Trifter

1. Don’t rush the sacred valley.

Take a few days and visit the pueblos and drink chicha with the people. Eat their food. Practice your Spanish. Play ball with the children. Your genuine interest in their culture and heritage will not go unrewarded.

The campesinos of Perú are a tremendously generous and spiritual people, and theirs is a way of life that holds many secrets that we can learn from.

Learn. Make it your first priority and you can’t go wrong.

2. Breathe.

Unless you’ve got Nepalese blood, you’re in no shape to speed through the Inca Trail. Don’t feel intimidated by the porters who motor by you with a cheery smile. It’s their job, it’s their homeland, they’re used to it. 

The ultimate altitude test is the 13,800 foot pass at Warmiwañuska. If you’ve strained yourself up to that point, you’ll never make it. Take your time, Machu Picchu will always be there.

Take mid-range, deliberate breaths with each step. If you develop a stitch, take a stretch break.

And it goes without saying that non-atheletic individuals need not apply. Condition yourself. Backpacking, especially on the Inca Trail, is a physical challenge that will blow your mind if you’re new and untrained.

3. Watch your feet.

This is a tried-and-true fundamental of backpacking. If you’re atheletic, but new to backpacking, for your own sake, don’t listen to the store clerk who’s trying to sell you on a fancy, expensive pair of boots that fit super-tight.

They’ll throw jargon at you, they’ll try and flatter you, and they’ll tell you that tighter is better, but it isn’t.

Invest your time and money in a nice pair of mid-range, plain backpacking boots that have plenty of room in them, and spend at least a few months breaking them in.

With well broken-in, loose-fitting boots, you’re exponentially less likely to develop blisters and other foot problems.

Your feet will thank you– they’ll be under enough stress as it is.

4. Stairs, stairs, stairs.

The vast majority of the Inca Trail isn’t a trail at all: it’s a seemingly-unending flight of stairs.

Embrace them, don’t resent them. Think about the tremendous craftsmanship that went into fashioning such sturty, time-tested pieces of stone. Learn to respect them.

When they’re wet, be extremely careful– that stone becomes a slip-n-slide, and more often than not there’s absolutely nothing to break your fall down the valley.

Bring a walking pole to steady yourself, but make sure the tip is fitted with a rubber cap so as to not cause any more damage than your feet already do.

Step heel first, not toe first. It will take some getting used to, but in the long run, your achilles tendon will thank you, and you’ll have much greater balance on those treacherous stairs.

5. It’s the journey, not the destination.

Reaching Intipunku, the sun gate that overlooks Machu Picchu, is a moment that will stay with you forever. No doubt. But take heed: in a flash, you’re thrown from serene anticipation of the “climax” to wading your way through inconsiderate tourists at the Macchu Picch historical site.

The solution? Change your philosophy.

The climax is the journey. The climax is the truly awesome rush of warm memories that comes, weeks later, after remembering the summit at Warmiwañuska, or the morning fog in the valley, or the smile of a child in the valley.

Enjoy nature, reflect on your place in the universe, and marvel at the incredible human achievement that is the Inca Trail.