Llamas in the mist ... otherwise known as Machu Picchu

Philosophers (and judging by Google results, Bloggers) often speculate on the importance of the journey versus the destination. I am left to ponder this question as I sift through my photographs of the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu. It is a particularly salient question, as the Inca Trail was the pilgrims route from Cusco and the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, and the commercial route followed the river and was about one travelling day in each direction. The oringinal road has been replaced by the railway line and the train takes about four hours.

The Inca Trail is about 45 kilometres long and is open eleven months of the year. They close during February to clean the trail and repair or replant as necessary, so leaving on the 31st of January, I was joining the last of the groups to walk the Inca Trail for a month. The Inca Trail crosses three major mountain passes: Warmi Wañusca Pass (4215m), Runkuraqay Pass (3950m) and Phuyupatamarca Pass (3350m). Try saying those names when you're drunk.

The second day of travel was the hardest, as we crossed both Warmi Wañusca (incidentally, also known as Dead Woman's Pass) and Runkuraqay Pass on the same day. It is dificult to describe how "hard" the Inca Trail is, as its completion is as much a case of mental endurance as it is of physical stamina. This was certainly a tough day, although all of our tour group, aged from 9 to 57, made it through without major incident. It is worth noting that the 9 year old in the group, Stephanie (front, centre) was the daughter of our group guide, Flavio.

While fitness definitely impacts how long the climb takes and recovery time, for example the difference in time between the first and last in our group was more than an hour for the climb from 3300m to 4215m, as there is no time limit, anyone with the perseverance and sufficient hydration should be able to make the climb. But be prepared for sore legs the next day.

We also had the advantage over some other groups that our team of porters (eleven in total, plus a chef), carried our luggage leaving us only with our daypacks. The company that ran the tour http://www.llamapath.com/ provides the porters with uniforms (including Converse boots), adult education classes and family support, and tries to help the communities from which the porters come. Almost none of the other porters had uniforms or walked in teams, so ours stood out even more.

Most of the trail is roughly paved, although various parts are smooth dirt and some have quite neatly cut steps. It also winds its way from the river side, up through jungle to passes above the tree line, so there is a range of different environments.

A staging post at Runkuracay.

The campsite at Chaquicocha. Quite a view to wake up to.

Two photos of the ruins at Wiñayhuayna.

Trudging through rain and mud on the afternoon of day two and most of day three, everyone was hoping for better weather when we got to Machu Picchu. Sadly there was no such luck and it was wet and foggy throughout the morning we were there.

A tree, some ruins, and three amazing mountains obscured by fog.

The mercantile district of Machu Picchu.

Two of my tour group, Mari and Randi, both from Norway doing their best impressions of hobbits. I'm sure they'll be pleased that I chose this particular photo to put on the blog.



The tourists in their multicoloured ponchos provide a bit of much needed colour to the picture. The view is across the agricultural terraces (on the left) and the quarry.

This is literally the postcard perfect picture of Machu Picchu. I picked up the postcard along with a very bad cup of coffee, outside the gate to Machu Picchu. Even my fingers are waterlogged!

So, is the journey more important than the destination? Travel writer Tim Cahill wrote that a journey is best measured in friends rather than miles, and I guess he is right as I met some lovely people on the tour. But after three days hiking it would have been nice to have some better photos of Machu Picchu too.