The Inca Trail: FAQ

Well, since Liz seems to have covered actual walking (and eating!) part of the Inca Trail pretty comprehensively (check out that last post - Tolstoy eat your heart out ...) it only leaves me to answer the most popular questions (mostly made up) that we have been asked about the Inca Trail. Ready? Here we go:

What is this Inca Trail thing anyway?
The Inca Trail is an ancient route through the mountains that pilgrims of old used to take to get from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu; an important Quechua (i.e. Inca) religious and administrative settlement. The Trail is 46km long and snakes its way up, around and over three mountain passes, providing breathtaking scenery on its way to (and through) various Inca ruins.

Hang on - did you say 46km? That isn't very far. How long did it take you to do that?
Well ... ahem ... 4 days. But the last day is spent at the ruins so we did it in 3 days, really ...

I'm supposed to be impressed?
OK, so the main reason it takes so long is the trail goes up and down very steeply, a lot of the time. There are three mountain passes at heights of 4215m, 3950m and 3670m, that seriously sap your energy and (unless you're used to running up and down mountains with very little oxygen) take considerable time to scale. That said, it is possible to finish the entire trail in one day. In actual fact, every year there is an Inca Trail marathon race, and the record time for the whole trail is ... get this ... 3 hours 36 minutes. We took four days.

Why did the Quechuas pick such a ridiculous tough route?
Good question. The much shorter, easier and flatter route following the river valley was apparently "far too easy" for the pilgrims, according to Lobo our slightly crazed guide. The Quechuas thought it very important to commune with the mountains, as that brought them closer to heaven. There are many important ruins on the route, and the pilgrims also used to leave offerings on the mountain tops to various Gods. So there was a point to all that pain after all ...

Enough of the history. How much did you have to carry while walking?
Liz and I had to carry our sleeping bags, spare clothes, sleeping mat, toiletries, water, towel and various snacks to supplement the food we were given. This worked out to just over 10kg and 11kg respectively. Various porters for the trekking company carry the rest of the kit, including tents, food, stove, etc. In fact, the majority of the trekkers that we saw on the trail had hired extra porters to carry the rest of their kit. We decided against, because, well - we're cheap. And we thought we'd look ten times harder carrying massive packs on the trail. Unfortunately the porters themselves kind of stole our thunder on that score. Firstly most didn't actually have packs, so they pretty much had to lash all of their luggage to a metal frame mounted on their backs. Others simply balanced huge sacks on their shoulders, held in place with their arms. How on earth they ran up and down mountains like that I'll never know. Secondly they all carried around 25kg each. Over double what we were carrying. Thirdly they had to run ahead of us so they could get to the campsites, set up all the tents and begin preparing the food before we got there every day. And fourthly, most wore sandles, not shoes. Incredible.

The Inca Trail is very popular. What with all the people trekking it, and all the guides and porters, doesn't it get a little crowded?
It can do, yes. 500 people (including guides and porters) are allowed on the Inca Trail every day. That means at certain sections it can get congested, especially at the beginning of each day when everyone starts out. The trail can also get quite narrow in places, and throughout the day you must constantly move out of the way of the porters who come tearing past you, on the way to set up camp. We were told always to get ourselves on the mountain side of the overtaking porter, because apparently, in years past, a few unfortunates have been accidently pushed off the mountain by a particularly wide load the porter was carrying! That said, with everyone walking at different speeds, the field gets very stretched by the end of the day, and you can find yourself almost completely alone at some points, which is by far the best way to experience the trail.



I can't think of any more questions right now, but what if I think of one later?
Add it as a comment to this post and I will do my best to answer it.

Oh, but I don't like adding comments, you have to sign in, or have a Google account or something, don't you?
No you don't! It's very easy to leave a comment. Simply click on the "comments" link at the bottom of the post, fill in your comment in the box provided, then select the "Name/URL" field in the "choose your identity" section, fill in your name, then hit "publish". Easy!

Where can I learn more about your Inca Trail experiences?
See Liz's post below, or if you're very lucky (and I'm not feeling as lazy as usual) I might put another post up about it in the near future. How exciting?????