Monday – Oct 2, 2017 Llaqtapata to Llulluchapampa

Inca Trail Day 2

At 5am, I woke up and there was no putting off going to the bathroom any longer. The tarantula was still there, but once again disappeared into the door framing when I turned on the light.

The official wake-up call was at 5:30am, when the porters came around with tea and hot water for washing. Russell opted for another shower, and I just washed my face with the water provided by the porters. I was concerned about the tea, and sure enough I managed to spill mine in the tent on my sleeping bag and mat. It took me 5 minutes to mop that up and I got tea all over my wash-cloth. This necessitated another trip to the bathroom to wash it out.

I ran into Carlos at the bathroom and told him about the tarantula.  I made the comment mainly because he seemed interested in tarantulas, pointing out the one we found on the trail yesterday.  He said tarantulas don’t usually climb, so it probably wasn’t a tarantula. I thought he must be making that up to calm me down and I didn’t say anything, but later I wished I had. I hope he didn’t think I was dissatisfied with the condition of the washroom.  I do have a phobia about spiders, but comfort stations at campgrounds in Canada are full of them, so I’m pretty much de-sensitized to it. The first thing I do in any camp bathroom is look for spiders and then keep an eye on the ones I know about. Having toilet and shower facilities on the Inca Trail in Peru was a completely unexpected luxury and I was very pleased about it. The spider was just an unavoidable part of the package deal. At least the tarantula was very shy and hid when I went in.

It was another beautiful, sunny day, and the sun rose right over the ruins at Llactapata.

Breakfast was at 6am, and we were to leave at 7am. There was fruit and granola (my favorite), among other things for breakfast, and I asked Carlos if there was any yogurt.  He said there should have been, but the jar broke.

We formally met the porters and had introductions after breakfast. Almost all of them were from Cacchicata in Peru. Historically, the area around their mountain village was dedicated to extracting and carving the stones that were used in construction around Ollantaytambo. It is located nine miles from Ollantaytambo and has three groups of quarries: Molle Pucro; Sirkusirkuyoc, which was the largest of the three and showed evidence of having been in full operation when the Spaniards came to this area; and Cacchicata or Kantirayoq, where other kinds of extraction of minerals and precious stones was practiced. On our Sacred Valley tour, we saw first-hand the incredible work done moving the giant stones. This was evidenced by "Tired Stones" in the area, which were massive stones that were being moved from the quarries to build the enclosures, but never made it.

Our porters were subsistence farmers, supplementing their livelihood with some cash. The oldest was 68, and he was responsible for the toilet tent. The youngest was 24, and he was the head porter. The rest were in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Russell was 65, I was 64, Mike was 63, Sue-Anne was 59, and our guide, Carlos, was 27.

We each got a 2-liter portion of water, an orange and a chocolate bar and set off at about 7:30am. We were a bit late leaving.

Llactapata, also called Patallacta is one of the largest settlements in the region. The site, on a crescent-shaped bluff where the Cusichaca joins the Urubamba, is laid out in a typical Inca fashion and dates from the mid-15^th century. There are 116 buildings and five baths laid out in a regular pattern. A canal feeds the main baths but appears to have fallen into disuse shortly after the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors, implying that the site was abandoned around 1540.

Extensive terraces surround the buildings, suggesting that the site used to be primarily an agricultural station. The site probably also had a strategic function as it sits at the junction of a number of Inca paths, and was ideally placed to regulate traffic and monitor who was moving where.

When we passed through Llactapata we paused at Pulpituyoc, and Carlos told us about the historical significance of that portion of the site. This was a round tower standing close to the main ruins, whose name means ‘containing a pulpit’, and was the religious centre for the site. Here there are 11 buildings, two baths and a carefully sculpted rock enclosed by a curved wall which acted as a shrine. No one knows the exact purpose and use for the buildings but the fact that they have curved walls signifies that this was a place of great spiritual importance to the Incas.

Passing east of Patallacta and going south, the trail continued to gently gain height until we crossed over the Cusichaca, at which point we climbed steeply up the opposite slope for 10-15 minutes. The path then went back to climbing gently but steadily for the next hour, passing first beneath cliffs covered in bromeliads and then through gentler terrain. Several terraces were visible on the far side of the river.

We continued past a signboard exaggerating the steepness of the route ahead (Huayllabamba is not quite 3,100m).

From this point there were good views back down the Cusichaca valley to Mt. Veronica, which is visible as a pyramid in the middle of the valley.

We also met some local people transporting goods on horses between villages.

The path arrives at a second bridge where we crossed the Cusichaca again and then climbed sharply to a small settlement called Hatun Chaca.

We had a snack there sitting on benches under the shade of a lovely straw hut, which was very luxurious. It was also possible to purchase drinks and snacks there and use a washroom, which most of us did, more to support the locals than because we wanted anything. I bought a bottle of water and used the bathroom. There were children about in the village and a young boy was collecting the bathroom toll and providing toilet paper.  I asked Carlos if the children went to school, and he said that children from these villages would have to live away from home to go to school and school uniforms and books were very expensive, so only a few of the children would be able to go.

We continued our journey up the narrow Cusichaca Valley passing houses inhabited by settlers. 2km after Hatun Chaca we crossed another bridge, this time over the Llulluchayoc river, a tributary of the Cusichaca. The bridge was at the outskirts of the Andean community of Huayllabamba.  Huayllabamba, a sprawling place built above Inca terraces, is the largest village on the trail and it’s the last place where you can buy basic food supplies. It was a warm day, already at 25ºC according to our hiking themometers, so it was really nice to be able to buy an ice-cold Gatorade and take another short break admiring the scenery (sorry – no photos from here).

At the top of the village was a Warden’s Office where we had to register, and porters have their loads checked and weighed before they can progress. The trekking company incurs a very heavy fine or can lose their license if one of their porters is caught carrying more than 20 kilos.

When we set off, Carlos told us that it was going to be very steep from here on to our camp tonight. We were at 2,590m this morning at Chamana Camp, Huayllabamba is at 2,946m (not 3,100 as the sign said), and our campsite tonight is at 3,840m. So not counting any ups and downs, we had already climbed 356 meters, and had about 900 meters left to climb. The altitude was getting higher and higher, so the air was getting thinner.

From Huayllabamba, the cobble-stoned Inca Trail ascended steeply through ancient native forest. We followed along the Llulluchayoc river’s left-hand bank for about an hour then through a clearing and over a bridge to a small campsite called Ayapata, where we had lunch – consisting of soup and a two-course meal. We got there around 12:30pm.

We topped up our water and set off again around 1:30pm, following the left-hand bank of Quebrada Llulluchayoc river as it veered to the west. We got a first glimpse of the rare Andean cloud forest, or polylepsis woodland, growing well above the tree-line thanks to the moisture in the clouds hovering in the mountains. It was very welcome to walk in the shade of the forest. In the Polylepis forest there are 20-30 evergreen tree species that are characterized by gnarled shapes. The trees have a thick and dense laminated bark with small green and gray leaves. The Tropical Polylepis woodlands are highly endangered. The forests began disappearing during the time of the Incas, when much of its wood was used for building material and firewood. After the conquistadors brought their sheep and cattle, more forests were lost to grazing. Today native peoples still use the wood for building and heat. Loss of the forests have caused landslides threatening villages and roads, and is considered the major cause of water scarcity in many parts of the Andes. A lot of forest birds live in the Polylepis forest and there was the lovely sound of bird chatter.

We walked alongside the Quebrada river, occasionally close to the water and at other times high above it, on a series of steep steps. Along this stretch we passed a llama grazing in the forest.

We passed some more locals with horses carrying supplies, taking a break along this steep section. I was pretty exhausted at this point, and would have preferred if the locals hadn’t been there watching the ‘gringo’ struggling up the mountain. Although, they were all sitting there, so they had probably all been struggling up the mountain too.

Sue-Anne and I asked Carlos how much further it was to get to our campsite, and he said about another hour. I told Sue-Anne that if this was going to go on for another hour, I was really going to have to pace myself, and started going even slower than the crawl I had been moving at. Sue-Anne and Russell, at different times but later in the trek, told me they had doubts whether they would be able to make it all the way to the campground that day.

After about another 10 grueling minutes, we reached a point above the cloud forest, and I saw the most beautiful sight. I’m not talking about the view of Mt. Huayanay, which was breathtaking, but three blue Eureka tents. Incredulous, I asked Carlos if this was our camp, and he said yes. I was never so relieved in my life. That Carlos can be quite the practical joker. We got there at 3:10pm.

Our camp, Llulluchapampa had running water, a toilet block set on the top tier of terraces, and exceptional views down the valley.

After resting and enjoying the view for a few minutes, I forced myself to climb some more, and went up to the bathroom. The facility was not gender specific; there was a shower, but the water was freezing and there was no door or shower curtain; and, the toilets were the stand-up variety. There was also a very large trough for washing things and getting water. My legs were so sore I could barely squat, and when I pulled the chain to flush, there was a torrent of water which could almost have sufficed as a cold shower.

I realized at that moment how accommodating the toilet tent was, and developed a new appreciation for that facility being provided for us on the trek. Back at our tent, I also figured out how I could very adequately and satisfactorily have a complete bath using the two bowls of warm water the porters provided, supplemented with a few of the wet wipes we had brought. I used one bowl as the washing water and the other bowl as the rinse water. Since Russell and I had to share the two bowls and the intent was probably that one was for him and one was for me, I instructed him on the designation of the two bowls. He wasn’t really into the whole bath in a bowl concept, and never really used the water for more than to wash his face, leaving me with basically both bowls to myself.

We gathered for appetizers in the dining tent, followed by a lovely four course dinner. Carlos explained that most of the porters would be leaving us after breakfast on the fourth day, and that would be when we would distribute the tips. We talked a bit about the tips and decided we would have a meeting before dinner tomorrow to sort it all out. We were all excited and a bit apprehensive about making the trek over Dead Woman’s Pass tomorrow. It was going to be our longest and hardest day so wake-up call was at 5am and we were to leave by 6am.

Llulluchapampa campsite was exposed and apparently it can get very cold at night and the ground becomes boggy after torrential rain. But, it was perfect conditions when we were there, and it was a beautiful moonlit night. We were both exhausted and fell asleep very quickly.

We both got up during the night, and found our headlamps came in very handy finding our way to the toilet tent in the dark. Having close to a full moon was an added bonus.

Day 2 Distance: 9km; Ascent: 1250m; Descent: 100 m; Elapsed time 7.5hr (7:30am to 3:11pm); Moving Time: 5.5hr.

Sunday – Oct 1, 2017 Ollantaytambo to Llaqtapata

Inca Trail Day 1

Our hotel at Ollantaytambo, the Sol de Ollantay, was very charming. The rooms were on two levels and spread along the perimeter of the building. This allowed a multi-level view of a lovely central garden on the main floor which was open to the outdoors, but was covered up above to prevent rain from pouring in to the hotel.

I got up early to wash my hair and have a nice shower. I expected this would be my last shower for the next three days, since we were staying in tents on the trek. I also thought there was no time like the present to start getting accustomed to a 5:30am to 7:30pm routine. I was expecting it would be pretty hard to go to sleep at 7:30pm tonight.

The hotel room was comfortable but very basic and somewhat lacking in condiments!  Attempting to keep the weight of my duffle bag as low as possible, I was hoping there would be bottled water, soap, shampoo and conditioner at the hotels in Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes (also known as Machu Picchu Village). Unfortunately, this was not the case at Sol de Ollantay, so I ended up exhausting most of the meagre supplies I had brought with me.

There were a lot of youth in the halls outside the breakfast buffet when we went in. Thankfully we had gotten most of our breakfast just before they all entered in a massive group, but not before virtually every seat was occupied. I think it was a school group, and they were just waiting for the teachers to arrive before going in for breakfast. Some of the kids moved around a bit to make room for Russell and I to sit down at the same table, which we thanked them for. I’m pretty sure they weren’t about to set off on the Inca Trail, more likely they were there to visit the Inca ruins of we visited yesterday. We were checked out and ready to leave by 8am, so went to the store and picked up some Gatorade and water. Carlos had said we were responsible for water on the first day.

Carlos arrived right around 8:30am, then we went and picked up Mike and Sue-Anne. It was a 45-minute drive, mostly on dirt roads, to get to the trailhead at km 82. The road followed the river Urubamba and the railway tracks from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu. Most people going to Machu Picchu take the train.

There was a mass of trekkers all about to set off from km 82, at Piscaycucho. The altitude there was 2668m. A maximum of 2,500 trekkers are allowed on the ‘official’ Inca Trail, including guides and porters. You must have a permit, and a guide. 500 permits are issued per day. Guided groups on the ‘official’ Inca Trail take 3 to 5 days to get to Machu Picchu. There are several other trails to Machu Picchu as well, some of which do not require guides, and some allow horses. Most people trekking to Machu Picchu are guided.

We met our 12 porters and got organized to begin the trek at a location up and away from the masses. The porters offered to fill our water bottles with purified water, even though Carlos had told us we were responsible for our own water on the first day; they took our duffle bags; we had a bathroom opportunity; got a snack consisting of a banana and some sweet potato chips; applied sunscreen etc. and set off at around 9:30am. It was a beautiful sunny day.

First, we went down to the Camino Inca – Inca Trail sign at Km 82 for a photo opportunity at the popular starting point of the classical Inca Trail.

After the photo we turned back and had to do a bit of climbing before beginning our trek on a section of the Inca Trail few have visited. Most people cross the Urubamba River at the trail sign.

Instead, we followed the river downstream to cross at Km 88, setting the tone for the rest of the trek and creating some space between us and the crowds.  

The classic Inca Trail is the undisputed draw for most people coming to Cusco. Considering that you can get to Machu Picchu in four hours on a train, there must be something intrinsically exciting and rewarding about the Inca Trail to merit spending four fairly grueling days walking to the same destination. I was looking forward to finding out!

The first 6km or so of the trek was downhill. We took a break after walking about 4km and had our snack. Russell and I shared one of the bananas.

It was getting very warm, and I took off my t-shirt under my bug suit top. In the picture below, you can barely see but there is a long procession of pilgrims across the river from us.

It would have been very crowded and slow going over there. Shortly after that, we saw a train to Machu Picchu go by.

Ancient Peru is one of the oldest civilizations on earth, yet it is one of the most isolated. Until the relatively late arrival of the Spaniards in 1532, the Incas and the many cultures that preceded them had a unique way of looking at the world – one that excluded writing, the wheel, and many other of the necessities of the ‘Old World’, but managed to build magnificent monuments and a stable society in a terrifyingly unstable landscape.

It was only after 1400AD that the Inca’s started to expand out of their heartland around Cusco, so their empire only lasted for little more than a century before being brutally cut short by the Spaniards. The Inca’s were the last in a whole series of cultures predating the Spanish Conquest that stretched back to around 3000BC, and just one of many of a number of competing tribes around Cusco, before beginning to build up their substantial empire under a series of dynamic and capable emperors.

The astonishing expansion of the Inca’s across a few generations can only partially be explained by their dynamic leadership. Other factors contributed to their success: a facility for trade, their opportunism, and the curious Inca laws of dynamic inheritance. When each Inca emperor died, his estate continued to maintain his household as if he were still alive – he remained ‘resident’ in his old palace as a mummy, to be brought out on feast days or for the coronation of his successors, and each of those successors would have to build themselves a new palace. When a new emperor was crowned, the mummies of the whole previous dynasty of dead Inca emperors were carried in procession alongside him. The mummies got to keep all their land, wealth and palaces. At the time of the Spanish Conquest there were 12 such estates in existence.    

And therein lies a powerful engine for continual Inca expansion. It was a powerful incentive for every new emperor to go out and conquer new lands, since he would not simply be inheriting them!

The first Inca ruins we encountered along the trail were at Qanabamba. We visited a stone temple with many niches for altar pieces and took a break sitting on the stone terraces.

We stopped for lunch at Q’oriwayrachina. 

The toilet tent was set up, a very welcome sight for the next three days. 

There was a building that the cook was preparing lunch in, which had a lot of bullet holes in it. Carlos said it was from target practice.

Lunch began with a typical homemade Peruvian soup, and buns and ham were on the table to make a sandwich, which I did.  I thought that was going to be it but, after the first course, a meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables was served.  I felt bad declining the second course, but the first course was way more than I wanted to have for lunch when hiking, or for any lunch for that matter. When Russell and I have done our numerous camino walks, we usually have breakfast, hike to the next place, and then eat lunch, unless it’s more than 25km, and then maybe we’ll have a snack along the way. I just can’t hike after eating a big meal.

We waited a bit after lunch to let the porters get a head start – they travel much faster than we do, which lets them arrive and make meals/set up camp before we get there.  They headed down a very steep descent to walk along the railway tracks to the bridge over the Urubamba River at Q’ente.

We took a much gentler descent, but walked further along the tracks to the bridge. Carlos and the porters know the times of the trains, and our exits were timed accordingly.

To pass over the bridge we had to show our passport and permit for the Inca Trail to the guards at the Warden’s Hut.  Carlos had all the permits with him, and distributed them to us to present with our passport to the park officials, who stamped our passports and returned our permits to us which we kept as a souvenir.

Crossing the bridge put us on the official Inca Trail at km 88, but without the crowds that entered at km 82. We did have to backtrack a bit on the other side of the river to get to the official trail, climbing gently through a stand of eucalyptus trees above the southern bank of the Urubamba river.

Shortly after crossing the bridge, we happened upon what we believe were members of a family that were preparing to cross the river gorge with a motor on an aerial platform attached to a zip line. We watched and helped a bit as several men carefully loaded the heavy motor onto the platform, and then a Dad and his two children hopped on board and they let go the zip line to the other side. Thankfully the trip ended successfully.

This may have put us a bit behind schedule. I’m sure the aerial river crossing show consumed a good 30 minutes. Shortly after this, Carlos discovered a dead, medium sized, tarantula on the path. I had an opportunity to get a good look at it. Sorry, no picture!

The rest of the day’s trek continued to be a gentle climb up to the mouth of the Cusichaca Valley, down which flows a river of the same name. At the junction of the Cusichaca and Urubamba valleys lie the sprawling ruins of Patallacta, sometimes called Llaqtapata. Our private camp, Chamana Camp, was across the Cusichaca River looking right out on the ruins.

The tents were all set up when we arrived. Sue-Anne and Mike, and Russell and I each had a blue three-man eureka tent, and our guide Carlos had a blue two-man eureka tent. The larger tent in the picture is our dining tent, which the porters slept in.

We were provided with bowls of hot water shortly after we arrived. This is something I had been wondering about. The brochure said we would get bowls of water in the morning for washing, but no mention of what happened at the end of the days trek.  I was very relieved that we also got water then, since you always arrived sweaty and dirty after a challenging day of hiking. 

Getting bowls of water after the trek, however, wasn’t necessary here because much to our great delight, there were showers and flush toilets at the camp.  I was the first one to take a shower, and in retrospect that wasn’t ideal, because the solar heated water was extremely hot for my shower.  Everyone after me, in chronological order, had cooler and cooler showers. I prefer a cool shower! There were also a lot of wires hanging around the shower head which made having a shower look like a rather risky undertaking. The building in the picture below was the shower/ toilet complex. The table with a bucket was in front of the dining tent, and provided a place to wash our hands. Very environmentally conscious – the hand washing waste water was disposed of in the washroom.

We had outstanding views from our campsite. We have pretty much exactly 12 hours of light a day, as expected being so close to the equator. Here, it is from 5:30am to 5:30pm. This is important, because it means we pretty much have to get to our camp at night by 5:30pm.

We met for appetizers at 5:30pm and dinner at 6pm. Dinner always included soup to start, a meat, potato/rice, vegetable entrée, and dessert. Wherever I am, at home or away, I have a lot of trouble drinking different waters, even different varieties of bottled water. On this trek, we were drinking water during the day that the cook filtered, boiled, then added a disinfectant to. I always drink a lot of water hiking, and it is even more necessary at high altitudes, so I was drinking a lot of the water. As a result, my stomach really wasn’t very happy on the trek, and it was ruining my appetite. I also can’t eat too much while hiking.  I pretty much gave up on the soups, because they filled me up too much, and just ate as much as I could of everything else. That was too bad because the meals were authentic Peruvian meals and very tasty. Russell, on the other hand, greatly enjoyed the meals.

I went to the flush toilets after dinner and there was a spider about 6 feet up the wall in there that I’m sure was a tarantula. It disappeared into the exposed door framing when I went in.

Contrary to our expectations, we both fell asleep instantly when we went to bed at 7:30pm that night. I woke up once during the night and considered going to the bathroom, but the thought of the tarantula helped convince me that I really didn’t have to go that bad.

Day 1 Distance: 11km; Ascent: 100m; Descent: 178 m; Elapsed time 6hr (9:30am to 3:30pm); Moving Time: 4.0hr.