Turns out the Inca trail was tough for very different reasons than I had been informed of. Physically, I expected worse. Or maybe the pace of the ciudad perdida trek just prepared me well. Or surfing is an excellent warm-up? There were hard parts for sure, I’m not going to lie, especially in the altitude on day 2 but I was just expecting the physical exertion to feel harder than it was.
What made it tough for me though was that my immune system had a bit of a meltdown. I got a cold the day before the trek started so for the first two days I felt like my head was going to explode. Then halfway through day 3 I got a fever. Lovely. Thankfully a few paracetamols from someone in my group helped combat that. They didn’t stop me being sick on the descend down the mountain that afternoon though. At camp, I thanked my lucky stars that my rechargeable Colombian flashlight had proven not to be so rechargeable because that meant I was shielded from seeing too much of the awful drop toilets I had my head bent over too many times that night. On day 4, we left camp at 4.30 for the last stretch to Machu Picchu. After about 40 min, my breakfast was no longer in my system. Awesome start to the day. 3 hours later, we were at the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu, in glorious sunshine. I was pretty much on pure survival mode at that point.
But it was beautiful and impressive and fascinating for sure and I made it one piece! Thankfully everyone has seen photos of it a million times already because I didn’t lift my camera much (because that would have required too much energy).
I want to give a few shout-outs for what made the trip great (because despite illness, it was):
To Eric and Andy for being awesome guides! And to all the sexy llamas for the encouragement, support, paracetamols, antibiotics and rehydration powder but most of all the awesome unbeatable company!
And for anyone doing this in the future, this is the been-there-done-that advice you’ll get from me:
- don’t be sick (just don’t, it’s not fun and you possibly miss out on cake and wine)
- you don’t need walking boots (I didn’t prove that but other people did)
- it’s totally doable without walking poles*
*did anyone really think I was going to be spending $20 on those?
whatgunilladidnext 
Hej Gunilla! Til Lykke! DU GJORDE DET! YUO DID It !
Mormor og Morfar tog toget den sidste dag efter en regnfuld nat og
så ingen opgående sol. Fortsat god tur !!! Kærlig hilsen OS!
jubiii ja! Men jeg havde det godt nok ikke godt. Solen var allerede oppe da vi kom til the Sun gate og da vi skulle op igen næste morgen for at komme op huaynapicchu regnede det og var overskyet så jeg fik heller ikke set nogen solopgang. Men det er jo heldigvis fascinerende alligevel 🙂
Good on you!
I’ll be heading over there in 2 or so, how cold was it at night? (ie in the tents…)
Thanks for reading! It’s not cold at all at night in the tents. We were an uneven number in my group so I didn’t even share a tent but inside your sleeping back and with all the lovely tea they bring you, the temperatures at night were no problem. Have an amazing time!