Living in Peru : your everyday companion

by
Ben Jonjak

I just read an article about Peru on TimesOnline that I have to respond to. The article was written by an apparently soft travel correspondent called Penny Wark about her experience hiking the Inca trail (the three day option). During her short write-up ("Correspondents: why it's an uphill struggle to Machu Picchu") she was rude enough to actually print that, "the trek to Machu Picchu is so grim, so joyless, I am baffled as to why nobody has slapped it with a misery warning."

My response is this: Penny Wark, you are an idiot.

Now, I've done a lot of crazy and adventurous things in my life, but I've yet to do the Inca trail. Sure, I've been on the Inca trail, but I haven't yet been blessed with that miraculous alignment of time, money, and other astronomical events which would allow me to get out there and do the world champion of hikes. Frankly, I'd give an arm and a leg to have the job of this Penny Wark person, who so pitifully squawks about all her trials and tribulations rather than show even the slightest capacity for appreciating the great boon she's been given.

Do you hear that TimesOnline? I'll do Penny's job for FREE! What's more, I'll even PAY half the expenses to do it! Aw heck, I'll pay the whole thing! And you know why? Because walking the Inca trail is a privilege!

It constantly amazes me how people allow themselves to fall into the mindset that everything needs to be easy to be enjoyed. Not only that, people start to think they're entitled to the cushy life and that the slovenly existence is the only one which can bring them joy. I don't know if this mindset is a media creation, or if it comes out of simple laziness, but it drives me absolutely batty.

Those of you who have run marathons know that at the moment when you cross that finish line (and it doesn't matter if it takes you 2 hours or 10) you are overwhelmed with a sensation of achievement that you simply can't buy. It's a feeling that you have to earn, and that makes it more precious than anything else in the world!

Donald Trump and Bill Gates might be billionaires but until they cough up for a marathon entry fee, train for it and run it, the experience I've had will be forever foreign to them.

They simply...can't...buy...it!

As I said before, I've never hiked the Inca trail, but I had to hike out of Aguas Calientes once. There was a problem with the trains and the friends I was with had to get out in order to catch a flight the next day. Of course, we entered what would turn out to be a 20 km hike completely unprepared in terms of clothing, footwear, and food. We also started late and as the sun dropped behind the mountains and the cold settled in, we realized that we'd gotten in a little over our heads.

In the end, of course, we found the little village at Km 82 where buses to Ollantaytambo could be found, but in those moments of uncertainty where we had momentarily considered huddling together in the undergrowth and attempting to wait until dawn, I was as happy and energetic as I've ever been in my life.

The reason?

Just the simple fact that the experience was so different, so extreme, and so radical had me in a state of absolute euphoria.

In fact, I've always been on the lookout for those kind of moments. Back when I was growing up in Wisconsin, my friends and I used to just go trotting out into the woods with nothing more than a hatchet, a sleeping bag, a couple packets of Ramen noodles, and a box of matches. We'd stay out for the weekend and basically just try to survive. Oh yeah, did I mention that we did this in the middle of winter, in three feet of snow, with the temperatures hovering around -20? As I've gotten older I've realized that one doesn't need to suffer quite as much as we used to strive for when I was fifteen, but you get the idea.

Certainly with modern camping equipment and taking it upon yourself to ensure that you have achieved a responsible state of physical fitness, the Inca trail can be very comfortable. There's a trail there after all! It's not like you're breaking path like Ed Stafford. And if you do the Inca trail after having respected the undertaking, and prepared for it, and gotten yourself in an appropriate mental state where you can appreciate it; I guarantee you'll find that it's the type of experience that can change your life forever, and for the better.

But if you want to take the easy route and be like Penny Wark (sitting in the hotel pestering room service and getting fat I presume), then be my guest. I'll be out enjoying the greatest sights on this planet! After all, it's been my experience that nothing that comes easy is worth having.

Add to del.icio.us | |

At 57 and an experience hiker and backpacker, I am trying to plan a trip to hike the Inca trail. I am considering the train option due to my age. Don't be so hard on someone who bit of more than they could chew.  

My most trying adventure took place from 6,000 to 10,000 feet on the eastern Sierras in California, to Steelhead Lake.  We ended up getting snowed on in mid September, but did it the next year in July.  I was in my mid 40s then.

Remember to secure your permit...those are selling out fast. I'm tried to book the Inca Trail for July, but it is sold out.
I will do it September for sure
Inca Trail Reservations

oh come on, now, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, calling someone who's point of view doesn't agree with yours an idiot though shows your own lack of objectivity.

I did the hike in 2007 and *for me* it ranks about a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty. I've been on more challenging hikes. But I do have to say, it was a pretty boring event.

I might be stupid, but why do you need a permit to walk on a public footpath?

Marcus... It is not considered a public footpath! perhaps you should read a  bit more about Peru and certainly more about Machu Picchu. Sometimes there are things better left without saying...

Not sure that I would call someone an idiot for not appreciating this spectacular hike; or that I would rank it for difficulty on a scale from 1 to 10... that's just making a sporting event out of a magical experience.  I hiked the trail at age 62 after a lifetime of reading anything and everything about Peruvian history and the Inca.  I had moments along the way where I questioned my sanity for attempting the hike (though I had prepared for it thoroughly), but there is no way to describe the thrill I experienced when crossing the Inti Punktu (Gate of the Sun) and for the first time laying eyes on the site of Machu Picchu far below, shrouded in mist, surrounded by magestic mountains and gazing into the depths of the valleys and bottomless gorges all around.

Grim?  Joyless?  Really quite the opposite.  I shed tears of joy and thanked my tired legs for helping me earn this privilege the hard way.  I doubt that traveling by train and bus gives you the same satisfaction.

Donald Mayfield, experienced guides are plentiful and porters help carry tents and provisions.  Often folks over 57 fare better than the younger ones who take things for granted and are unappreciative.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Ms. Penny Wark is such a young person and that she was ill informed about the trail and what to expect.  Be selective when choosing your guide.

Happy Trails to those of you who will be lucky enough to walk in the footsteps of the Incas along their Andean highway!!!  It's magic.    

Hanny, I didn't really mean to assign a rank to the trail, I just thought it would be a simpler way to say "it wasn't hard although it did have its moments here and there".

Maybe it's because I've been to many other places around the world where the event was either a physical challenge or it had historical significance (or both) that I don't consider the Machu Picchu experience all that extraordinary in comparison. But I respect those whose opinion differs. While I was in Peru I visited many areas that are far far far off the tourist map, those are the places I mostly have fond memories of.

By the way I was 47 when I went on the Inca trail, so no assumptions about my level of appreciation, please ;)

To be honest i understand her article, i did the trail myself and i must say it was hard. No I'm not soft weak crying fatty, I'm an very well trained athlete who sports a lot, every day (endurance / Strength) . One day I hope to do the Inca Trail Marathon RUN! My experience the trail is hard, I didn't find it easy at all especially the second day crossing the pass was much harder then I expected. I also found that it was important to eat well during the trail in order to stay strong and fresh. I have great respect for the porters some of them where faster even with all that wheight. In our group there where also some overweight people and the could walk the Inca Trail fine, but at a much slower pace. Perhaps the journalist tried to walk to fast, why not taking it easy the trip is to enjoy not to hurry. Perhaps she doesn't now how it feels to dig deep, or never went deep while sporting.

Anyway I think the Trail is one of the best things you can do in Peru. To enjoy at each own pace.

I wish, Ben, you had included a few more quotes from Wark's article to illustrate what is most annoying about her perspective.

Wark certainly is under no obligation to love the experience of hiking the Inca Trail. What is baffling is her expectation that it would be an easy hike through a romantic landscape. She gripes that travel literature sold her a mystical vision of the hike, one without the grim realities of climbing up and up tiny stairs, of pitching a tent in the freezing cold or in rain.

For the life of me, I don't understand why someone attempting this hike wouldn't do her homework. Nearly all the first-person accounts of the Inca Trail hike emphasize that it is hard and grueling -- it's certainly not on the scale of traversing Huascaran, but as hundreds of people have attested, it's no picnic either.

What professional travel writer, or reporter, actually takes travel literature at its word? We all know that the deprivations and cold and foul smells are edited out of the picture/presentation.

For the record: I have co-written seven travel books and have visited Cusco about 10 times, twice to Machu Picchu -- by train only (the Backpacker, not the Hiram Bingham). My husband is always bugging me to hike the Inca Trail, but I've refused because I never liked the idea of trudging up and down all those stairs for days. I know my limits. :)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/latin_america/article6292871.ece

Here you have the original Penny Wark article. I do think that she focused too much on the negative and no positive. I agree with the above posts that people think everything should be easy and in a silver platter.  Just because a trek might be hard you cannot take the overall beauty of it. I cannot wait to do the trek myself. Hopefully sometime next year.

I hiked the Inca trail in 2009 and I agree that it is well worth it. Hands down an incredible experience. I will also say that I did go with InnovaTravelPeru and while things could have changed, they were great.