IN LIVING COLOR

The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

It’s all about pushing one’s limits.

Just past the sun gate with Machu Picchu in the distance below — © SkyCladTherapy

In December 2017, my wife and I decided to journey to Peru with the intention of walking parts of the Inca Trail. We wanted to get there before the rainy season. We landed in Lima and stayed in the airport until we could catch a flight to Cusco.

The author on the Inca Trail — © SkyCladTherapy

After a few days of acclimatization, we decided we were ready to take on the challenge of Machu Picchu. We had first seen pictures of the ancient site in 1971 when a childhood friend of my wife’s returned from his journey there. We vowed then that we would one day be there taking our own photos.

Peru is a land of mountains. — © SkyCladTherapy

Cusco is a city in a valley, situated at 3,400+ metres. We did some training at 3,900 metres in the hills above the city. Why? I am not sure as we learned much later that Machu Picchu was at a much lower elevation of only 2,400+ metres. Regardless, we didn’t want to have to deal with altitude sickness, so we trained.