Discussion Forums

- Do I have to train and exercise for this vacation?
- How will the altitude affect me and will I be able to drink?
- Do I have to worry about terrorists?
- Do I really have to bring my own role of toilet paper?

Those questions led to other questions as I booked my trip to Peru to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

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- What is Machu Picchu?
There are more questions about MP than answers. It’s the Peruvian equivalent of who shot JFK, only Oliver Stone isn’t doing any movies on this topic (can you imagine Kevin Costner as an Incan? Can you imagine Kevin Costner in anything right now?). We hiked the Inca Trail, the royal highway to Machu Picchu, visiting ruins along the way. We hiked amongst the clouds and gazed upon mountain range after mountain range. Words wouldn’t do it justice, although I said “Wow, this is amazing!” twenty eight thousand times along the trail. So eloquent I am.

Allegedly built in 1450 and abandoned around 1520, MP was never found by the Spanish invaders in the 16th century, thus wasn’t destroyed like many other sites in Peru. In fact, there wasn’t written documentation of the site and wasn’t rediscovered until 1911. We do know that the city is nestled in a valley amongst the Andes, has steep terraces (or terrorists as my terrific Peruvian tour guide from Andes Adventures – www.andesadventures.com - said) for farming, temples for worship and instruments built within the structures tracking the sun especially during the June and December solstices.

Beyond that, researchers aren’t sure what MP was. Was it a fortress, an agricultural site, a ceremonial city, an astronomical observatory or a summer place with share houses like the Hamptons? And why was it abandoned…because of a lightning strike that damaged structures, because of the civil war in the Incan Empire, or because of drought? My money is on a “land shark” that scared them away.

The city isn’t about the why’s but about the beauty and the stone structures that were built in under 100 years. It was an amazing architectural accomplishment for those times, any time really. With the technology we have at our fingertips these days, it’s still taken Philadelphia almost 2 years to build new football and baseball stadiums.

- What was the terrorist situation?
Six days before I left, the U.S. Department of State releases a statement alerting US citizens of the potential for terrorist activity by Sendero Luminoso (translated means “group that’s going to make my parents identify me by my teeth”) in the weeks leading up to May 17, an important anniversary for this group. Most people celebrate anniversaries with cake. In Peru, they celebrate with car bombs.

- Did you train?
If you count eating a lot of chicken wings and drinking beer as training, than yes. Does playing golf count as exercise? What if I told you I drove the cart? For some masochistic reason, I’m still in the process of sorting out my training regimen for this trip. Here’s the thing though: you can’t simulate being at an altitude of 13,800ft on the Stairmaster at New York Health and Racquet Club unless you put yourself in a bubble and suck all of the air out of it (the club wouldn’t allow me to do this). The only way to train for this trip was to have a 10-13k ft mountain in your backyard, which some people did as people came from Colorado and Montana. The closest I have to that in NYC is a 12ft hill on 72nd and Madison. Besides, if people in tip-top shape could die on a trip like this from pulmonary edema (your lungs fill with fluids), what could training do for me?

- What was the hiking like?
1:25 on Monday, May 12: we began the hike. Months of expectations for this trip and now we’re off. I was so excited. I was about to launch into the journey of a lifetime!

1:27, Monday, May 12: Going uphill, I begin heated debate with self over when to beg sherpas to carry me. I decide to beg later in the trip and plan on make-up sex with self that evening.

We hiked 35 miles on this trip beginning at 8,850 feet up to 13,800 feet then down to 12k, back up to 13k again. Then we hiked down more steps and eventually into Machu Picchu, which was 8,040 feet. If the Inca’s were so damn smart and industrious, they could have drilled a tunnel. Going uphill at that altitude was not easy. I would say that I stopped every 10-20 feet to enjoy the scenery, but that would be a lie. I stopped because my heart was beating at 2,000x’s a minute and my lungs were burning. And I never knew going down anything would hurt so much. The steps downward pounded my knees, which currently reside in my throat. No wonder why the Inca’s thought MP was such a spiritual place….They were thanking God for surviving the friggin’trek.

- Did you ever think you wouldn’t make it?
25,000 people go to Machu Picchu a year. 6,000 of them hike the Inca Trail (numbers on this might be off, but I got this from my tour leader, who while great, was a little like the Iraqi Minister of Misinformation). I was going to survive the trek even if I had to write this from the operating table of an orthopedic surgeon, which I’m not. I’m writing from post-op.

- Who carried your baggage?
There were 37 Peruvian porters (because I like the word, we’ll call them sherpas) for 20 people. We carried our daypacks and the sherpas carried our 20lb limited bags as well as our tents and food. Since the weather was cold at night (lows in the mid-30’s), we had to layer clothing making a 20lb limit difficult. My sleeping bag, toiletry kit, and skirts were nearly 20lb’s. The night before we left, our tour leader came around to weigh our bags. If they were over 20lbs, we had to take out more clothing (I’d already dumped out half of what I’d brought). I took out additional clothing and told my roommate that I’d add it back in after the weigh in. It was as anticipated a weigh-in since the world wondered what strange new markings would be seen on Mike Tyson’s face before his last weigh-in. I made the 20lb limit and as I thought to myself that I’ll add a few more items to the bag, my tour leader read my mind and said: “Of course, the porters will weight your bag one more time before we leave.” Oh, those tricky sherpas.

One girl on the trip was debating what clothing to bring on the trail and having trouble making the 20lb cut:
Girl debating: “I’ll wear this outfit tomorrow and this outfit the next day….”
Me: “Outfits? Outfits? There are no outfits in hiking!”

In the end, both of our bags were at the correct limit and I’m happy about that. The sherpas are amazing, running up and down the mountains wearing sandals (some not even strapped on) carrying 60+ pounds of baggage and equipment. I felt sorry for them with this low paying, strenuous job. One of the highlights of the trip: At 12,000 feet at the end of day 3 with daylight closing, I was perched atop a cliff looking 100ft down on a makeshift pitch where 8 sherpas – fresh off a grueling weighted-down hike – were playing a spirited soccer match. Five feet to the left of the pitch was a deep valley and clouds beneath them. (see pic below)

- What were the people like on ...[Message truncated]