After thoughts...

 We learned many facts about the Inca culture along the trail and I found it fascinating especially since our guides were fantastic story tellers, both with the same qualities you might imagine an ancient tribe's story teller to have. The Inca's didn't have a written language, so they relied on story telling to divulge their history and their information. 

The Inca trail with its many ruins along the way was a trail of information, in which runners were sent back and forth between Cusco (the hub of civilization) and Machu Picchu, where it's believed astronomers and astrologers studied the stars for information and guidance. Ranging from when the summer and winter solstices would happen-- to inform the farmers when to plant and harvest, and information on the future-- it's believed it was revealed that the Inca's would be defeated by an attacking army (ie the Spanish). They believed in a spiritual world as much as they believed in the sciences that allowed them to create thousands of crops of corn, quinoa, potatoes... to nourish an  entire civilization. 

The trail so rich in history, in hundreds of thousands of past footsteps, has now evolved beyond that history and has a new depth. It's now a chance for people from all around the world to take time to make the pilgrimage for their own reasons. To celebrate love, to discover an inner depth unknown before, to quieten a doubting voice, to answer a question which might have needed time and new perspective, or perhaps to rediscover a new set of questions. Whatever the reason all these trekkers make their way to Machu Picchu, they do so to discover something.

Do I recommend it? Yes I do. I recommend every moment, every step, every drop of sweat. I recommend the bickering, the doubting, the burning lungs, muscles, brain. I recommend the quiet, the silliness, the laughter and the rain. It will not disappoint. 

Our trekking outfit was amazing. We had only a few priorities: They had to employ locally, they had to pay well, they had to support the environment and they had to provide a vegetarian food option. They did all of these and were far beyond any expectation we could have had. For more information go to Llamapath treking. 

I'll be back Monday for more tales from South America. Have a super weekend.