Cusco & Our Vilcabamba Trek

Part of an Inca Temple Site 

Trekking..

Llamas at Machu Picchu

Cusco is a very nice town of some 100 000 people. The historic center is full of tourists, but this didn’t bother me. They mostly looked like us in their ‘trekking’ pants etc. Both the usual 20-somethings and now also people our age. We were told the town is safe, and we walked all over the historic center with no difficulties. At an elevation of some 11 100’ (3400m), the many steep stairs presumably helped us get ready for the even steeper slopes on the trek.
Our first morning in Plaza de Armas (seems all central squares in Peru share this name), I initially laughed when a shoe shining man wondered if we wanted our hiking boots cleaned. Then I noticed a guy on a bench having his boots cleaned... Ours were by no means very dirty - seems worth their while to ask, though.

Link to Cusco, trek and Machu Picchu pictures

Machu Picchu

We spent 4 days walking around, and visiting Inca ruins on the outskirts of town. The town center also has many nice Colonial era buildings. One day we took a collectivo to the smaller town of Pisac, where we climbed up to another Inca ruin. The idea was to get acclimatized to the altitude for the trek.
The Incas are known for their skills building with large stones they fitted together without mortar. How they formed the angles, and shaped the stones is not known. Our trekking guide told us one theory says they used some natural material - to dissolve rock??? If I got it right, this theory comes from an American, Hiram Bingham who rediscovered Machu Picchu, and along the way noticed a bird with a leaf in its beak, pecking away at a rock, making a hole. Google tells me they used stone, and copper tools.
Many of these walls have stood for 500+ years, and have survived earthquakes. We noticed one modern glass building which sat on an old Inca stone foundation.

The weather has been sunny and beautiful in Cusco, but it is cold at night. We stayed in small apartments with tiny kitchens, but only made breakfasts there. They usually have a 2-burner gas stove with the tank below - like a gas grill. By now we have learned how to operate a Peruvian shower, but Craig is not happy with them. You adjust the temperature by changing the water pressure.

Hiking the Inca Trail is the most popular option if you want to trek, and this way you arrive at Machu Picchu for sunrise, which seems spectacular at least with clear skies. A few years ago, they limited the permits for this route to 500/day. 200 tourists and 300 for their trekking crews. We made the decision to visit the area too late to get permits before the official rainy season, but there are many other trekking options. You can also get to Machu Picchu by bus & train. They now sell 2500 permits/day, and online rumors has it there can be many more people on site than that. This is why I had been less eager to go.
But am very happy we decided to come - thanks to the positive comments from many friends, incl Tom L.  - and because Craig’s sister June has wanted to go. She couldn’t join us now, but start planning, June!

Our first day was spent in the car - some 8 hrs, leaving at 3am. The plan was to hike for a few hours after arriving in the village of Vilcabamba (?) but our plans changed when there was a 3-hour delay en route due to a landslide the night before. It was caused by heavy rains - a forewarning of what was to come.
You always need to plan for the unexpected, and the trekking company nicely rearranged things. While waiting, we got to see a medium sized candunga snake - I saw a gentleman kill it with stones on the road. Immediately after posing for pictures, the local people whose homes we were next to, cut it up, and he was to make a soup of it.

Instead of hiking to our first camp site, we slept in our tent in the backyard of a home. We did a short walk to nearby ruins, which were different and interesting.
The unfortunate outcome of this change of plans, was that our 2nd day became much longer. Our guide’s ability to read his clients did not impress me. He kept mentioning the ‘emergency horse’ throughout the day, and the next 2 days, despite telling us we were doing well time-wise. I needed to focus on every step to walk properly, and had made it clear I preferred a slow, but steady pace. Due to this, and the fact we were in the clouds, or in the rain much of the time, I have few pictures from the trek.

We hiked through rainforest, over 2 open passes at >4400 m (>14 400’), at times in cloud forest. The trail was often steep, but our guide did pace things pretty well going up. I am very happy we now have experience, and know the rules at altitude. The footing was often treacherous because the trail followed wet stream beds, or maybe the streams found the trail... Part of it was on old stone Inca trails - there were thousands of km of trails originally from Chile to Colombia. Other times, you walked in black soil, and it was difficult to differentiate this from the horse and cow droppings along the way.. But our tent never smelled, we were dry and warm at night despite temperatures in the 30s F (<5C).
We saw no other tourists, or villages. We saw a few chinchillas - like very large squirrels, or bushy long tailed hares
The daily routine started with a cup of hot coca leaf tea at 4.30 am usually. We got our stuff together, sat down sheltered in a warm tent for a hot breakfast. Then hiked to our next warm meal - lunch also served in the tent. Same for dinner - we ate like Inca royalty thanks to Moises! Much tastier than the ‘corporate food’ we got on the fancy yacht in the Galapagos.

We were tired of feeling damp and cold, and took the opportunity when offered, of getting a local transport part way on the last day - and naturally now
 it didn’t rain. The hike would have followed a road, and we had to make our decision the night before. We had camped above the touristy town of Santa Teresa, and from here did walk the final 7-8km as planned. A highlight was eating ripe passion fruit straight from the tree.
Along the way we also saw a small coffee plantation, lots of banana trees, and a couple of cotton bushes.

Everything always looks better in hindsight - but I am glad we did this trek, and very thankful we escaped uninjured. The shower at our fancy hotel in Aguas Caliente where we slept after the trek, was probably the best shower I have ever had. It was like standing under a warm, or if you chose, hot Niagara Falls!No water saving faucets here, and no electrical systems to get just right.
My body behaved amazingly well, and I owe my PT friend Jane a HUGE Thank You!

The stats: the total length per the maps: ~55 km over 3 days. We probably hiked all but 8-10km of this.

We were given way more info on Inca Kings & their exploits, and the Inca’s religious practices than we could absorb. Machu Picchu is an impressive place, and now the weather gods smiled on us - we arrived as the clouds came in and covered the entire area, but a couple of hours later the sun came out.
Anyone interested can look up more info about their fancy irrigation systems, the Sun Virgins who chewed coca leaves to make drinks for the royals, the Inca’s astronomical observation systems etc. on line.

The return trip to Cusco was included in the trek, and our company whisked us away to their taxi when a very suspicious looking man came up to us holding a sign with Craig’s first name, and rare middle name. Someone else also knew we were returning on this specific train...