Short inca trail (2 days, 1 night)

It´s 5:30 am. A purple dawn in Cusco is fading and a bus is waiting to take you to the train station. Your mind is full of wonder tales and mist forest legends about the Inca Trail. Now you are about to taste this magic, walking on the short route of the inca trail.

The short inca trail is a 2 days, 1 night route. It begins in the km 104 of the Sacred Valley railway, near from your arrival train station. A 4 hours tour will led you through the mountain forest, surrounded by huge cliffs, vegetation and the rich wildlife of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary. The second day is dedicated to the Machu Picchu ruins and their mysteries to be unfolded for your heart and mind.

Km104: you´ve already arrived at the train station. The guide tells you and your group of friendly adventurers to check nothing is missing. While he gives you some instructions for this short route, the magnificence of the environment capture your attention. The more your senses get used to the new sounds and perfumes, the more of them you perceive. At the end, the whole natural and quiet orchestra completes; a sound that will be your companion in this mystic trail.

The walk on the short inca trail starts. Your heart beats full of emotions. The roar of a little stream increases until a narrow bridge appears. The guide invites you to continue carefully. It seems like a natural short inca trail prolongation, like a portion of land suspended over the waters.

The short route of the inca trail begins to climb some huge mountains. On both sides of the road, different kinds of birds spot the dense vegetation. The trail seems to clear its own path, allowing the sun to reach our footsteps.

At the last turn of this short track, a magic view takes a sigh out of the visitors. A ruin lies stuck in the middle of an endless terraces hill: it´s Chachabamba. You´re lucky to see this gift of nature.

Chachabamba was a village of very hard working people. It is reflected not only in the terraces system that covers all the hills, but in the beautiful inca buildings that remains there, with their pointed walls almost intact despite centuries of weather and oblivion.  Walking between those terraces of history will be the first of many unforgettable moments ahead in the short inca trail.

The map of the short route showes you the archeological site of Wiñay Wayna as the next stop. But the trail is full of inca ruins everywhere. They are so numerous that even the expert guide can´t tell you all their names. There may be a piece of a stone ladder leading to nowhere, or a group of rectangular stone blocks once an aqueduct, or an isolated big rock cutting the inca trail in two pieces.

A couple of hours later, Wiñay Wayna is in sight, up on the mountains. It used to be a place for tourists to spend the night, but due to weather that changed to Aguas Calientes, the Machu Picchu village. Wiñay Wayna design reminds  you immediately to Chachabamba; the same building shapes and the idyllic landscapes mixed with a group of terraces everywhere on the inca trail.

The guide announces a break, to rest and have some meal right over a stone-made platform: an inca checkpoint. Looking to the opposite side of the valley, you try to deliberately discover something, just for the thrill. Actually, you did. Other ruins are at the top of one steep hill, right in front of you. That´s Choquesuysuy, the guide tells you, but the path around it is impossible to cross. Only inca trail experts could reach it. From your position, it seems to have some circle-shaped constructions inside. Maybe it was a ceremonial site, reserved only for nobility and priests.

The short route gets really hard. It´s getting colder and you have not stopped climbing from hill to hill, crossing more streams and starting to think maybe you are in some mystic dream. At the very top of the mountain, the Intipunku (Gates of the Sun) welcomes you to the summit of Machu Picchu mountain. The world famous citadel is halfway down. Intipunku ruins were the official entrance to this site, used by the past ceremonial retinues and pilgrims of the Inca Trail.

Once again, the beautiful stone-made buildings of Intipunku invite the travelers to feel their history, looking through a trapezoidal window or stepping on the edge of a platform, with the Machu Picchu citadel at the bottom of that natural framework. The narrow streets of Intipunku force you to cross their corridors, narrow enough to hold their both slightly-bowed walls of stone with your hands.

The day ends descending to Aguas Calientes, the village at Machu Picchu´s feet, to spend the night and regain strength for a new day of wonders.

It´s 6 o´clock in the morning. You have already had your breakfast and got ready for the climbing to Machu Picchu ruins. There is something very important to decide here: this is an Inca Trail tour, where trekking is the base of the activity. Would you prefer to climb by bus, as scheduled, or by your own feet, as a trekker?

It completely depends on you. The truth is that when you get up there, all the fatigue will be vanish by the astonishing 360° panoramic view of Machu Picchu. The mist will retreat and the sun will explode right in front of you, rising triumphant from behind the mountains.

Machu Picchu owns most of the wonders of that place. You will walk between the stones of the Three Windows Temple, admire the huge blocks of stone of the Temple of the Sun and meet with your soul, right in the centre of the main square.

This fantastic tour in the short inca trail may be over for you…or maybe not. Behind the last stone walls of Machu Picchu, a giant is challenging you from the top. It´s the Huayna Picchu, the guardian of the sacred citadel. The climbing could be very hard. But the reward at the top, dominating the full region with a single look, is more that any human could resist.

Anyway, the magic of the inca trail is already in you. Use it wisely. Use it in peace.

Take a trip to Machu Picchu; you´ll get the journey of your life.