Often called “The Gringo Killer” this part of the entire 4 day hike was the bit I found the hardest. Probably more a fatigue thing than the actual tough terrain, as it was mostly downhill and in spirals. But we had all been awake since 5 am, and it was now after 4pm. 12 hours Read more about Inca Trail Day 3 Part 6: The Hardest Part Yet – “The Gringo Killer” Descent to Intipata[…]
It was 3pm on the third day of the Inca Trail when we arrived at Phuyu Pata Marka, the highest stop point of today’s part of the Inca Trail (though we had been higher just 30 minutes earlier but without Inca Ruins to stop at). As far as I can recall, this was the longest Read more about Inca Trail Day 3 Part 5: Phuyu Pata Marka[…]
Well, yes this is the Real Inca Trail and not of of those fake Inca Trails I warned you all about, but one thing to note is that apparently the only official bit from the original Inca Trail starts halfway through day 3. But this particular part of the Inca Trail is where it got Read more about Inca Trail Day 3 Part 4: The “Real Inca Trail” Begins[…]
The third day of the Inca Trail in the morning had been the wettest to date on my South American adventure, meaning we were all drenched to the skin at lunch time and it was still bucketing down when we arrived at the low down and open spaced campsite of Chaquiqocha. This proved to be Read more about Inca Trail Day 3 Part 3: Wet Lunch at Chaquiqocha[…]
We headed downwards through the mist and rain past a high lagoon. It was a bit slippy and very wet, but somehow my shoes coped and it was mid morning when we reached the Inca Settlement of Sayaqmarca. Sayaqmarca was almost like a castle on a hill. At Sayaqmarca we were initially meant to get Read more about Inca Trail Day 3 Part 2: Sayaqmarca and the Downpours[…]
Day 3 was meant to be an easy one. So let’s start at 5 am where we were awoken in our campsite at Paqaymayu. An early start with a fresh cup of hot Coca Tea was just the tonic to start the day. The weirdest thing of all for me on this particular day was Read more about Inca Trail Day 3 Part 1: Morning Ascent to Runkurakay[…]
It was nice to have gotten ahead of the pack and arrived in Paqaymayu well ahead of time. The entrance to the campsite at Paqaymayu. I arrived with Roberta, there were only 3 from our group already there, one of which was Damian from Argentina. We shared a photo there on arrival wearing our respective Read more about Inca Trail Day 2 Part 5: Relaxing at Paqaymayu[…]
So they told me that Day 2 was far and away the hardest day of hiking on the Inca Trail, yet by 1 pm I had arrived at our base for the night, untired and not feeling like I had walked a lot. Our base that night was at Paqaymayu, some modest 3,500 metres above Read more about Inca Trail Day 2 Part 4: The Easy Descent to Paqaymayu Campsite[…]
After an uphill morning of mist and fast paced hiking, I arrived at the peak of the entire Inca Trail – known locally in Kechuan as Warmiwanuska, this was “Dead Woman’s Pass.” The view there is meant to be astonishing – there wasn’t much chance of that – as you can see from these photos Read more about Inca Trail Day 2 Part 3: Warmiwanuska – Naked Man at Dead Woman’s Pass[…]
Once we reached Wayllabamba early morning, we were given a snack lunch for the day, the reason for which i would only realise later, as we would have no more group stops until our base that evening. Our group became separated at this point, as many were faster and many were slower. I was one Read more about Inca Trail Day 2 Part 2: The Quest For Dead Woman’s Pass[…]