Yes, our inca trail tour company (Orange Nation) did provide snacks.
I know that is your biggest concern before you’re about to hike 43 kilometers over 4 days, in savagely high altitudes with a broken tailbone.
On top of the ones provided by the tour company, I brought my own snacks, obviously, and ate some of my cousin’s snacks, obviously- a snackasaurus is gonna snack.
Technically you could get away with out bringing any snacks since, at least on our tour, the meals were OUTRAGEOUS. Look!
One of our porters (we had 15 for 4 of us) carried a 15kg gas tank for our pop up kitchen. For our last meal, they baked us a cake from scratch. Really roughin’ it.
day before departing Cuzco
Our briefing was the day before we left. Our guide Coco talked us through the hike, we sorted logistics for the next morning (we got picked up from our hotel at 6:30AM) and Coco gave us duffel bags. You are allowed to fill the duffel bags with 5kg (11 lbs), excluding the sleeping bag. The porters carry the duffel bag for you and honestly when you see how much they have to carry, you will want to pack as light as possible. They don’t weigh the duffels before loading them into the van so it’s sort of if you fill the duffel, provided you don’t pack rocks, then it is fine.
There is a rule where porters can carry a max 15 kgs and everything gets weighed at the start of the trailhead. Our seasoned guide Coco informed us that not all tour companies adhere to the rules for the porter’s welfare. He had worked for a few different companies and informed us (I’ve always wanted to say off the record even though I’m aware it doesn’t fit here) that Orange Nation/SAM travel treated their porters well compared to other companies.
They gave unlimited coca tea at our hotel and on the trail, we were frequently were offered it. It’s supposed to help with altitude sickness. I also bought some coca candies, mostly because I liked the taste of them… aaaaannndd that is how I get addicted to cocaine. Side note: you can’t bring dried coca leaves, coca candies or any coca product across the Peruvian border, even to neighbouring countries like Bolivia. It’s a big no-no
After picking up the other two people in our group (an American dad and son) and a rickety van ride to the trail head- all the gear gets splayed out on a tarp for the porters to properly pack and divvy up. You have time to use the toilet and we were given some snacks for the day. There is a lot going on at this point because every tour starts here around the same time. I say that then show this picture which doesn’t depict the moment in the slightest.
so it begins
There is a nice starting sign that I suggest taking a few snaps at, then the trail begins.
The hike starts off somewhat flat following the river then there are a few steepies. Our first campsite was a spot shortly after the last village called Huayllabamba. There was a kitten, a doggie, donkeys and pigs.
If I hadn’t just started the trail, my out of shape, pain riddled body would have thought I died and went to heaven.
At our first campsite, for our toilet, we used a pop-up tall tent with a rim to sit on, with a plastic bag to collect your business.
I peed on the trail once, which is frowned upon and difficult to do since there are so many people following the same route- hover and hope for the best.
it’s a dangerous business going out your door
Day two was manageable. Coco, our guide, explained to us what we could expect in terms of difficultly, hard parts etc, which was very helpful mentally. Our second night was at Llulluchapampa.
This was the day that I found out miracles do happen- I saw my first alpaca.
The toilet here was clean and good (there were a few stalls), but frightfully cold on your bottom- hover and hope for the best.
if Frodo can get the ring to Mordor, you can hike dead woman’s pass
Day three takes you through dead woman’s pass. I was expecting sheer cliffs edges, everyone tied together with a rope and pick axes, where a snow storm is ripping around its peak, but this is the Inca trail and not the movie Everest so calm the f down.
The pass was relatively close to our campsite, so we tackled it first thing in the morning. The altitude did slow us down. I didn’t get a headache per say, but I remember feeling sluggish and my movement was bit laboured. I thought it was because of the steep incline, but who is to say.
At the top we ate our snack.
There was one point after dead woman’s pass that we thought we were stopping for lunch, so we put up our feet and had another pre-lunch snack. It turns out we had 2 more hours to go before we ate. There was one part where I couldn’t deal (I ran out of water and my tailbone was acting up) so instead of going to some ruins with the group, I headed straight to Chaquicocha to lay down before we ate.
There is a good toilet here but it was far from where are tents were.
The part after lunch until we got to our third campsite was one of my favourite parts of the trail. Here is where it switches from the Andean mountain range to the Amazon rainforest with these aptly named cloud forests– very Rivendell esque.
Our last campsite on the trail was Phuyupatamarca and it had the ultimate view with the worst toilet. I hovered over the hole in the ground, clutching toilet paper in one hand and the door in the other since there was no lock. I had no free hands to clutch my dignity. But daaaaaammmnn those campsite views and daaaaammmnn those stars in the nightsky.
This was also the coldest of nights. We wore every layer we had + the emergency blankets + we cracked open our foot warmers, which I highly suggest packing.
A day may come when the courage of men fails, but it is not this day
The final hiking day we saw some more alpacas. You can tell the difference because lamas tails are up, whereas alpacas are curved down.
There is this little anecdote that us Inca trail hikers have about how llamas got their name. In Spanish, llama means name. When foreigners asked what they were called the Spanish responded se llama? not understanding the question. Then the foreigners thought llama was the name of the animal. What a mistranslation!
There was a lunch spot where another trail meets up with the original Inca Trail so there were some 1 night hiking groups crowding up the space.
We had our break high up in the mountains, no village in sight.
We walked alongside a building to get to some more ruins and it turns out the building was a discoteque at one point LOL could you imagine having a rager on the Inca trail and then falling down the mountainside?!
Hilarious whoever thought up that stellar idea.
There is one stretch that was so steep I rock-climbed on all fours because it felt safer then trying to use just my legs. Then we finally arrived at the Sungate.
My friend asked me if Machu Picchu was magical. If you arrive by bus there are hoards of tourists and its hard to see the magic in it.
But I have to say, and I’m not being dramatic- when I scaled the final stone staircase to the Sun Gate (the original control gate and only entrance way into Machu Picchu at the time) the sunlight pierced my vision not unlike when Gandolf the White appeared in Fangorn Forest.
This was the moment of in-between.
The light then passed and I was left with a awe-inspiring, dreamlike vision of Machu Picchu off in the distance.
Spoiler alert: Orange Nation gave us a free t-shirt at the Sun Gate, just before we snaked our way downwards into Machu Picchu.
Number of times snack was mentioned in this post: 10
Number of times inca was mentioned in this post: 6
Priorities.
-Corrine
