Today is the big day! I will be on the famous trail to Machu Picchu this morning and it can’t happen fast enough for me! I’ll admit, I didn’t sleep very well last night because I was too excited.

I shadowed a Road Scholar group in Oct. 2010 and as we were standing at the site of Machu Picchu listening to the guide talk about the Intipunku, the Sun Gate, the place where hikers enter the park at the end of the trek, I imagined myself coming through that gate one day and thinking perhaps years later, that dream would come true for me, but here I was!

It doesn’t seem real to me yet. OK, maybe I have some romantic ideas about this whole thing anyway. Camping in high elevations, ruins along the way, fantastic Andean plant life and orchids everywhere, no shower for 3 days? No problem!

I get coffee and breakfast and rush back to the room.

After two or three times of packing and unpacking, I just go with the last bunch of things I’ve decided on in my duffel (18 pounds) and I know it will not be enough. I’m so excited; I really don’t care, and I would have traveled in the same clothes for four days to do this hike! Really!!!

If I were to do it again, I would bring one more complete change of lightweight clothes for the last day. This is tough and you are going to sweat, a lot! I also got wet using a lightweight rain jacket that wasn’t fully waterproof. Big mistake. One of the best things I did bring though was a down vest that kept my core warm and dry always and mashed down to nothing in packing. And my shoes, of course, the single most important thing to get right, were waterproof and comfortable.

We transfer from the Sacred Valley to the town of Ollantaytambo, where we have breakfast before arriving to the trail head. The town is bustling in the early morning as other porters are waiting for their groups to arrive. Vendors are setting up for business and the smell of breakfast is in the air. This is also an excellent place to get last minute supplies.

There is an incredible fortress in this town that served as a stronghold for the Manco Inca Yupanqui in the final days of the Spanish conquest. This impressive archaeological site will be visited on the second day of the program in the late morning. It is incredibly beautiful and should not be missed!

After breakfast we drive about 30 minutes to the staging area for the trail. Everywhere there are fields full of deep red quiñoa, fava beans, and potatoes waiting to be harvested. It is green and lush during this time of the year and flowers are abundant in the yards and gardens.

We slowly climb and the trail takes us to a lookout point where we stop for a short briefing about our hiking schedule. There are flowers everywhere on the trail and the Urubamba Canyon is lush, green and vibrant! As we hike Eddie identifies some of the plants and what they are used for.
The trail evens out and it’s flat and easy hiking for awhile. There are small houses along the way and villagers along the trail transporting animals and goods.

We pass more small huts and houses and a couple of chicha stands before we stop for a break and at this point we have been hiking for an hour and a half. We come to Llaqtapata (or Patallaqta, both are correct) on the Cusichaca side river and have a small site lecture about the ruins.

What a site for a lunch stop!

After bread, cheese and fresh vegetables for appetizers, lunch arrives and is outstanding and we are all amazed at the dishes that come out of the cook tent! Works of art and art that tastes incredible! Stuffed avocado with papasrellenas; mashed potatoes stuffed with cheese and fried, yummy! The salad is chicken salad but also a dish is adapted for a vegetarian in our group and contained freshly chopped vegetables.

After this luxurious lunch and pampering by Julian, our headwaiter, and the incredible cooks, it was time to get going again. Fill up your water jug and put on your pack and hopefully, you didn’t eat too much! It’s hard not to, the food is so good!

Powdered Gatorade is available, to add to your water. Coffee and coca tea for breakfast and iced orange tea are also offered. We begin hiking again and hike for approx. 1 hour and 45 minutes to our first campsite at Huayabamba, 9,777 ft. This campsite marks the last place where people inhabit the trail and animals can be brought onto the trail. It also marks the place where up to this point, the guide reserves the right to send an unqualified, injured or sick hiker back out of the Inka Trail Park to the entrance.

The reason this is worth mentioning is that this is the last day that a person can be transported out on a mule or horse and if there is an injury after this point the hiker would have to be carried by the porters if they were not able to walk on their own. The other very important reason is that if the hiker is sent back it is at his or her expense.

We arrive to a lush valley surrounded by snow covered mountains peaks as the sun is beginning to set. There are small houses and children playing and there in a cleared meadow are our tents, set up and ready with our bags beside the door waiting for us. We can hear the rush of a glacial stream nearby and it looks like a great place to relax!