Strength of the Trail: All About the Porters - Post #7

“Hablas espanol?” he asked.

“Un poco,” I answered.

Our porter then proceeded to launch into a long Spanish conversation, to which I had little choice but simply shake my head and respond “no, no” over and over again.

The porters for Llama Path, as I would assume is the case with most of the tour companies on the Inca Trail, are born and raised in the Cusco area. Alex explained to me that many boys see their fathers and uncles become porters and make a living off of it, so they quit school and do the same. It’s akin to the kids here in Las Vegas who want to work in the casino cages just like their parents. Because of this, many of the Llama Path porters are family members—fathers and sons, brothers, uncles and nephews. In my quest to find all things gender friendly, I asked if there were women porters. Alex said no, though occasionally there is a woman chef.

Porters are a vital part of a successful Inca Trail hike. They are each allowed to carry 29 kilograms (almost 65 pounds!)—and that includes all of the tents, cooking gear and food. Cory and I wanted to focus on our trek and not the weight on our backs, so we hired a porter to carry our stuff. For every one hiker, two or three porters are needed.

Llama Path is a sustainable tour company, and the porters are all outfitted in proper hiking shoes and wear matching red outfits. They hike and take breaks together. They carry equipment in actual backpacks topped with rain gear. Other trekking companies’ porters wear worn clothing, torn up shoes (or sandals … or Chuckies!) and have equipment tied around their backs with oversized blankets and tarps. The further along the trail we got, the more appreciative I became of how well the porters at Llama Path were cared for. As we hiked along the Inca Trail, passing over peaks and making it through long and strenuous days were exciting milestones for me. I’ve referred to them as mini Everest achievements. Well, if this is a mini Everest achievement, the porters must be the next greatest thing after sherpas. Let me tell you, these guys can HAUL! We would leave camp in the morning while the porters were breaking down tents, washing dishes and packing. About an hour later, they would pass us as we labored on. By the time we reached our lunch stopping point, our porters and chefs would have a meal tent set up, water boiled and a full-spread buffet completely prepared. After lunch we would leave again while the porters cleaned up after us, and an hour later, our porters would pass us again. Within minutes they would become a microscopic line of red-colored ants running away and we would continue hiking. Once we reached camp for the night, not only would the meal tent be pitched and the food prepared but all of our tents would be up and our belongings were tucked inside. It was like camping at a 5-star hotel!

The other truly incredible thing about the porters is how fast they can climb. We struggled up the path to Dead Woman’s Pass with virtually nothing on our bodies, and the porters pushed on and passed us. Even more impressive was their technique to descend the mountainsides. They ran. Yes, you read that right. They ran down the steep, slippery stone steps, their feet barely touching the ground before they leapt onto the next one. Both Matias and Klaas tried this strategy and they said it worked well, but I was more interested in checking out the flowers and waterfalls.

Each porter had a particular duty to perform in the group. In addition to our chef, we had a waiter, men that were in charge of pitching the tents, assistants to the chef, etc. This whole porter thing runs like a well-oiled machine, but I guess when there are so many people on the trail, there is little choice but to be.

The saddest thing about the porters is that few, if any, of them have ever been to Machu Picchu. After the final morning on the trail, they rush down to Aguas Calientes to catch a porter train back to Cusco so that they can prepare for the next hiking group to hit the trail. I think there should be an option to donate toward a pool of cash that allows for porters to visit this World Heritage Site that just hangs out in their backyards. Our journey to Machu Picchu would have been drastically different without the strength and abilities of our porters. I might not hablo any espanol, but I did learn enough to tell each and every one of them gracias.

Seeing red ~

JoAnna

We're in some Hot Water- Peru Day 5

After we had our fill of Machu Picchu we hopped on the bus with our entire group and headed down a series of steep switchbacks on our way to the town at the bottom of the mountain, Aguas Calientes. 

Alex and Eddie had left a few hours before the group and Alex gave us directions to the restaurant where we would all be eating our final group meal.  As we arrived in Aguas Calientes we realized it was a one street town.

 Alex, showing exactly how clairvoyant he is, was waiting for us when our bus arrived in town. We all headed off to the restaurant and ordered burgers and pizza.  Jo and I thought it was a luxury to have burgers, we would find out later that Augas Calientes was full of burgers and pizza.   After lunch Alex, Eddie and Matias hopped on the train and headed back to Cuzco.  Bethany, Matt and Klaus were scheduled for a later train and headed off to find an internet café.  Jo and I had decided to stay in Aguas Calientes that night so we headed to our hostel (which Alex had already found for us and drawn us a map).   We originally reserved a four person room, but the hostel was light on customers so we received a two person room!  It was freaking sweet!  We took some time to hang all of our wet clothes aroun

d the room.  It was only 3 in the afternoon so we decided to head up to the city’s namesake, the local hot springs (Aguas Calientes = Hot Waters). 

The hot springs were great.  We had a wonderful time just soaking in the natural springs.  There were a lot of familiar faces from the trail hanging out in the springs.  It was extremely relaxing and we could feel our muscles relaxing as we sat in the warm water.  After the springs we went back to the hostel and had a nice hot shower.  We decided to head out and find some dinner after our shower and came across another pizza joint just down from the hostel.  It was actually really good pizza, wood fired and very fresh ingredients.   We retired early that night, I read a bit on my iPod touch (hooray for Kindle apps!) and Jo wrote in her journal.  We slept the sleep of the dead that night.  It was really nice to sleep in a soft, comfy bed after four nights of tent floor. 

When we got up the next day we had about 5 hours to kill before we caught the train back to Ollyantatambo.  We left our stuff at the hostel and went walking around the town.  There are really only two streets in Aguas Calientes and we took the back street down from the Hostel to the train tracks.  There was a very pretty fountain in the center of the plaza.

  We then trundled on through the huge market  (which was well situated for the locals…you had to walk through it to get to the train station).  Jo bought herself a necklace and I bought a head band to keep my hair out of my face.  We then sat at a coffee shop for about an hour or so, watching tourists walk up and down the road in their khaki safari pants, linen shirts and multi-pocketed vests.  One group seemed to get a cell phone as part of their trip. 

The train ride back to Ollyantatambo was fairly uneventful.  We were in the “backpacker coach” which is the nice way to say “the cheap seats.”  We slept a lot of the trip and pretty much stared out the windows.  When we got to Ollyantatambo we still had a 2 hour ride back to Cuzco.  We were expecting to take a Llama Path bus, but what we got was a small car that we shared with another couple from Montreal.  One of the best moments of the whole trip happened about 20 minutes outside of Cuzco.  We were driving through a hail storm and our driver could not get his window rolled up…it was freaking hilarious, there I am, right behind the driver, getting pelted with hail the size of quarters. 

Overall, Aguas Calientes was touristy and boring but exactly what we needed to unwind from Machu Picchu.