E.J. here

Not much needs be said about Machu Picchu but I'll probably find a way to do it anyway. 

But the pictures should speak for themselves.

Inca site on our first day - we didn't realize how many other sites we'd say along the way in four days

Seeing Machu Picchu has been at the top of my 'bucket list' (ugh) for about 15 years. I KNEW that it had to happen, if we were going to make this trip take place. This spring we learned that you have to make reservations to do the 4 day hike to Machu Picchu 6 months out, so making that reservation and putting $600 down, back in March is the thing that finally set our trip into motion. We knew we had to be in Cuzco by about 6 September, which gave form to our otherwise completely improvised itinerary.

Our hiking crew (15 of us tourists, plus the Peru Treks porters)

Day one of the hike we piled onto a small bus with 14 other people that were due to become our trek buddies. We started off with an awkward breakfast in Ollantaytambo, making small-talk with these randos that we were soon to be sharing the trail with. I'm funny about forced socialization, invariably resisting it, at least internally. Maggie was much more excited to make some new friends from the offset (I think).

We rented hiking poles (highly recommended) and I bought an ounce of coca leaves and illepta before we set off. It is legal to chew coca in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and it helps with energy levels and altitude sickness (usually headaches for me). It is NOT like doing cocaine. Its a mild stimulant, about as strong as a cup of tea, in my experience.

Porters taking a minute on the many, many enormous stone stairs

Day one is what our tour guide called "Inca flat", which is up and down, up and down, without any major elevation gain or loss. As we set off, the group automatically thinned out, with some folks taking up the rear and others leading the way. The guide would describe the next hour or two of trail (up a steep slope, leveling out, pass to the right of a lake, etc) and set a meeting place. 

Making it to to top of the pass on day 2 

Pretty organically, you end up hiking with one or two other groups, pairs, who end up being your trail buddies. Talking about what things are like in your respective countries, food you miss, places you recommend checking out, travel wisdom, etc. 

Over the course of the 4 day hike to Machu Picchu, you end up sharing the trail with about everyone in your group and its pretty easy to naturally gravitate to certain physically or conversationally compatible people. 

Our fantastic guides - Saul and Pepe - Saul has done the Inca Trail 200+ times and Pepe 99 times!

The thing that surprised us is how quickly you come to feel close to these strangers, due to the shared experience of the physical demands of the days hike. It was not impressed upon me how grueling these 4 days were going to be. I'm not in the best shape. I've never run a marathon. But I'm not in the worst shape, either. I'm 36 years old and I don't have any joints that are degenerating any faster than they should on the average 36 year old. And I was damn thankful for that. The Inca Trail will put your knees to the test. Day 2 I saw some people with old injuries that looked like they were suffering.

All told, Maggie and I did pretty great. We never came into camp first, but we were usually in the first half of the group. In order to facilitate 16 novices hiking the 4 day trek, the group we went with (http://www.perutreks.com/) had 21 porters lugging in our stuff. Local Peruvian men, who spoke mostly quechua, and carried 20 kgs of supplies, often wearing light sneakers, and hiked in ahead of the group to set up lunch or the evenings camp. You're hiking up this steep slope, with a small backpack, holding a sweater, sunblock and a bottle of water, barely putting one foot in front of the other, breathing heavily and sweating, and someone behind you calls "Porters on the left!" You sidle to the right side of the trail, trudging along, and 4 Quechua guys, all barely 5 feet tall, lope past you, carrying gigantic bags, joking to each other as they go. Humbling. They get into camp an hour before you, set up everyone's tents, bring water from the creek, start it to boiling and get working on dinner. All this being said, there are a lot of allegations that different companies mistreat their porters, not providing enough food or water, overloading them beyond the legally allowable 20 kgs and not providing adequate sleeping supplies. Peru Treks came pretty highly reviewed and had a decent record, from what we saw, and our guides continually expressed upon us the respect and appreciation we owed the porters. So with there being a lot of dubious companies out there, we both recommend Peru Treks. 

More ruins along the way 

The only other thing I'll say is that with this trip having been build up for as long as it was (especially in my head), we were both worried that arriving on day 4 was going to be anticlimactic.  In short, it wasn't. Macchu Picchu is more incredible than the pictures. It was worth it. Its duly one of the great wonders of the man-made world. 

The fourth and final day was also Maggie's birthday. Waking up at 3:30 AM to hike the jungle path to the site made for a seriously memorable one. After touring the site, we made our way down the mountain to Aguas Calientes and ended up having to wait until the late afternoon for bus and train rides back to Cuzco. It ended up being the perfect opportunity to enjoy our new friends and celebrate the birthday. Pisco sours all around.....salud!

Incredible terraces on the end of day 3 - this is where the food for Machu Picchu was farmed

We made it!

Llamas are all over the place on these sites to help keep the grass mowed