Despite both of us being travellers who like unusual destinations, and to often go off the beaten track and explore less touristy destinations, we wanted to do the Classic Inca Trail, the ruins along route and history, meant we hardly gave it a second thought. Machu Pichu was on the bucket list and as we both love hiking, despite everyone warning us about the altitude, there was no doubt we were going to do a trek. More on the altitude later in our main blog found here. As you approach Machu Picchu from the Inti Punku (Sungate) there's just something about reaching it from this angle rather than a bus, maybe its the happiness that you are finally there, for us it was the happiness that we were there and could see it, find to why on our weather post here. The Inca Trail and Salkantay are the only routes that there is a possibility of a glimpse of Machu Pichu before arriving there.
We chose G Adventures as our tour operator and trekking company, as they have an Award Winning Inca Trail Program. They have been named the best Inca Trail Tour Operator by the Regional Direction of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Cusco (RDFTTC) in Peru. In fact, just recently, they were chosen by the government to run the first trail of the Inca Trail since the beginning of the pandemic. The pilot ran with increased health and safety standards. With the help of local travel associations and local authorities, it was a great success! Need we say much more.
G Adventures have sustainability and ethics are their forefront and are a very reputable company. Through purchasing the Inca Trail through them you help to employ over 560 local guides, porters, cooks, drivers and office staff, connecting small local communities to the global tourism chain. There are approximately 200 licensed operators for the Inca Trail. Prices will vary quite dramatically, if you find anything that's less than about £500, it's is probably too good to be true, so be cautious and do your research if you're on a tight budget.
Don't rush it, linger at ruins along the way, take breaks, and detour to optional extra ruins even if it is a few more steps and strain on the knees, you'll probably never do the Inca Trail again, and you'll also never get left behind the main guide and assistant guide are there one at the front, the other always at the back. They are incredibly knowledgable and were able to talk about all the ruins along route. Find out more about the guides here.
Porters are helped during their careers, and long term through the porter project. This has been a great asset of constant fundraising during the pandemic. As you can imagine the loss of a whole seasons worth of income is incredibly tough. In addition, choose a responsible company, as some company's are known to deduct any fines off porters wages, should any be incurred.
Check out our other blog posts here;
Socks and Sandals
Comments