Day 11: Inca Trail Day 1

Though early, we were all excited to get things going on the Inca trail today.   The main reason we are in Peru is Machu Picchu.   Of course, the main attraction makes you open your eyes to the rest of  country has to offer.  In the case of Peru, turns out there is a ton to see.   Still, Machu Picchu is the main draw.

The first leg was a drive to the sacred valley, about 90 minutes up and out of Cusco, then eventually along a nicely paved road (with the occasional diversion around a rockfall) that followed the winding path of the Urubamba River.  We stopped for a bathroom break at a little outfitters store where we picked up some ponchos in cas of rain.

Next was a five minute drive to our after trek hotel destination of Olantaytambo.  We dropped our main bags off and picked up a snack.  Our hotel was literally on the train platform so when we get the train back from Machu Picchu we will have a twenty meter walk to our beds!

Back in the bus, we were thirty more minutes up a rough dirt road until we reached mile 82 where we would start our trek.   We briefly met some of our porters and cooks (16 of them) but they quickly grabbed our duffle bags and were off up the trail.

Nep led us on the a small road that quickly turned to an up and down path that generally hugged the train track and Urubamba.  

The terrain was spectacular... very similar to the start of the Annapurna treks... a little civilization connected by paths and the occasional suspension bridge, dotted with small farm houses.  



The main difference was here we were surrounded by cacti!  

We hiked for about three hours, broken up by several rest breaks and a snack break until we reached our lunch stop.   There was a large dining tent set up with table cloth drinks and cutlery.   Some of the porters were there, resting, while others busied themselves with food prep while still others were presumably ahead of us setting up camp.   Nep walked us through how to use the toilet tent (reminded me of Ron’s national ride eco-toilet!).

We had a great lunch of corn soup with vegetables followed by some kind of rice, curry, potato and bone-in chicken.   We drank lemon grass infused water, and generally tried to avoid the sun and heat... it was getting pretty hot and we were now all super conscious of our proximity to the sun at these altitudes.

After lunch, we passed through some kind of passport control before crossing the Urubamba on a bouncy suspension bridge.   We would now circle back on the opposite bank before heading up a valley cut with a smaller tributary to the sacred river.   It wasn’t long before we saw a huge structure/ruins on our right side and Nep announced “we are here!”.   We hiked into a small village up a small road with a fast flowing aqueduct beside it and turned into a field where we saw our tents and dining tent set up.  

Now this is glamping!

Normally, Nep would have toured us around the ruins, but because of the soccer game we’d requested (and they’d happily obliged) to see, we will do that tomorrow.  It wasn’t long before the kids were playing card, and the adults, three other Canadians staying at our site and all of the porters and locals were crowded around a TV at one of the village’s houses cheering on the Peruvian national team in their final against the Brazilians.

The game was fun, in as much as it was a chance to watch this mixed group of farmers and tourists watch a big match.   Unfortunately Peru lost 3-1 so there was no big “hoe down” after the game.   When Brazil scored their third goal late in the second half, and older man took off his ball cap and slammed it on the ground, then walked across the field to his farm house... everyone laughed... the Peruvians we’ve met so far are not huge on reactions, so it was pretty funny to see this outburst.

Snack was “queso and guacamole” - which meant a kind of egg roll with a small slice of cow-feta cheese and guacamole made from avocado that the cooks had pulled off a tree in the afternoon... so good.  Dinner followed soon after, delicious trout and veggies among other courses.   Camping / fresh air meals make everything taste so good.

During dinner, somehow, Alex’s story of when he made the mistake of rubbing hot chilli over his entire body came up (yeah, not sure either), but he was soon screaming at the top of his lungs “my balls were on fire!”.   Nep was laughing hysterically, and the rest of us went from out of control to Robin outright crying.  Alex never fails to bring the energy and is always entertaining at break times and meals.

We know tomorrow will be a tougher day, but it feels like the group is working well and I’m sure we’ll get through it ok.  I’m looking forward to getting higher up in the mountains. 

Day 10: Free day in the Incan capital

Yesterday afternoon Beth and I got a Starbucks and when were strolling back to the hotel, a teenager in front of the Black Panther coffee shop said “really?  Starbucks?   We have the best coffee in town”.  We laughed and promised to come the next day and he told us he opened at 9am.

Well, 9am rolled around, and while the kids slept in, the adults were pounding on the doors of Black Panther but apparently they did not open at nine!  I took Alex and Kim on a similar loop to yesterday, and led them to a large, almost hidden, tourist market.  After stuffing more Alpaca stuff from Beth in my bag, we continued on to the San Pedro central market.   The place was huge!   

Part local, part tourist, I decided to finally get a Jugo (juice) from one of the twenty ladies down “juice aisle” that were trying to flag us down.   I had her choose the most popular /tasty option and she made one for me with orange, mango and two delicious Incan fruits that I’d never seen much less tasted called Cherimoya (kind of a sweet tasting pear/citrus combo white fruit) and Lucuma (like a tender, sweet tasting sweet potato).... so good.

We made our way back towards Black Panther, passing kilometres of local market/retail streets that were packed full of locals buying everything from spices and fruits, to clothing and shoes.

By the time we got back to Black Panther, we met with our sarcastic friend, Favian, and we were quickly impressed with this kid.  He was 18 and was here by himself on a refugee visa from Venezuela (South America has absorbed some five million of the thirty million Venezuelans over the last couple of years due to the corrupt government and poor conditions in the country).   We asked him where he got so fluent in English and he said, “you may not believe me, but I owe most of my English to a tv show, maybe you’ve heard of it... Friends?”.   Oh my god, we almost fell off our chairs.   Our four kids have been watching friends on Netflix for what seems like, years.   Robin got so bad, I figured out how to lock Friends out from our Netflix feed.... lol.   Favian said he got his sarcasm from Chandler, his technical terms from Ross and his casual speak and ways to pick up girls from Joey... too funny.

We had lunch at an awesome place called Avocado (literally each dish had a fresh, giant sized avocado in it, including the tomato soup!) and then connected with Jeffrey on Whatsapp to find out where they were at.

The kids had done some research and found a great breakfast area in the backpackers district called The Meeting Place.   We found them upstairs, half a bottle of syrup down and playing cards.  The place reminded me of the typical places we saw in 1997 in Asia, with a wall of used books that were available for purchase or exchange.  The kids seemed so independent... like a mini version of when we pick them up from summer camp after four weeks away.  I can really picture them doing their own backpacking adventure in a few years.

After breakfast/lunch we split up... Alex and Kim when back up to Saqsaywaman while Beth and I and the four kids did a huge loop, up and down winding cobbled streets laden with trekking shops, tiny restaurants, colourful characters,  VW bugs, dogs, dogs and more dogs.  We took them through the market area again and then back towards the center.

We took the kids back to Black Panther to introduce our little Venezuelan friend and they quickly began talking about their favourite Netflix shows.   We ended up staying there an hour while Beth and I continued to chat with Favian and the kids played cards.   So impressed with that young man!

We did some research on trip advisor and found a great place for dinner, again in the backpackers areas, called Chakruna Native Burgers.  The tiny place had an awesome little set up and everyone was satisfied, including Alex who opted for the Alpaca burger.   When we left the place, there was a lineup 10 people deep... good timing!

Well, we are ready for our trek tomorrow.   Each of us has a portion of our clothes and supplies packed into a duffle bag with a strict 6kg weight allowance.   The rest of our stuff is split between our day packs (which we will carry) and our main packs, which will be shuttled forward to our after trek hotel in Aquas Calientas.   

One more episode of Stranger Things for the Tyndall four and we were tucked into our frigid rooms until our early morning wake up.

Day 9: Exploring Cusco

Nep met us just after breakfast.   We had booked a halfish day tour to get our bearings and a feel for the city before we set off on our own.   First up was right next door... the Qorikancha.   This place was a huge complex that had formerly been the Incan sun temple, but when the Spanish Conquistadors came and stripped all the silver and gold and ransacked the place, they used the foundation walls to build a large church, right on top.   The foundation walls were made from sharply cut and precisely placed honed blocks, and when there was an earthquake in 1650 and again in 1950, the old walls were the only things strong enough to survive.   The Catholic Church had to be rebuilt twice, and fortunately a little smaller in 1950 to expose the beautiful Imperial Incan style walls.

We walked up to the Plaza de Armas and visited the Cathedral del Cusco, really  a collection of three huge churches that were linked together.   There were plenty of gaudy statues and pictures, but we were most impressed with the intricate carvings and the ways that local artists snuck in Incan symbology into the paintings and carvings.   

We hopped back in the van and drove up to the large site of Saqsaywaman.  This place was called a fortress by the Spanish (as it was hard to attack), but was actually thought to be a gigantic tribute to “thunder”.   There were two massive walls perhaps 500 meters long and 30 feet high that formed parcel lines in the shape of lighting.   Most impressive was that the walls were made of massive rocks, tightly fit together in a feat of engineering almost as impressive as the pyramids of Giza.

The grounds of Saqsaywaman (easily remembered to the western ear as “sexy woman” were impressive and provided fantastic views of the city below.

Back in the van and the crowd was verging on hangry... luckily Kim broke out a bag of GORP+M&Ms and after two passes a piece, we were good to go for another half hour or so.

We stopped briefly at a site called Quenco that used to have a large carving of a puma, but it, along with pretty much any symbol of the Condor, Puma and Snake (which form the Pachamama, the three levels of earth - heaven, our world and the inner world/spirit respectively), had been defaced by the Spaniards in order to assert their catholic authority.  Still, every year at the June 21 winter solstice, hundreds come to see sunrise where the shadow of a puma can still be seen.

Another round of GORP got us through a brief visit to an alpaca farm and a presentation of beautiful textiles woven throughout the centuries by various pre and post Incan cultures.  No takers on the obligatory store at the end though... I’m pretty much Alpaccaed out.

On the way back to the hotel, I pulled the chute and asked for the bus to stop... we were closer to the restaurant area and I didn’t want to sit in traffic for 10 minutes and walk back.   We had a pretty good meal (except for Abby’s hockey puck burger).   

The kids headed back to the hotel after lunch for some shill time, adults split up to do some outfitting.  Beth and I bought some snacks, a pair of hiking pants for abby and some other stuff, and despite being alpacced out, we still managed to buy some furry wares.   

We did an awesome loop of the city and spotted a good looking place for dinner called Carpe Diem.  Kim and Alex later concurred and by 8pm the eight of us were filling out the small lower level of this little Italian bistro and enjoying some fantastic pastas and pizzas.

Before bedtime the 4 Tyndall’s were once again jammed into one bed, fighting off the relatively cold interior temperature of the hotel and watching the new season of Stranger Things.  It reminded me of our 2015 trip, watching the  walking dead on a boat in the back waters of Kerala.  Sigh.