The Inca Trail - and how it became Hell on Earth for me!

Li and I did the Inca Trail, the classic 4-day version of it. Check out Wikipedia if you don't know what the Inca Trail is. In a nutshell, the Inca Trail involves hiking through the Andean mountains from about 2600m up to 4200m and down to 2700m at Machu Picchu, and all that via either a rocky or muddy trail, or big Inca steps/stairs. During the night you stay in one of the camp sites, i.e., camping. On the 4-day Inca Trail you hike about 43 km with the second and third day being the most challenging ones.

From my previous comments you may remember that I've been having trouble with altitude sickness. With the help of some medication it seemed to be OK (not perfect, but OK) and I thought I would be able to do the Inca Trail without too many problems. In hindsight that assumptions couldn't have been more wrong, i.e., I shouldn't have done the Inca Trail at all.

The first day wasn't too bad as you stay at an altitude of about 2600-2700m for the whole day,  but it was already a little challenge for me. If I would have known that the second and third day of the Inca Trail would become the most painful and horrible two days of my life I would have returned after the first day, but unfortunately I didn't.

The second day (also known as the "challenge day", because you have to go up
from 2700m to 4200m) didn't start very well at all. It rained fairly heavily
during our first night and some water leaked into our tent and the lower part of my sleeping bag got completely wet (including my socks and feet). I woke up
in the middle of the night because of that, but there wasn't much I could
do apart from trying to sleep in the wet sleeping bag. The anti-altitude sickness medication I've been taking (including drinking  lots of Coca tea) didn't seem to help much, because I ended up feeling  absolutely shit! Strong headache, nauseous, extreme difficulty breathing, stomach ache/cramps  and twice a bit of nose bleeding. It was very painful to reach the top at 4200m, but I somehow managed to do it. I arrived about 2h after the first one from our group arrived. I'm very grateful that they waited that long giving us the opportunity to do a nice group picture.

In addition to the altitude sickness I've always been having problems with my knees and I had to take some Ibuprofen to help with that on the way down. I think our guide mentioned something about 7000 Inca steps. Again I was the last one to arrive at the camp site and immediately after arriving I started feeling very sick and started vomitting, followed  shortly after that by diarrhea. I'm assuming this was caused by altitude sickness, but it could have also been caused by a stomach bug. To be on the safe side I started taking Antibiotics in case it was due to a stomach bug.

If I would have been able to stop at this point and take a taxi back to the hotel I would have gladly paid a thousand dollars for that, but at the end of the second day you are basically in the middle of nowhere. Either you go back which means a two-day hike (going back via the peak at 4200m) or you continue which means a two-day hike to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu. Only if I would have really gotten ill, i.e., an edema (HAPE/HACE) from the altitude sickness they would have called the helicopter which would have cost around 10000 dollars.

On the third day I still felt extremely bad due to vomitting and diarrhea. I tried to eat something, but couldn't eat much which resulted in me becoming very weak (in addition to the same altitude sickness problems I've had the day before). I continued the trek, but around lunch time my body basically gave up and I felt like a sloth walking around the Inca Trail. Every step became a challenge....

As it was getting late to reach the camp for the lunch break they ended up putting me on a stretcher and 5 of the porters carried me for the last 45 minutes to the camp site for the lunch break. Not a very pleasant experience, because I was too tall for the stretcher and it actually hurt being squeezed onto it. Also, in addition to feeling sick anyway I started feeling a bit motion sick on the stretcher. After arriving at the camp site I was able to eat some food and after
a bit of rest I felt slightly better. Don't get me wrong, I still felt absolutely horrible, but just slightly better and  I was able to continue the trek... I really really didn't want to, but being in the middle of nowhere there was simply no other option.  It basically felt like running a marathon while having the flu in
combination with vomitting and diarrhea. I continued - very slowly - trying to reach the camp site for the night.  I would have managed to reach the camp site on my own, but at some point  the guide was worried that it would get dark before I reached the camp site and they put me on a stretcher again and carried me the last 30 minutes.  Again, not a very pleasant experience. While it was hard for the porters to carry me on the stretcher they seemed to kind of enjoy it as it was something different and doesn't seem to happen that often. Of course
they got an extra tip from me for this after the Inca Trail.

I managed to eat a bit more food at the camp site and a bit of sleep before we had to get up at 3:15am on the fourth day. I felt a bit better on that day mainly due to the fact that we were back at an altitude of about 2700m. I managed to get to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu (the end of the Inca Trail) in a fairly good time, but it was still a bit of a challenge for me.

Most people enjoyed the stunning view of Machu Picchu at that time, but  I was simply happy that I managed to survive the Inca Trail without ending up in the hospital. I didn't even feel a sense of accomplishment.

A big thanks to Li who stayed with me all the time and my apologies to the other group members (and to Li), because I've obviously been a bit of a  spoilsport during the trip. It's hard to enjoy the Inca Trail, the beautiful landscape and Machu Picchu when you are in pain and feeling absolutely horrible.

If I could turn back time I would have never booked the Inca Trail
(or the trip to Peru at all), because it simply became the worst 4 days
I've ever had in my life.

I hope the rest of our 8-month trip will be less painful... and yes, I'm definitely going to avoid any kind of high-altitude activities.