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INCA TRAIL 4 DAYS
The INCA TRAIL is the most popular trail of the Andes and one of the most famous in the world. What makes this trail so special is its rich culture and biodiversity. Along the trail you can find Inkan sites, various unforgettable landscapes from snow-covered mountains to rainforests where the exotic vegetation includes over 300 varieties of orchids. You can also find many ecological zones. Walking the INCA TRAIL will give you the sense of the incredible history of the most advanced ancient culture in South America. To understand the significance of the INCA TRAIL, it is important to learn from indigenous people who still practice the same traditions as the Inkas. The descendants of the Inkas still live in Andean communities today.
Availability To protect the historic trail, the number of people allowed to hike the INCA TRAIL each day is limited to 500 (including hikers on the 2-Day and 4-Day hike and all tourists, porters, cooks and tour guides). For this reason, you should reserve your spot as soon as possible. Sometimes the spots are filled three to four months in advance. To reserve the Inca Trail, we need to send your personal information to the Inca Trail Regulator Office. This office needs all reservations at least four days from the start of your hike. Note that spots will fill more quickly in the high tourist season (June through September).
A NOTE ON GROUP SIZE Wayki Trek is committed to taking small groups because we believe small groups make it easier to walk together and enjoy nature on the trail at your own pace. People are also more likely to arrive to each checkpoint at nearly the same time. In smaller groups, you will make connections with people on your tour, sometimes lasting for the duration of your travels in Peru and onward. Small groups also require less space in campsites, enabling the guide to select the best location. Additionally, the cook and porters are able to have closer relationships with the tourists, can meet individual needs and can more easily tend to environmental issues such as waste disposal and contamination. With a smaller group, your guide will also be able to pay closer attention to personal health and safety concerns.
WAYKI EXPERIENCES Something unique that Wayki Trek offers is what we call “WAYKI EXPERIENCES”. Only available if you do the 4-Day INCA TRAIL, you can spend a night getting to know our porters that will assist the group on the hike. We will transport you and a guide the night before you start the hike to a porter’s house in the countryside to enjoy a typical Andean meal and spend the night chatting with locals. You will see a typical Andean kitchen and learn ancient traditions. One of Wayki’s priorities is sustaining good relations with porters by providing them with the same food as the tourists during the trek and creating the “Wayki Experiences” to connect the porters and tourists. We are the only travel agency in Peru that offers a similar experience.
INCLUDED SERVICES
Additional Optional Services that are included when you book the INCA TRAIL. 1. The “Wayki Experience” where you can visit the porters’ village. 2. One night in our backpackers hostel before or after your hike. 3. Wayki’s kitchen and dining room to prepare food. 4. Wayki’s hot showers that are available at any time of the day. 5. A safe storage room to leave your backpacks. (In Cusco) 6. A tour of Cusco. (City tour, which includes the transport and guide service)
NOT INCLUDED: 1. sleeping bag (you may rent a sleeping back from our office) 2. Lunch on the last day after visiting MACHU PICCHU. 3. Tips for porters and guides. 4. Extra Porters to carry personal things
Prices and Discounts: Adult: $480.00 Student: $450.00 only with ISIC card with a correct expiration date. Children under seven years of age receive a 30% discount. Children between 7 and 15 years pay the student price but must show a copy of their passport. Groups of five people or more receive a $15 discount per person. Members of the South American Explorer club also receive a $10 discount.
HOW TO BOOK To reserve your spot on the trail with Wayki Trek, each person must pay a deposit of $200.00 and then pay the rest at our office in Cusco two days before your trek beings. To register, send an email with the following information: complete names, passport numbers and expiry date, date of birth, nationality, gender and occupation. Let us know the date you are looking to hike and we will send you back the availability. To make the deposit, use WESTERN UNION (http://www.westernunion.com/). The recipient’s name is Gorki Dalens Paucar. Once you have made the transaction, you will need to send the money transfer control number (MTCN). Notice that only the complete details and the money deposit will prove your participation in any of our trips. Following Inca Trail laws and regulations, we use the money deposit to buy your entrance fee to MACHU PICCHU. To get the student discount, please send us a scan of both sides of your ISIC card through email at the time you wish to reserve your spot that contain the student’s name and expiration date.
Cancellations a) Because of the strict regulations of the MACHU PICCHU Park, once you have made your reservation, you cannot cancel the space that you have reserved. You also may not alter the name or date of the reservation. If you are unable to come on the date you have reserved, we cannot reimburse you. b) We can return most of your deposit only if you cancel 30 days or more in advance. But, we cannot reimburse the entrance fee to the INCA TRAIL because Wayki purchases the tickets from MACHU PICCHU Park when you reserve your spot and they are non refundable. c) If you cancel between 30 and 10 days before your trek, you must pay 50% of the total cost. d) If you cancel between 10 and 3 days before your trek, you must pay 80% of the total cost. e) If you cancel one or two days before your trek, you must pay 100% of the total cost. f) In the exceptional case that you decide to head back once you have started the trail, you must pay extra expenses such as food and transportation. You may join the group in MACHU PICCHU for the walking tour and use all of the services onward.
Important information about your passport: 1. Once you have reserved, Wayki must give your information to MACHU PICCHU Park. This information includes your name, passport number, nationality, gender and age. Everything listed above must be the same upon arrival to the start of the INCA TRAIL. It is very important that you bring your original passport for the park to verify your information. If any of the information does not match upon arrival, you may not be able to start the trek. 2. In the case that your passport number changes between reserving your spot and the start of your trek, you have two options. You may send us a copy of the new passport at least ten days before the start of your trek. The change costs $12 that you must pay to MACHU PICCHU Park upon arrival. The other option is to bring your old as well as your new passport to the start of the trail. This option will not cost you anything. 3. If your information does not coincide upon arrival to the INCA TRAIL, Wayki may not be held responsible.
RECOMMENDED PACKING LIST 1. original passport 2. hiking backpack 3. warm clothes for the nighttime 4. flashlight or headlamp 5. insect repellent 6. sun block cream 7. water purifying tablets 8. Canteen for water 9. raincoat 10. personal medical kit 11. personal toiletries
ITINERARY:
DAY 1: START OF THE INCA TRAIL We will pick you up in the early morning from your hotel and take you in one of our privately owned vehicles to the start of the trail, stopping at a place to have breakfast before beginning the trek. There, you will begin the journey, warming up on the relatively flat part of the trail. After two hours, you will reach the first archaeological center of PATALLACTA, where we will appreciate the impressive landscapes, flora and fauna. This site and others will show the importance of this valley in the context of Incan history. After lunch, we will continue ascending to a semi-tropical valley for two hours until arriving at our camp, HUAYLLABAMBA, where we will spend the night.
DAY 2: HUAYLLABAMBA – PACAYMAYO After breakfast, we will start hiking early on the morning of the second day, passing through different climatic and ecological zones. We will ascend to WARMIWAÑUSCA. We will walk amongst abundant vegetation with various types of trees. This pass is known by many as the world’s highest cloud forest. After the toughest part of the journey, an ascent of nearly 5 hours, we will arrive at the highest point, known to some as Dead Woman’s Pass. From there, we will take a well-deserved break and observe the beauty of the deep valleys. If we’re lucky, we will see the flight of the condors and will pass among the thick clouds in the sky. After this rest, we will descend towards our second camp at PACAYMAYU.
DAY 3: PACAYMAYO – WIÑAYWAYNA From PACAYMAYU, we will climb steeply up the opposite side of the valley wall, towards the second pass. About halfway up lies a small, round, roofless stone building. This Incan ruin is known as RUNKURACAY, a building thought to have been an astrological site and a sort of checkpoint for couriers following the trail to MACHU PICCHU. After a short tour, we will continue to ascend towards the second pass, the Abra de RUNKURACAY. On the far side of the pass, the trail descends towards a valley and a shallow lake. At this point, the trail changes from a dirt path to a narrow stone roadway, containing the exact stones that were in place when the Inca’s walked the trail. The trail after the pass leads to a second, larger Inca site, SAYACMARCA (“Town in a Steep Place”). This Incan ruin was built on a rock overlooking the trail and is accessible only via a single narrow stone staircase. On the left of the staircase lies an overhanging rock wall and on the right a sheer drop with expansive vistas of the Peruvian countryside. This site is roofless and slightly overgrown, but the walls still stand strong and the shape of the fortress can easily be seen. We will also see a stone aqueduct, which once carried water to the farmlands. After touring SAYACMARCA, we will descend to the valley floor. The roadway takes the form of a long causeway leading across what may once have been a shallow lake. We will stop at this valley to enjoy lunch. After lunch, you will begin to climb again. At this point, you will pass through interesting Incan structures, including a tunnel that is eight meters long and wide enough to allow humans and animals to pass through. After this tunnel, we will reach the third pass and enjoy the third Incan site, PHUYUPATAMARCA ("Cloud-level Town"). We will learn about the ritual functions that the Incan used this site for. Here we will see baths that Incas bathed in before they reached MACHU PICCHU. The highest bath the reserved for the nobles, while the baths lower down on the side of the structure were used by the lower class. After this Incan site, we will reach another one, HUIÑAYHUAYNA, ("Forever Young"). At this site, we will enjoy your dinner and settle for the night.
DAY 4: MACHU PICCHU On the last day of the trek, we will wake up early and follow a wide, relatively flat path. After about an hour and a half, we will climb a narrow flight of stone steps leading to INTIPUNKU, the sun gate. After three and a half days of trekking, we will look through the rectangular doorway of the sun gate and take in your first views of MACHU PICCHU. From there, we will descend into MACHU PICCHU. There, your guide will give a thorough, three-hour tour. Following the tour, you will have time to yourself before taking the bus to AGUAS CALIENTES and having your last meal with the group.
Additional options that you might need:
Extra porter.- Depending on your physical fitness, the hike can be strenuous. If you would like to lessen your load, you can hire an extra porter to carry your belongings. You can either hire a porter to carry 8 kilos (18 pounds) for ($50) or a porter to carry 15 kilos (33 pounds) for ($95). Included in this service is the porter’s salary, entrance fee to MACHU PICCHU and food. If you decide to use this service, the porter will carry your packs until Aguas Calientes. You should reserve your extra porter upon reserving the trek because the extra porters are also considered a part of the 500-person maximum on the trail.
Extra Information:
Staying in Sacred Valley: If you are staying in the Sacred Valley instead of Cusco city, we will still be able to pick you up from your hotel. Please call us in advance and we will be able to accommodate you.
Sleeping bags and backpacks: Wayki considers sleeping bags and backpacks personal items that each tourist must carry on the trail. If you do not have a sleeping bag you may rent one in our office or at a nearby shop in Cusco. In the office, we have two types of sleeping bags, synthetic (-5ºC or 23ºF) that cost $10 to rent and feather (-10ºC or 14ºF) that cost $15 dollars to rent.
Extra night in
Aguas Calientes: If you would like to spend extra time in Aguas
Calientes before returning to Cusco, there are many hotels that you
can reserve before or when you get there. Please let us know if you
plan to spend extra time in Aguas Calientes so we can book the
appropriate train ticket to Cusco.
Train reservations if you stay an extra night in Aguas Calientes: If you plan to stay an extra night in Aguas Calientes and tell Wayki before we have made the train reservations, you will not have to pay an extra fee. In the case that you tell us after we have already reserved your ticket, the train company will charge you a fee to change your ticket, varying in price based on seat availability. If you choose to stay in Aguas Calientes once you are already there, you must change the train ticket at the terminal. Fortunately, there are many trains that leave at different times to Ollantaytambo.
Walking sticks: You may find walking sticks helpful on the trek. The trail varies between valleys and mountains, inclines and declines and about 70% of the trek consists of stairs. It is not necessary to have a walking stick, but if your knees tend to hurt when you walk for long periods of time, you may find it helpful. You may bring your own or rent one in Cusco. At the start of the INCA TRAIL, locals sell wooden walking sticks. We do not recommend wooden sticks because they have caused damage to the flora in the area. Wayki recommends that you use aluminum ones with protective covers on the point for environmental reasons.
Banks and ATMs: There are banks and ATMs in Aguas Calientes, but the service fee to take out money can be much higher. Many tourists find it best to bring money from Cusco city.
Hot springs: You may choose to take advantage of the hot springs in Aguas Calientes. The entrance fee to the hot springs is s/10 ($3). You may use the hot springs after the trek, before you take your train, or any available time you might have in Aguas Calientes. If you wish to go to the hot springs, you should bring a bathing suit or rent one there.
More inca trail Programs:
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