UJ #9 - Adventure in Peru

Rodrigo Cabrera
THE INCA TRAIL TO MACHU PICCHU
HAS BEEN NAMED AS ONE OF THE BEST
TRAILS IN THE WORLD BY NUMEROUS
PUBLICATIONS. FOLLOWING INCA ROADS
THROUGH THE EXOTIC GEOGRAPHY OF
CUSCO AND EXPLORING WELL-PRESERVED
RUINS IS AN EXPERIENCE LIKE FEW
OTHERS IN THE WORLD. DURING 2014,
175,000 PEOPLE TOOK THE TRAIL; A FIGURE
THAT SHOWS US THAT THE TRAIL IS MORE
POPULAR THAN EVER.
By
Diego Oliver
It is 5 o’clock in the morning. It is still before
dawn and it is very cold. The porters
call “hot water!”, to wake up the walkers, as
they leave a jug of water outside each tent.
Lanterns are lit. Mist covers the high jungle
hilltops of Wiñay Wayna, a complex of ruins
on the Inca Trail and the last stop on the great
trek to the citadel of Machu Picchu. The cook
is already making breakfast and the porters,
hardy men who hail mainly from the Andean
communities in the Sacred Valley, prepare to
strike camp before continuing to the citadel
built on the orders of Inca Pachacutec in the
14th Century.
Breakfast consists of hot drinks, fruit, oats,
bread and cheese. A hearty breakfast is necessary
before facing this long and complicated
route. The walk —of approximately 40
kilometres depending on the starting point—
begins with a descent down stone steps, lasting
three hours. You start to warm up after
only a few yards. The sky starts to turn blue
and the mist begins to dissipate. Machu Picchu
is not far away.
Every year more than
50,000 people from all over
the world come to walk
one of its most popular
treks.
/25