I saw more human feces while hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu than in my entire life up until that point. In the interest of cynicism, let's deal with the gross part of the trip before moving on to the rest of the amazing experience.

At the entrance to the Inca Trail they should pass out copies of the wonderful book How to Shit in the Woods, $4.00 Ten Speed Press. Or they

Porters Head Up the Inca Trail

could summarize the book with three words: dig a hole. It's obvious that the vast majority of people who hike this trail have never spent any serious time backpacking. Otherwise I would not have found piles of toilet paper and human waste around every corner when walking off the trail to pee. But even the grimness of off-trail excursions could not dim the enjoyment of the Inca Trail.

"Even hard-core trekkers barely made it."
Some have called it the Inca Trial, and before leaving I was a bit worried. One girl just back from the trail said she had never had to push herself so hard in her life, that even hard-core trekkers barely made it. Another tourist company indicated that only one person in the history of their organization had completed a particularly difficult part of the trek. Not having exercised much in the last few weeks, I was apprehensive.

The bus picked me up at my hotel right on time... about a half hour late. We met up with the guide and 14 porters who would take care of our group of 16 and set off for the entrance to the trail. The first day was an easy hike into a campsite about four hours' walk from the entrance. The porters carried the food, tents and kitchen equipment. All we carried were sleeping bags, mats, clothes and whatever

At the Top of Dead Woman's Pass

snacks we wanted to bring. Among the first to arrive at the first camp I found our tents already pitched and set about to select the best tent. After committing to one I discovered the open spring behind it spewing a river of cold water underneath. Things were off to a great start.

"I was expecting something that would nearly kill me."
Day two is regarded as the killer day of the trail. We were told it was about five hours of very steep climbing to what is seriously called "Dead Woman's Pass." In fact you ascend nearly 3,500 feet in just a few miles. After all the buildup I was expecting something that would nearly kill me. Fortunately it turned out to be a hike that, while quite difficult, was nothing near what it was made out to be. It was about two hours of continuous climbing that got quite painful at the top, but was completely doable. My fears of being beaten by the Inca Trail began to fade.

A Trailside Break

The porters / cooks / waiters were simply amazing the whole trip. If it hadn't been required to take them I would have done the trek on my own. I'm very glad I didn't. I think I ate better during the trek than in most of my trip so far. We would awake to a porter slapping on our tent and offering hot tea. A few minutes later we would stumble into the dining tent and be served a lovely hot breakfast. Then we would head off onto the trail, leaving the tents behind for the porters to tear down and carry to our next campsite.

"A luxury I could get used to."
Just before noon we would arrive at our lunch spot. The porters, having scurried past us during the morning, would have set up the dining tent and have a hot

The First View of Machu Pichu

lunch cooking. When hiking alone or in small groups I never eat hot lunches. This is a luxury I could get used to.

The porters carrying the tents would skip lunch and head straight to the campsite, having the tents ready when we arrived in the afternoon. Tea time followed around five or six, with a big dinner soon after. The amount these guys were paid compared to the service they provided is most likely heartbreaking.

"They made the trip much more enjoyable."
It was an interesting group I wound up with. I was the only American, a situation to be expected. There were three Israelis, a French Canadian couple, two German girls, a British couple, two British girls just out of high school and a Czech couple who swore off the porters and carried everything themselves... even cooking their own food. Most everyone in the group was a lot of fun to hang out with and made the trip much more enjoyable.

On the third day we get up at 3:45am. This isn't something that's terribly agreeable. But it's done so we can be at Machu Pichu shortly after sunrise.

Atop Huayan Pichu

We have breakfast and hike in the dark for an hour and a half, finally topping a ridge and peering down toward Machu Pichu. Note that we're peering toward Machu Pichu, not at Machu Pichu. That would be because Machu Pichu was completely obscured by clouds. We couldn't see a thing. It appeared we might be completely out of luck, with the ruins socked in for the day.

"The Incan city began to appear."
As we walked farther down for the pass toward Machu Pichu the clouds started to break and the Incan city began to appear. It was stunning. The view from the Inca Trail as you approach is the trademark postcard view with the city sprawling out in front of you with Huayan Pichu, the pointy mountain rising up behind.

The only problem with walking three days to Machu Pichu is that you're pretty tired when you get there and not really in the mood for a multiple-hour tour of the ruins. That is what began next.

Me and Rex

Alex, our guide who'd been with us from the beginning, took us on an excellent, well-informed tour of the ruins. The only problem was that we just kept wondering when it would be over so we could go to sleep. But it was fascinating and a great experience. And it was interesting for us to mingle with groups of tourists who'd been delivered to the ruins that morning in a bus. They looked so clean and smelled so nice. We hated them.

"Ropes and cables to keep you from plunging into oblivion."
Most of the group then took a bus down to the town where we'd be spending one more night before returning to Cusco. Not having had quite enough punishment, I decided to walk to the top of Huayan Pichu. The two British girls went along on the extremely steep trail to the summit. It's so steep that there are ropes and cables to keep you from plunging off into oblivion. You really do need them, but the view from the top is fantastic.

The next morning brought a train and bus trip back to Cusco for a couple days of rest before heading for Puno on Lake Titicaca later today.

But before leaving I had a chance to hang out a bit more with Rex. He's the enormous Rotweiller belonging to the family that runs the hotel I'm staying in. He's such a big baby and makes me miss my dog at home.