Inca Trail Day 1
Today was the big day!
I woke up around 3am and only got about 2-3 hours of sleep max. Lacey woke up at 3:20. Early wake up call! Sergio picked us up in the van at 4am in our hotel lobby. We left our big backpack bags for when we came back.
We each brought a duffel bag supplied by Salkantay Trekking for clothes and toiletries, and our smaller backpacks for our day-to-day items. The van was very, very nice and luxurious. Plenty of room. The van stopped a few times on the drive to Ollantaytambo. We picked up the media team members (Ricardo and Romar). We also picked up a bunch of supplies and stuff at a warehouse along with a few of the porters.
We arrived at our final destination town of Ollantaytambo at around 8am. Sergio had to buy our train tickets back from Machu Picchu and take care of some other business so we went to a cafe and got a big empanada for breakfast along with coca tea. A lot of the porters live in Ollantaytambo as well so we picked some more people up.
The town was beautiful and the beginning of an area called the "Sacred Valley." It's an area filled with lots of Incan ruins. It's also the final spot of the road before going the normal way to Machu Picchu. From here you have to take a train to a town called Aguas Calientes. Then take a bus up to Machu Picchu. Because we're doing the hike, we got to drive a little way past the train station (about an hour) and then get to the start of the hike.
The hike and national park officially starts at a place called KM 82. There is A TON of paperwork to do before starting the hike. There are an incredible amount of regulations for the tour companies and guides. They have to have special training, can only carry a certain amount of weight, can only bring in certain food and drinks, etc. Just so much stuff. It took Sergio a good 30 minutes to an hour just to get us through. We had to take passport photos and sign things. It was kind of intense. Sergio joked that the whole thing was like entering a prison.
The tourist start of the trail is the bridge over the river which we took some photos and videos on. Generally, all of the hiking was easy this day. It was a little bit uphill but mostly flat with a very desert vibe. It was pretty darn hot! We were in shorts and t-shirts in no time.
We stopped at a house and ate lunch in their yard. The porters carry all the chairs, tents, food, cooking items, everything for us. They set up the food tent and the cooking tent. They have a 2 burner stove. They cook about 4 dishes for each meal. For lunch, we always had an appetizer first, then soup, then dishes.
The appetizer for today was some absolutely amazing guacamole. Like the best, we've ever had. Then we had incredible chicken broth soup. To finish up, we had delicious fish and veggies. After eating, we had to take a little break and lounge in the sun before hiking again.
The dinner meal was incredible just like the lunch was. We had chicken and veggies and a snack and so much food!!! The hot chocolate tasted so good too. We don't know how the cooks make such delicious food on a two-burner, 1 propane tank set up. We also don't know how the food is kept cool during the hike (yikes) but we honestly didn't think about it at all.
Our campsite was someone's yard in this super small town that's only accessible from walking. The town's economy seems to be based on the hikers coming through and the companies paying them to use their yard for campsites (all the other companies were in the town too).
The porters carried our tents for us. Lacey and I shared a tent (obviously), the two media guys shared a tent, and Sergio got his own tent. When we showed up at the camp area, our tent was already set up with our sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and duffel bags all set to go. The setup was the same as we normally camp so it was all good for us.
After not sleeping much at all the night before, and then waking up at 3am, and then walking for a good 6 hours, you would think we would have been exhausted and slept like a baby.... But! Romer has a big snoring problem. So I did not sleep that well because it sounded like a freight train next to our tent. Oh well. The trail exceeded our highest expectations already and it was only the first day!
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