As we were falling asleep for the last night, we heard our friend from the Amazon jungle starting to sing ritualic Shipibo songs. He was very close to nature during all the hike, stopping and examining the plants and doing little rituals along the way to express his gratitude to Pachamama (mother earth). We were woken up a couple of hours later by a rumble of thunder and strong rain. The lighting was constant and extremely bright. We had never experienced such a strong storm while being in our tents. One thing we hoped is that it ends before we need to start hiking.
At 3:45 AM our guide shouted that it’s time to get moving. While we were dressing we could still some rain dropping on the top of the tent, however, by the time we were putting on the shoes the rain was over.
After 5 minutes hike, we approached the entrance of the last section of Inca Trail. There we had to wait for rangers to come, check our documents and open the trail. We also saw all the people who hiked the trail at the same time as us. There was our group of 4 and three groups of 2 people, that’s it. Pre-covid we would have had a line of couple hundred people waiting.
When we passed the checkpoint it was all about being fast. The goal was to arrive at Machu Picchu before people who come by trains and buses. We were absolutely flying throughout the trail for more than an hour, it felt as if the last three days were just a preparation for the last day’s sprint. We reached a midway point Sun Gate. There all the hikers were congratulating each other as we saw Machu Picchu for the first time from far away. This point can only be reached by people going Inca Trail. Our guide was amazed, he told that we are the first group since the beginning of September who didn’t have any clouds and fog and could see Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate.
We started our last section of the hike towards Machu Picchu. Our Canadian friend who was the fastest hiker by far doing the whole trail managed to injure himself while posing for a picture. So he took a hiking pole and limped through the last part of the hike.
The entrance of Machu Picchu for Inca Trail hikers is quite interesting. We just entered straight into it from the side, making other travelers wonder where we came from. Then we had to walk through Machu Picchu against the flow and exit through the actual entrance so our tickets could be checked and we could officially come back.
The sun was shining and there were just a few clouds. We took pictures and had a guided tour through Machu Picchu. It was more beautiful and interesting than we expected. As such a touristic and well-advertised place sometimes it can be disappointing but it wasn’t the case for us. We learned how people were building it, how it was probably used, and how it was abandoned by Quechua people the moment they heard the Spanish were coming. The locals destroyed parts of the Inca Trail so it couldn’t be easily reached and after a while, Machu Picchu was covered by grass, trees and rediscovered only centuries later.
After the tour, we said our goodbyes to fellow travelers and the guide. They were taking a train back home but we had another 3 hours of hiking as we chose a cheaper option of coming back by bus from the town nearby.
For the first half-hour, we had a steep descent from Machu Picchu to the village of Machu Picchu. Our knees again reminded us of how they were treated the last couple of days. After we passed the village, we just had to follow the train track. The hike was more interesting than we expected. Next to Machu Picchu, it is the beginning of Amazon Jungle. So while on one side we saw mountains on the other we saw deep and dark forests. Our bodies felt that this is the last hike so the tiredness reached the peak point just before we reached the town of Hidroelectica and our van.
We sat in our van and started the ride back to Cusco. It was anything but easy. It was hot, not air-conditioned and we never witnessed 6 hours of nonstop zig-zags through the mountains. We reached 4000m+ elevations and went down a couple of thousand meters before going up again. When we reached Cusco it was already late evening and we truly felt that the ride has demanded more than the hiking itself.
Overall we are extremely happy with the experience we had. The trail itself, the weather, the fellow hikers, guide, chef, and porters made everything truly memorable. And now, it was time for us to finally get a good night’s sleep in a bed.