My experience cycling and trekking to Machu Picchu
by The Adventure People on 13th September 2018
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Guest Blog
Hi! I’m Emma and have loved to travel as long as I can remember. I was fortunate enough to travel the world last year with my partner Nathan. We had an amazing time biking and trekking the Inca Trail so here’s more about that adventure:
Our trip started with a briefing Friday night. We were introduced to our guide and the rest of our group. We had our list to pack and our route for the next four days. Our guide arrived at our hostel at 630am Saturday and we then picked the rest of the group up. The drive took about an hour and a half and we arrived in Ollantaytambo where we’d have breakfast.
The start was the Malaga High Pass where we’d begin our bike ride downhill from 4500 to 1500 metres above sea level. It was bitterly cold when we exited the van. We suited up into our body armour, knee pads, gloves, helmet and high vis.
And we were off. Needless to say I happily brought up the rear of the group. You’d think going downhill for 21 miles would be easy. The others would tell you it was. Every bend and every switchback saw me braking and practically coming to a stop before then cycling as fast as my legs would allow to get going again. No matter how hard I tried not to brake, it still happened.
We stopped after an hour to admire the view and we could see the rest of our route down. It was beautiful.
Next, we were passing over small rivers in the road, which added a nice refreshing element to the ride as by now, it was getting hotter. We passed through small towns and locals trekking up the hills we were racing down. It was amazing. Oh my god, my backside hurt so much from the saddle that I had to stop standing up to go through the water as I couldn’t sit back down again! I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to get off a bike when we reached the bottom, except we were then set upon by swarms of mosquitos. 21 miles of amazing scenery and we finished up in a small town where the van, who kept me company during the ride down, took us about half hour further to our hostel in Santa Maria.
After lunch, the boys had already booked to go rafting and the guide turned up saying they could go at 2pm instead of 4pm. We decided to go. It was so bloody worth it!! We drove ten minutes from the hostel to where we’d begin our next adventure. Our river was the river Urubamba. As we pulled up to get into our life jackets and helmets the view was already amazing and it only got better.
Next up we’re the instructions which seemed easy enough and then we were split into two rafts. It was so much fun! We were winding along this beautiful river with the hillside towering above us on either side. We passed under suspension bridges and down a lot of rapids. About half way we stopped and got into the nice cold water for a five minute swim before heading off again. I have no idea how long the route was but it was about an hour and a half. After dinner we played a few card games before retiring to bed with our alarms set for 530am Sunday.
Alarms went off and up we got. Today was going to be a tough day. Breakfast was at 6 and it was raining. That’s not the start we wanted for our first day hiking. So, the idea was to cram the 7 of us plus a driver into a car and we’d get dropped off ten minutes away, near to where we started rafting Saturday. Just as we got out the car, it stopped raining and didn’t rain again all day.
Our hike started off along a trail that passed through plantations of bananas, cotton, coffee, and coca leaves. Coca leaves are an important part of Andean people’s diet. They chew the leaves, make it into tea, use it for weight loss and energy. It is also great for altitude sickness.
We passed a little stall which was selling fruits and water. Cherimoya, masasamba, grenadine, golden corn and yucca were just some of what they had. We continued walking and it started to get really tough. It was all uphill with the toughest of turns still going uphill. Throw in some stairs every now and then and it was a killer. The paths were dry, some were rocky others smooth. We stopped a few times, once at The First Monkey House. It then got even steeper and even harder. My legs were killing me. My thighs were burning, my calves felt like they were going to snap in half and my back was aching due to carrying my pack. My head was pounding and my chest was getting tighter and tighter until I had to stop to try and catch my breath.
The views though made it all worth it. Eventually I got going again and we had time to sit and rest at The Second Monkey House. Here, you could get hot and cold drinks, chocolate, coca leaves and even handmade souvenirs. We sat here for a couple of hours to give our legs a rest and regain some energy. We tried Peruvian tequila, which mostly tasted of coffee and then the boys all tried the tequila which had a baby snake in the bottle. Apparently it’s an aphrodisiac!
After having a coca candy, I felt a bit more energy and seemed to find a second wind as we set off again. Still it was all uphill. We had only walked about four miles but it seemed so much further. This time we were on the original Inca trail climbing up and up. The path was much narrower than we had been used to but the views were sensational. From high up at 2500m above sea level we could see for miles along the river Urubamba. We were at Mirador Touristica. The steps were steep and we were literally walking round a mountain. It was incredible.
This part saw us going downhill which was also quite tough going as some parts were steep steps others were steep hills. We reached the orange hut and sat to have lunch. Spaghetti Bolognese was on the menu this time. Most of us took the opportunity to have a nap in the hammocks. From lunch, our destination was the hot springs. By now we’d walked about eight miles or so and the sun was still hot. This part was less strenuous and featured suspension bridges and then we ended up walking along the river climbing over rocks until we reached a chair sort of zip line which was powered purely by man. We sat in the chair and they pulled us along over the river to the other side, where we got out and walked through a cave.
When we exited, we could see the hot springs. The springs are natural volcanic hot springs and the pools are all different temperatures. The hot water was so nice on my muscles. We were in the pool for about an hour before getting out at which point, I ended up getting eaten alive by sand flies. My legs are now completely covered in 300+ red and white welts that are insanely itchy.
By now it was dark and we each paid 6 soles to get a minibus to our hostel in Santa Teresa. Again, dinner was delicious. We each had a beer then to ‘The Bonfire,’ which was literally a bonfire with people dancing round it. We sat and drank and chatted playing drinking games.
Then it was on to the discotheque for a quick dance before hitting the sack in the early hours of the morning. It was a great way to finish off our 13 mile hike.
The alarm went off at 7am, the boys were slightly worse for wear and I was just tired. Breakfast was eaten before we got into a bus to take us to the zip lining element of our trip. This was optional and we hadn’t planned on doing it, but Nathan did it whilst I stayed behind.
Lunch was served at 1130. Firstly, it was too early for lunch and secondly it was fish so not the best food we’d had. I didn’t eat it and instead just had the ice cream they served for pudding! It was a less strenuous walk today, a 10 mile hike along the railway. I say it was less strenuous, it wasn’t uphill as much but it was constant walking. Literally constant.
Finally we reached the hotel but not before climbing another hill. I was in agony so tried to sleep for a bit. Tossing and turning and shivering but hot, I then threw up and proceeded to throw up for the rest of the evening and into the early hours of the morning. I missed dinner, which was Pizza. I felt so unbelievably crap I think my body was just so completely not used to the amount of exertion over the last three days that it just decided to shut down.
The alarm went off at 3am Tuesday and I was gutted that I still felt so unwell. Just after 330am we were in the queue to wait for the bus up to Machu Picchu which didn’t leave until 530am and the queue went on for miles and miles.
The doors to Machu Picchu open at 6am so we had about a ten minute wait to get in and you need your passport to enter.
Machu Picchu was built in 1450 as an estate for the Incan Emperor Pachacuti. A century later, Machu Picchu would be abandoned as the Spanish Civil War erupted. As you walk along the first boardwalk, the beautiful view of this Incan city appears before you and it is just magnificent. There are llamas just chilling out all over the estate.
Machu Picchu has about 75 percent originality which is a lot compared to some other sites. The Spanish never actually found Machu Picchu! The Incan capital was Cusco, and Machu Picchu is about fifty miles from it. Built at 2450 metres above sea leave, it is also surrounded by towering mountains and below is a dense jungle. This jungle grew and grew and kept away anyone trying to locate it, until 1911 when Hiram Bingham was led there by a local farmer. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It took 20,000 people to build the city of Machu Picchu. Many did it for reciprocity.
The Temple of The Three Windows faces North East. There are only three of the original five windows that remain. These three windows represent the underground, the current middle world, and the upper world, or heaven. In front of the windows stands one stone shaped like the top half of the Andean cross and next to it is a stone altar. As the sun rises and shines through the three windows, the shadow created forms the other half. Everything in the Incan world resorts back to the three layers. Around this stone is the snake, repressing the underground, the puma for the middle world and the cross itself has three layers on the upper part and the shadow. There is also the theory surrounding the two parts, such as the white upper half and the black shadow. Sort of like the Japanese Yin and Yang. There has to be a balance. Male, female, wrong, right.
The Temple of the Condor is located in the South East of the city. As the sun beams, it casts a figure of the condor in the shape of the rocks that this temple was built to reflect. They are found soaring at heights above 7000m. Because of this, the condor is thought to have taken the souls of those passed up to the heavens. Here was the postcard view of Machu Picchu.
We had the most incredible time in Peru, not just the Inca Trail but the whole country, which had now become my firm favourite place and I cannot wait to go back.
Emma Simpson
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