The Inca trek was the physically hardest and most rewarding thing I´ve ever done. It was 4 days of trekking, 42 kilometres long, and had ascents of 4,200 metres above sea level. It was so physically and mentally intense and I´m not going to lie, I struggled. The first day was actually the hardest for me. We started out with false confidence as the morning walk didn´t appear to be too difficult. That quickly changed as the afternoon trek became more and more uphill. The thought of ´just get to the top of this hill then have a break´quickly evaporated as the hill literally went on for 4 hours. Ah the joys of trekking in the Andes. Whilst the boy and I had done a tiny bit of training, the flatness of Australia combined with the low altitude basically rendered it worthless. Plus, those who know me know I´m certainly not the biggest fan of intense exercise. This along with the combination of altitude sickness kicking in made for a very confronting and abrupt thought. What if I actually can´t do this? Honestly, the crack in my mindset that this thought created sunsequently provided an opportunity for my sneaky self-esteem to fill my mind with doubt and it was devestating. Luckily for me I´ve somehow bagged a boy who, after tolerating a near tear or two, pulled me into place. This superstar literally carried my pack for almost 2 hours whilst I tried not to vomit from the altitude and continue to put one foot in front of the other. And it slowly got better. Much better. I slowly adjusted to the altitude (although I was definitely sick - a bacterial infection almost immediately after the Inca Trek put me into hospital for a night) and slowly managed to pick up the pace. I actually wasn´t last and, as embarrassingly egotisitical as this thought was, unfortunately when I am getting my ass kicked it made me feel better and more determined. So between the boy´s support and feeling much more capable I finished this emotional first day of the Inca Trek. What was also massively encouraging and intriging was the amazing Inca ruins we passed on the way. On the first day we saw the Inca hillfort of Huillca Raccay. The Incas, when they conquered the area, built a fort here since the site commanded an excellent view up and down the Urubamba valley and controlled the entrance to the Cusichaca Valley. We also saw the Inca ruins of Llactapata, literally following the footsteps of the explorer Hiram Bingham as he discovered this agricultural station in 1911.
The second day saw me awake with enormous trepidation yet the little voice telling me I wouldnt be able to do it was replaced with a voice saying ´well you´re going to see Machu Picchu regardless so get on with it´. And that´s exactly what I did. Day two is physically the hardest day for everyone, we climbed basically the whole day. We ascended to 4, 215 metres above sea level to Abra de Huarminhuanusca, or Dead Woman´s pass (aptly named but not for the hikers it threatens, more to do with the shape of the mountain pass as it looks likes a woman lying down). We all struggled our way to the top plugged into our ipods for some much needed motivation (thank you Beyonce). So the biggest cliche ever turns out to be true: the harder something is, the more accomplished you feel you feel when you complete it. Our group was 13 people, all really friendly and encouraging and there´s nothing like a bonding session as trekking an ancient path leading to a sacred city.
Day three was probably my favourite day. We were officially trekking through the Cloud Forest and it was amazing. Despite a bit of rain which made the trek a little difficult as it was mainly downhill, it made for some spectacular scenery. The forest this high up is lush and green and full of beautiful dense trees and colourful little flowers.Some of the walking was a little scary on this day as a lot of it was downhill on narrow paths and sometimes we had to tip toe along cliff walkways with no railings. Clouds swept in and out in white bubbles of moisture as we marched through them and then surprised us by suddenly unveiling some incredible Inca ruins. My favourite was Wiñay Wayna, meaning ´forever young´in Quechua, named after a variety of pink orchids that you can find growing here. It was so beautiful. The view was incredible and as these things go it was the one place I didn´t bringmy camera to, so it is going to have to remain in a specialplace in my head and in my heart. Dense green forest gave way to green slopes that tumbled down into terraces whilst stone ruins lead to secret passages and temples. Built on the side of a mountain the ruins comprise of a rainbow temple and magnificent agricultural terraces that are surrounded by huge shadowing mountains and a river that runs off to one side, all bathed in cloud. Kim and I sat there long enough to feel like we were the only people in the world totally and utterly enchanted by this wonderful, magnificant and magical place.
Wiñay Wayna also helped give me a little more inspiration for what I hope will one day soon become my anthropological PhD topic. I hope you will forgive me for occasionally using this blog as a little bit of a sounding board (in which I would love for you to get in contact with me if you have any opinions) for ideas on this. For a while now I´ve been pondering over how to ground a thesis topic that is based on my emerging world views about some things I consider very important, into anthropology. Very broadly speaking Anthropology is the study of people and cultures, so obviously it cannot be a paper on my beliefs. However, the more I learn about the Indigenous people of South America, Peru in particular, the more I feel I may be able to flesh this idea out in an anthropological way. Basically, in short, as this paragraph is really for my benefit and I don´t want to bore you, I want to explore how modern western socities can regain a compassionate relationship with the earth before we continue to fuck it up past the point of no-return. And I now think the answer lies in Indigenous knowledge systems about the environment. I know I am a dreamer for thinking that the poisonous parts Western world will suddenly put aside its aspirations for wealth and power at the expense of the environment but I do think that as our limited resources run out we are going to have to engage in a massive paradigm shift in our cultural collective consciousness in order to survive. And I think we need to look back and around at the cultures that have and still do continue to live in harmony with their environment. The Indigenous cultures that I have been exploring in Peu have such beneficial relationships with their external world, embedded in their religious and belief systems (such as the goddess Pachamama - more on her later) that allow them to have a totally symbiotic and peaceful relationship with their earth.
Anyway, sorry for the little rambling tangent, and I will continue on with the Inca Trek. We had a free afternoon after the rainbow temple and our great guide, Darwin, suggested we do something fun for our porters. We all instantly agreed as these guys are absolutely incredible. 17 of them, all local farmers who work the Inca trail on their down time, carry approximately 25kgs of weight on their backs. This includes our tents, food, tables, chairs, cooking equipment sleeping bags, some of our luggage and much much more. These guys ranged from 18 - 60 years old and their fitness levels are absolutely insane. Whilst I´ve been telling you how difficult it is to walk the Inca Trek with a 3 or 4kg backpack these guys literally run the trail with their enormous loads on their backs. They arrive at our lunch destinations and campsites hours before us (and leave after us after packing up) and have everything set up for us when we arrive. It was amazing to arrive at camp after an intense day of trekking and have a bucket of warm water to wash in, a hot drink and snack waiting for us before enjoying a 3 course dinner. The food was incredible, much better than a lot of restaurants we have eaten at. On the last night they somehow managed to make a cake for one of the girls birthdays on a little stove burner. Amazing. After arriving on the afternoon of the third day and having proper introductions with the porters we decided to say thanks to them by cooking them afternoon tea. It was hilarous. Apparently it had only happened one time before and they were so excited, even after we made a right mess. It just went to show how incredibly humble and sincere these guys are and they deserve enormous respect and recognition.
Day four we arrived at Machu Picchu. This is somewhere I have dreamed of going to for an incredibly long time. Stories of Inca folklore and history always interested me growing up, but more than that they astounded me. The Inca´s were at the absolute forefront of technological and intellectual innovations of their time and we were lucky enough to witness some of the archeaological remains of this culture. The Inca Empire is surrounded by myths and legends that all pay homage to their incredibly mysterious culture that unfortunately were destroyed by the Spanish. One of the most famous Inca Kings, Pachacuti begun the time of the far-reaching Inca expansion in 1438 AD. Pachacuti´s name literally meant ¨world-shaker¨, which is incredibly appropriate for the political, military, cultural, economic and technological advances that the Incas brought to the Andes and the rest of the world.
A great way to finish off this incredible adventure was to see some of my favourite people in the world. My parents, being the explorers they are, decided to come to Peru after I left one too many brochures on the kitchen table. However, they decided to do a spiritual pilgrimage around parts of Peru which seemed to have a totally opposite schedule to ours and we seemed to be missing each other by a few hours distance on more than one occasion. So Kim and I jumped off the bus an hour or so earlier than we were supposed to on the way back from Machu Picchu to surprise them. It was awesome. We sat on the steps of their gorgeous hotel, unshowered, minimal washed in clothes we had been trekking in, basically being the filthy backpackers we´ve become. Kim heard my parents coming back from their walk so we sat quietly until they poked their heads around the wall. It was so great, Pete swepted me up in a massive hug whilst mama just stood their and screeched. I didn´t realise how much I had missed them until I saw them and didn´t want to let them go. We ended up staying the night and although I was still ill, which continued to get worse, it was so lovely to see them. If you two adventurers, the original dreamers and wanderers, are reading this I love you both enormously.
