After our tour was over, we went back to our rooms to rest again (hey, at least we have an excuse now to rest, its because of the altitude) for about an hour or so. Our guide for our Inka Trail trip, Boris, wanted to meet with the group so that we were prepared for the big hiking trip that begins on Sunday.
He told us some of details of the trip and handed out maps that showed us where we would be going. We would be starting at a place called KM82 (as in "kilometer" 82), at 8500 feet after about an hour and half bus ride from our hotel in Cusco. Because two of people who were orginally scheduled for the trip ended up cancelling, we would be joined by two people from Australia to take up the two available spaces. For the eight people on the trip, we would have 14 porters who would carry supplies (food, tents, our packs, etc), plus a cook, and Boris. So that means our "support crew" would be at a ratio of 2:1! Boris showed us on the maps where we would be hiking and what the hike would be like. The total hike is about 42 km or about 27 miles, lots of steep uphills and downhills, steps, uneven ground.
Day 1 would be "easy" and allow us to acclimate to the altitude and we would be camping at 9800 feet.
Day 2 would be the hardest day with a very steep uphill climb and lots of steps up to an elevation of 13,800 feet. If we did ok, we would just hike down to our lunch spot where our camp would be set up at about 11,400 feet. If not, we would stop for lunch earlier after reaching the summit.
Day 3 would be our longest day, but much easier than Day 2 as it would be mostly downhill. We would be camping at about 8600 feet.
Day 4 would start out very early, hiking at about 5am (meaning we wake up at 4am) for only about a 2.5 hour hike, mostly downhill and some slight uphills. If the weather cooperated, we would get an awesome view of Machu Picchu below and hike right in before most of the tourists got there.
Boris also stressed that we were only allowed to pack 7 kilos (or about 15lbs) in our packs that the porters were going to carry. There are very strict regulations as the porters are allowed to carry about 25 kilos (about 50lbs), with an allowance of 5 kilos for their own personal stuff. I think the six of us went back to the our rooms that night and took out more stuff from our packs because we were all over the weight limit. Luckily, the hotel was storing any extra baggage for us while we were going to be out on the hike, so that wasn't going to be a problem. Deciding what to eliminate was the hard part. I ended up leaving some clothes, batteries, an extra pair of shoes, and snacks behind. And because of the regulation, my pack got heavier as I decided to keep some of the extra clothes in my daypack that I had originally planned on putting in the pack that porter was going to carry.
He also explained about some of the sites we would be seeing, but that just went in one ear and out the other and I don't really recall any of that. I was still a bit (ok, maybe more than a bit!) nervous about whether I would be able to make it. I think all of us were feeling somewhat uneasy about things....maybe that's why I didn't sleep that night!
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