This is the grandaddy of South American treks (literally – the Incas were using the trail 700 years ago!). Some people consider it the most important experience on the continent (I would go with Galapagos). Its destination – Machu Picchu – is the primary driver of Peruvian tourism (most two-week Peruvian tours stay south of Lima – they see Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Arequipa, and sometimes the jungle around Puerto Maldonado – they never get to the archaeological digs in the northern desert, or the cordillera of the Andes).
Given all that, the Inca Trail is pretty freakin awesome. It’s a four-day hike that:
- Starts at 10,000 feet
- Ascends almost a mile on the second day
- Descends a full mile on the third day
- Starts at 5am in the cloudforest on the fourth day
- Ends at Machu Picchu – one of the most well-preserve indigenous sites on the South American continent
Along the way, you see villages, ruins, valleys, and lots of llamas, donkeys, and of course, porters.
Eco-tourism note – the porters on the Inca Trail are an important target for ecotourism spending. They are all from Quechua mountain towns near Cuzco, almost none speak English and only some speak Spanish, and have the hardest jobs of anyone on the trail: they carry 25 kg (about 56 pounds) on the trail, every day that they work. Keep in mind that they are all about 5 feet 5 inches tall (or shorter), and typically only weigh about 120 or 130 pounds. And they’re doing all of this at altitudes that most of us have trouble standing up straight when we’re at them! They’re great people though – and obviously very strong. Check out some of them here:
We had an amazing time hiking the Inca Trail. We got to spend 4 straight days outside, with our good friends Jack and Jen, learning about the Incas and the indigenous Quechua from our guide. We also met Codie, Meghan, and Kelly from Texas, who were a fun group to spend time with, too. Check out what we saw here:
There are a lot of debates about the “classic” Inca Trail (what we did) versus alternative treks – hikes that follow different routes (sometimes with horses, bikes, and/or kayaks), but end up at Machu Picchu one way (walking into the ruin) or the other (busing or hiking up from Aguas Calientes). A lot of the self-proclaimed backpackers look down on the classic trail, although their reasoning is unclear to me. It could be for any one of the following reasons:
- You need to sign up 5-6 months in advance to hike the classic trail (most backpackers are procrastinators)
- The classic trail is really popular (most backpackers like to think of themselves as counter-cultural)
- The classic trail is luxurious (read: expensive) for what it is (backpackers are notoriously cheap except when it comes to booze)
Oh, I almost forgot – we went to machu picchu at the end of the trek! It was awesome – really cool, and we learned a lot on our mini-tour of the ruins. They really are pretty incredible – and for the amount of foot traffic they get every year, the Peruvian government is doing a good job of maintaining them. Take a look at Machu Picchu:
