to the glaciers where they would be made to drink some hallucinogenic liquid and then whacked in the back of the head and offered to Gods.
Here are some photos from the trip.
-Day 1: Relaxing, we only started walking around 10am or so, and for the most part it was pretty easy.
-Day 2: The most physically challenging. The uphill section was long and the altitude was high, I felt myself getting weaker and weaker, and got really queasy in the stomach. Thanks to our friends Team New York and LA Engineer, plus all the other random people on the trail feeding me and cheering me on, I made it, and was totally wiped out after.
-Day 3: A very long day, with what Martin said was downhill 2000 steps, which probably destroyed my knees.
-Day 4: Sheer exhaustion, more because we had to wake up very early and it was after all the last day of the hike. Part of the early day was because the porters needed to catch a 5.20am train, which is crazy, so we had to wake up at 3.30am, leave around 4.30am, and then stand in line for 1.5 hours for the control to open. Many people were still in line, and before the start of the whole hike I wanted to be first, but was glad I was not, since that would involve being awake about 2 hours earlier I was cold and miserable for quite a while, but eventually the control opened and we were allowed to start walking and eventually I warmed up. Nothing could prepare me for the beauty of Machu Picchu. The photos I took simply do not do it justice. The guide took us around and explained the various parts of the lost city. At 10am we went to climb Huayna Picchu, which was about 10,000 steps up and down (I think this number is sheer exaggeration, but it certainly felt like it at the time), and the breath from the top was unparallel.
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| Day 1 - most relaxed |
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| Day 2 - toughest day, a lot of uphill, up to about 14,000ft. Here is a photo of Zito and Lingon just 10 steps away from the top!! |
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| Day 3 - lots of ruins, lots of downhill stairs, but overall not too bad |
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| Day 4 - the jewel, took my breath away |
Here were some photos of the food that was made for us on the trail. In general food was pretty good, albeit salty, and I supplemented with a coca tea (these leaves are used to make cocaine, but the tea form is very benign and supposed to improve health, and especially help with altitude sickness).
Martin said there is a chance they will restrict Machu Picchu and have people stand on observatory platforms. If you get a chance to go soon, please do, but please take care of the site and preserve it as well as possible for other people to see. It is such a stunning site.
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