The Inca Trail

The Inca Trail (one of my life goals) is a mountainous jungle hike that leads to the sacred Inca city of Machu Picchu. The route leads through the mountains above the Urubamba river, following the course of an old Inca roadway built in the 15th century. It combines a stunning mix of Inca ruins, mountain scenery, lush cloud-forest and rich subtropical jungle.

We covered the 45km trek in 4 days, arriving at Machu Picchu at daybreak on the final day. It was an amazing (and pretty exhausting!) experience and one we will certainly never forget.

Having a good group always enhances one´s hiking experience and we were lucky to have a great one. From left: Claudio, Christy, Toni, Paul, Louis, Holly, me, Ally, Mami, Erik and Mark.

I got to share my photography passion with Mami, a petite bundle of sunshine energy from Japan who was even more passionate about photography than me. Her name was pronouced "mummy" and it felt pretty strange when we lost her on one occasion and all shouted "Mummy, mummy, where are you!" We sure got some strange looks from other groups!

I also got to share some very inspiring chats with Eric, a wonderful Canadian who is a member of the Anthony Robins foundation - a motivational guru who I really respect.

The mountainous scenery on the hike was spectacular, especially when the clouds lifted to reveal snow capped mountains and the sun reflected off the red granite. April is the end of the rainy season in the area, so the slopes were still lush with trees and grass.

We passed through mountain rain forests where tree trunks were covered in hanging moss and higher up we could see the most magnificent valleys with soaring cliff edged mountains.

The high mountains (we ascended to 4200 metres) tended to be misty and cloudy, and although this somewhat obstructed the views, it did provide a mysterious beauty of its own.

The second day of the hike was the toughest by far when we climbed 1300 metres (a non stop uphill hike of 4 hours) to ascend a 4200 metre pass - the "challenge" section in the graph below! We were pretty ecstatic to reach the top.  Ally was an absolute Trojan and was the 4th person in our group to reach the summit. We then had to descend 400 metres before climbing yet another pass. Needless to say, we slept very well that night.

Given the big climbs, we felt very lucky to have light packs only. All the food and tents were carried by our personal "chaskis" or porters. There were more chaskis than there were people in our group!

All the chaskis were laden under enormous weights (apparently their loads are not allowed to exceed 25kg but I am sure that they must have weighed more) and were expected to charge on ahead of us up the mountain so that by the time we reached our lunch and evening sports, all our tents were already pitched and our food was ready to be served!

Not that this deterred the chaskis at all. In fact they took a lot of pride in what ever they did whether it was running up steep mountain steps, laying the table or setting up our tents.

All in all, this meant that we were totally spoiled! We ate our dinners with metal crockery on tables and chairs that were set up in a special dining tent. And the food was absolutely amazing consisting of multiple courses and laid out with tremendous care. What an enormous contrast from our Wit Els hike in Cape Town in December where we had to do it all ourselves and survived on burnt noodles and tuna for 5 days!

What made the Inca trail particularly special for me was that it followed the original ancient Inca road. The road was paved with enormous rocks - how the Incas found the energy to manually lay it all I will never know.

There were also countless steps along the way. At one stage we walked down 2300 steps in about an hour to get to lunch. We all collapsed at the bottom with legs too shaky to stand on.

At one point, the Inca road passed through a 20 metre tunnel that the Incas dug through solid rock without modern tools and equipment. Amazing!

Along the hike, we also saw many Inca ruins. The reason they are so well preserved is that the Spanish did not know about the existence of the Inca trail (or Maccu Picchu) so did not have a chance to loot and pillage it.  Having said that, the the American who “discovered” it for westerners (in 1911) managed to pillage all the mummies along the way which now reside in Yale university. Thankfully it wasn´t the Brits who discovered it or much of Machu Picchu would probably now lie in the British museum (like the Greek Parthanon!).

As usual I had my eyes peeled for feathered rarities and got to see some crackers. I was most excited about seeing the torrent duck (bottom photo) which somehow manages to swim and feed in even the strongest rapids. It was an extraordinary site to behold, though I only managed to photograph it from quite a distance. The trojan sighting (bottom right) also caused much excitement. Thanks to Mami for spotting it!

We saw some beautiful flowers along the way. Over 250 species of orchid have been counted along the Inca trail.

Due to a landslide, we could not finish the Inca trail through the Inca sun gate as is tradition. At the end of the 3rd day, we had to hike along the rail way track to the town of Aguas Clientes ("Hot Water"– named due to the hot springs).

We spent the night on the floor of a restaurant which is an experience we hope not to repeat in a while. Our restaurant was on the main road and we were in bed by 10pm as we had a 3:30am get up. But sleeping was out of the question as there was an extremely enthusiastic Bingo game on the go and we could hear all the numbers being screamed out (one way to improve your Spanish "numbers" vocab!)

To add insult to injury, we had bored teenage boys looking into our restaurant window calling gringo, gringo!! We were all rather grumpy the next morning added to which we ran late so we had to run up the steep hill to get to the entrance of Machu Picchu before the buses arrived with the hordes of people.

Some more people shots along the way

Next stop: Machu Picchu

Exploring islands on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca (Ally)

Entering Peru

Our trip crossing the bus border from Bolivia to Peru was a beautiful bus journey mainly along the lake shores where we saw all the subsistence farms and animals. There were no fences and the bus driver had to slow down a couple of times as animals were crossing the road for a juicy bit of grass on the other side.

The customs checks are just outside of Puno and our bus was searched and they found a suspicious box (which of-course belonged to no one). So we were held up for 45 minutes while the bus driver had to talk to the officials. We finally got to Puno and found it to be much more pleasant that all the harsh stories we had heard about it. The main tourist street was bustling with many delicious restaurants and we tucked into a three course meal and drink for $4 each.

We booked a tour to the floating islands and two other islands including a stay with a family on one of the islands.

The Floating Islands

The harbour from where we embarked was thick with with green scum which I would have hated to swim in but it excited G photographically.

Our visit to the floating islands was very interesting. They created this way of living as a way of escaping the attacks of the Inca´s. Now they are besieged each day by hundreds of tourists each day, fascinated by their strange choice of home.

The reed roots (which float) are harvested and form the base of the island. Then layer upon layer of reeds are added to form the top. All the huts are also made from reeds although I noted that they do use plastic under the reed roofs to prevent the rain coming through. I was intrigued when I went into a house. It is only one room, they have electricity from solar panels and a TV (which they were proud of). 7 people stay in one room and all the clothes are hung on pegs. What little books and goods they had were on one shelf.

The locals cook outside (for obvious safety reasons). The main income is from tourists who come and buy their handmade goods. But they do fish and dry them for leaner times. They also have ducks which swim in home made ponds in the middle of their island.

The locals were very friendly and beautifully dressed in traditional costumes.

Russell purveying the scene

For the tourists they have built a big dragon boat out for reeds so we just had to have a ride. Russel even had a go at rowing. We saw a boat crammed with Japanese tourists on a similar boat and they all had their cameras out taking pictures of us. Graeme promptly snapped a shot of them.

G saw an enclosure and it was just filled with guinea pigs. They are the national Peruvian dish. They looked so cute altogether that it was hard to imagine them as a meal. But no doubt Russel and G will give it a try soon.

G spotted this little fellow peaking out of a reed basket. Adorable.

Amantani Island

It was a long boat trip to the first solid land island during which many people felt a bit sea sick. We were greeted at the peer by all the families that were going to host us and they did a dance for us on the shore.


We went and had lunch with our family and met everyone. Then our guide gave us a talk on how they farm and what kind of produce they harvest. It ranges from grains, corn, beans and many different types of potatoes. They dry the potatoes to use during the winter.

And I got to feed a lamb - one of my favourite activities in the world.


G and R went on a sucessful geo-caching hunt which entailed walking up two mountains at over 4000m. They were extremely tried and did quite fancy going to bed but there was still dancing to come. They did the say the sunset was beautiful from the hill though, and the photos back it up.

We got dressed up as the locals do and then we danced a rather vigorous routine to pan flutes and drums. We were totally breathless after one tune!! At about 9:30pm we noticed that our family were just about dead on their feet with tiredness - which was a great excuse for us to say we should actually head off to bed.
Here is Graeme jigging with a young local. As you can see, we had to wear local costumes to the "island disco".



The poor mom we stayed with was breast feeding, had two more kids aged 9 and 10, worked the farm and did all the cooking and then on top of it had to entertain 3 tourists with cooking and dancing. Next time I think I am having a hard time of things, I will remember her.

We really did get to see a slice of life that is so alien to the western ideal. The whole family slept in one room, no electricity, cooking was done on a very smoky hearth and the food was mainly soup, rice and potatoes. The mom was probably my age but looked about 15 years older. But we were met with nothing but warmth, smiles and concern. Staying with the family and playing with the baby was a highlight for me. In fact G made a real hit with the two year old niece as he entertained her with the clips of his trouser leg. I think they really lack stimulation as they have no toys - not even isalnd made ones.


They dress so smartly in hand sewn scarves and blouses. I loved seeing how they hand wove their fabric and their hand knitted hats. It took me back to my fiber art matric subject which I absolutely loved. (I got to do hand weaving, loom weaving, batik and fabric printing). I must look for something arty that I can do in Oz as I do find it so fulfilling.

Taquili Islands

After a heartfelt goodbye to our family at the dock we made our way to the next island. It was the most the beautiful island with flowers around the terraces and everybody said "hola" as we went past. They were also dressed in traditional outfits but they took it much more seriously than the other island - they all wore the outfits appropriate to their station.

G bought a Peruvian hat from the handcrafts shop. We later learnt that on this island it is the men who knit. We saw two boys and they were using 6 very narrow needles to make the traditional hats. So now both G and I have a traditional hat. His by a man and mine by a women.

We walked back to boat down 600 Inca steps and the views were spectacular. I especially liked the arches that were built at strategic places almost to make you stop your decent and look. I would love to have spent the afternoon just relaxing in the sun and taking in the view.

Childhood friends

I was really delighted to get this photo from Jane - a long lost friend from my childhood days. I can´t believe she now has 3 kiddies of her own! I remember asking her to marry me when I was 6 and she said she would think about it! Our families used to spend every Xmas together and we went on lots of exciting camping trips and beach outings too. Some of my favourite childhood memories are of the Culley family. It was so amazing to hear from her.

Ah, weren´t we young!

Meet Ricky

We met a fellow Cape Townian (Ricky De Agrela) in the internet cafee tonight and had a bit of a chat about travelling. On the way out, he gave us the address of his web site. I have just visited it and am amazed and inspired. What an amazing guy.

In 2004, Ricky did a mammoth trip accross the world in a microlight. His friend who was with him crashed and was killed. He managed to continue and thus established the record for the longest Microlight expedition in the world. His book about the trip will be published in July.

Now he is riding a bike from the tip of South America to the USA, a 20,000 km journey, on a small Honda. He has a blog of his adventures.

To top it all, his beneficiary is Red Cross who mum works for.

What an amazing guy and we did not even know it - although he did seem extremely nice. And to tip it off, he is a Cape Townian. Go Ricky. Thanks for the inspiration.