Hiking the Inca Trail - Part 1
We were picked up by our tour group at 5 am. We needed to take a bus to Kilometer 82 of the Inca Trail which is where we would start of 26 mile-four day hike. It took us about three hours to get to the start point from our hostel in Cuzco.
We were joined by a group of five other hikers so our group was a total of thirteen. It was early so we just quickly exchange names and greeting with our new friends. Somewhere during the bus ride we realized the new group was also from Michigan. They all had just finished law school at the University of Michigan. What are the odds that the entire group of 13 hikers would have all spent time living in Michigan? Now the Michigan State University contingent was out numbered!
We were brought to the passport control center at KM 82- Piscacucha- so we could have our permits and passports reviewed. The police at the passport control were very strict and we were constantly reminded to have our passports ready for inspection.
One of the women from the U of M group, Jenna, had her passport stolen and though she had a replacement passport, she was warned that she might not get in because her passport number would not match the one on the permit. The rest of our group were taken through passport control and we nervously waited for Jenna. Our guide had told us that we were at the whim of the passport police. They had seen them refuse entry to other people in Jenna's predicament which meant that she would be taken back to Cuzco while the rest of us would go on the hike. After about forty minutes pleading with the passport control, she raised her arms in victory as she was granted permission to enter the trail with the rest of the group.
As part of tour group, we had a group of porters who would carry our tents, food and basic gear. These men were incredible as they would be up in the morning setting up our breakfast and as we started our hike, they would tear down our camp. During our hike, they would pass us and set up a camp for lunch and eventually set up a camp for dinner and the night. After the four days of hiking, we came across a number of groups and it was obvious that different companies treated their porters differently. Our company took pride in providing a living wage, insurance, and appropriate clothing and food allowances. Not all tour groups treated the porters the same, as members of our group were approached by porters of other groups for food on the trail. We wouldn't have been successful on our hike without the support of our porters!
Our first day was a pretty easy hike. It took us about seven hours to hike the 13 km to the first camp site. The views on hike were incredible ranging from the mountains to smaller archaeological sites along the way.
Yea! I've been checking your blog obsessively in anticipation of the the Machu Picchu posts... Hope all is well with you.
Posted by: Jenna Clemens | May 12, 2008 at 06:48 AM