Inca Trail, Peru

Hey everyone. This is Holly C. Corbett. I love to travel, run, and explore new places.

Jen has probably posted about the beginning of our trip. It was really bad how me and Amanda got sick, right? Well, no worries! In the end, we went through the Inca Trail with no problems. Okay, maybe we had a few problems, but we toughened up and got passed them.

July 2007
Inca Trail, Peru

Like smart little hikers, we stocked up on water bottles and a lot of Snickers bars.

Our tour guide for the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, Reuben, led us and other backpackers through the trail.

We were going to camp on the Inca Trail after all. We wouldn't be able to walk through it in just a day. The Inca trail is twenty-six miles full of hiking. Porters biked up the trail and carried up tents, food, and other necessities for us backpackers to survive. I was really thankful for them. If we didn't have them, we'd have to carry all that food and other supplies by ourselves. Our backpacks were already weighing us down, so I really hoped they were paid good money.

Reuben then revealed that they made about $15 a day. I suddenly felt so much love for them. They worked so hard and yet only earned $15 a day.

Our first stop, Wayllabama, was only about seven kilometers away. It took us about three or four hours to get there.

The next day, Reuben told us that our destination was really far away this time. We had to hike about eight hours up to Warmiwanusca. In English, it was translated into "Dead Woman's Pass."

On the third night of camping on Dead Woman's Pass, we went around tipping the porters that helped us make this hike possible. We also gave the porters the supplies that we didn't need anymore like antibiotic ointment or dirty clothes. Seeing the happy expressions on their faces made me feel like I was blessed to be born in the United States. It made me feel grateful for all the blessings in my life.

After three days of camping on Dead Woman's Pass, all the backpackers woke up bright and early at 4:30, so we could continue our hike to our final destination, Machu Picchu.

After a few kilometers of hiking, we finally caught our first sight of Machu Picchu.

I could have sworn we all gasped at the same time. It was so ethereal and amazing. There were no words that could describe how it felt to see it in real life. The feeling of seeing it up close was way better than seeing it on a postcard.

This is the beautiful sunrise at Machu Picchu.