26.03.2008 Inka Trail - Day 1

I guess you all know how we hate mornings... Well, no mercy on the departure day, our Tour Operator Enigma picked us up from our hotel at 03h58!!! Once everybody was in the bus, we headed to Km 82, a departure point for the Inka Trail. There we had breakfast along the Urubamba River about 7am. And this is where the porters took our stuff and we were left with our day bags. Before accessing the path and the national park, there was a control of the passports and the tickets, and there we got a nice Machu Picchu (MP) stamp on our passports. During the four days of hiking, we stopped several times for "History Time". This is when our excellent guide Erick tought us about the history of the Inka Empire, it´s rise and fall, the civil war, the spaniards and details of the Inka Culture. The names of the sites we visited are in Quechua (the local language), but of course they are names that archeologists have given after discovering them.

The first day hike was the toughest. 15km, about 4h of walking, and 1100m going up (from 2600m to 3700m). The first part was "Peruvian flat" as our guide said... Before lunch we visited a historical site Wilkarakay (translated to english means Uptown). This was an Inka Trading point, the Inkas didn´t use money, but they traded the products from the jungle against the ones from the mountains. We also stopped to learn about the coca leaves, their effects and how to chew them. And of course we all tried it... After an excellent lunch in Wayllabamba, the trail really started to go up. This is where most of the tour companies spent the first night, but we continued to Llulluchapampa. Along the trail we saw many flowers and plants that we didn´t recognise and also some parrots.

During the afternoon a British couple had to turn back, because the husband was too sick to continue the hike. We were by far in the best physical shape compared to the rest of the group. After us there were a couple from Denmark, who walked good, but liked to take their time to look around. In the group there were also Rick and his son Mike from New York, Kim and her daughter Louisa (17 yrs, the "baby" of the group) from Denver, Colorado, and Valeria and Diego Martin, a couple from Buanos Aires, Argentina.

Once we arrived to the first camp Llulluchapampa, the porters were waiting for us with a bowl of hot water and soap so that we could clean up after the day. Our tents were already up, we could settle in right away and change something warm and dry. Before dinner we had a Tea Time (popcorn!!) and after dinner Erick told us spooky stories about the evil Andian spirits who live in the mountains (beware of the Ñaka). Because of the early morning and the fresh mountain air, at 20h30 we were in the tents ready to sleep. At midnight it rained very heavily and at 04h00 the birds started to sing... Thank you to our "Boulquies"!! (ear plugs...)