Our Inca trail experience

We did the classic Inca trail which is 4 days 3 nights, walking 45 km, with a lot of elevation change peaking at 4200 meters. This tour is quite exclusive as only 500 people are allowed to enter the trail per day including supporting staff which usually takes 2/3 of the quota. It is advised to book 6 months ahead but we were lucky to find two spots just 2 months earlier. The tour company we used came highly recommended by a colleague, and I highly recommend them as we felt taken care of and had the all logistics figure out for us.

Day 1: we were picked up by the guide at 4:30am. After 1.5 hrs of bus ride we stopped for breakfast, together with our group, 2 girls from Chile, and a couple from Denmark. Both Sofia and I were a bit sleepy, excited, concerned.

another hour ride and we got to the start. After check in our entrance ticket, we were ready to start the trek.

the weather was great the first few hours. Quickly we got warm

and stopped at the first Inca site. Samuel, our guide, told us the history of this place

then after lunch, the rain came and we all got dressed up. Fortunately it didn’t last too long.

The first day, we passed by many local houses, stops for toilet, lunch camp site, and encountered local people and animals. We arrived our camp site 5:30pm, after settling, we had dinner and went to sleep 7:30pm. 15km done.

Day 2: we got up 4:30am with coca tea and breakfast at 5am. By 6am, we were ready to start the most challenging day of the hike as we would ascend almost 1000 meters in the morning to reach dead woman pass.

right away we started the ascend, the passage is beautiful, narrow, and steep with brief flat to catch a breath. Once we surpassed 3600 meters, we could really feel the attitude and breathing while climbing became laborious. Our team mates fell behind us pretty quickly. They were all 27 years old, so Sofia and I were pretty proud of ourselves to be “fitter”

this part of ascend was super steep, with big and high rocks. We literally walked 10 min and had to take a break. The porters were carrying over 30kg and walking faster than us. I kept reminding us that fortunately we just had to carry our day pack which is probably 5kg or less. The view is gorgeous, although one can only enjoy it when not having to watch the pass to avoid falling

this is the typical path, big, uneven rocks

after 4 hrs of laborious walk, we all arrived the dead woman pass

it’s called that way because from afar, it looks like a woman

a very filling lunch, my vegan plate

our 25 years old guide Samuel that took care of us, really responsible guy for his age, already with 2 years of experience

after lunch, we hiked up to the second peak of the day, 4000 meters, before the scary descend started. That’s where I fell behind the group as I was always afraid of steep descend, also both Sofia and I got a mild headache given the altitude.

again, the view is beautiful and we took our time to go down slowly

we arrived our camp site 5pm and exhausted. 15km done. We all fell asleep quickly with knee pain, but happy that the most challenging day was over.

Day 3 started at 4:30am again and it was a rainy day mostly. It was all descend, my “favorite”. Fortunately it was only half day hike and no rush so again I took my time, “cursing” the high stairs along the way.

and then we passed another big Inca site, with llama and alpaca as decoration (they are brought to this place and have a tracker to be sent back at night).

our chef is super creative, all our food were decorated despite precarious condition

the last camp site has a mini Machu Picchu

the day was lovely and we spent the afternoon relaxing at our camp, reading, napping, recovering from the grueling few days of work

celebration with a cake made out of a pot. 7km completed

Day 4 started at 3am as the porters had to pack everything to catch 5:30am train. We waited at the gate for 2 hours in the dark before last few hours of hike which included these monkey steps as one needs to use hands to climb up.

and then we arrived the majestic Machu Picchu

It is massive and truly stunning! Samuel told us what it is known, which is not much, and mostly theories.

The best part was to reunite with the family as they met us at the main gate to explore it together. We really missed them.

Final thoughts. It is a memorable experience to have it done with Sofia who has little hiking experience. She is strong, resilient, and adaptive to the precarious environment. Except the bathroom situation, she didn’t complained and even said fun at certain point.

I was surprised by how steep the climb was, although glad that I didn’t know. The scenery is stunning. The weather unpredictable.

The camp site conditions are “better” than I expect as we actually had access to flushing toilets (although dirty as one can expect).

The food was great, the crew helpful and cheerful, our group was small and cozy which allowed conversation to flow naturally.

The packing list shared by the company was on point, I used everything that we bought and so glad to have followed it to T.

The most challenging part: bathroom, steep incline for going down. Everything else was just perfect.

Would I do it again? I would if it’s with someone special. 🙂

Bonding with a child comes from shared experiences, especially those difficult ones that end with a high peak.