- Joined
- Jan 4, 2015
- Messages
- 2,818
It certainly wasn't the wilderness/solitude experience I'm used to in our great West, but it was alright. My wife really loves to travel, I study history and love to hike. This was a great time for us both.
To hike the Inca Trail you have to have a guide service. We went with Sun Gate Tours, and I can't speak highly enough about them. Our guide Richard was incredibly knowledgeable about the flora/fauna, and history of the area we were hiking in. Unlike other tour companies, Sun Gate won't sell you to another company if they don't fill up with enough people. For us, this meant we ended up being the only people on this tour. Spoiled completely, we had a guide, cook, and three porters for just us two. We had to carry only our pad, sleeping bag, and clothing.
I'm a tiny bittersweet about the whole thing. I love to carry my own shit, cook my own food, camp where I want, etc. That wasn't really possible on this trip. There are 300-500 people on the 27 mile trail everyday. I had to take the good with the bad, lots of people, but incredible scenery, company (my wife), and it's just damn cool to be walking on a trail constructed 700 years ago.
That's the thing that killed it for me. I would have done the Inca Trail with my sister, but we just couldn't deal with needing a guide, cook, etc. Both of us are way too independent for that! Plus we both speak fairly fluent Spanish, and she's very familiar with Peruvian culture, so having a service that catered to North Americans would be rather redundant. That being said, like you stated, the idea of walking amongst the specters of history is just so cool on multiple levels.
