The Inca Trail, Peru

I thought long and hard about how to describe the Inca Trail and finally decided that I can´t. It was incredibly challenging, but extremely rewarding. It was dirty, yet also breathtakingly beautiful. It was, like I had always suspected it would be, the highlight of our world trip. The only word that does it justice is epic. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

I do wish to mention Peru Treks & Adventure, whom I would highly recommend for the Inca Trail. The people at Peru Treks & Adventure really go above and beyond, for example: our guide Edwin let me borrow his professional walking stick when we had to hike down 1,000 Inca steps, our assistant guides Jimmy and Martin massaged our battered knees, while our porters woke us every morning with tent service, which means that they gently woke us before handing us a cup of maté de coca. Our porters also fed us 3-course meals 3 times a day (including a freshly baked birthday cake of which we still haven´t figured out how it was made without an oven) and carried all of our stuff up and down the steep Andean mountains. While we could barely take a step, these porters would wear up to 26 kilos on their backs and ran (they RAN!) past us, yet they would always welcome us at the campsite with applause, like it was us who were the impressive ones. Peru Treks & Adventure is one of the few companies in Cuzco who do not exploit their porters and offer them fair wages - often we would see porters from other companies who would have to carry more than 35 kilos on their backs. Think about it.

DAY 1: Cuzco to Wayllabamba, or: 'Hiking the Inca Trail is not about age, fitness or experience - it´s about mental strength.'

Length of hike: 12 kilometers.


KM 82, the start of the Inca Trail


Llactapata


Wayllabamba

DAY 2: Wayllabamba to Pacamayo, or: 'Please hike to the top of that 4200-meter pass. You have 6 hours.'

Length of hike: 12 kilometers.


Tres Piedras (Three Stones)


Llulluchapampa


Abra de Huarmihuañusca (Dead Woman´s Pass)


Abra de Huarmihuañusca (Dead Woman´s Pass)


Abra de Huarmihuañusca (Dead Woman´s Pass)


Pacamayo

DAY 3: Pacamayo to Wiñay Wayna, or: 'You have 3 hours to climb down these 1,000 Inca steps. Please watch your knees.'

Length of hike: 15 kilometers.


Pacamayo


Pacamayo


Pacamayo


Runkaracay


Sayacmarca


Inca tunnel


cloud forest


Wiñay Wayna

DAY 4: Wiñay Wayna to Machu Picchu, or: 'You will never truly appreciate Machu Picchu by taking the easy way out. Hiking the Inca Trail is like a pilgrimage - the journey is as important as the destination. Only by doing the necessary rough work you can start to really understand how special it is.'


Intipunku (Sun Gate)


Intipunku (Sun Gate)


Machu Picchu


Aguas Calientes

"We had been hiking for days on the Inca Trail. The journey itself had been so incredible that I had almost forgotten where the trail led. On the final day, we began at the break of dawn to catch a glimpse as the sun rose. Finally, there it was: Machu Picchu. I had seen hundreds of photographs but none could do it justice. It was pure magic to see it in person."
- Karlee Palms (Lonely Planet´s South America on a Shoestring: Big Trips on Small Budgets, 11th Edition)

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!

Cuzco, Peru

From what I´ve seen of South America so far, and I would argue that I've seen quite a bit already, I'm ready to conclude that Peru is the continent's archeological epicenter and that Cuzco is its capital. In the last 6 days I've seen so many archeological Inca ruins that my head is spinning and each site starts to look similar to the other. I haven't been this overwhelmed since we spent 3 days exploring the temples of Angkor in Cambodia.

It all started on Tuesday morning at 7 AM when we boarded the Inka Express in Puno. Initially we had planned to take the famous train service from Puno to Cuzco until we discovered that this train ride cost no less than 250 euros. Thinking that this would be a bit too decadent for our backpackers' tastes we opted for the reasonbly priced Inka Express instead. This comfortable VIP bus drives from Puno to Cuzco in 10 hours and on the way makes 5 stops: at the archeological museum in Pukara, at the viewpoint in La Raya, for a buffet lunch in Sicuani, at the ruins of Raqchi and at the church in Andahuaylillas.


Puno


Raqchi

At the end of the day we arrived in the beautifully situated city of Cuzco.


Cuzco

Cuzco is very pretty and very much a colonial town. Unlike in other cities not much seems to have changed here in the last couple of hundred years. Every street is a picturesque cobble-stoned example of days gone by.


Calle Nueva Alta

We have been staying at Hostal Los Niños II, which is a wonderful hotel with a wonderful story. It's a small hotel in a quiet street with beautiful rooms, a sunny courtyard and a firelit café that serves up amazing fresh food every day and the best coffee I've had since before we put our coffee machine in storage. It was set up by Jolanda van den Berg, an amazing Dutch woman who moved to Peru in 1996, only 6 months after witnessing the many street kids in Cuzco during a holiday. Now, 16 years later, she and her boyfriend adopted 12 Peruvian boys, set up 2 girls' houses, run 3 hotels, opened 5 childrens' restaurants and hired 80 Peruvian employees. 6 days a week 600 children receive 2 meals a day in addition to tutoring services, sport lessons, health care, dental care and a safe place to play. Hotel rooms are named after the adopted children. Read Jolanda's incredible story here.


Hostal Los Niños II

On our first full day in Cuzco we spent a long day walking around town arranging our upcoming trek to Machu Picchu while being followed around by a dog whom we quickly nicknamed Cuzco. I absolutely fell head over heels in love with this dog. He walked by my side all day and followed my every demand. You probably think that just because I'm such a typical vegetarian animal lover that this happens to me all the time, but it doesn't. There is so much suffering in the world that I've learned to look the other way. The only other time that I felt this close to an animal during this trip was in Ubud on Bali with Brownie (remember him?). Brownie already had a family to take care of him, though, while Cuzco was a street dog. I somehow knew that this dog was mine and that I should take him home. I fully intended to go back to the hotel at the end of the day to call my sister-in-law and ask her how I could fly him to Europe, until suddenly he wasn't there anymore and I haven't seen him since. That was a weird first day in Cuzco!


Calle Pardo

I already mentioned that there is a lot to see in and around Cuzco, which always begs the question: how do we go about it? Do we go at it alone or do we go on a tour? In the end we decided to go on 2 different tours in order to see everything while at the same time having enough time left to get ready for the Inca Trail, rest, and, you know, eat. According to the Lonely Planet these tours are too rushed (not to mention much too touristy with salespeople at every corner), but for us it beat the alternative since: (1) using public transportation in these parts would have taken weeks; (2) hiring private transportation in Peru only appears to be available to people with a death wish and (3) walking alone seemed out of the question due to violent robberies at the ruins even during daylight hours. So off we went.

First we went on a full day tour of the Sacred Valley where we saw Pisac, Urubamba, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero.


Sacred Valley


Pisac


Ollantaytambo

A day later we went on a so-called City Tour to see the sites surrounding Cuzco, including Qorikancha, Saqsaywamán, Q'enqo, Tambomachay and Pukapukara. All were impressive.

 
Saqsaywamán

If this sounds like a summary to you, it's because it's like a summary to me. I think that this is kind of funny, considering that the epitome of our time in Cuzco, and of our whole trip in general, is yet to begin - we leave on a 4-day hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu tomorrow morning. It goes to show that Jochem and I are getting really tired of traveling in these intense surroundings. Every day we look forward more and more to coming home. I find myself fantasizing about things like wholewheat bread, Dutch cheese, peanut butter, throwing toilet paper into the toilet bowl and (God forbid!) feeling safe while walking the streets at night. But this doesn't mean that we're not looking forward to starting this trek, because we are! The first thing that the Lonely Planet writes about the Inca Trail is: "We'll say it here since nobody seems to ever want to broach the topic: this is not an easy trek." Mmmm... Wish us luck!

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!

Puno, Peru

We knew that after we had such a lovely time at Las Olas, any new place would turn out to be a disappointment, and even though Puno is a cute little Peruvian town hugging the shores of Lake Titicaca, getting settled into our new accommodation was a bit hard. The main problem is that it's incredibly cold here and that it`s difficult to warm up - alas, the days of fireplaces and hot water bottles are definitely over.





Puno is a quick stop en route to super star attractions Cuzco and Machu Picchu, but there were 2 sights that we didn't want to miss while in this region. First of all, we wanted to see Sillustani, which is an archeological site on the Lago Umayo Peninsula. Here you can visit a staggering collection of about 150 chullpas or funerary towers, which seem to serve the same purpose as Egyptian pyramids: impressive structures to house the important dead. There are pre-Incan chullpas dating from the Tiwanaku period (the site near La Paz that we visited a few weeks ago) and Incan chullpas that are made of huge blocks and that reach heights of up to 12 meters. Afterwards we made a quick stop at a typical altiplano home where we could see how the local people live. They fed us too, so I was excited!











The second thing that we wanted to see while in Puno were the Islas Flotantes of the Uros people, just a 30-minute boat ride away from Puno. I must admit that this is quite a touristy sight, but it's still amazing to see. These people have made what can only be described as floating islands - islands made entirely out of totora reeds that float on the lake (they hold the islands in place with a kind of anchor to avoid drifting off). They use these reeds for absolutely everything: boats, houses, handicrafts, food, fuel et cetera. It's very impressive. There are about 50 of these islands and we visited 3 while being transported from island to island in a totora reed boat. On one island a group of 6 families lived and they explained us all about how they live and showed us their homes. It was really cool to see their way of life.











Tomorrow morning we are taking an early bus to Cuzco and Jochem and I both feel that the end is coming, even though we have a whole month of traveling left before we go home. Next week we're hiking the Inca Trail and then before you know it we're in Lima and then back in Europe. Sometimes I can't wait to go home, but other times I realize that there is still to much to see. We`re in Peru after all, archeological wonder of South America!

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!

Copacabana, Bolivia

It's time to tell you about our fairy tale in Copacabana. Lonely Planet and I get along really well, but rarely does it surprise me like it did in Copacabana. We were looking for a nice hotel to celebrate Jochem's 26th birthday at. Lonely Planet recommended Las Olas and we booked it. We were in for a big surprise! I can't speak highly enough of this hotel. It is the best hotel that I have ever stayed at - not just in Bolivia, or in South America, or even during this trip. I literally mean that this is the BEST hotel EVER.

For starters, it's not a conventional hotel. The complex exists of 7 individual suites that are set on a hill overlooking Lake Titicaca, far away from the touristy tackiness that makes up the rest of Copacabana. These suites were designed by a local artist and his wife who basically made everything up as they went. If you're lucky, you will see this very same artist walking the premises and he'll be delighted to tell you about this special project. There are plants and flowers everywhere. There is a jacuzzi overlooking the lake. In the afternoon a neighboring local lady comes over with her flock of sheep (cute little lamb included) to cut the grass. The hotel functions on solar energy.

Our suite, number 7 called the Sea Tower, was the latest addition to the hotel. It looked like a castle from a Disney movie. We had 3 floors, 5 beds, a kitchen, a bathroom with 2 showers (and hot water 24/7, which is surprisingly rare in this cold part of South America), a space heater, a fireplace with complementary wood and paper, hot water bottles to take into bed, a tower, a small garden with sun chairs and hammocks and panoramic views of the lake. All this cost us less than 30 euros a day. We took one look at the place and decided straight away to stay for 2 extra nights. 2 days after that, we added another 2 days for a total of 7 days. It was paradise and I could have stayed forever.





We find that South America, and Bolivia in particular, is not the easiest place to backpack around in and we were quite tired, so we used the majority of our time in Copacabana to enjoy our castle. We walked around town a couple of times and we hiked along Lake Titicaca, but mostly we just enjoyed our surroundings. Our only exception to this rule was when we took a boat to the famous Island of the Sun. In Inca mythology, Isla del Sol is the birthplace of the sun. The boat first dropped us in the north at Cha'llapampa. After we visited the small museum, a local guide took us on a 1-hour walk to the Chincana Ruins where we saw a ceremonial table and a magnetic rock. From here you could walk all the way to Yumani in the south, but we chose to take the boat instead due to the heavy terrain, 4,000-meter altitude and time limit. In the south we had some time to see the Inca Springs and the Inca Stairway and to admire the beautiful locals.











With pain in our hearts we said goodbye to this little slice of heaven to embark on a new adventure: PERU!



If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!