Inca trail – Day 1
We woke up at around 4am for our pickup to head off to start our trek at km82. On the bus we met the guy who would be our guide on the trail for the next four days, Darwin, and his assistant guide, Angel. After a rushed breakfast in Ollyantaytambo and each if us getting a couple retractable trekking poles, we arrived at the trailhead, got out passports stamped, and began walking.
Our group consisted of 14 people. The five of us, Rod and Jacki, an Australian couple on month 2 of a 9 month honeymoon, three other Aussies, Noel, Nick & Mark (father, son and son-in-law), Robin & Ann, a mother-daughter pair from Florida, and Peter & Anka, a German man and woman who were good friends traveling together.
In addition were 20 porters who loaded themselves up with huge backpacks, two or three sizes of any of ours. They carried all of the tents, food, cooking equipment and other gear for each night. The porters would pack all of their stuff up and run ahead of us in order to set up for lunch or dinner by the time we arrived at each spot. Some if them only in sandals!
The first day we hiked about 6-7 miles. The hike was relatively easy, with a handful of moderate climbs or descents. The biggest obstacle was probably dodging the horse and donkey poop on the trail.
On this first day we saw some beautiful Incan ruins at the convergence of three valleys.
For our meals the porters set up a big, communal tent where all 14 of us could sit together and eat. The meals, by camping standards, was amazing! The cook made three course meals for each meal. While far from five star, the meals a wonder that they were cooked on a kitchen that was so recently on somebody’s back.
For the most part the trail was not too crowded at all. Generally we were only hiking with our own group, and were a bit spread out amongst ourselves. We would usually mingle with one or tho other groups of hikers at rest stops. Only 400 people per day are allowed on the trail, which includes porters and people who only join in on the last day, so the trail was a lot less crowded than I thought it would be. The porters usually left after us and then passed us on the trail, so when somebody would see them coming up from behind they would yell “Porter!”, and we would all step aside as they jogged on ahead of us. These guys mostly spend the year as farmers, doing back-breaking manual labor, so they are all pretty strong dudes.
At our campsite we were delighted to discover that out porters had obtained (or carried) some beers for us. Exactly what we needed! One of our group, the mother from Florida, was not doing well with the altitude and with the hike, (and attitude!) and decided that she couldn’t go on, so she left the group and would take the train and meet us at the end. After dinner we all went to bed around 8:00, tired from a long day.
