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We left Ollyantaytambo early in the morning, fully of anticipations.
After a short bus trip through some magnificent mountain valleys, flanked by a number of snow capped mountains, we were at the start of the Inka Trail. If the scenery and the sky at this point were an indicator of what’s to come, I was all ready for it.
The day started sunny, so it was a good sign.
Then the porters did not quibble about the 6 Kg in my duff bag, another good omen !
And we all have the “historic” group photo for our grand kids,
The ashes, which is mainly sodium bicarbonate, acting as a catalyst to bring
out the potentcy of the Coca leave’s stimulants. Here are more on chewing coca leaves. Ostensibly, it helps to deal with climbing in altitude...so they say, well, for a thousand year or more, the Inka's been chewing this. Why not!
After a short bus trip through some magnificent mountain valleys, flanked by a number of snow capped mountains, we were at the start of the Inka Trail. If the scenery and the sky at this point were an indicator of what’s to come, I was all ready for it.
The day started sunny, so it was a good sign.
Then the porters did not quibble about the 6 Kg in my duff bag, another good omen !
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| The porters getting their stuff organised |
before I purchased some Coca leaves with a ball of ashes.
When we passed the “passport” control point, yes, I do mean passports....which we need to produce to match up with our name on the Inka Trails permit, before we were let onto the Trail. And of course, the passport was duly stamped.
This starting point is actually officially called "Km 82".
In the meanwhile, the porters have to go through their check point, mainly to check the total weight they carry was under 25 Kg.
Then we started.....after we crossed the raging Urubamba River, at 2700m ASL.
It was a gentle climb westwards along the south-side of the river for most of the morning towards southwest, until the river left us for the north,
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| about to leave the river, looking back on Urubamba River |
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| Working up to that plateau ahead. |
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| Locals ferrying their supplies. |
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| Overlooking Patallacta ruin from a plateau. |
There were a lot of other groups along the trail, and I guessed that the campsites would be quite busy. Indeed, our porters, had already setup and have our lunch ready when we arrived at Hatunchaca. There were at least 10 other similar sized groups busying with their lunch.
Continuing our climb in the afternoon, we arrived our designated camping ground at Wayllabamba, which is the first one along our direction, we would have to walk another half and hour if we were assigned the furthermost campsite at this stop.
So day ONE was quite easy, just a warm up, and the weather was still quite good.
Our porters had already setup most of our tents and were already cooking dinner by the time we reached Wayllabamba.
On our way, we can see them passing us with their 25 Kg load, with ease.
I jumped into the icy stream nearby for a quick wash, a really quick one it was...! The camping amenities available are of very low standard, unfortunately, but I was already warned, so no surprise in that department. However, the tents etc provided by the tour operator are very good.
But the majestic surrounding more than compensated for the less then adequate camping amenities, and the food were pretty reasonable, and they catered for vegetarians (Santiago, our guide & I) as well as gluten-free for Kaz in our group.
Over dinner, Santiago related the days when he participated in the first few international competitions on the trail. He finished the entire 4 day trail in 7 hours, and the champion, from Kenya, 3 hours !!!!!! Wow........what a feat !
Day 2
We were all served a boiled Coca Tea early in the morning, so that we can extract that extra energy to face the task of today. From 2800m, our task ahead was a trail that just monotonously rises, to 4200m at Warmiwanuscca ( Dead Woman’s Pass), then descend to our campsite, Pacamayu at 3600m, a distance of 11.5 Km.
The morning was very misty and overcast, after a few showers during the night, we started just after 7.
Half and hour later, after ascending 200m, we had to go through another control point, where they checked our permits again before the steep ascent began.
Steep ascent it was, the first 400m was mainly mud path, not too difficult to handle.
However, the 2nd 400m, was full of rock steps, along side a running stream, and it was quite slippery with the mist and sometimes showers around.
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| The porters with their 25 Kg weight, climbing those rocky steps with ease. |
And I plodded pass the last hawker stand at 3800m, after saying hello to Santiago who was waiting there with the faster few of our group,
and went for the last 400m climb towards Dead Woman’s Pass after stopping for a couple of minutes to take some photos.
It was still misty, and clouds were flowing in and out of the valley, but still overcast, covering up some of the majestic mountains flanking us.
The last 400m of ascent seemed to go on forever, although I can see the pass, however, there were rock steps after rock steps, one bend after another, but climb it was, slowly but steadily. The anticipation was worse than the physical challenge itself. I changed the Coca leaves in my mouth a couple of times, before I finally reached the dreaded, Dead Woman’s Pass at 4210m ASL.
It was 4.5 hours and an ascent of 1400m later, from our campsite, that I reached the highest point for this walk.
I decided to find a spot on a small hill by the side, sipping my water, enjoying my snacks, and savouring the moment. And then the sky decided to clear up the mist, and lay bare the view of the valley which I just climbed,
and the valley behind me, which I was about to descend into. I can see the campsite, Pacamayu, where we would be staying for the night.
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| The red roof tops are at Pacamayu, our campsite for the night. The track for tomorrow is seen as well. |
So after 45 minutes, I started to descent, thinking that the hardest part of the walk was over.....!!
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| Coming down on these steep, knee damaging rocky path. |
The down path, are very steep, and full of slipperly rocks, and very irregular. However, I was seeing the porters racing pass us with their 25 Kg load, some are almost running and bouncing down, the rocks, we were no match for their stamina and agility.
It was much slower going than I anticipated, when I reached Pacamayu, at 3600m, my knees were really feeling the effect from the thumping, everytime I negotiated down a rock step.
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| A waterfall sending down all the water nearby Pacamayu. |
And then we had a late lunch, for the first time, I did not mind the high carbohydrate combinations of potatoes and rice.
At this campsite, there were a dozen groups of so setting up camps, however, there are still a small number of groups continuing on, going beyond the next high pass at 3900m.
Over the next three hours, our other half of the group were slowly arriving, with Kam and Yvon, both from Hong Kong, being the last.
It was a great accomplishment for them, despite her health issues, that Yvon, a very small and somewhat fragile looking lady, finished without any issues. They were accompanied by the tail-end guide, who job was to ensure everyone’s safety.
Sounds like an incredible trip! Did you have a chance to venture along the Short Inca Trail for a taste of the ancient paths?
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