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INCA TRAIL - MACHUPICCHU 4D/3N
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This route has an extention of 45 Kms and is the main in order to get the Machupicchu Inca Santuary. For the adventurous traveler, a hike along the Inca Trail to Machupicchu can be the crowning experience of a South American vacation. This remote path takes you through some of the continent’s most enchanting scenery, from desertlike sierra to semitropical amazon jungle. Magnificent Inca complex also punctuate your progress along the trail. When you finally enter Machupicchu through Inti punku, the Sun Gate, it is with a sense of accomplishment and wonder. You have come the way of the Incas, and now gaze down upon their spectacular city.
Most of these highways were useless to the european invaders. Horses balked at the steps and got stuck in the tunnels. Carts and carriages could never pass. The roads of the coast and the valleys became colonial high ways, which were allowed to deteriorate in a way the Incas could never have accepted, but kept in use. Many are road ways to this day. But the highland trails were abandoned to the natives, mostly to crumble and vanish over the centuris, even though many an Andean footpath quite suddenly becomes a staircase of huge, carefully-laid slabs, worn down by generations of mules and herders, but still solid, enduring.
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:: ITINERARY ························>
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Day 1: Cusco-Km 82-Wayllabamba
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Pick you up at 5 am. from the hotel. We go for about 2 hours along the Sacred Valley of the Incas till Ollantaytambo. We take a break and an optional breakfast and then we head to the Km 82 the trailhead. We cross the footbridge over the Urubamba river. You come to the archaeological side of Llactapata (2900 mts – 9200 fts). A look to the ruins provides a constrast to some of the sites we see later on. This archaeological side was built in a strategic place, Inca roads run along the right and left banks of the Urubamba river, it was built at the main road junction and it could store a lot of indigenas products of the region in this strategically cross-road. After that we gradually trekking to Wayllabamba Village (3000 mts – 9900 fts) where is set the first campside.
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Day 4: Wiñayhuayna- Machupicchu-cusco
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From the last campside, only the last leg of the Inca Trail lies between you and Machupicchu. The trail levels off and heads in a down river direction high along the ridge above the Urubamba river. The ridge is covered with dense vegetation and, far below and suddently the whole Sacred Santuary of Machupicchu is spread out before us, we are now standing at the entrance to Machupicchu, the lost city of the Incas.
Then, we visit the most important sectors of this Santuary. Regard enough of time in order to take a train back to Cusco.
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Day 2: Wayllabamba- Pacaymayo
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We wake up at 6 am., the trail turns to the right and leads up the llulluchapampa valley and cross through a lush forest. After a short break, the trail continues on the left slope and climbs steadily to the first pass (4200 mts – 13800 fts). We can look out from the pass the mountainscapes on either side. Later the trail descends down into the Pacaymayu valley (3600 mts – 11880 fts), where the trail’s second official campside is found
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Day 3: Pacaymayo- Wiñayhuayna
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The wake up time is at 6 am. We climb the left slope to the Runcuracay archaeological side (3700 mts – 12210 fts).from the campside, the ruins lie an hour away by way of a switchback trail. Runcuracay is the first ruin of the Inca Trail left undiscovered by the conquistadores. Because most of the ruins along the trail and even Machupicchu itself were never discovered by the conquerors. Runcuracay‘s oval structure once functioned as a watch-station overlooking the valley and, most likely, as a way station or resting place for caravans.
From the ruins, the trail leads directly up the slope. We can begin to see the remains of a cobbled road, more elaborate than the dirt path, which contains Inca stonework. From the second pass (3990 mts – 13100 fts), continue down into the another Inca complex named Sayacmarca (3600 mts – 11880 fts). We notice that the road’s stonework becomes progressively more sophisticated and stunning in design.
To continue along the Inca Trail, we descent the steps. The woods and brush of this area change the scenery and we pass through a mountainside tunnel. In order to make the tunnel, the Incas enlarged the natural crevice in the mountain and incorporated it into their road.
The third and final pass of the Inca Trail lies just before the archaeological side of Puyupatamarca (3700 mts – 12210 fts). A special note to the scenically inspired: A fair weather climb at sunrise or sunset to the peaks above the ruins reward you with a spectacular view of Salkantay snowcapped mountain and the surrounding Cordillera Vilcabamba. Later the trail descends down into the last campside and archaeological side named Wiñaywayna (2700 mts – 8910 fts). In this place we find some facilities as restaurant, bar, toilet, etc. Wiñaywayna had a religious function which is indicated by its 19 ceremonial fountains where the pilgrins took ritual bath.
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NOTE
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- Departure and arrival time are approximated.
- Campsites are subject to change according to the designation of the governmental institution regulating the use of the Inca Trail, as well as the guide’s criterion and the evolution of the group.
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